I wasn't aware of this rule, but it seems fair, if a bit harsh
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Maybe substitute retailers for poor ol’ elves
Sold, finally
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12 Intervale, on the Belle Haven Peninsula and within walking distance of I-95, has closed at $3.9 million. Nicely built house, though its location is a bit sketchy, it was never worth the $6.450 asked for it when it was new in 2007. Its builder hung around that price level for too long, but ended up renting it out for, first, $16k, then $14,500 and, perhaps seeing the writing on the wall, sold it off for this.
New agent, new price; still a very nice house, but cheaper
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One Hobart Drive is back, down from $4.995 to $4.495 million. Without knowing the circumstances, I feel bad seeing these agent switches because it’s almost always the price that’s at fault, not the poor agent’s efforts. Then again, who set that price? Usually, the owner, but not always.
In any event, One Hobart is looking good. Custom built — really — in 2002, resold in 2008 for $5.8, the current owners did a great job redecorating and redoing the house, to pleasing effect, to my eye.
I still question the wisdom of sinking a huge amount of money in Connecticut real estate right now (or, judging from developing election results, anywhere in the US), but if I were forced to live in Greenwich for the next five years or so and was willing to toss the samovar, without regret, off the sled to the approaching wolves some dark winter from now, I’d consider this one.
It does have the Zebra, of course
But this room works, for me — your results may vary, of course
Pending in Old Stone Bridge
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116 N. Old Stone Bridge, asking $1.495. Owned by a friend of mine who paid $1.9 for it in April, 2008, just as the market collapsed (no I didn’t sell it to him, which is why we’re still friends). He put a great deal of time and effort into improvements, and still lost.
The house is a bit of a wonky design, which didn’t help its chances, but Old Stone Bridge took a hit back then and has never really recovered. Still, at this price, I think a buyer’s going to do okay.
Great bowhunting off the back porch, just as an aside.
Sadly, there's not a single Hollywood celebrity among them
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then you take ‘em, dummy!
“Record number” (about 2,500) Americans seeking asylum in Canada.
Turns out, they’re Haitians, who came to the U.S. to have children. Our compassionate neighbor to the north doesn’t want them either, and is shipping them back to Haiti.
When can we expect Mr. Trudeau to retract his nasty tweets and join Trump for a chorus of Kumbaya in the Rose Garden?
And I already have clients developing cold feet because of Wall Street uncertainties. Thanks, Oshrat
/My Bloomberg pal, Oshrat Carmiel, sends along this cheery news: Wells Fargo declares Greenwich a danger zone, raises mortgage downpayment to 25%.
Wells Fargo & Co. raised its required down payment for homebuyers in Connecticut’s Fairfield County to 25 percent from the standard 20 percent after it categorized the area as distressed.
The new standard, applying to loans above $601,450, would affect a healthy share of buyers in the county, where the median home price in some towns easily tops $1 million.
Wells Fargo, the biggest U.S. mortgage lender, has singled out Fairfield for the added cushion, which is effective for loans made after Sept. 15, mortgage and real estate brokers in the area say. The bank hasn’t changed the down-payment requirements for any other Connecticut county, nor any other county in the New York City metropolitan area, a spokesman for the lender confirmed.
The bank gives a numeric risk rating to each county where it issues mortgages, and Fairfield is rated Class 3, indicating distress, according to a person with knowledge of the matter. A Wells Fargo spokesman, Tom Goyda, confirmed the classification but declined to elaborate on it or to define what it means.
“While we can’t share specifically why we elected to change the market classification for Fairfield County, we review a wide range of local housing and economic indicators as part of our assessment process,” Goyda said in an email.
They seem to know the same thing many of us know, but they’re not afraid to admit it.
IN FAIRNESS, NOTE THIS:
The county’s homebuying market has fared well compared with other New York suburbs. While sales in the third quarter slipped 0.7 percent -- the third consecutive decline -- the median price of homes that changed hands climbed 3.7 percent to $425,000, according to a report by Douglas Elliman and appraiser Miller Samuel Inc. Contracts, a more timely measure of demand, jumped 28 percent. Sales in Greenwich, home to many Wall Street executives, surged 26 percent, the best summer for that market since 2012.
In neighboring Westchester County, single-family home sales declined for a fifth straight quarter, and prices there fell, too. Purchases in Manhattan, Brooklyn, northwest Queens and Long Island also decreased in the third quarter, according to the firms.
Here in town, as wildly-overpriced houses settle down to reality, we are seeing formerly nutso-priced homes move to contract for millions less than their owners once dreamed of, and the under-$2 million market has never seemed stronger. So there’s that.
I'm so old, I remember when people were charged with responsibility for their own actions
/Greenwich forced to fork over $2 million to woman who slipped on ice.
GREENWICH — A Stamford woman who was injured after slipping on snow and ice in the Greenwich Town Hall parking lot will receive $2.15 million in damages after a years-long battle in civil court.
Angela Willauer suffered permanent injuries, including a concussion and memory loss, after the fall more than five years ago, according to documents filed by her attorney in Stamford Superior Court. Last month, a jury found that Willauer’s injuries were due to the dangerous parking lot and the town, which failed to exercise “reasonable care” to correct the conditions.
And so on. A person parks in a snow-filled lot, prances across it, slips, falls, and collects $2 million for her efforts. Court records indicate a whopping $6,500 in medical bills which, if I know my personal injury colleagues, were comprised largely of the billings from a friendly chiropractic. I won’t say “collusion”, though “cooperative” comes to mind.
Years ago I inadvertently committed malpractice by counseling disappointed would-be litigants who showed up in my office that damages alone weren’t enough; they would have to show that someone else was at fault before they could collect their windfall. Silly me.
To ask is to answer
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“What we do know is this thing cost millions and millions of dollars. The mainstream media, and there are so many layers [of] onions to peel back, it’s hard to know where to begin. One of the lies the fake news if you will, media is trying to propagate is the fact that all this weird organic thing and all the water and the food and medicine, all dropped from … manna from heaven. It’s bologna. It’s all highly organized. It’s paid for by a number of organizations, we don’t know exactly where the money is coming from.””
““You know the answer to that. They don’t want to get to the bottom of this. They have no interest politically in getting to the bottom of it. The same reason why, when you see a photo in The New York Times or The Washington Post or a video on CNN or the BBC or MSNBC. What do you see? The entire framing are women and children when the reality is so far from the truth, 90-95 percent of all the people in this caravan are men. Although I do apologize for assuming their gender,” Horowitz responded.”
Should we ask from where and how the money suddenly materialized to provide buses to transport a gay contingent to race ahead of their peers to the border? Why bother.
Pending just a few days ago, now sold
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599 Lake Avenue has closed at $2.625 million. Not so long ago, that price would have been pretty close to land value, but now it’s house and land. I discussed this property earlier this week before its final sale price had been reported, but Ill repeat that it’s been carried on our grand list at $5,619,200, and if this present value is typical of what’s happening over in the “Golden Triangle”, taxpayers throughout town should brace themselves.
Not precisely in accord with today’s taste, but the listing claims it was “custom built” ( a flexible term in realtorese) but it seemed well built, and if the design can be refigured to get the master bedroom moved upstairs, not a bad buy.
this will have to go, obviously
and perhaps nude rubenesque ladies or naked cherubs could be substituted for this las Vegas wallpaper
What would we do without experts?
/Most newborns don’t sleep though the night, scientists conclude.
You just know that this was a taxpayer-funded study.