Greenwich, Connecticut real estate, politics, and more.
Greenwich, Connecticut real estate, politics, and more
45 Patterson Avenue, asking $3.950 (started in January, 2018, at $5.750), has a contract. At least part of it dates to 1779. A history of the house, including its relocation from the North Maple/North Street intersection to Patterson, can be found here.
She’s sorry she kept you waiting, I’m sure
36 Rockwood Lane
36 Rockwood Lane, new construction, started in 2017 at $8.250 million, but only had to drop to $5.995 before finding a buyer. As these things go, that’s not too bad. I’m not sure about the exterior design, but at least it’s different, and the interior is quite bright and sunny. Still, it takes a daring builder to erect something like this, and as a buyer I might hesitate before putting six million into a non-Colonial. Out of towners still mistakenly believe Greenwich to be a New England town, and many, even most of them expect to see huge colonials or Georgians, and this is not one of them. But a Californian might be receptive, or a buyer from an even more exotic locale, like Westchester County. And in fact, a buyer has appeared, so good for them, and extra points to the builder for daring to flout convention.
32 Pecksland Road
32 Pecksland Road started at $7.2 million in 2017, and has finally found a buyer after dropping to $4.350 in March. We’ll see what the final closing price is — will it start with a three?
Owners paid $5.2 for it in 1997 and then renovated, but tastes have changed.
33 Baldwin Farms S
And 33 Baldwin Farms South, $3.776 million, is also pending. It began its journey at $4.195 in 2017 and obviously stuck pretty close to that price as the years went on and house hunters passed through. I can understand their determination, though: they paid $3.995 for this in 2010, when it was in pretty tired shape, and they must have put a lot of money into bringing it up to date
560 North Street, located on that triangular parcel between Taconic and North, is new to the market today at $2.950 million. The listing says, “This important Mead home was originally built in 1796 and retains its magnificent proportions and details”, but aside from some original floorboards scattered about the place, I don’t see it.
Maybe there’s more — FWIW has a reader who is a direct descendant of the Meads, and he might have some insight to offer here. Otherwise, it just looks like an older home in a noisy location, and my passion for antiques is not stirred.
Betsy Ross cooked here?
17 Dialstone Lane, Riverside, sold today FOR $2.320 million. It sold for $2.9 when it was new in 2006, $2.740 in 2011, and now this.
The trend is clear, and houses are deprecating.
6 Golf Club Road, overlooking the Greenwich Country Club, sold for $3.450 million in 2000, $4.1 in 2004, and is priced as of today at $3.295. The whole idea behind real estate “investing”, damn it, is that prices will rise over the decades, not fall. Someone’s got this wrong.
(That 2000 listing’s claim that the house is just “TWO MINUTES FROM TOWN” stirs a warm feeling of nostalgia for the good old days, when agents could just flat-out lie without repercussion. Our deceptions have to be a bit less blatant today, and that’s too bad; stifles creativity.)
78 Zaccheus Mead Lane, custom-built in 2001, last sold for $13 million in 2006. Those buyers put it on the market in October, 2018 at $12.750 million. Today it dropped to $8.850, and I suspect there’s still room for less.
Town appraisal is $12,884,600, by the way, so another hit to the Grand List is coming up, assuming this eventually sells.
Gone to florida
One sale certainly doesn’t amount to anything more than a data point, but the history of 14 Kernan Place, reported as under contract, may still be indicative of something … maybe.
In 2014, Kernan sold for $2,131,500 after just thirteen days. This time, the owner placed it on the market for $2.195 in July, 2018, and had to drop it to $1.7 million and wait eleven months before a buyer appeared. A drop in value of $431,500 over five years isn’t encouraging, and that number assumes that the house is selling for full asking price; it almost certainly isn’t.
Scottish, yes, but a wanker nonetheless
Scottish high schooler kicked out of class and suspended three weeks for pointing out to his teacher that there, in fact, only two genders. The teacher “teaches” his student, “Opinions don’t have to be based on facts; not if they’re policy”
When the teacher allegedly told the class that a website was "old fashioned" for having only two gender options available, the teen spoke up to tell him that, biologically speaking, there are only two genders: male and female; anything else is a "personal" identification. That was enough to get the student booted from class. In a now-viral exchange, which was secretly taped by the student, the teacher rehashed the issue with the teen in a classroom alone, chastising the boy and telling him he needs to keep his opinions in his "own home."
Watch the full video for a full demonstration of a typical intellectually inferior teacher at work. Losing an argument? Turn on the power play. Some things haven’t changed a bit since my own days in school.
As I’m sure all FWIW readers know, on June 25, 1876, Custer and his men conducted their last stand out in South Dakota, near the banks of the Little Big Horn.
It’s not just historical revisionists who say that Custer had it coming; many of his contemporaries blamed his death on his impetuous arrogance for leading a handful of troopers against thousands of angry Lakota, but the Fountain family owes him a debt of gratitude anyway.
Back in June, 1864, during the Battle of Cold Harbor, great-grandfather John Caldwell was captured and held, along with other Union prisoners, at a nearby railroad station to await a train that would carry them to Andersonvile and quite possibly their death. Up rode General Custer and his unit; they drove the Confederates away and freed Caldwell, who eventually went on to riches working with the Westinghouse brothers in Pittsburgh and, best of all, sired my grandmother, Elizabeth Caldwell Fountain. Good job, George, and thanks.
Sorry about June 25th.
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