Terrorist attack in France near European Parliament

The chap (English? Frenchman living in England?0 seems a bit oblivious, and forgetful of similar attacks in britain, and even somewhat callous, but apparently this is the new PC position over there.

4 dead, gunman, “known to the police”, on the run.

BREAKING: Fatal Shooting Near Christmas Market in Strasbourg, Suspect on the Run.

UPDATE (From Ed): As always with shooting incidents, early reports can be chaotic and contradictory. However, Andrew Neil of the London Spectator tweets that “This is becoming a scandal. French media reporting gunman escaped this morning from a search carried out at his home in the district of Neudorf south of Strasbourg by gendarmes. Grenades were found on site by the gendarmes.”

The London Telegraph is currently reporting that “at least four people” have been killed, and that the gunman is still at large. “The authorities are treating the attack as a terrorist act. Anti-terrorist prosecutors have opened an investigation.”

[From a separate source]:

A statement by local French police says the [French national, Moroccan decent] shooter is from the notorious Neuhof neighborhood, a hub of Islamist radicalization and a known "no-go" zone.

It also states that he was categorized on their terror watch list as "fiche-S," meaning known to be a radicalized militant.

And yet, another huge contract announced, this one on John Street

I could do without the pillars, but otherwise, nice house

So, word of the death of the back country seems to have been exaggerated (by me). 33 John Street, $15.5 million. There’s a mixed bag of results up here, with most of the older mansions taking huge hits but newer ones like this one, built in 2011, are still finding buyers. This makes two large sales announced just today. Bonus time on Wall Street.

The house is relatively modest for homes up here: 9,000 sq.ft., and its interior is modern and light, which does set it apart from many of its older peers.

On the other hand, here's another back country price cut

62 Sterling Road, built in 2007 and finally sold by its builder in 2013 for $3.850 million, has been on the market since May, beginning at $3.8, reduced its price today to $3.140.

Nothing wrong with the house itself: good design, top-quality construction and it sits on a nice piece of land, but if you fell off the end of Sterling you’d land in Bedford. That’s a long way out of town, and the current market doesn’t reward these locations.

Where's that reader who complained that I never write positive news?

230 Byram Shore Road has sold for $3.6 million, on its initial April price of $3.9.

If you don’t need the local public schools, this is a very nice, low-trafficked section of town and this house, redone in 2006, looks to be in immaculate condition.

Attention, students: at your request and upon your demand, humor has been permanently banned from campus

Here’s a contract proffered to a comedian who was scheduled to perform at a university.



Someone should inform these students that from the days of court jesters, comic acts were sarcastic, biting, and often funny. Maybe it this news was delivered with a cuddle bear it would be absorbed, though I doubt it: the banshees and their craven peers have declared that there is no place for humor in their modern world.

Even Jerry Seinfeld — Jerry Seinfeld! — has announced that he will no longer appear at college campuses. Sheesh; the children won’t ever know about humor, but I suppose they won’t miss it.

I'm gobsmacked

With enough in the till, this buyer can presumably afford to get what he wants

110 Clapboard Ridge Road, 18,000 sq.ft (plus accessory buildings) on five acres and an asking price of $24.995 million is reported as pending. Wow.

The seller bought this then-new construction in $10.5 million in 2010 when it was generously described as “80% complete”. finished it, and has been trying to sell it since 2015, when it started at $35 million. Three years and a price cut of 30% later, it has found a buyer. That length of time on the market and even that percentage of price cut isn’t unusual for a house in this pricer range, but I’ll admit to reacting, when I saw this notice this morning, “what are they thinking?”

I predict that this will prove to be a lousy investment, but I suppose that’s not the point, because if the buyer has a large enough fortune to see $25 million as just a pittance, and wants to live in a house this size, why not? For its type, it’s a nice enough place, and considering the millions of dollars poured into its construction, I’m sure its very well made.

Some write-off.

POOL HOUSE (AND I’M NOT KIDDING)

mel Gibson had one of these in his house on old mill. from what i could see, he never used it

Foreclosure sale follies

1397 King Street, purchased for $1.730 million in 2007, but lots of bad things have happened to people who bought houses here in that year

A report of an arrest at 1397 King Street for domestic disturbance caught my eye, because I thought I remembered a notice of foreclosure by auction on the property back last spring, and was surprised to learn that at least one of the defendants was still there. I checked the judicial docket, and sure enough, there had been an auction, the creditor had bought the property for the debt owing: $1,100,000, which is the usual result of these auctions, and title had been transferred to the bank. So what’s the former owner still doing there? Lord knows, but this report from the auctioneer illustrates the hazards and travails of the poor saps (lawyers, usually) who sell off these properties:

(Interesting factoid: as a young law associate back in the mid-80s I was occasionally ordered by my betters to conduct these auctions and even then, King Street generated a disproportionate share of foreclosures. Auctions in other parts of town usually proceeded without incident, but King Street sales often saw problems including, like this one, notice of foreclosure signs, required by law, torn down, owners refusing access to appraisers, and so forth. I completely understand why a home owner would fight fiercely to keep his family in their house but, sadly, when the game’s over, it’s over.)

Well that was quick — sort of

It wasn’t the price, it was those happy little clouds

Steve Archino listed 42 Mooreland Road a month ago on November 9, priced at $6.599 million, found a buyer in just 12 days and it closed Friday for $6.530 million. That’s going to do wonders for our realtor board statistics, so readily distributed to gullible consumers: 12 days on market, 99% ask-to-sell price, and isn’t that wonderful?

Unsaid will be the fact that this disaster, once owned by the now-bankrupt Antares (wonderful history here) partner Joe Beninati, started off back in 2012 at $26,080,000, and Steve got the listing only after Citi Bank’s strict foreclosure suit was completed this year. I’m happy for Steve, sorry for Mr. Beninati’s wife, who took the hit here, but I won’t be dancing on the tables over this positive addition to our sales price ratio and days on market numbers.

They call me Mr. Grinch.

But Bob Ross wasn’t:

UPDATE: Not to be crass, but this photo from the interior just caught my eye: WTF, twisted bowel syndrome?

(Another) Update: Beninati’s fellow flame-out, James Cabrera, built his own mansion, also with other people’s money, right next door to partner Joe’s, at 42 Moorland. He too tried to bail out, listing the place for $17.999 million in 2012, but when that failed he rented it out, at $30,000 per. I suppose that’s better than strict foreclosure.

And I’ve mentioned this before, but the buyer of 37 Mooreland, who paid $8.4 million for much smaller new construction up the street just the past Halloween should, perhaps, be feeling a twinge of doubt about the wisdom of that purchase.

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What have the Romans ever done for us?

Romans v Gauls — have we got a deal for you!

Sounds like a question today’s students and their teachers pose about western civilization

“Okay, but except for roads, aqueducts, irrigation, medicine, wine, education, public order and peace, what else have the Romans done for us?”

Why we hate the press, Chapter 8,917

21-year-old Kyler Murray wins Heisman Award, and on the proudest moment in his young life, it took the media just a few hours to dig up four “homophobic” social media posts written when he was fifteen-years old and that, rather than his triumph, became the story. Murray used the word “queer” back then, a term which, so far as I know, is still in use, even by queers, faggots and light-in-the-loafer Nancy boys themselves, so, so what?

The modern, sanctimonious version of reporters like Scott Gleeson, who claims to be a sports-writer, and his peers disgust me. It’d be amusing to dig into their own backgrounds and see what they themselves might have said and written when they were fifteen, but why waste time on such miserable, sanctimonious wretches?