I’ve always been annoyed by what passes for real estate “reporting”: glowing paeans to marvelous architecture, appeals to snobbery and always – always! a cheery view of the market. So I don’t do that (ask my former publisher): if a house is an over-priced POS I’ll point that out. If a house sells for half-its original asking price I’ll mention that too. And if I like a house, it won’t be because it’s my listing or an advertiser insists I give it a favorable mention. No advertising on this site. These are just my opinions, of course, and opinions are personal and, sometimes, dead wrong – feel free to disagree. I do sell real estate for a living, primarily as a buyer’s representative, not a seller’s, and I’m always happy to hear from readers or customers. Write me at Christopher.fountain@Gmail.com or call my cell at (203) 249-4394. Letter bombs should be sent to my partner Frank Farricker, Lockwood & Mead Realty, 6 W. Putnam Avenue, Greenwich, CT 06830.
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For What It's Worth 
Hey Chris-
Saw you quoted this weekend in the NYT. Keep up the good work!!!
Have a Happy Thanksgiving!
brillant article in nyt today!
Chris, Some newspapers have metioned that FairfieldGreenwich lost 7 billion out of 14 that they had invested. I believe the 14 included monies from their Swiss afiliate which just successfully annulled the deal. So the most amazing part of the story is that they diversified by giving 100% of their funds to Madoff and it is all gone?
Thought you might be interested to learn how Kathy Fuld is spending her time these days:
http://www.thedailybeast.com/blogs-and-stories/2008-12-15/shopping-in-secret/1/
http://www.savethebeesshirts.com
I stumbled into you reading about the Madoff mess. I am curious. Anyway… just interested.. I also dabble in writing, and of course also have that great book the next one, which will work (perhaps)
Jay
The Archimedes Group spec house at 45 Upland Drive (see http://www.archimedesbuilders.com/_media/images/projects/residential/upland/gallery.html )
which, as far as I know, was a see-through last week, is the site of a big, festive, valet-parked affair tonight. Not sure if this particular place is actually rented now, but the party gave me an idea: Spec builders could market their empty projects as spectacular venues for private events.
A little rented furniture, a few family photos on the mantle–and who’s to know that you don’t live like this every day of the year?
Hmm…nice writing. I am learning myself on how to write a good blog myself
used to live in CT. can’t say I miss the cold weather!
Just found you via Instapundit. You’re now bookmarked…good stuff.
Yes, bookmarked here too!
Chris, have some weekend fun with this…:
http://www.uslaw.com/madoff/madoff_clients.php?city=GREENWICH
Check out Matthew Brown’s older brother. If I am thinking of the right person (which I may, or may not be), I believe he was involved in an art forgery scam some time in the 90’s back in southern California.
Saw Walter at Round Hill tonight. No alzheimers evident. Mrs. is in Palm Beach. Not being very well received I am told. Selling the house in South Hampton. Not homesteading the PB house which is under renovation. Wouldn’t look good.
jail bird still has it
http://newyork.craigslist.org/fct/abo/2485117532.html
Love your blog. How would you price the same house if it was located close to town rather than in back country? Thanks!
Higher
http://gawker.com/5879184/actual-dumbest-mayor-ever-will-help-latinos-by-maybe-eating-tacos-tonight
please talk about this. i’m speechless
Chris – what’s going on with the apparent tear down at 425 North Maple?
Thanks….
Arnie
I argue the Jewish Democrat thing all the time. Lots of complexity here but the auto-Dem vote makes no sense. Some Dems are great on the issue..even Pelosi and Hoyer etc.
Hope these auto-Dems enjoy “Congessman” Baron as he says stuff about Israel that is truly offensive. But hey they loved FDR as he sent Jews back to gas chambers that arrived (on the St Louis) while his State Dept. did its utmost to keep Jews out.
Follow up on Tina Pray and her TV debut on Bravo. Impressive stuff.
http://www.bravotv.com/miss-advised/season-1/blogs/amy-laurent/dr-jeckyll-and-ms-hyde
Two brothers getting into a scuffle and a boyfriend/girlfrien shoving match. When I was growing up, this was called entertainment . . .not a police matter. Absolutely crazy home police get involved in minor domestic disputes. July 30, 2012 Greenwich Time
http://www.greenwichtime.com/policereports/article/Greenwich-man-faces-child-porn-charge-3747589.php#photo-3259475
Two teenage brothers were charged with third-degree assault July 23 after they got in a fight at their home, police said.
Police received a 911 call from the mother of two juveniles, 15 and 17 years old, and upon arriving at the residence found both boys were separated and calm but had bruises on their faces, police said.
The mother and daughter said the boys got into an argument which escalated into them punching each other, police said.
Both are scheduled to appear in state Superior Court in Stamford, Juvenile Matters, July 31.
Police responded to the area of 621 W. Putnam Ave. early Sunday morning on the report of a male and female yelling at each other and, upon arrival, located two people identified as boyfriend and girlfriend.
Both admitted to having a heated argument, which culminated in a shoving match, inside their apartment, police said. The argument continued outside, police said.
Both were issued misdemeanor summonses for disorderly conduct and were released on promises to appear. They were scheduled to appear in state Superior Court in Stamford Monday.
I saw that, and had exactly your reaction.
I read the article about the jounalist that posted the names and addresses of gun permit holders in the paper in NY. I like that you posted the reporter’s name, address, and phone number on here. Serves him right. Just because some has a permits sould not give anyone the right to invade my privacy. However, maybe someone who lives there should thank him. I’ll bet most burglers with avoid those homes in their future endevors. At least they should avoid mine.
As a Life Endowment Member of the NRA I thank you for the release of
the names and address of the idiots that posted the names and addresses
of all of the permit holders.
I just wonder how many of them also have a permit ???
Kudos sir for the defense of the legal gun owners. Keep up the fight.
Outstanding!
Wondering what ever happened to the white headed perv, william goodman ivey who was arrested in August. Saw him smiling and walking on the avenue. Were the charges dropped? He is a neighbor!
Christopher. Your article on Suzie Nestico is unprofessional and misguided. Do you honestly believe everything the media says? I can’t comment on that post, but what does calling her a “slut” have to do with anything she does professionally. I consider myself a conservative but what you’ve said about her doesn’t hold water and it is rude and unprofessional.
Principals aren’t allowed to tell their side, the only side you got was that of the lawyer, Robin Ficker, if you dug deeper, you’d see that he’s a well known heckler in the NBA. If a child – even a 5 year old – goes to the bus stop and threatens to shoot another, she is required to look into it. Because the parents SAY the child was questioned for 3 hours doesn’t mean it – what they are saying is that they were called around 11 am and found out about it.
You can say what you want about what the news media SAYS but what you’ve done has gone way over the line to unprofessionalism and bullying. You have called her things that she isn’t and encouraged that from your commenters. I did call her and ask her about it – she can’t comment on the article, but I know Suzie and she says the article is completely untrue.
Do you ever think if something is too ridiculous to be true that it is? Do you ever think there are two sides? Do you know that there are “Republicans” and “Democrats” involved in this situation and this isn’t some conspiracy?
No, because it is a sensational story and you just had to jump on the bandwagon. Get your facts straight and don’t call women “sluts” because you don’t agree with them. I’m furious.
“ignorant slut” was introduced into our language by Dan Akroyd. I keep using that word; somehow, I don’t think you know what that word means.
now i can call the police and get a restaining order
Deed: Noels sell North End home for $6.6M
California couple buys renovated house on Tangier Avenue
http://www.palmbeachdailynews.com/news/news/national/deed-noels-sell-north-end-home-for-66m/nWxfN/
Chris, any advice for what abutting condo owners can do to enforce RESPONSIBLE redevelopment of the old Crucitti Florist site in OG? Current proposal has 2 stores, 4 apartments, 26 parking spaces & loop driveway exiting at both Post Rd. & teeny Old Kings Hwy – a real mess.
Chris,
Peter Von Braun wrote a LTE that just posted on GT. He talks about being bullied ( him and Sherr ) by the RTC and former PTAC president Sue Rogers. Politics in Greenwich and what it has become. Great letter. Can you post it. We need to do what we can to elect Sherr. Paldunas has been forced to condemn Sherr at all cost. He really betrayed him. Stabbed him right in the back.
Well bullying is certainly in the news these days – maybe we can get McKiersey to intervene?
Loved your article today in NYT.
What amazed me was the guy who went to jail, had assets of $20 million, a garage full of high-end sports cars and a house in Greenwich.
I bought an Aston Martin DBS in a spur of the moment madness and drove it for 3 years. Loved it! I live in Manhattan and am well off. But I couldn’t keep the car. It became a financial liability. $20 million isn’t that much money these days, if you have so much overhead. No wonder the guy went to jail!
I feel like this is worthy of a comment from you …
maybe, is this the next step in the liberal (or Obama’s) agenda? how long before refusing to host an incest wedding results in censure and penalty from the state?
What a weird world it is becoming.
‘It’s ok for homosexuals to do what they want at home, how is this different?’ Lawyer defends Columbia professor charged with incest
http://www.dailymail.co.uk/news/article-1339108/David-Epstein-Homosexuals-want-INCEST-different.html
http://nypost.com/2014/11/10/couple-fined-for-refusing-to-host-same-sex-wedding-on-their-farm/
Enjoy –
Hi! Always enjoy reading your blog – I was wondering if you know of any good resources for stats on cause of death, etc? My daughter was given an article to read at school about the Ferguson incident – I haven’t seen it yet, I requested a copy from her teacher. My brother is a police officer so I am somewhat sensitive to this issue. I just wanted to find some facts on deaths of youth by other youths,,,The ones we never hear about because it doesn’t paint a white police officer in a bad light.I looked around online and theres wasn’t much that has come up.
readers?
A Greenwich public School?
Chris, do you have a private email address with which I can contact you?
Not private, christopher.fountain@gmail.com
(Correspondence is private and confidential, just not my email address )
How do you get a copy of Greenwich Mean Time – not available on Amazon
You ask me – send your address (private email) I’m happy to provide one.
Any thoughts as to how 25 Perryridge is priced?
Has Connecticut truly entered a death spiral?
The current state of finances in Connecticut has been steadily deteriorating. In just one month, from January to February 2016, the state’s revenues declined by $200 million as income tax receipts continued to fall. Based on the latest projections by the non-partisan CT Office of Fiscal Analysis, Connecticut faces a $900 million deficit in the coming 2016-2017 fiscal year. In addition, their projections show the budget deficit ballooning the following two years 2017-2019 to a combined $4.6 billion.
From what I have read, some legislators in Hartford want to make up some of the budget deficit by raising taxes on the top 1% in Connecticut. You might be surprised to learn, again from what I have also read, that the top 1% earn $667,000 and more. It would be hard to call those earning that level of income, billionaires considering the cost of living in Connecticut, especially in Fairfield County.
About 1.4 million people in CT pay income taxes. If the leaders in Hartford decide to only increase the state income tax on the top 1%, it would affect approximately 14,000 households. These households already pay over 30% of all the state income taxes collected, or $2.8 billion out of the approximately $9 billion in state income tax revenue.
With a big election in November of 2016, we should expect Governor Malloy and the leadership in Hartford to rectify the current $900 million shortfall by cutting expenses. Raising taxes in an election year could easily cause the leadership to lose control of both the house and senate in Connecticut. Just this past Friday it was announced that Governor Malloy was cutting $140 million in payments to hospitals.
However, the budget deficit in 2017-2018 grows by another $1.3 billion above the 2016-2017 deficit. As the Governor and leadership in Hartford enter the new budget negotiations early in 2017, taxing the top 1% could be their solution.
The effect of collecting another $1.3 billion in state income taxes from the top 1% would increase their state income tax rate to over 10.25% ($1.3/2.8=46% increase to their existing 6.99% CT state income tax rate). The result would also mean that 1 out of every 100 households in CT would be responsible for over 45% of the state income taxes. I would not call this ‘paying your fair share’.
If Hartford’s solution is to raise taxes on the top 1% of earners, we may see many more leave the state. And the more tax payers that leave the state will drop the $667,000 threshold lower. Clearly, removing more high paying taxpayers from the state would be devastating to everyone left behind.
We learned just this past week that 2 more billionaires (real billionaires) left Connecticut. How many more tax payers will chose to leave the state?
Is this the beginning of the death spiral?
I think it is the beginning. Look at the Greenwich mil rate, which is spiking, along with unfunded liabilities, which are also spiking.
Townies will one day discover that they killed the Goose provided golden eggs.
I looked at houses on Old Round hill Lane a month ago. Most are for sale. Neighbors are getting away from a divorcee who apparently has drug dealers coming into the gated community. If brokers know this, why don’t the police do anything about it?
Just be aware! Bernie Madoffs watch dealer George somlo antiques London England. I howard Gitman watches new York city worked for him using organized crime member’s to get money back for him. 100 % true. Somlo has been racketeering! I went to England to organize this for him.
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