If they can just keep the Massholes out, New Hampshire has a chance

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Governor Sununu vetoes paid family leave bill

CONCORD — Gov. Chris Sununu told Fox News on Wednesday that he couldn’t wait to veto the paid family medical leave bill that Democrats planned to put on his desk, and late Thursday afternoon he made good on the promise.

The Republican issued a 5 p.m. statement indicating that he’d signed his veto message, without fanfare.

Has alternate approach

“Senate Bill 1 is an income tax that neither I nor the people of New Hampshire will ever support,” Sununu said. “I have proposed a paid family medical leave plan that will work — one that is voluntary, affordable and income-tax free. That is the New Hampshire way.”

SB 1 cleared the Senate along party lines, 14-10, in February and was the first Senate bill to be acted on by the House, in a 219-142 vote in March, also along party lines.

The bill sets up an insurance program that would provide 60 percent of wages for up to 12 weeks of qualified leave annually, funded by 0.5 percent universal withholding from paychecks. Individuals could not opt out of the program, but their employers could if they offered a similar benefit independently.

Republicans describe the bill as an income tax because of the mandatory deduction from paychecks.

Sununu has proposed a very different paid family medical leave plan of his own in cooperation with Vermont. Under Sununu’s plan, the two states would offer paid family leave as a benefit to their combined 18,000 employees, and allow non-government workers to join the program at their own expense.

Unfortunately, New Hampshire’s going Democrat, so victories like this aren’t likely to last

Wojciech Fibak got out when the going was good.

36 Perkins Road

The Polish tennis star sold 36 Perkins Road for $985,000 in 1987 and returned to his home country that year. With the Soviet Union forced out, Fibak, according to Wikipedia, became the richest man in Poland, and now spends his time between Warsaw and Monte Carlo. Subsequent owners have not fared as well.

One Steven Lee somehow convinced Cathay Bank to loan $9,958,100 on the property in 2007 and one hopes that 36 Perkins was just part of the security for that loan, because when the bank reclaimed the property and resold it in 2014, the sale yielded just $2.1 million.

Still another purchaser appeared, stripped the house down to the studs, redesigned it, and put it back up for sale in 2015 for $6.2 million. That’s been no more successful than that $10 million loan was, and today the price has been marked down to $3.5 million.

The town appraises it at $5,165,800, which, while clearly wrong, might at least indicate that $3.5 is in the ballpark of reasonable value.

Or not — stay tuned.

Contract on Alden

A wet basement and water rats? I’d worry about both, but a thorough inspection may put those fears to rest

27 Alden Road, asking $1.699 million, reports a contract. It started at $3.3 million in June, 2017, but unlike some other houses discussed on this blog, the current price is more a reflection of where the house should have been priced in the first place, rather than an indication if a severe deflation of value. I wouldn’t say that the buyer has lucked into any sort of bargain here.

But I’ll miss the place; it’s provider blog fodder for a long time, including in August, 2017, and again in November of that year.

I believe it was EOS who first noticed this creepy clown entombed behind the bathroom wall

Fruitless toil in the vineyards

32 Vineyard Lane, purchased for $13.750 million in 2006, has been searching for a buyer for some time now, without success. Today its price was cut to $8.950.

It’s a 1930 house, beautifully updated and expanded (a bit) to 12,000 sq.ft., on 4 1/2 acres on a good street, so nothing’s wrong here that the right price won’t cure. The trouble seems to be finding the right price.

Remember the Alamo! (or "?")

18 Pinecroft Road, the subject of various posts here since it was first put up for sale in 2013 for $7.250 million, eventually dropped its price to $4.495 million, and is finally reported as under contract.

The owners paid $6.5 for it, new, in 2004, and probably regret their impulsiveness.

The past fifteen years have not been kind

No fool like an old fool

Oh please no

Hillary hits New Hampshire.

“I can do it, this time”.

Now here's a motivated seller, in Conyers Farm

41 Hurlingham Drive, once sporting a house (at the time, address was 1 Cowdray Park), has asked $7 million from 2016, until today, when it dropped to $4 million. For that you get 12.6 acres and someone else’s partially-completed vision.

Probably still overpriced.

More on price cuts

A random sampling of the 18 house inventory in the North Street School / Central Middle district, homes built from 2000 to date, priced between $3.5 and $5 million shows, I think, what’s happening:

291 Stanwich, now asking $4.095, started at $6.695 in 2014

11 Plow Lane, $3.995, began at $4.9. Purchased for $4.755 in 2007

16 Boulder Brook, $4.495, started at $5.795 in 2016, sold for $5832 in 2006

610 Lake Avenue, $3.995, started at $5.9 in 2017

3 Dunwoodie, $3.995, started at $6.595 in 2015, sold for $6.3 in 2005

A drop in the asking price doesn’t necessarily mean an actual out of pocket loss, though most of these houses seem to have suffered exactly that, but the drop is certainly pushing prices lower, as what might have been considered, say, six million dollar homes have become mid-four houses, if that.

Ouch.

Beechcroft price cut

Drive it off the dealer’s lot and watch those dollars fly off

35 Beechcroft Road, which was purchased new in 2006 for $4.995 million and placed back up for this sale this past January at $5.385 is now down to $4.250 million. Nothing wrong with the house, and certainly nothing wrong with Beechcroft, so I’d attribute this to normal depreciation; high-end Greenwich houses are beginning to resemble luxury cars.

UPDATE: I just posted this addendum to the note on the Doubling Road foreclosure, now priced at $4.295, but it occurs to me that it’s also applicable here:

“Out of curiosity, I ran a search for houses built in 2000 and later, in the Central/North Street school district, priced between $3.5 million and $5 million. There are 18 active listings in that range, most of which are roughly comparable to this one. Expanding those price parameters, there are 10 more in the $5-$5.9 tranche. While most of those $5+ homes offer more than this one, I might be worried if I were the owner of one of them, because there’s not that much difference in the houses, but there’s a large difference between, say, $5.9 and $4.1 ish.”

Pending in Riverside

7 Wallasy Way — that little road tucked between St. Catharine’s and the assisted living home — is asking (now) $2.549 and is reported as pending. Owner bought it new in 2007 for $2.875 and, not unreasonably, priced it at $2.950 a year ago June; it took this latest price cut to lure a buyer.

Wallasy suffers from I-95 noise, but not terribly so, to my ears, and the water view is soothing, so for this price, probably not bad.