Monthly Archives: May 2009
Low interest mortgages are gone
So says the Wall Street Journal. If you’re looking for a new 30-year mortgage, last week’s events from the financial markets carry a very simple message: Get ‘em cheap while you still can. Rates on conforming 30-year loans jumped dramatically … Continue reading
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Call me Mr. Blue, but this looks like a better bet than Croation real estate
Black Swan opens fund betting on hyper-inflation. UPDATE: Then again, maybe Croatia’s safer. The founder of Black Swan seems to be a graduate of the Bernie Madoff School of Accounting.
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“Range Pricing”
I saw an article in the NYT today on this subject, touting it as a clever, crafty way to move your over-priced, unwanted pile of timber. I wasn’t going to mention it because I remain unconvinced it works but my … Continue reading
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Greenwich real estate not panning out? Here’s an alternative
“How much money can you make renting in Croatia?” this site asks. The promoters’ answer, not surprisingly, is “quite a bit.” The place is booming, they say, which is quite a different state of affairs than when I hitchhiked through … Continue reading
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Not quite ready as a stocking stuffer, but wait til it’s armed!
Ember, the littlest warbot. Cool.
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An interview with Walt
As I passed by 175 Round Hill Road yesterday I spied Walt Noel pushing a hand mower around the front yard. I stopped to greet him but when he saw who I was he looked stricken. “Holy cow, Chris, if Monica … Continue reading
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Walter Noel’s old enough to get this one
The new Vanity Fair article on FGG and the Noels quotes an observer: [A] well-known investor says, “These [F.G.G.] guys were just a marketing machine.… Walter was just really a customers’ man.… They didn’t even know what questions to ask. It’s … Continue reading
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I’ll take a California on the rocks, please
California’s broke and can’t print money so spending cuts are on the way. One can quibble over some of them: closing 80% of the state’s parks doesn’t seem designed to save money so much as to inconvenience as many people … Continue reading
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Who will want a new car?
That question has automakers and the new owner of General Motors deeply worried,according to the NYT. Will there be pent-up demand once the recession ends or have Americans lost their taste for cars? My money is on the latter – too … Continue reading
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Built in 2004, never found a buyer
Yesterday I mentioned that 11 Quail Road, on the market since May, 2008, had dropped $2 million off its original asking price of $8.875 million. I wrote that it had been a 2004 spec house (built on land purchased for … Continue reading
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Vanity Fair makes amends
I suppose that since he was kicked out of Round Hill Club and is no longer welcome at the bar, Walt Noel’s stuck across the street in his cottage, prowling the internet for stories about himself But aren’t we glad … Continue reading
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Okay, this isn’t funny! Well, perhaps a little
I thought Original Walt was directing me to a parody site when he sent me this link, but it’s true:Fairfield Greenwich Group is suing Fairfield Sentry (or the other way around – who cares?) for failing to detect Madoff’s scam. … Continue reading
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The end is near
Or so some London real estate “experts” say. Prices for luxury homes off only 20% from this time last year which, believe it or not, is a good sign. The average value of houses and apartments costing more than 1 … Continue reading
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Is a one-year-old new home still “new”?
That’s the question posed by the NYT’s Floyd Norris on his blog yesterday. Good question, but I wonder what Mr. Norris would think of 44 Close Road,built in 2002 and never occupied, or 21 Cornelia Drive, built in 2004 and … Continue reading
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Here’s a warm-up diversion while we wait for Madoff/Noel developments
Greenwich’s own Frederic Bourke’s bribery trial starts Monday in Manhattan. His pocket book partner, Peter Dooney, isn’t expected in the court room to cheer him on – Dooney, after Bourke charged he was trying to inject him “with a harmful … Continue reading
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Here’s just what we need
Another rude, obnoxious tennis player who squeals like a pig. I gave up watching girls tennis when they began grunting and over the years, it seems that grunting keeps hitting new crescendos. Simply obnoxious and unwatchable.
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Connecticut Dems to Dodd: “Drop Dead!”
Connecticut Democrats are rushing through legislation that will strip (Republican) Governor Rell of her power to appoint a replacement if ahem, a certain senator were to quit or something. What could that be about?
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You want an otter opinion?
This “almost entirely new’ house sold in October, 2002 for $3.459 million. After enjoying it for four years but doing nothing to it the owners put it back up for sale for the remarkable price of $6.750 million. The buying public apparently … Continue reading
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Back again
This is a perfectly acceptable house – it has a back lot feel going on (probably because it’s on a back lot) but that’s improved since the owner screened off the neighbors. It sold direct (and oh, how we hate … Continue reading
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Death by a thousand cuts
This house on Silver Beech was badly in need of modernization back in 2005 when it was listed for $695,000. Naturally a bidding war erupted and the current owners ‘won” with a bid of $727,778. They proceeded to do a … Continue reading
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