Ok, so last week, we had a modest
(including this land listing at 21 Mimosa Drive)
Not bad, really, but this week is looking a lot more useful. So far this week, and it’s only Wednesday morning, we’ve had
including this (tear-down) land listing at 120 Oneida Drive.
665 Steamboat Road, among last week’s closings. Almost every broker I spoke to wanted to live here, but actual buyers were more cautious. Asked $4.150M, sold for $2.950M.
Ok, something of a crappy week, with only
Does this make anyone happy? It does not. But do not despair. Sometimes the “summer market” is good, sometimes it’s bad, but one thing the summer market is noted for is its ebb and flow.
Here’s how it works: Once summer finally arrives, even the most committed buyers can become distracted by all the many opportunities that summer in Connecticut can provide. But these buyers do come back, and I don’t mean in September, I mean now. So expect to see some slow weeks followed by busy weeks. Got it?
40 Chapel Lane has a deal. Asking $1.3M (last sold 2006 $1.475M), this is about as cheap as direct waterfront gets in this town.
40 Chapel: The view… Nice! And I probably wouldn’t even tear down existing house (but I’ll predict that’s what’s going to happen)
Last time I wrote about Riverside real estate seemingly running out of steam, the market immediately slapped me upside the head (metaphorically speaking) and we had about 15 quick sales within a matter of days. I’d be thrilled to have that happen again, thank you, because, as it stands now, there are…
36 Riverside properties, priced $2M and up, sitting around on the market.
I say “sitting around” but, of course, some of them have just come on recently. But almost half have been available for 6+ months, some far longer than that. That’s worrisome, even for a happy-go-lucky chap like myself.
The explanation could be that for the last year or so the word has gone out that, unlike the rest of the town, Riverside’s just fine, so why not sell? That sentiment may have helped swell the inventory beyond what the market could absorb. That’s my supposition, who the hell knows…
(Needing to end on a positive note, there is this: 25 Riverside sales in the last 6 months priced $2M+).
The beautiful, completely updated 158 Indian Head Road, marked down from $14.850M to $12.5M, direct waterfront. Time for a sale?
*My title is a play on a quote from The New Testament’s Corinthians (15: 55) “O death, where is thy sting? O grave, where is thy victory?”
Answer: Nothing. You just sit there and relax. If you have to work outside, drink about 80 ounces of water throughout the day. The human body is remarkably capable of dealing with temperature extremes, so no worries, mate!
“Yes, but we caused this heat-wave, didn’t we?”
Nope, we did not. How do I know? Well, how about this…
The record temperature in New York City for June 20th is 98°, set in 1923.
World population in 1923: Around 2,000,000,000.
World population in 2012: Around 7,000,000,000.
So, 89 years have gone by since 1923. We now have an extra 5,000,000,000 humans roaming the planet and we still haven’t beaten that temperature record for New York City set in 1923.
Conclusion: The earth does what it wants. It is not “fragile”. An extra five billion humans has made no difference. Now go get one of those plastic kiddie-pools, fill it with water, and sit there and relax, just like Perkins the dog.
The earth’s around 4 1/2 billion years old. We have truly accurate temperature records dating back a couple of hundred years. Oh sure, there’s arctic core-ice, fossils, and glaciers, but we don’t really know how hot or cold it’s actually been, do we?
Last week, not that many..
Just 7 executed contracts (but this week’s numbers are already ahead of that).
Among them, the really impressive 41 Bush Avenue, in the Belle Haven section. I can’t find the record of it, but this place rented a couple of years ago for an astounding $40,000/mo, and that was not a short-term rental!
List: Joe Williams
Sell: Joe Williams*
41 Bush Avenue, asked (eventually) $8,495,000, now has deal. Beautiful restoration of a classic. See? You don’t always have to tear down.
And the answer is…
Among them, the spectacular (I use that word a lot) 183 Byram Shore Road. Nicely preserved contemporary (I did not say tear-down) on 3.84 acres of truly magnificent waterfront. This view was so special, I spent an extra 20 minutes just walking around the property, back when the broker open house was held.
That was February 28th. A mere 32 days later, they had a deal. Asked $12,495,000. Got $12,000,000. Nice work all around.
List: Bill Andruss
Sell: Susan (Candy) Durniak
183 Byram Shore Road, asked $12,495,000. 3.84 acres in the R-1 zone, initially described as “5 lots” (grandfathered?) but listing no longer claims that. Surely will be the future site of one grand mansion.
See how easy? More Perkins, less Gideon…
Call me sensitive, but reader “Hemp4367” (or was it “Hemp4368”?) wrote a piercing letter that made me realize there was a bit too much Gideon on this blog. After all, what are you here for? Me or the real estate? Exactly.
So I’ve cropped myself out, leaving only the exceedingly handsome dog and a touch of Jaguar.
19 accepted offers for the week, including one of my all-time favorites, 5 Bridle Path Lane, on Riverside’s waterfront, overlooking Tod’s Point and beyond.
The story of Bridle Path would have to be called “the long, long, long [boat ride] to a sale”, since it started out in April, 2010 at $12,000,000, only to be reduced six times, all the way down to $5,975,000. At that price, it proved irresistible and I wouldn’t be surprised if it sells very close to it.
5 Bridle Path Lane, $5.975M, finally has a deal. Click on the address and check out the pictures ; amazing.
Oh, gee willigers…HATE when this happens. Made it almost to White Plains but turned around and went back to Atlanta because our “radio beacon” was not identifying us properly to New York airspace authority.
Before this exciting incident, we watched as mechanics worked underneath the plane on some problem. Not sure what that was but they did bring out two different instruction books to guide them. Is Delta Airlines trying to tell us something?
Explain to me why South Carolina can have a spectacularly beautiful airport (with $4/day parking) when Westchester/ Laguardia/JFK are big, ugly, an expensive. It’s a gosh-darned quandary, ain’t it?
Greenwich Bored And Razed 