Joe Lhota’s Mom Endorses de Blasio

Mayoral candidates, Mutt & Jeff.  Telemundo’s Jorge Ramos asked both: “What reasons would you give to [illegal immigrants] to vote for you?” and guess what? They both happily answered the question!

Well, I wouldn’t be surprised, if she had watched tonight’s pathetic “debate” between these two very liberal candidates. There’s barely a difference between the two!

5’4″ Lhota stood shoulder to shoulder with 6’8″ de Blasio as they competed to tell us how much each would do for the City’s growing population of illegal immigrants:

“Driver’s licenses!”, shouted the giant de Blasio.

“Library cards!”, countered the diminutive Lhota.

“I’ll make sure they have free health care!”, promised de Blasio.

“Access to all educational resources, including City universities!”, answered the midget.

(I’m serious, those are actual quotes)

The only time they both declined to take the bait from Telemundo reporter Jorge Ramos, was when he asked them whether they favored letting illegals vote “in local elections”. Amazingly, both these knuckle-heads drew the line on that one. But don’t worry, they’ll vote anyway.

What a travesty.

Realtors Gone Wild

Manhattan brokers, Dianne Dunne and Barbara Stone, each raked in $1.9M for helping unload a hot painting. Meanwhile, broker Gideon Fountain handles summer rentals; where’s the justice?

Holy &%@#! A couple of Manhattan real estate agents  from The Corcoran Group got paid $1.9M each for assisting in the sale of one of Claude Monet’s “Water Lilies” series for $43M. The painting was formerly owned by ousted Philippine President Ferdinand Marcos* and his wife, Imelda.

*Ol’ Ferdinand, you’ll recall, was accused of complicity in the assassination of a political opponent and looting the public treasury of billions of dollars. How was this behavior different from, say, Vladimir Putin, Fidel Castro, Yassar Arafat, and the many, many other corrupt foreign leaders? Marcos was pro-Western! That, above all, was his unpardonable sin.

Robert Redford Grimacing

Redford, in the movie All Is Lost…not bad for an old dude of 77.

There, I’ve done it, I’ve given you a nice, three-word summation of the new Redford movie All Is Lost. I watched it last night at Stamford’s Avon Theatre, one of my favorite movie venues, because it’s a great old place, plus, there’s a dozen restaurants within 300 feet of it.

If you sail at all, you’re likely drawn to almost any “survival at sea” story, and this one doesn’t disappoint in that regard. But still, it lacks a certain…. something (the reviewer I linked to above states it in a more descriptive manner). After awhile, the sight of Redford grimacing became painful to watch. I was never bored by this film, but I don’t think I would insist on anyone seeing it.

One final thought: My first Robert Redford movie, Butch Cassidy And The Sundance Kid, I saw as a wee lad, in 1969. FORTY FOUR YEARS LATER, Redford’s still making movies. That’s pretty amazing.

Darien Calls To Me

8 Cross Road, Darien, CT $3.995M, now has executed contracts.

No, no, I’m not moving, but every once in a while, a Darien, New Canaan, or Westport property reminds me there are other places to live besides Greenwich, particularly if you don’t have to work in NYC.

8 Cross Road, in Darien’s “Tokeneke” section is just such a property; a classic 1920’s colonial, close to LI Sound, loads of lawns, and separate guest quarters over the 4-car garage.   Do the yellow Formica kitchen counters and 1950’s bathrooms cry out for updating? Sure, although I happen to like everything just  the way it is. It came on September, 2012 at $4.6M, reduced down to $3.995M, now has executed contracts.

Besides its 3.3 acres, you also could have picked up an extra 1.278 acres for $995,000, but it appears that the buyer declined. Too bad.

List: Nancy Dauk

Sell: Not sure (if you know, tell me)

545 North Street Sells For $6,328,000.

545 North Street, came on July 22. asking $6.495M. Well-priced, hence a reasonable time on the market. See how easy this can be?

545 North Street, just past Lower Cross Road   [correction!] Directly across from the Taconic Road intersection,  has sold after only a couple of months on the market, not bad these days!

Last time it sold, back in December, 1999, it fetched $4,399,998 (by a buyer clearly determined not to pay $4.4M!). It’s a decent house with really good, usable property, built, if I recall, by Bill Gardener. Anyway, this sale is a healthy sign for a still-recovering Greenwich “high end”.

List: Brad Hvolbeck (shhhh, the “v” is silent!)

Sell: Carolyn Sarsen

Weekend Report

33 Highland Farm Road (just off upper Round Hill Road), asked $6.5M, got $6.1M. Sold for $6.9M back in 2005.
List: John Horton
Sell: Doris Sisley

For the week just passed…

16 closings, including this land listing, and these two multi-families.

10 executed contracts, including this multi-family.

And, get this, 27 accepted offers (will link when deals get signed)! That, my friends, is a busy market. In late October. Amazing.

Halloween Costumes That Fail

Wore this last night, all my bitches recognized me!

What Are “Beach Rights” Worth?

226 Riverside Avenue, $1.745M. Who knew it had beach rights?

Here’s our chance to find out!

226 Riverside Avenue, which had sat around for years, on and off the sale market, finally found multiple bidders last July and went $53,050 over its asking price, selling for $853,000. The buyer turns out to be an investor who has now done a total re-do, including (my favorite) a beautiful new cedar roof.

But the most notable “improvement” is the addition of Willomere Beach rights. No previous listing of this property, going back to 1992 when it fetched $287,000, ever mentioned the existence of such rights. So who did the detective work required to unearth this information,  the broker, the lawyer, the buyer? 

I’ll be the first to admit, Willomere Beach ain’t exactly Tod’s Point, but it is substantially better than nothing (see photos included on listing)! Having that little beach to sit around on or launch a kyack from adds genuine value. But how much? $100,000? $200,000? You tell me.

(Here’s the “before picture” of 226 Riverside Avenue)

List: Lisa Weicker

Greenwich Fine Properties Acquired By Coldwell Banker!

 

Broker Doug Stevens decides to jump into the Cold well…

More on this breaking story at 11:00! (Or perhaps when I feel like writing more)

Who Keeps The 10% Deposit, Part II

Sorry, aggrieved seller, but you DO NOT get to keep the 10% deposit! (sometimes)

The great real estate attorney, Joel Kaye,  has sent me a copy of a recent court decision regarding the question, “What happens if the buyer walks away from the contract, does he lose his 10% deposit?”.

This is somewhat dense, but interesting reading, so if you’d care to plow through 12 pages of  Stamford Superior Court Judge Mottolese’s fine dissertation on the astounding case of “Hammond vs. Miller”, feel free, but I can spare you the trouble. Despite the skepticism of two smart-alec readers, my summation of the issue in a previous post was, as the Brits like to say, spot-on!

To re-state: If the buyer breaches the contract, the seller, in order to keep the entire 10% deposit, must fulfill his duty to make reasonable efforts to mitigate his damages. “Mitigate”, in the case of real estate contracts, means the seller must try and find another buyer, and if the replacement buyer agrees to pay the same amount as the previous buyer, then the seller is only entitled to whatever actual costs were incurred in having to go and find that replacement buyer. Got it?  Apologies accepted.