Sale price reported
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29 Meadowcroft Lane, 5.8 acre lot, closed yesterday at $4.606 million. Started in 2016 at $8.9.
The town has it valued at $4.150, so at least we won’t a hit to the Grand List.
Phew! Just when I was about to report that there's practically no real estate news to report except rentals, here's a (pending) sale
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One Martin Dale (one lot removed from North Street), $4.795 million, is under contract. New construction, the lot was purchased for $2.1, which makes me feel good, because I represented a client who paid that much for a similar property just down the street a few years ago, and it’s gratifying that property values are holding up.
But sheesh, almost all our current real estate activity seems focused on rentals these days. I’m hopeful that there are a large number of deals in the making, but judging from my own small handful of clients and the daily hot sheet report, no one seems to be in any hurry to commit. I’m a completely no-pressure agent, doubtless because I’m independently wealthy, getting by on my good looks and charm, but for those less fortunate realtors working the street, these must be trying times.
Hat tip, Holden: greens demand an end to toilet paper
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OMG! I’m so sorry!
Our Arabian friends use sand, and their left hand, and the greenest among us use recyclable paper straws to pick out the worst bits. Now, according to our passionate greenery, it’s time to join them.
We’re all becoming more aware about the damage single-use plastics and fast fashion has on the environment. Yet there is one product we all throw away every single day that, so far, has not been a major part of conversations about sustainability: toilet paper.
But America’s heavy use of toilet paper – particularly the pillowy soft kind – is worsening climate change and taking “a dramatic and irreversible toll” on forests, especially the Canadian boreal forest, according to a new report by two major environmental groups, the Natural Resources Defense Council (NRDC) and Stand.earth.
The boreal forest covers almost 60% of Canada and is home to 600 indigenous communities. Its huge size means it can absorb large amounts of carbon dioxide from the atmosphere, the equivalent to the annual emissions of 24m cars each year.
The report found that major brands’ refusal to switch to sustainable materials in toilet paper is having a devastating impact on forests and climate. About 28m acres of Canadian boreal forest have been cut down since 1996, an area the size of Pennsylvania. Virgin pulp, the key ingredient in toilet paper, accounted for 23% of Canada’s forest product exports.
Americans are particularly to blame for this crisis. They make up just over 4% of the world’s population, yet account for more than 20% of global tissue consumption.
“Crisis”? Good God.
Damn, there goes his Harvard admission!
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I couldda been a contenda!
Fisherman caught cheating at bass tournament
A fisherman in Texas has been indicted by a grand jury in Wood County after allegedly trimming a bass’ tail to meet weigh-in requirements in September’s McDonald Big Bass Splash at Lake Fork, according to the Texas Parks and Wildlife Department.
Terry Keith Long, of Bridgeport, allegedly altered the animal to meet fishing regulations at the lake east of Dallas, which allows fishermen to keep only largemouth bass 16 inches and smaller or those 24 inches or longer, according to the department’s website.
Long was later charged with fraud at a freshwater fishing tournament, which is a third-degree felony in Texas, according to the department. He was then arrested on Friday before being released from custody after posting $25,000 bond, jail records show.
It’s a real shame about Terry”, Marlyn McGrath, Harvard College’s director of admissions told FWIW. “We’ve been trying to demonstrate that, while we keep the gooks’ numbers low, we’re open to admitting qualified rednecks — within reason of course. If only he’d approached our fishing team administrator before resorting to self-help”.
Green idiocy
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Socialists or greens, take your pick
UK: No fossil fuel heat for new homes after 2024. I don’t know how the British government works, so whether this recommendation by its environmental commission will become law or not I can’t say, but given the trending lunacy over there I’d give it a good chance, and I predict we’ll see it here very soon.
How, then, will people heat their homes? Unicorn farts, presumably.
The installation of new gas boilers to provide heating and hot water is set to banned for new homes from 2025 in a move that could add £5,000 to the average price, Chancellor Philip Hammond revealed today.
The Government's advisory Committee on Climate Change recommended ending the connection of new homes to the gas grid by 2025 in a report last month, with properties heated with low-carbon energy instead.
The Chancellor announced new standards 'mandating the end of fossil fuel heating systems in new homes from 2025 delivering lower carbon, and lower fuel bills too'.
But the government have not specified exactly what will replace the traditional boiler - with concerns about how long high-tech low carbon heaters can take to warm a room and cost implications for taxpayers.
We’re seeing all sorts of new laws being proposed that will magically transform our energy source from fossil fuel to unicorn methane, with absolutely no discussion of what happens when the wind doesn’t blow or the sun doesn’t shine (it doesn’t, often for as much as 12 hours a day), and never, ever calculating the cost to citizens. One think tank has completed a detailed analysis of just one state’s pending law. I’m sure it will make no difference.
Congratulations: the world will now end 13 years from now, not 12
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Scavanging at Tod’s Point
A year after enactment, Greenwich’s plastic bag ordinance is labelled a success. Not in reducing plastic waste, mind you: 90% of that comes from third-world countries, who are unlikely to take their lessons from tony towns like Greenwich, but in achieving feel-goody sentiments among some Greenwich shoppers and annoying and inconveniencing everyone.
“Of course it’s a meaningless gesture”, Patricia Sesto, the town’s director of environmental affairs (might have) told FWIW — “good citizens don’t toss trash on the street, and Greenwich is mostly comprised of good citizens, so we don’t have plastic bags fluttering about, but it is about training the people to obey our edicts. Next target: Whole Foods, which has been double-bagging paper bags so that heavy objects don’t burst free. We want these consumers to be inconvenienced — they’ll ultimately feel so much more morally justified, and we can encourage that with new, even more ridiculous laws, and they’ll thank us for them.”
Riverside contract
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22 Indian Head, contingent contract, last asking $2.350 million. It sold for $2.1 in 2017, so the owners are doing well, presumably, after such a short ownership. The house sold for $2.4 million back in 2004, afterwich it was expanded from 4,000 to 6,000 square feet and put back up for sale in 2008 for $3.399 million, with regrettable results.
The addition made this conventional cape into a dog’s breakfast of a house, and these subsequent sales have reflected that, but the location’s good, and if you can figure out the layout, I suppose it works. For Riverside at $2.3-ish, it makes sense.
Does UC Berkeley really have a sailing team and, these days, does it matter?
Freddie Camillo announces for First Selectman, promises a better dog park and an unneeded Eastern Civiic Center
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even with a flag in the background … no
We probably get what we deserve
Camillo said his priorities on the campaign trail would include parking, which he said has long been a problem, especially downtown. He opposes building new parking garages, but said other solutions could be explored with town-owned land in the area.
A longtime volunteer with local sports leagues, as well as a former chair of the town’s Board of Parks and Recreation, Camillo also touched on the need for more and better fields as well as improved facilities. He acknowledged the budgetary costs of possible upgrades and the impact on taxpayers.
He said he would continue to explore public/private partnerships in town, which could make a big difference in projects such as a new Eastern Greenwich Civic Center and a new Cardinal Stadium at Greenwich High School. Camillo said he wanted to avoid the kind of “piecemeal” construction that happened at the Dorothy Hamill Rink, which needs to be replaced.
I’m positive that there’s not a single person who has ever met Fred who doesn’t like him, but while that distinguishes him from Peter Tesei, does it qualify him to run the town? I think not. We need someone mean enough to tell Riverside and Old Greenwich that there’s no justification for a new civic center — sell off the property and put it on the tax roll — and inform the rest of the town that we don’t need a new high school stadium, or another parking lot. The ability to say “no” is a powerful thing, and I don’t think Camillo has it.
Sometimes, bold moves are needed
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55 Zaccheus Mead Lane, on the market since June, 2015, when it started at $3.750, has dropped today to $3.1 million. It’s an attractive property — check the pictures — but a 1960 brick ranch isn’t high on buyers’ wish lists right now, and the past four years have demonstrated that.
I’d cut lower.
“House is not in the flood zone. Seller continues to work in taking other parts of the property out of the flood zone.” Not helpful.
Bummer, if you're on the way to catch your flight
/Trump grounds all Boeing 737-8s. Judging from a report in the WSJ about pilot complaints, Boeing seems to have a problem here, but I’ll admit to some surprise that a president has the authority to do this.
But Pal Nancy and I flew on one to Denver and back last Thanksgiving via Southwest, and given developments, I wound’t be comfortable doing so today.
There’s going to be chaos at the airports, though.