Riverside contract reported

18 Lake Drive, last asking price $4.299 million. It started last February at $4.890, but this still seems like a lot of money. Not totally crazy, mind you, given Riverside prices, but … gee.

There goes the narrative, and with it, the protests

oh? well, never mind

Houston police have arrested two black men for the murder of seven-year-old Jazmine Barnes. It now appears to have been a gang-related killing, and a possible case of mistaken identity.

The Reverend Al Sharpton must be incredibly relieved that this change in the story came before he had time to get down to Texas to join the protests by “community organizers” and assorted congressmen demanding “Justice for Jazmine”. The little girl’s murder was called “a national issue” by all the usual suspects, like this one, quoted in The Daily Beast:

Civil-rights attorney Lee Merritt, who is working with Jazmine’s family, concurs with the mother’s belief that the shooting was racially motivated and is working with community activists to make their theory known. “That’s why I was brought on,” he told The Washington Post on Wednesday. “We want to emphasize the racial nature of the attack and that hate-crime charges are appropriate.”

Obviously, the tragedy of this little girl’s death remains unabated, for those who care about the lives of children as children, and the pain of her parents is still the same, but with the switch in the story from a mysterious white triggerman to a couple of black gangbangers, I predict that the attention from our national media will end, protests will cease, and business as usual will resume. Until another pawn appears.

Contract for Sawmill Lane, just 46 days on market

That’s the good news: 88 Sawmill, asking $2.8 million, has found a buyer quickly, and for a substantial price. It gets a tad more depressing from here, however, because the sellers bought it for $2.750 in 2006. Worse, when it was put back up for sale again in 2016, at $3.595 million, that listing noted,

This lovely colonial was basically rebuilt and expanded from the walls up & out in 2007 to the highest standards.

The buyer is doing very well here; the sellers, not as much.

New to the market, another $5 million-plus back country mansion

34 Stiles Lane, 9,000 sq. ft. on four acres and located way up Bedford Road, asking $5.2295. 1988 construction.

Generally, large, expensive homes in this area haven’t been selling well, but we have seem recent sales of houses costing twice as much, so perhaps the trend is reversing. I think not, but I certainly wish the seller well.

Price cut on Dingletown

79 Dingletown, which sold for $6,787,500 when it was new in 2007, relisted by those buyers at $7.125 in 2009 before finally selling for $5.1 in 2012, was priced at $5.750 by these owners in September, 2017 but has dropped today to $4.750. Built as a spec house in 2006 by BSF which, to me, says a top quality, soulless house, but your opinion may differ.

The current listing agent’s note, referring to three successive owners, says it all about who’s been buying many of these pre-crash homes, and, I think, offers a cautionary note about a significant segment of our market that’s disappearing:

The house has been mostly used as a summer and weekend house since it was built. It is very gently used. Motivated sellers.

“Living” room? I think not.

the master bedroom is equally sterile

As if to prove my point about comparative values ...

The builder’s craft, circa 1978

325 Taconic Road, cheek by jowl with the Banksville border, has surfaced as a new listing, priced at $3.35 million. When superior homes like 31 Sawmill Lane fall from (an admittedly delusional) price of $9.950 million to $3.895, with room in that price, surely, for further negotiation, what’s to become of houses like this one?

All is proceeding as I’ve predicted.

What passes for "basic shelter" in Greenwich

Compared to so many other areas of the country, a million dollars buys so very, very little in Greenwich that our profession has a huge repertoire of stories of the wives of executives moving from, say, the midwest, breaking into tears when they see the reality that awaits them.

Case in point, 360 Cognewaugh Road, Cos Cob, dropped today to $1.195 million, down from its original 2015 price of $1.4445. It’s encouraging to see prices return to pre-crash levels (this one sold for $1.215 in 2006) but even if it sells for, say, the town’s appraised value of $900,000, that’s still a daunting price for what’s a perfectly decent piece of shelter, period.

Sited on a one-acre lot in the two-acre zone, Greenwich FAR regulations cripple its expansion potential, and our tax authorities have recognized that fact by appraising the land itself at just $571,000, while pricing the existing house at $330,000. My best guess as to highest and best use for this property is to use it as-is: a perfectly decent house that has seen families arrive, grow, and move on since 1960. It’d be foolish —again, in my opinion — to see this as a new-build opportunity. Put a hundred thousand or so into updates, sure, but much more than that and you and your money will soon be parted.

A few more price cuts like this and 31 Sawmill might become an interesting buy

31 Sawmill Lane dropped $600,000 today and is now asking $3.895 million. This is a gracious 1920 house set on 3 acres on lower Sawmill, and all its mechanicals: plumbing, electric, new septic, etc. were replaced and upgraded back in 2002, which may be what inspired its original listing agent to price it at $9.850 million back in 2006. That was folly, yet the price didn’t budge during the full 18-month life of that listing, and two years later, post-crash, a new agent actually increased the price to $9.950; I’d have advised going in a different direction.

In any event, the original owner passed to his reward in 2015 and his estate, still seeking its own, has been steadily dropping the price. Maybe $3.5 will be the magic number here, but we’ll have to see if the home’s 100-year-old charm can find an appreciative audience in this current generation of buyers. The “new” — 16-years-old now — mechanical improvements will spare a buyer some very expensive refitting costs, but there’s now some also-expensive upgrading due for the baths and even the kitchen (which is a perfectly fine kitchen, by the way, but ….). And if I recall, the house retains its original windows: $500,000 + to replace with new, draft-free versions? A selective replacement program could reduce that cost considerably, of course.

The town appraises this property at $5.244 million: only $1.150 for the land, which strikes me as a bit conservative, and $4.1 for the house itself, which is, according to the market, too high. Were you to pick the place up for somewhere between $3 and $3.5, a successful tax appeal could effect an economy.

To my eye and to my taste, this house holds far more appeal and potential than most of its new competitors in its price range (especially if that price range is what I’ve suggested here, not its current asking price), but I’m not typical of who’s buying homes these days, and it’s those buyers, not I, who determine proper value.

I’ve been watching and commenting on this property over the years as it slowly drifts down to a price that matches the market, and I find it fascinating to follow that progress: in many ways, as 31 Sawmill goes, so goes the market for houses of this era.

Hangover offering on Pecksland

No, not one associated with tomorrow morning, but one dating to the irrational exuberance four 2005 real estate market. 52 Pecksland Road has just been listed for $2.7 million.The house sold in just 15 days back in 2005 for $3.495 million, but that buyer experienced a financial reversal of fortune in the following years, and the property was resold to this owner via short sale for just $1.650 — the existing mortgage was $2.271 million, so the lender took quite a shave.

In any case, that buyer, this owner, has replaced the mechanicals and roof, upgraded the kitchen and baths and is now asking $2.7 for her efforts. It will be interesting to see whether Pecksland will support that price level for a 1953 house.

Sales prices reported

21 Knollwood drive

21 Knollwood has sold for $2.475 million. The sellers paid $3.9 million for it in 2007, so it wasn’t surprising that they initially asked $3.495 for it in 2017 but alas, we’re no longer in 2007, so a steady series of price cuts took place over the ensuing months. What turned out to be the final price cut, from $2.999 to $2.499 was taken this past November 13 (reported here), and a contract was signed in less than two weeks. I think the buyers did very well here: in fact, when that last $500,000 was sliced off the price I immediately emailed a client and suggested that the house might work for the family. Turned out it didn’t, for them, but that doesn’t mean it’s not going to be a fine home for the new owners.

110 clapboard ridge road

Similarly, 110 Clapboard Ridge Road, which has sold for $17.5 million, has a perfectly satisfied buyer. I’ve scoffed at this house for years, as it slowly dropped from an asking price of $35 million to $24.995, but I heard from the buyer after my final post on the subject a couple of weeks ago, and she said she was entirely comfortable with the price she was paying for, it seems, essentially a summer home to host grandchildren. Hey — as said then, when the sale was reported pending, with the proper amount of wealth, if you know exactly what you want, price is almost irrelevant. I, and several readers, wished her joy when she first wrote in, and I do so again.