Greenwich, Connecticut real estate, politics, and more.
Greenwich, Connecticut real estate, politics, and more
1 Belle Haven Place, a 1983 structure of no particular architectural attraction, was put on the market in 2006 for $8.375 million, and has languished there, on and off, for 15 years. It finally sold today for $5.750, which is a remarkable feat on its own.
Two separate pictures of the guardhouse (Attn, NYC shoppers!)
46 Dewart Road, which sold for $4.285 million in 2018, was put back up for sale in May at $5.695, went immediately to contract, and has sold today for $5.9.
We live in interesting times.
Now that’s a disciplined workforce! Cheap, too
The establishment Republican billionaire, who claimed Donald Trump wasn’t “morally qualified” to be President, made the claim on a CNBC feature with Becky Quick focused on his relationship with his longtime business partner Warren Buffet.
Speaking about financial regulation in the U.S., Munger asserted that “the communist Chinese behave the way I am talking in favor of, and our own wonderful free enterprise economy is letting all these crazy people go to this gross excess.”
“People who are avoiding it are the communist Chinese. They step in preemptively to stop speculation,” he added.
When the interview interjects to bring up what the Chinese Communists has “done to Jack Ma,” Munger replies, “that amuses me, you know?”
The interview, in full, continues:
QUICK: What about what they’ve done to Jack Ma? He’s kind of disappeared as–
MUNGER: Well, yes, but Jack Ma is one of the swingers. So, they just cut his, they said, “To hell with you.” He basically gave a speech when he said to a, to a one-party state, “Well, you guys are a buncha jerks, don’t know what you’re doing. And I know what I’m doing, and I’m gonna do it better.” And he was gonna wade into banking and no rules and just do whatever he pleased.
QUICK: He also brought–
MUNGER: The Chinese, the Chinese–
QUICK: Banking to a lot of people—
MUNGER: Communists did the right thing. They just called in Jack Ma and say, “You aren’t gonna do it, sonny.” And, and I wish we had a, I don’t want the, all of the Chinese system, but I certainly would like to have the financial part of it in my own country.
gimme a minute here
“By the time I’m mayor, there will absolutely be specific policies, but obviously being I’m in a competition, if I start to say what I would do and someone decides that they’re going to do the same thing, I don’t think that’s a prudent thing to do at this time,” Valentine told the Connecticut Examiner in May.
There’s always room for another idiot in politics, and Valentine can be excused for not being able to articulate his reason for running other than “it’s a box I’ve always wanted to check”, but … really?
selling like hot cakes
Here’s what’s been reported so far this morning, covering yesterday’s closed sales. You’ll see original listing price, last listing price, selling price and, last column on right, “CDOM” cumulative days on market.
9 Field Point Circle, asked $11.8 in November ‘19, sold yesterday for $7.8. It’s a 1961 house built on 2.9 acres, and was also listed as land.
What strikes me is how modest many of the houses of that era were, even in our richest neighborhoods.
Atlanta moves to destroy single-family zoning
In a move that bites the hand that feeds it, Atlanta recommends moving to abolish the suburbs ahead of the Biden administration requiring the city to do so. Buckhead is not what is traditionally considered a suburb. Residents there provide about 20% of the city’s budget, and their children attend Atlanta Public Schools. However, it is an area of the city primarily made up of neighborhoods with single-family homes.
Atlanta would like to change that. According to the Saporta Report, single-family zoning comprises 63% of Atlanta’s land area. In 2018, Mayor Bottoms said her vision was One Atlanta, a more “affordable, resilient and equitable city.”
End single-family zoning, allowing any property owner by right to build an additional dwelling unit (called an “Accessory Dwelling Unit,” or ADU) on any lot now zoned for one family residence.
Allow the property owner by right to then subdivide the lot and sell the ADU separately on its own “flag lot,” then presumably build another and repeat the process.
“Loosen” the building requirements, such as size and height, for ADU’s making them cheaper, encouraging the use of modular housing technology.
Reduce minimum lot sizes and minimum set-backs from the street and adjacent properties to get more buildings onto every property.
Allow any property owner within one-half mile of a MARTA station to build an apartment building with up to 12 units, regardless of the neighborhood’s zoning.
End minimum residential parking requirements citywide so that new apartment and condominium buildings would not have to provide parking for their residents requiring them to park on city streets.
End minimum parking requirements for commercial properties, allowing more of them to occupy a given area.
If you wonder why BlackRock and other investment firms are outbidding traditional home buyers, plans like this are a clue. Even though this is the plan for residential neighborhoods within the City of Atlanta, it is precisely the kind of initiatives the Biden administration is trying to force through the Affirmatively Furthering Fair Housing policy using highway funds as leverage.
Related: Trump Was Right: The Biden Administration Is Intent on Destroying the Suburbs
Investment firms really can’t lose. If the Biden administration is successful, or if cities like Atlanta voluntarily adopt these rules, as Minneapolis and the entire state of Oregon already have, it is a win. Investment firms can carve up single-family properties and add additional units of varying sizes and shapes to them. Depending on local rules, the new housing will be sold or rented. In cases where an entire development is purchased, as it was outside Houston, investment firms can knock them down, build high-density apartment buildings, and create an endless income stream. If the Biden plan fails, they still have long-term investment rental properties.
Buckhead is getting a preview of what residential communities all over the country will be facing if the Biden administration gets its way. President Trump tried to tell suburban voters that Democrats were on a mission to destroy their communities. You only need to look at what is going on in Atlanta to know he was right.
326 Round Hill Road, March contract, has closed at $5.085 million, after beginning May 2020 at $6.495 — you can’t always get what you want.
For those keeping track of previous bubble prices, the house was purchased for $5.375 in 2006.
they must be sailors, to put a ship’s galley kitchen in a $5 million home
you will own nothing, and be happy
It should be clear to anyone with two brain cells to rub together that electricity will in 8 1/2 years be scarce, intermittent, and expensive, all thanks to the decision to stop using fossil or nuclear fuel for energy production Solution? Condition the masses to accept their fate, and be glad about it. Here’s Time Magazine’s latest effort in that regard.
Watch for more to come on related coming attractions, like the virtues of living in unheated homes and giving up our cars.
Time Magazine: “How to Fix the Air Conditioning Problem”
The troubled history of air-conditioning suggests not that we chuck it entirely but that we focus on public cooling, on public comfort, rather than individual cooling, on individual comfort. Ensuring that the most vulnerable among the planet’s human inhabitants can keep cool through better access to public cooling centers, shade-giving trees, safe green spaces, water infrastructure to cool, and smart design will not only enrich our cities overall, it will lower the temperature for everyone. It’s far more efficient this way.
To do so, we’ll have to re-orient ourselves to the meaning of air-conditioning. And to comfort. Privatized air-conditioning survived the ozone crisis, but its power to separate—by class, by race, by nation, by ability—has survived, too. Comfort for some comes at the expense of the life on this planet.
It’s time we become more comfortable with discomfort. Our survival may depend on it.
4 Tods Driftway is pending after 41 days. Asking $6.350 million. Previously discussed here when it came on back in May.
The Elevation Certificate shows that the house is not in the VE zone, but whether that will keep this 1904 home out of the dumpster is another question. I doubt it.
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