There’s still time, but here’s my candidate for the year’s most idiotic combination of headline and article

Man dies after eating 28 raw eggs. So far, so good: love these human interest stories. But after recounting how some dumb mutt lost a bet with a friend that he could consume 30 raw eggs, the article branches off into this useless piece of knowledge:

Whilst eggs cooked properly are a great source of protein and part of a healthy diet, raw eggs could cause food poisoning and may contain salmonella bacteria.

If you are making food demanding raw eggs, such as mayonnaise or ice cream, use pasteurised eggs to eliminate risks.

Whatever caused this poor man’s abrupt return to the land of his ancestors, I guarantee you it wasn’t food poisoning occasioned by eating a bad egg.

Another year end sale

 

15 Delwood

15 Delwood (off of Church Street), $4.2 million. Built new a few years ago, it sold in  September 2010 for $4.1 million. These sellers clearly lavished some serious money and care over the past two years making this house their own, and the result was superb. I had clients who bid successfully on it but then decided in favor of a house with more land – this one has almost none. But it does have convenience to town going for it and, as noted, it’s a truly exceptional home. I know what we bid, and $4.2 doesn’t surprise me in the least. Those clients and I spent a lot of time looking at the $4 to $5+ million inventory this year and this one, as well as the one they eventually bought, were the benchmarks for comparative value. There are a lot of houses on the market now asking over $5 million that don’t come close.

That’s just my opinion, of course, and that of my clients and these buyers, whoever they are. The owners of those more expensive houses must disagree, but their failure to sell suggests that they’re wrong.

Long time former owner of 58 North Street dies

From a reader, this obituary of Dr. Edwin Kent, who died December 18th at age of 91. NOT the last owner, who sold it just a few days ago, but a previous one. Sounds like a fascinating, accomplished man. I loved his house, that’s for certain.

Good news for relics

46 Vineyard Lane

46 Vineyard Lane, reported as under contract just a few days ago closed yesterday at $6.5 million. That’s down considerably from its original asking price 984 days ago of $9.950 but it’s not chump change either. The market for the 1920s mansions of the then-newly-rich is still breathing, apparently. Making your statement of having arrived via a century-old house has fallen out of favor over the past decade but it seems there are still people who want the “brown furniture look”, as one reader has described it.

Or else someone just wanted to grab the 6+ acres of this listing and build on two or three lots. In the two-acre zone in this location, even $3 million per lot might be reasonable and at three lots, the place is a veritable bargain.