Will no one rid me of this troublesome house?

85 Richmond Hill Road is back on the lists again, now pegged at $3.995 million. Although it’s a perfectly preserved example of the mid-2000, 11,000 square foot spec house, it’s had trouble finding buyers. It sold new in 2006 for $7.1 million, was placed back on in 2007 for $8+, failed, sat, and returned to the market in 2010 at $7.650; it took three years, but these owners belatedly arrived in 2013 and paid $4.825 for it, more fools they. They’ve been trying to reverse that decision since November, 2017, when they started at $4.7. Today’s price reflects their lack of success in that effort, but perhaps they’ll finally be rewarded.

But maybe not, not yet. The market for houses of this type thins out as one travels north, and Richmond Hill is about as far north as a Greenwich explorer can go without a dog team. Nanook, where are you?

Big sale up in Sabine Farm

4 Larkspur Lane was kind of, sort of, on the market for four days at $7.3 million, but today is reported as pending via “direct sale”. What that’s usually about is that an owner has a good offer from a friend or neighbor, but lists it with an agent to see if she can get a better price, reserving the right to sell it to the original bidder sans commission. In this case, the owner has obviously decided to go with that first offer.

Very cool house, converted from a 1900 barn, and once owned by Tom Terrific (Mr. Seaver, to me). A price in what I’m guessing will be the high sixes is “impressive”, but this is very much a unique home, so if you have the money and like the look, why not?

It's not just new construction that can disappoint owners

532 North Street is a 1926 charmer that sold for $4.5 million in 2005. The purchasers made some necessary improvements and put it back up for sale in 2013, priced at $5.750 million. I could find no particular reason that might justify that price then, other than the fact that the listing agent is known (by me, at least) for her exuberant, aspirational pricing. Certainly the market didn’t see its value, and so it’s taken six long years and numerous price cuts to finally find a buyer at its latest price, $3.395. The original agent is long gone, and deservedly so.

It’s impossible to tell, of course, but my hunch is that this house would have sold long ago, and for a much higher price, had that first price not been so off-putting.

Disappointed builder

At least I assume so. They placed 36 Rockwood Lane on the market in July 2017 and priced it at $8.250 million. It closed today at $5.5. The land this house was built on was purchased in December, 2015 for $2.7 million, so I doubt their efforts yielded much of a profit, if any.

When the town and the broker are both wrong

The Town’s tax appraiser values 55 North Street at $5,679,300, which may explain why the original broker priced it at $5.750 million in June, 2017. Today, its new price is $4.1, and it’s still awaiting a buyer.

I think it’s nice house, albeit perfectly indistinguishable from any of the other $5 million houses that have gone up in the past twenty years. Its back lot location is actually a plus in this location of lower North, and though it lacks a pool, many people like me don’t want one; the listing claims a “possible site”, for those who must have their own waterwork.

I say it’s indistinguishable from its peers in the $5 range; if I’m right, and this house ends up selling in the $3s, what does that say about the prospects of properties currently languishing in the $5 ranks?

Just sayin’.

Back at a new price

38 Birch Lane, newish (2018) construction, is with a new broker (same agent — she moved, and took the listing with her, apparently) and a new price: $5.995 million. I like the interior of this house, and the pond in back (or, if you will, the “magical lake” the agent promises) is very nice.

Will it sell in the $5s? Well we know it didn’t sell during the past 18 months when it was priced at $6.8, despite the listing’s statement that “this wonderful 2018 home is your once in a lifetime opportunity!”. Perhaps opportunity has knocked twice, after all. It must be magic.

She asked for it, she got it, she's whining about it

But I didn’t realize I’d have to work!

Ocasio-Cortez complains that Nancy Pelosi is interfering with her social media campaign by giving her too much homework.

Democratic New York Rep. Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez questioned Wednesday if the leaders of her party assigned her to the committees she requested to keep her from focusing on other issues.

“I was assigned to some of the busiest committees and four subcommittees. So my hands are full,” Ocasio-Cortez said during an interview with The New Yorker Radio Hour. “Sometimes I wonder if [Democratic leadership is] trying to keep me busy.”

Ocasio-Cortez was placed on both the Financial Services and Oversight and Reform committees after she lobbied leadership for a seat on both. House rules limit members from serving on two top-tier committees, such as those to which she was assigned, unless they receive a special waiver.

Members of the New York congressional delegation pressed Democratic leadership to grant Ocasio-Cortez’s appeal for the prestigious committee assignments, according to The Hill.

“I kind of just put it out there and tried to see if leadership was receptive,” she told reporters in January, referring to her prominent committee requests.

Just do it

Democrats threaten to eliminate taxpayer funding for the 2026 World Cup if girl players don’t receive equal pay

Why should a penny of my money, or any other citizen’s (the illegals can fork over what the wish, I don’t care) go to supporting a sports game? Put soccer on an equal footing with football and basketball, and let the teams pay for their fun themselves.

Gut feeling on the market? It will continue down

Attention shoppers: special deal on falling knives!

Not very long ago I received a call from a prospective client, who was considering selling the house he’d bought new in 2017, and wondered what he might sell it for now. I remembered the property but not what it had sold for, so I was shocked when I saw that the caller had paid a tad over $5 million for the place. Shocked, because my instant, top-of-the-head opinion was that it was worth, at best, $3.5 today. Further, when I went through our current MLS inventory to back up my estimate, I found an almost identical house on the same street that sold new in 2007 for $4.755 million. It’s been on the market 390 days now, and js currently asking $3.475 after starting at $4.9.

The street in question is, in my opinion, an A- or B+ one, so a better street might support a better price, but I was really surprised by my instant reaction to that 2017 purchase price, which was disbelief. I’m sure I would have cautioned against paying so much two years ago, but still, the difference between what might have been slightly unreasonable then and wildly overpriced today is, er… informative.

Another thinning of the $3-$4.5 inventory ranks

The owners of 24 Frost Road (off Lake) paid $4.1 million for it in 2003, and have been trying to sell it, off and on, since 2009, when they started at $4.850. New agent, new listing today, and the price is $3.195. I expect it to go in the $2s before this is all over.