Joe Biden and Golden Retrievers

Just sayin’

Biden also seems driven in no small part by a staggering intellectual insecurity. The figurative evidence room is full of examples. The most notorious comes from Biden’s 1988 bid for the Democratic presidential nomination. He had been hounded about his law-school record and plagiarism problems (among other things, he copied five pages from a law journal for a 15-page paper and then claimed it was a footnoting error), and he was asked a question about his academic record by a resident of New Hampshire.

 He responded: “I think I have a much higher IQ than you do, I suspect.” He went on:

I went to law school on a full academic scholarship, the only one in my class to have a full academic scholarship. In the first year in the law, I decided I didn’t want to be in law school and ended up in the bottom two-thirds of my class and then decided I wanted to stay, went back to law school, and, in fact, ended up in the top half of my class. I won the international moot-court competition. I was the outstanding student in the political-science department at the end of my year. I graduated with three degrees from undergraduate school and 165 credits — only needed 123 credits. And I would be delighted to sit down and compare my IQ to yours.

Most of these statements were outright lies. Biden graduated from college with just one degree, not three. Yes, he did win a moot-court competition, but he graduated 76th in his class of 85. He wasn’t the outstanding political-science student. And why is he still talking about how many credits he graduated with? Who does that?

Preservation doesn't always pay, though I'm glad someone took the effort here

640 Round Hill Road, a 1725 home on four acres, has been asking $2.850 and today is reported as pending. The house last sold for $3 million back in January, 2006, and underwent a complete transformation, as described by its current listing agent, David Ogilvy:

ABSOLUTELY STUNNING TOTAL RENOVATION OF ONE OF THE MOST WONDERFUL ANTIQUE FARMHOUSES ON SUPERB LEVEL PROPERTY WITH MEADOW ACROSS FROM CONSERVATION PROPERTY WITH AMAZING COUNTRY FEEL. FABULOUS WIDE BOARD FLOORS - CHARMING FIREPLACES - SUPERB NEW MASTER WING WITH CATHEDRAL CEILINGS AND TALL WINDOW WITH ELECTRIC SHADES, LARGE DRESSING ROOM & CLOSETS, PLUS STAIRS TO ATTIC. GREAT LOWER LEVEL PLAYROOM WITH FIREPLACE, BEDROOM, BATH, AND EXTERIOR ACCESS. PARTY ROOM IN BARN ADJOIN POOLHOUSE WITH BATH. RENOVATION DESIGNED BY SAM FITZGERALD AND BUILT BY JOHN DESMOND.

Those improvements included adding central air, a pool, a new kitchen and even an addition to accommodate a master bedroom. My guess is that it will be used as a weekend home, but it could certainly work as a full time residence, albeit one quite distant from town.

Interesting that David Ogilvy, not known for underpricing his listings, set this one below that $3 million 2006 price, thus writing off all the expense incurred by the owner in bringing it up to date. When even Ogilvy recognizes that the bloom is off the back country rose …. (of course, the market for antique weekend homes, way up on the NY border, has always been slim, so this one sale doesn’t define the full back country market, but it fits the trend).

Big sale on Howard Road

80 Howard, up in our northeast corner, has closed at $4.7 million. Both the house and the property it sits on look fine, but this section of town doesn’t often see sales in this price range. And Howard Road itself has never before hosted a $4.7 million house — until today, the record sale was $2.7

Price cut on Sawmill — who could have guessed?

Boring?

The spec house at 73 Sawmill Lane is now priced at $2.890 million; still not offering much bang for the buck, but it’s an improvement over January’s ask of $3.849 (when I predicted pending disaster for its builder). The listing notes that the master bath includes both a soaking tub and “stand-up shower”. For those of us accustomed to showering standing up (Irish need not apply). this latter feature may not be quite the selling point the listing agent thinks it is, but whatever.

Definitely dull

What were they thinking?

They’re still horsing around, I believe

135 Doubling Road dropped today to $3.795 million — it started off last September at $4.875.

$3.795 strikes me as a steep price to pay for a 1915 carriage house on an acre-and—half, renovated or not, and I suspect that the final selling price will be less, but the current owners paid $5.550 for this house back in 2005, just 30 days after it hd been put up for sale. Our 2005 market was certainly stronger than today’s, but $5.550? Really?

Blondes shouldn't own blonde dogs — certainly not Golden Retrievers

Dumb and dumber: neither dog nor owner could figure out how to use a shovel

Dog crawls under deck, has to be rescued by the local fire department

I’ve often referred to golden retrievers as “Nantucket Dogs” because they’re the perfect match for their blonde mistresses cruising the island in their BMW convertibles: total IQ, adjusted to the retriever’s score of zero, barely nudges 20.

My working theory is that if a dog can get himself under a deck, he can damn well figure out how to extricate himself. But that theory goes out the window when a golden’s involved.

It’s a wonder they can figure out how to eat out of their kibble bowls.

Pending in Mid-Country

2 Lauder way, currently asking $4.995 million, which is down considerably from the $6.450 it asked last April.

The owners paid $6.2 million for it in 2013, a price that, nice as the house is, struck some of us as overly exuberant at the time.

Of note, perhaps, is that this same house, unrenovated, sold for $4.9 million in 2004. There’s been a lot of money put into the place since then.

If everyone's a Nazi, no one's a Nazi

Jewish deli owner accused of “feeding Nazis”

Zach Adamson, the Vice President of the Indy City Council, didn’t appreciate Shapiro’s tweet welcoming the NRA and his reminder that President Trump enjoyed a visit to the family eatery in 2016 as he campaigned for the Republican nomination. Adamson responded first by commenting on Facebook where he posted the tweet. “This breaks my heart. Truly.”

The comments to Adamson’s tweet brought about the feeding Nazis remark. Adamson chimed in with his agreement, claiming that Brian Shapiro was “bragging” about feeding Nazis (Trump supporters). 

On Adamson’s post, commenters then made mention of the religion of Shapiro’s owner, Brian Shapiro, who is Jewish. One comment insinuated that Shapiro is feeding Nazis. It stated, in part, “The Shapiro family is Jewish. By showing they welcome the NRA & trump they are saying they are okay with oppression of the marginalized people that trumps base hate. Including Jews….It’s almost as if Brian Shapiro forgot about his family heritage by encouraging a group of people who identify as anti-Semite to dine at his establishment.”

When another commenter stated that, “feeding Nazis for a price isn’t supporting the Nazi cause,” Councilor Adamson posted, “This is about bragging that you feed Nazis and then being shocked with all the locals avoid you…”

Responding to all of that garbage, Brian Shapiro called into Tony Katz’s radio show. 

“I’m just confused by his comment that he’s upset with us. I just don’t understand… If Indianapolis doesn’t want Donald Trump here, then I guess they can pass a law that stops him from coming here, but the other side of the coin is it’s going to bring the city $32 million… At the end of the day, the governemnt is suppossed to improve people’s lives by making people’s business better and growing the economy. Obviously, the councilman is upset.” 

Trouble in Paradise: NYC's "Billionaires' Row" aren't selling

Can two intrepid real estate agents save the market? Stay tuned

Even billionaires can balk at abutted prices, it seems.

Swank apartments are begging for buyers on Manhattan’s “Billionaires’ Row” — with more than 40 percent sitting unsold in towers that top out at 100 stories, The Post has learned.

Five years after the iconic One57 building became the city’s first “supertall” residential skyscraper, only 84 of its 132 pricey condos have been bought — leaving more than a third of them still on the market and none under contract, according to data compiled by leading appraiser and researcher Jonathan Miller.

Six other nearby buildings have as much as 80 percent of their units available, the figures show, with the total value of all the unsold inventory estimated by one analyst at between $5 billion and $7 billion.

Another building that’s set for completion next year — Central Park Tower, at 217-225 W. 57th St. — will put an additional 179 apartments on the market.

Gary Barnett’s Extell Development, which also built One57, got state permission to start selling a Central Park Tower in 2017, but no deals have closed — which would push the overall unsold percentage to nearly 65 percent.

Online listings show asking prices for available units that range from $2.1 million for a 14th-floor studio at 100 E. 53rd St to nearly $64 million for a four-bedroom, duplex penthouse on the 76th floor of 53 W. 53rd St.

Top broker Dolly Lenz blamed the stalled sales on the sky-high prices, saying, “When people come here from other parts of the country and from around the world, the first thing they want to see is Billionaires’ Row,” she said.

“We toured them through the properties but many felt they were too pricey for the market — $7,000, $8,000 and $10,000 a square foot,” she added.

And our ultra-high inventory continues to shrink, but that's not necessarily good news for owners

136 Parsonage Road was counted in the $8 million + inventory when it debuted at $8.295 back in April, 2017. Today it’s dropped all the way to $5.995. So the eight-million category is diminished while the five has grown. Something to the note of when you see some stars-in-their-eyes report that our high end is “moving”. It’s moving alright: down.