I went out looking for land in Riverside this morning and attended the open house for 19 Hidden Brook, 0.4 acre, R-12, asking $1.495, that just came on. I thought that was a fair price but the agent told me they’d already received 21 offers and were going to sealed bids this afternoon. Lot of pent-up demand for new housing in Riverside.
On the other hand, some other open houses I saw aren’t going anywhere fast. One was offering a gift certificate to whoever came closest to predicting its ultimate selling price, but the gap between what the owner is asking and what I think it’s worth is so wide that it will be a year or more before it sells – who wants to wait a year for a gift certificate?
Another house was, I thought, quite nice, and I figured that it would probably sell close to its asking price, so long as that price was under $2 million. Imagine my surprise when I picked up the listing sheet and discovered it was priced at $4. I might be wrong in my valuation but I’m pretty sure I’m not $2 million wrong.
For What It's Worth 
Solyndra redux?
http://online.wsj.com/article/SB10001424052702304791704577420350163856824.html?KEYWORDS=a123#articleTabs%3Dvideo
This is interesting, especially in light of the conversation about 2 Marks Road. Figure 19 Hidden Brook goes as a land sale at about $1.56M or so. It tells you what the market thinks about the lot of 2 Marks Road which has a nice modern house on it asking under $2M.
The disconnect between this small area and the surrounding communities is astounding. Strength begets strength?
sealed bids because they are all so low and embarassing.
I doubt that. But $1.5 would have been a tad high in 2007 so I’m curious to see what a Riverside building lot on a good street sells for today More, apparently.
This is a good size lot and a great location in Riverside, so I predict it will go over 1.55.
Hidden Brook is a great Riverside location BUT 21 offers? That sounds like an exaggerated number to me.
The agent in question has been known to expand on reality a bit in the past so yeah, I’d take that number with a grain of salt. But it is indeed going to a sealed bid process so clearly there were multiple offers.
What do you think about 41 Hidden Brook that just came on ?
I liked it and thought it pretty good value but clients if mine felt it was laid out like a passenger train and passed on it.price dropped yesterday so obviously buyers agree with my own clients. But great street and a house in excellent condition, so I’d expect it to sell pretty quickly
CF you have often talked about the disparity of Riverside (esp new construction ) to the rest of the town . While i dont belive the 21 offers bit either …as a long time realtor in greenwich … would it be more accurate to depict the housing mkt as obviosuly not being in the bubble years it had been leading up to 2006/2007 but actually a more realistic market now and not exactly as economically being in some sort of Recession / Depression .. if i were a buyer reading how bearish u always are on real estate ( and i agree there at lots of reasons – OBummer , aging demographics , downward pressure on Investment Banker incomes etc ) i think id rent and not buy ? just saying