A reader informs me that the builder of 45 Upland Drive hosted an antique show/wine party there the other night, hoping, one supposes, to draw potential buyers. A house on Cognewaugh tried the same thing last Sunday. These events draw people, but are those people buyers? It’s possible, I suppose, and it certainly enables the listing agent to show that he’s doing something to move the damn thing but my personal advice is, if you can’t sell your property in two years, lower the price.
I know, let’s put on a show!
Filed under spec houses
For What It's Worth 
Hello there, I recently heard about your site and decided to look into it myself and came across the posting for 45 Upland Drive. My partner and I run a architectural design services business, we specialize in high-end residential projects, as well as, the occasional retail store, commercial and hospitality projects. About a year ago we were approached by a real estate management company that was familiar with our work and requested we put together a presentation for them to “stage” one of their recent condo conversions. Long story short, they loved it, contracted us to stage the property within two days the property sold. The furniture was then moved to another apartment in the complex ready to be sold. This eventually snowballed into more “staging” projects. We decided to bring the “benefits of staging” to Greenwich back in November, working with Engel and Voelkers on 56 Milbank Ave we hosted an event which attracted a great deal of (real) potential clients. This in turn led to significant leads for the builder and real estate agent. One of the guests happened to be the developer for 45 Upland Ave. who approached us with the intention of “staging” his properties which have been sitting on the market for a significant amount of time. After meeting with him we returned a week later with a presentation and proposed a week long event around antiques, later that week he text messaged me that he did not have the money to spend. A week later I received an invitation to the house, a Christmas party, only to find that when I attended this party he had taken our idea and hosted an antique auction. It was both unexpected and unprofessional. There are true benefits to real estate staging, especially during these times. There are a combination of factors that need to be considered prior to just throwing a party with the hope that new faces will appear and money will pour out. It is a process and proven, I wanted to include some insightful information. A look at the sales history of 200 properties staged. Homes listed for sale prior to staging sat on the market for an average of four and a half months and sold within just over a week afterward. Homes listed for sale after staging sold within 32 to 42 days. In either case, the homes sold for an average of $26,000 more than expected.
(The Benefits of Home Staging
By Pat Mertz Esswein, Associate Editor, Kiplinger’s Personal Finance)
I have been working as a local Greenwich real estate broker for 20 years in town. I was invited to the charity art/antique auction fund raiser that the developer held in their home at 45 Upland Drive. The event was not geared to bringing in buyers, in fact there was not even an MLS listing sheet displayed. (Who is buying homes at Christmas anyway, although I am sure the developer would have appreciated that)…The event catered to people, who in the worst economy ever, were kind enough to open their check books and take time out of their schedules to come and participate in a charity art/antique auction which raised money for the Greenwich YWCA. Non-proifts have been hit really hard by the economy and the developer donated their home for the event as well as made a cash donation directly to the YWCA. I do know that the developer owns a design/build construction company and did display some small brochures of some of their recent work that was well represented to the over 400 guests that were there over two nights. Unfortunately, there seems to be a sore young loser in Monica Valente, who I believe is not even live in Greenwich. I think if she actually has worked a few years and helped local charities she may even win some clients.