April 7, 2011 · 12:14 pm

Someone ought to say it and I’m already hated …

So I went and saw the $3.5 million 8 St. Claire house today and it’s as preposterously priced as I guessed. “It’s not proper to make fun of another agent’s listing”, snapped an acquaintance, and I respect her professionalism, but when we’re all shaking our heads, why shouldn’t someone say the Emperor has no clothes? I couldn’t care less whether a house uses vegetable dyes on its floors and, in my experience, home buyers don’t either. Someone described this as a “Colorado House”, whatever the hell that means, but the only Coloradoan I know with the bucks to buy this place is John Denver, and he’s dead.

28 Comments

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28 responses to “Someone ought to say it and I’m already hated …”

  1. Riverside Raider
    April 7, 2011 at 12:56 pm

    $3.5mm is a lot to pay for a tear-down.

    I mean it.

    From the front-loaded garage on a street where everyone watches the kids from their front yards, to the 2nd-grade, 2nd-dimension geometric exterior, to the open-air interior balloon aggregator for your surprise parties, the only positive will come when someone buys it.

    Confirmation that you’re no longer the sucker in town…

    Or that we’ve reached Dow 36,000 after all.

  2. Anonymous
    April 7, 2011 at 1:00 pm

    The house is the ugliest thing I have ever seen. Someone please tell me the consequences to the neighbors having a basement of that size- Is that being “Green?”

  3. Burning Madolf
    April 7, 2011 at 1:16 pm

    CF, this brings up a great topic: feedback. If I am a seller, and I ask my broker to ask the buyer’s broker to ask potential buyers to provide feedback, what can I expect?
    Short of having my broker do every showing, do you think buyer-to broker-to broker- to seller, will ever get me the info I want and need to hear (your house sucks, too expensive, smells funny, etc.) ? Or will it be filtered out by the time it reaches me so I don’t get my feelings hurt.

    • christopherfountain
      April 7, 2011 at 2:02 pm

      We do give feed back when asked, but i think it’s filtered. And check out the comments I’ve just posted. The last time I dared to do such a thing I was hauled before the ethics committee and censored, and will probably suffer the same fate this time (I think my probation expired a month ago so I’m doing it again). You might think sellers would want honest opinions of customers and agents, but you’d be wrong.

  4. anon
    April 7, 2011 at 2:30 pm

    If this “Colorado House” was in Colorado, it would be about $200K

  5. Gideon Fountain
    April 7, 2011 at 3:06 pm

    I like it. Great house, and I’m declaring here and now: they may well get their price!

  6. Treepart
    April 7, 2011 at 3:34 pm

    Vegetable dyes……is that like when my kids spill ketchup on the floor?

  7. Ethel the Pirate
    April 7, 2011 at 3:41 pm

    Correction, I said I would be happy to have any listing alluding to my desire for more business, or more busy-ness! I support my fellow RHPers as they have done for me in the past. Only time will tell…..
    Glad to see you out and about and in what appears to be good health!

  8. Ethel the Pirate
    April 7, 2011 at 4:06 pm

    disregard last post please. I am posted!

  9. Anonymous
    April 7, 2011 at 5:04 pm

    At minimum, RHP ought to post some usable photos of this house on their website. The two living room pictures are stretched out of perspective; and how come no photo of the kitchen or bathrooms? Even an ugly house deserves better than this from the listing agency.

    http://www.roundhillpartners.com/thedock.asp?hID=404

  10. CT CPA
    April 7, 2011 at 7:32 pm

    How come the property taxes on this place are so low? $8,912.

    I’ve seen that happen on a new-build before the town has issued a C.O. Is that the case here?

  11. anon
    April 7, 2011 at 8:09 pm

    So many things are F’d up about this house. I went to the above RHP link and discovered that this “FIRST “GREEN” HOME BUILT FOR THE MARKET” is 4,800 sq ft but only has 3BR and 5BA. What is so “green” about having 4,800 sq ft for only 3BR? My house is 4BR and 3,200 sq ft, does that mean my house is greener because I can house more people while heater and cooling less space? And what do you need 5 bathrooms for if you are trying to be green and save water???

    How does a $3.5mm, 4,800 sq ft home in OG only pay $8,912 in taxes? I pay more than that for my OG house which is probably worth half that price. I suspect that $8,912 number is misleading since this is new construction and perhaps it’s based off the assesment of the $900K house that was torn down and put in a landfill to make room for this “green” house.

    Lastly, I don’t think the “NEW YORK ARCHITECT” has a feel for the New England style architecture of the OG area because this house is out of character for the street. It looks like it belongs in the gaudy Hamptons. Perhaps a New York buyer will show up and buy it?

    If I were the listing realtor, I would have parked a Prius with an Obama sticker in the driveway instead of a gas guzzling Jeep. And he/she should have Photoshopped a nice blue sky with puffy clouds into the picture.

  12. Al Johnson
    April 7, 2011 at 8:44 pm

    Listing agent has a bigger problem than you: the house is invisible to a Google search. Look for “St. Claire Avenue” with or without the 8, and you get Chris’ post– but the actual listing is nowhere to be found. Thanks to Anonymous for finding the listing, and being right on about the crappy photos. I’ll add that the advertising copy is gibberish, too. You’d think that in a slow market an agent would make some extra effort–

  13. pulled up in OG
    April 7, 2011 at 9:26 pm

    What is it with front doors these days? 34 Hendrie hides in a corner, getting to this one looks like a friggin’ obstacle course.

  14. OG Woman
    April 8, 2011 at 3:13 am

    Who was the builder on 8 St Claire? I have been trying to find out information on a construction company named Kramer Lane. They built a couple of houses on St. Claire that look like quality homes.

  15. greenwich dude
    April 8, 2011 at 5:19 am

    from the pictures it looks lovely

    there’s no accounting for taste

    but a lesson learned: unlike in NYC or LA, out in greenwich tread carefully with modern / post-modern design. that’s not how “we” do it out here

  16. Treepart
    April 8, 2011 at 7:52 am

    That’s a Westport Compo Beach area house. Pick it up and put it back where it belongs.

    • christopherfountain
      April 8, 2011 at 8:17 am

      Treepart, you are exactly right. In fact, I kind of liked the house, but I ws trying to figure out where it fit. I was very much reminded of my mom’s childhood girlfriend’s house on Malibu Beach that I visited in 1963 but yeah – Compo, circa 1980: you nailed it.

  17. South of Village
    April 8, 2011 at 9:11 am

    3 beds + 5 baths was a bad move. should be 4 + 4. but the interior ceilings, built-ins, and open layout actually look kind of nice from the photos. this is a modern home that is out of place in OG of 2010. but it’s possible that generic colonials could be out of place in the OG of 2020. tastes do change.

  18. Pete
    April 8, 2011 at 10:57 am

    The taxes of $8,912 are from last year with no assessment on the house. The new assessment has $796,500 (100%) on the house and that is likely based on “still under construction”. Taxes on the new assessment would be about $14,500.

  19. Mid Country
    April 8, 2011 at 12:44 pm

    I quite like the house. However I agree that the price is high and it is a big risk being that out of line with the prevailing style in the area. Last, as somebody else pointed out, why the heck can’t Round Hill put some decent pictures on their website? At the right price the appearance won’t deter a buyer from New York, LA or even Greenwich.

  20. pulled up in OG
    April 8, 2011 at 1:05 pm

    Nice catch, Pete.

    Bait & switch? Fraud? Deceptive adv? What say you, CF?

  21. Anonymous
    April 8, 2011 at 5:56 pm

    Looks like RHP got the hint about the photos of this house on their web listing… the two stretched-out LR ones are gone. Not replaced yet but it says they read FWIW….That’s a good thing.

  22. Brian
    April 10, 2011 at 8:46 am

    JohnDenver and his estate had their money with Madoff (for real)….Annie Denver now rents in Aspen. so not chance for this one.

  23. Peeps
    April 11, 2011 at 7:50 am

    The livingroom looks like the Jetson’s. That doesn’t mean I don’t like it, though. I always liked the Jetson’s livingroom.

  24. Anonymous
    April 11, 2011 at 9:25 am

    Check out the RHP link NOW. They got our message loud and clear. All new photos, really good ones even, the Jeep is gone, kitchen, and gosh, the place looks great. Hard to imagine why RHP didn’t do this in the first place, but hey, better late than never.

    http://www.roundhillpartners.com/thedock.asp?hID=404