BJ O’Rourke, attorney, lawyer and a member of the bar, must have sent the same threatening letter to Hookedonhouses.com, a perfectly nice website maintained by a non-lawyer, non-realtor, and browbeat her into removing her own post on beautiful 1038 Lake Avenue, even though she said nothing bad about the place at all! (Her readers seemed to share my readers’ tastes, but why is that her fault?)
I hate to see a nice person get shut down by a bully and, fortunately, Google is here to save the day! They take snapshots of websites and preserve them so that folks like BJ can’t get ‘em down. Here’s the link to the original Hookedonhouses link. Take a look, and tell me that BJ isn’t abusing his law degree.
here you are pummeling this poor couple based solely on their personal tastes and you call them the bully for trying to get you to stop? get real, chris. you have a right to free speech, of course, but now your just being a dick.
Is BJ going to make Sotheby’s change the photos? If anyone is to blame, its them for posting them originally.
well yes, Phil, I’ve been puzzling over exactly that point. The sellers have their agent take pictures of the interior and publish them on the web, then demand that no one comment on them and in fact, send threatening letters to some poor non-lawyer blogger demanding that she remove her readers’ comments. So you have a right to post things on the web and then sue anone who says anything about what you’ve published? That’s a new one on me but not, apparently, to BJ O’Rourke, terror of the New Canaan bar.
Go back and read the original post by Hookedonhouses, Happy. The lady liked the house and said so yet she got the same threatening letter because her reders thought the decorating horrible. That’s bullying – not by the unfortunate home owners, by their lawyer, a UVAgrad who knows better.
I would love to have an ounce of whatever that interior decorator smokes. Wow.
oh! thuh po’ wittle in-tee-wee-uh de-thi-nuhs got they-uh wittle fee-wings huht
ugly is as ugly does
they did get a BJ tho’
Mr. Happy Esq,
You are missing the point entirely. It appears that the sellers are facing foreclosure & NEED to sell. This should prompt them to 1) present the house in a manner most likely to entice buyers, and 2) price it to sell. To their peril, they have done neither. Pointing out the danger of this foolish sales approach — even if brutally honest — is not “pummeling” some poor couple for sport.
As Chris pointed out in a March post, the house is wildly overpriced. It also appears that the owners are trying to pass on their exorbitant decorating bills to buyers.
The owners bought it in 2003 for 4.4, could not sell it in 2005 for more than double at 9.7, and are now shooting for the moon in a recession at 7.5. They have made no major changes to the home, other than to hire high-end expensive decorators that probably charged over a million to custom “design” their home. The owners cannot possibly expect to pass those design costs onto a buyer. The house has lovely bones, but next to no buyers will want to adopt the current decor, the house will not be sold with the custom rugs & furniture, and nearly every new buyer will repaint the entire place.
(Mr. Happy Current Litigator, does you name happen to be O’Rourke?)
Just went to the Sotheby’s website. The listing ends by noting that “furnishings negotiable.” Either the sellers no longer think the design is so fabulous or — most likely — they think the decor is the perfect custom designed match for the house. Hmmm ….
Chris:
Maybe the hack attorney’s clients would be better served by having him pursue damages, after the fact, from their designer. Seriously, is it not designer malpractice to decorate in a manner that would have little appeal beyond the clown and acid-taking market?
As for the wisdom of conflating this kerfuffle to the point where Mr. Glenn might take note causing a potential Insta-lanche? Nothing like viral ridicule to draw attention to something someone wants to make disappear. Morons!
Dear Chris,
How about posting the link to The Connecticut Judicial Website about the foreclosure proceedings
that Astoria Federal and Patriot National Bank have initiated against Mr. Braverman. We can check up on the progress daily, I am sure Mr. O’Rourke wouldn’t mind.
Best, REF
Dude -
Quit your whining, pull off the pampers, and put the big boy pants on. So you go a threatening letter from a lawyer. Big friggin deal.
Me and Andres get them every day. Do what we do. Make paper airplanes out of them and throw them at each other. It’s really fun!!
But I am troubled that I think happy current litigator is really BJ. And he thinks your a dick.
Not that there is anything wrong with that.
WORM!!!!
Your Pal,
Walt
So nice of you to champion me and my blog. I just wrote a post explaining to my readers what happened and linking back here so they can read all about it. Thanks!! -Julia
http://hookedonhouses.net/2009/06/03/where-did-the-georgian-colonial-house-go/
Diamond/Baratta “geniuses?” They are the ones the Bravermans should be suing. They made the Bravermans look like a couple of horses asses in selling them on this project, and now the Bravermans want to sue anyone who calls attention to their own folly?
C’mon Chris. SLAPP these guys and their arrogant attorney right back!
You go girl!
Or, New Buyer, they’ll take $3 million off the price if you’ll agree to take the furnishings off their hands!
Hey Dude -
I have an idea. So listen up. Go easy on this guy. There is money in this for us. And I know you sorely need some scratch. If there is one thing I know, it’s bars and saloons. What better name than BJ O’Rourke??? Think about it. It’s the PERFECT name!!!
It’s a winner dude. Irish pub!! Double entandre? antandre? Oh screw it. Hidden meaning that you will get lucky!!!
Offer him $5k. The sucker will take it.
Trust me on this.
Your Pal,
Walt
Don’t you just love a good “kerfuffle”. This has got to be the reason Al Gore invented the internet!
Would it have been possible for someone to fall in love with that pretty monster and save the day at the eleventh hour? If so, those people should have been thrilled by the exposure the house was given.
Regardless, I can’t stand people who bully bloggers over petty things. The blogsphere is so full of libel that it’s a shame lawyers are spending time on something like this.
Maybe they can sue me for not buying the house? I am a buyer searching for a house as you know…
Dude -
The more I ponder this BJ O’Rourkes bar idea, the more I love it!! Timing is every thing my friend.
What did people do during the last Great Depression??? DRINK!!!
What do unemployed people do?? DRINK!!!
It’s a sure thing, my commission deprived pal.
And what better place to d0 your drinking at than BJ O’Rourkes??? It’s a sure thing. And I know sure things. Trust me on this.
Andres can tend bar. The kid is a killer. He will gab their ass off, then overcharge them, but he will have them so shi&faced, they won’t have a clue. And the Filly’s!! Ahh – THE FILLY”S!! They can be maitra dess?? Hosteses? Oh frig it. They can say hello to people and show them in. People LOVE THEM!!
You my friend, can bus tables. But we will call you a “Table Logistics Engineer”. Cool right? Much better than “professional real estate agent” (that always cracks me up!!).
And Monica is going to be the President of the Greenwich Association of Logistic Engineers. GALE to those in the know!! You will feel right at home, and make a seemless transition from one made up profession to another.
Timing is right. Following a proven business model. No talent required. We are a perfect fit!!
You in Dude?
WORM!!!!
Your Pal,
Walt
I thought the saloon name was interesting but that someone must have considered it already. When searching Google for “DJ O’Rourke bar” the first two links were to related posts on this site. No saloons/bars of that name so you are free to pursue the venture, assuming Mr. O is obliging (good idea fake Walt).
However, consider what Mr, O has done for himself. If you search for “DJ O’Rourke” alone, you get no hits that would seem to correspond to a Fairfield County attorney (which I find interesting for a practicing attorney, but that’s another matter).
So now Mr. O”Rourke Esq., having inserted himself into this kerfuffle with his vacuous threats, is now premanently part of Google’s hive memory associated with this episode. Any future client of his will be able to call this up with a few key strokes. His children and grand children will too. His neighbors. Future employers. Oh my!
Now Chris, if you want to maximize the Google hit rate for Mr. O, just make sure to us the words “lawyer”, “attorney” and “bar” in every post relating to Mr. O’Rourke and you will make him immortal.
Don’t you love the power of the Internet?!
There’s a reason someone is named “BJ”. Probably a nickname from elementary school. Beats “AF”.
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