New Old Greenwich listing

18 Tait Road

18 Tait Road, new construction, priced at $3.590 million. That strikes me as high: recent sales on Tait have been in the high $1s, but 22 Tait, also new construction, sold in June of this year for $3.850, so I understand where the broker got his number from.

22 has the same size lot: one-third of an acre, though it claimed 5,970 square feet vs 18’s 4,222, but 18’s basement is unfinished, while 22’s was completed, so much of 22’s extra footage may be underground.

There’s also the possibility that the buyer of 22 overpaid — that’s something to be determined down the road.

22 Tait

Deer Park sale price reported

45 Midwood Road, discussed here previously when pending, has sold for $3.550 million, down considerably from its original march, 2016 ask of $4.750, but still ….

It’s a very nice house. The sellers paid $3.375 for it in 2012 and, as noted in its latest listing, “completely redesigned” it, and expanded it from 3,800 square feet to 5,500. Given Greenwich building costs, I suspect they lost money on the deal. They did, however, get to enjoy living in Deer Park, briefly (the owner, Jason Robard’s son Jake, an actor in his own right, decamped to LA in early 2016), and that’s always a pleasant bonus.

Another sale to boost our MLS's statistics on our robust real estate market

We have contract!

5 Sylvan Lane, Old Greenwich, is reported as under contract. Asking price was $5.195 million, and though the final negotiated price will doubtless be less than that, it’s still bound to be a substantial sale.

So that’s great news, for some, and a boon to local optimists, but from a glass-half-empty perspective, I’ll note that this spec house has been on the market since August, 2016, and started at $6.8 million.

True, “asking” is not often “getting”, but the listing agent is an experienced, highly-competent person, who certainly based that 2016 price on recent sales of comparable homes. If so, something has obviously happened to the higher end of our market.

Which is why I’m not as enthusiastic about real estate trends as so many of my peers, statistics notwithstanding.

And here's a kick in the butt

110 Shore Road, purchased for $3,919,318 in 2006, has resold for $2.575 million. I’ve written about this sorry saga before, but the final price was only reported today. 2006 was close to the height of our market, and 2018 isn’t, but that’s still a hit.

I’d say that the buyers got a huge deal here, but will I say that ten years from now? Stay tuned.

Another big sale reported

October contract, December closing. 156 Taconic Road (near its intersection with the northern terminus of Stanwich) has sold for $4.895 million. Not the $6 million it was looking for, but a substantial sum nonetheless.

A typical modern mansion: 14,000 sq. ft., though 4,000 of that is buried underground, stone facing in front, clapboard where they ran out of money on the sides and in the back, the listing claimed it was “ a top value for square foot in Greenwich”, and it sold, so I guess the agent knew her market.

Back in the glory days I sold some houses in the mid-to-high $7s up here, which seemed like good buys, considering that they’d started in the $10s, but those bargains aren’t looking so good right now.

13% depreciation: not such a bad hit, spread over 14 years

707 Lake Avenue has sold direct (non-MLS) for $8.655 million. It sold new, full price, for $9.995 in 2004, but given the current market, $8.6 ain’t bad. Certainly better than Conyers Farm, six miles north, has performed.

came with a pool

And this is the old market

544 North Street has dropped its price to $2.999 million — it started off in 2015 at $3.995.

A 1924 pseudo-Tudorish concoction, located down what realtors call “a private lane” and what I’d describe as a shared driveway, it sold for $3.1 million in 2005 and then, improbably, for $3.725 to these owners just a year later in 2006. Some improvements were performed in 2012 and it is in fact a very nice house.

But there are lot of houses very much like this on the market right now, and very few takers.

This may be the new market

Going up?

19 Home Place, down by Bruce Park, is reported as pending. Ninety days on the market, so it will presumably be selling for close to its asking price of $2.195 million.

New, 2018 construction on 0.15 of an acre, and offering no privacy, vertical living (though it offers an elevator), and in an unpopular school district, this clearly is not what was once considered the traditional Greenwich real estate offering.

But for a childless young hedgie couple working on Steamboat Road, it’s an easy walk to work, the park and our ever-expanding Bruce Museum, and a short Uber ride to Greenwich Avenue restaurants and the train. What’s not to like? And I’m sure it offers far more than the same money spent in Brooklyn.

Looks like a decent deal

One Finney Knoll (Riverside, overlooking Balducci’s) has sold for $1.5 million. This was not the best of the lots in this tiny mini-development of the original 5-acre (about 5, though I’m going on memory) property, but it’s a nice house, and sold for $1.665 in 2012. Other houses here have done better: 7 Finney, for instance, substantially larger, sold for $1.907 in 2015, and, renovated, is pending at $2.450.

Cos Cob and Central schools, alas, due to the vagaries of our school districting north of the Post Road, but the houses were all put up by the same (local, good-guy) builder in 2006, and are all of high quality, so picking up this one for $1.5 strikes me, as noted, as a good deal; nothing wrong with being the cheapest house in a good neighborhood.

Go west, young man; just don't build a house there

25 Selden Lane, off Riversville on our western border, is still kicking around after eight years. Owners paid $2.275 million for its 7 acres (two lots) in 1998 and put it back up for sale again in 2008 for $7.5 million.

Both lots, with house, can be yours today for $2.295.

In fact, at this price, it looks pretty good.

UPDATE: As several readers have pointed out, I erred when in an earlier draft I said that the house was circa 2007. In fact it dates back to 1987. I regret the error, and hope no one placed a bid on it based on my misreading of my own notes.