I’ve been tempted to do this myself, but geeze

Citibank  kills complaining customer. Wowser

Fences coming back?

So they say. Seems like a lot of work to me. And vinyl? Ugh.

Open house observations

It’s Thursday, so I was prowling around the eastern side (east of North Street) side of town, I saw one house that I thought might – might – go for $1.495  but, better, $1.295 (I try to guess the prices without looking at the open house sheet). No, this one’s asking $1.995 – what am I supposed to do with that? I have angry readers who demand that I sell their houses for what they want, goddamnit it, but honestly, it can’t be done. Buyers aren’t as stupid as sellers  think they are.

Further down  in Riverside, I saw a wonderful  house that I’d leave exactly the way it is, even though it’s being priced as a land sale. But I was struck by the new broker’s comment that they were leaving the price where it had been with the previous broker because “‘the sellers received several offers close to the asking price”. So why the F**K didn’t you take one of those offers, you knuckleheads??!! You lose out on six months of investment income, you’ll have to keep your house in showroom condition for the same period and run the risk that the market will run against you. You have a great new broker – none better – but the market is the market. If someone offers close to your asking price, start talking, keep the deal  moving and close that sale.

I forgot to follow this

India beat Pakistan in cricket, or maybe it was  the other way around. Fudrucker was there to cheer on the winning (or losing) team, while Peter Tesei was there in spirit, but uncertain who to root for. Whatever.

It’s class warfare

Wisconsin police union enforcing boycott of store owners. Fire them all.

Quick sales

6 West Lane (way north, off of Bedford Road) came on January 20 of this year at $8.5 million and is under contract.

36 Brookridge, a brother Gideon listing, was priced at $2.999 February 2 and it, too, has a contract.

10 Winding Lane, Rene Gallagher, listed at $2.5 million December 16, dropped quickly to $2.395, and is selling.

Randy Kelleher listed 21 Chapel Lane in Riverside at $1.575 on March 3 and already has a buyer.

So yes, the market is active – you just need the right price.

Mission Creep

We started with air control, then progressed to bombing Libyan army units, now we have the CIA on the ground. Is this really where we want to go?

Strippers, whores and Howard Stern show up at Gary Dell’Abate’s first Parks and Recs meeting

Well no, of course not. For all the nonsense, the meeting was taken up with such sexy matters as whether to put a new roof  on Eckman Center (it’s needed) and set-back rules for pitchers (I have no knowledge). Mr. Stern was presumably enjoying himself on Long Island while his producer was settling in as a  volunteer board member/parent on the Board. As I’ve said before, Mr. Dell ‘Abate, thank you for your service and welcome aboard.

Same old,same old

Republicans, Demmerkrats begin budget negotiations. Just keep tossing them out until they get the message.,

InstaPundit sums up our worst (to now) ex-President

Come 2012, of course, he’ll have competition

PAR FOR THE COURSE: Jimmy Carter leaves Cuba without jailed US contractor.

Former President Jimmy Carter left Cuba on Wednesday without gaining the release of a U.S. government contractor jailed the past 16 months, a deflating end to what was otherwise a groundbreaking visit.

Carter spent hours talking about improving ties with brothers Raul and Fidel Castro, describing the latter as an “old friend.”

Jeez. And we probably have decades of similar stuff to look forward to once Barack Obama is an ex-president.

Much more on Carter’s beclownment here.

Atlas Shrugged showing April 15th?

Meet up for a movie? I emailed a friend who owns Bow Tie Cinema on Rail Road Avenue and while he’s unwilling to risk  showing the film as a stand-alone show, he’ll rent out part of the place. Hell, I’ll put up the money for this. Rent the place out maybe move across the street to the Cos Cob Revolver and Rifle Club, and then dinner at Will Morton’s Rotisserie. You guys game? Let me know,

Obummer’s War

Obama has his war and John Kerry has signed on, so when it all goes to Hell, The Massachusetts war vet  will  have a hard time denying he was for it before he was against it. Obama will just vote “present” as he skates away. Can we afford a third war?  And what happens when Iran attacks?

Sales, contracts, price cuts

26 Brynwood (off Round Hill right on the Merritt), Sold for $6.275 in June, 2002, asked $7.8 in 2007  dropped to $4.75 this past October, and has a contract.

34 North Hawthorn sold for $1.104 in 2004, was asking $1,2 million recently and also has a contract.

26 Mohawk sold for $7.5 in 2008, asked $7.850 this past year, has slashed its price to $5.995 and still has no takers,

“So typical”, says Peter Tesei.

India and Pakistan are playing for the (for them) defining cricket  World Cup match while Frank and Cathy Fudrucker are off sipping tea in far-away Ceylon,with Fudrucker swishing an idle bat at the occasional cricket ball. Tesei,  reached by FWIW’s Scusie, was furious.

“Outrageous!  He claims to be a world leader and he’s marooned at  one of  the satellites of the World Cup? The man has lost all credibility to lead Greenwich! Why, if I knew where those two wogs were meeting, at wherever the hell their match is, “I’d be there, eating cucumber/ cobra sandwiches and discussing investing in Greenwich – you can count on that!  Fudrucker is simply abandoning his responsibilities here. You just wait until the Greenwich croquet season opens – then you’ll see the difference between Republians  and Demmerkrats.”

Luckless bastard

Back when I shared law offices with Jeremy Kaye and Phil Russell, I bought the occasional Lottery ticket when  the pool raised to an excitable  level among the secretaries. Not that I thought I’d win – it’s a fools’ game, but I didn’t want to be seen as some grumpy statistician, so I just shut up and tossed in a buck. This guy didn’t. and lost out, big. On Monday, he was the only of his seven-team IT group to show up for work – everyone else could, and did, quit.

This time, I’ll stay by the fireplace and wait for the snowplow

According to Greenwich Time, we’re about to be walloped by a huge storm tomorrow – snow or rain? Wait and see.

Gabrieles: $450 for four? Ain’t happening here, fella

The Old Luca’s on Church Street has been reincarnated as Gabrieles  and getting rave reviews. But at these prices, I’ll wish them well and stay well away. I can travel to NYC and be ripped off by Smith and Wolensky’s for the same tariff.

UPDATE: Of course, now that they’re charging for ice in NYC, you might want to stay right here in town. Or in my case, stay home.

Trouble in River city: 39 Month’s Inventory!

Reader IB’r sends this along from Russ Pruner’s brother:

How’d you miss out on a quote here. From the WSJ post:

“Mark Pruner of Prudential Connecticut Realty in Greenwich, Conn., sent me a chart showing the supply of homes in Greenwich. Greenwich of course, lives or dies on the health of the financial markets (hedge funds, Wall Street), so you would think the town should lead any recovery.

But the chart below shows that Greenwich has a 39-month supply of homes priced at $10 million or more. That compares to inventory of only six months for homes priced at less than $400,000, which in Greenwich won’t even buy you Steve Cohen’s Zamboni shed.

At the current sales rate, it will take more than three years to clear out the town’s supply of megamansions, and that assumes that no new ones come on the market.”

One, and someone will probably cut you a break. Six? Not so good.

It’s still cold out there, so if you’re caught stealing one warm coat, you’ll probably be treated leniently. Six at a time gets you in trouble, even if you’re trying to build a cozy bed under the bridge.

I’m not sure this was wise

The University of Connecticut lost $2 million sending its football team to the Fiesta Bowl this year while the bowl organizers partied with strippers and whores. If the kids got to join in the fun, fine; it seems though, that we tax payers got the bill while the “fiesta Bowl folks had all the fun. That’s typical, I suppose.