Sales and a contract

34 Hearthstone Drive

34 Hearthstone Drive, one of two homes on land split off a rear lot back in 2000 (? or so) sold for $2.3 million. It sold new in 2003 for $1.650, and $2.050 in 2009. This owner apparently put in a new kitchen, redid baths, and so forth, so this price vs 2009’s doesn’t seem out of line. In fact, I’m not sure the owner broke even on those improvements, after commissions and taxes are figured in.

If I recall, the original lot split was fiercely resisted by the neighbors, with all the claims of water run-off, increased traffic etc. I have no opinion on the validity of those objections, but the sales of these two lots helped ignite the subsequent land rush on Hearthstone, greatly benefiting the wallets, if not the peace-of-mind of those neighbors.

11 Meadowcroft Lane

11 Meadowcroft Lane,  the smaller (3 acres, no extra lot) sold for $6.750 million. Back in 2012, Ogilvy had it at $8.8 million and it didn’t sell. This time, Bill Andruss of Sotheby’s got it right.

51 Lockwood Avenue

And 51 Lockwood Avenue, Old Greenwich, reports a contract. It was asking $1.395 million, and had a contract in less than a week. That might mean it went above ask – I don’t know.

God made the Idiot for practice, and then He made the School Board. Mark Twain

Greenwich BOE assembles

Two commenters have supplied notice of a school board busing public forum tomorrow night Central Middle School. Here:

FYI – on the website- the public forum is:
05-30
Public Forum: Facilty Utilization & Racial Balance
7:00 PM
Central Middle School

Not sure why it is not mentioned in above notice.
Everyone should go tomorrow!

In addition, you may want to file a comment with the school board here.

Well this should kill the Riverside boom

The new “proposed” school board redistricting plan will send half of Riverside’s school kids to New Lebanon elementary in Byram. This to achieve “racial balance” from east to west. Still want to split the BOE seats equally between Republicans and Democrats?

Scroll down to pages beginning at 53 to get to the two options. Both will cut Riverside in half and send everyone west of Indian Head Road all the way to the Port Chester border. Don’t gloat: when property values drop top nothing in Riverside  the Grand List will drop in half and we’ll all pay the price in higher taxes to make up the shortfall. Vote Democratic? Only if you hate your children and love poverty.

Sparks of activity

28 Welwyn, Rvsd

28 Welwyn Road, off of Indian Head, has gone to contract today. Listing price is $3.650 million so that’s a nice sign. Good house, built in 2003 either for the present owners or they bought it from its builder but a solid home and Welwyn’s a great street.

35 Sunshine Ave. also in Riverside but north of the Post Rd. was reported as under contract before, I think, but in any event, it’s there now. This house needs replacing, even though (or because) it served as home for those rowdy Kaye kids, and was listed as land, first at $790,000 back in July and then this February at $650,000. The last reduction seems to have done the trick.

Thene there are some price cuts reported today that, while they aren’t yet sales, at least show that their sellers are getting serious. 173 Stanwich, a contemporary on 2 acres, originally came priced at $3.595, today it’s $2.195. Two Grimes Road, in Shorelands, sold for $1.250 million in 2000, was put back up for sale in 2004 at $1.745 and sold in a bidding war for $1.904 (remember 2004?). Those buyers tried getting $2.795 in May, 2007, and after two years of waiting for a buyer to appear have reduced it today to $2.325. Twenty-sixValley Road, a speck of a lot in Cos Cob, debuted at $640 in May and has now dropped to $425,000. Thirty-seven Midwood, off of Glenville Road, tried things out at $1.750 for awhile and is $1.395 now.  And then we have 98 Glenwood, in Belle Haven, which must have had a beautiful setting when it was built in 1838 but which now overlooks the Belle Haven Club. Nice water views and how painful can it be to look over a beach club, but still, its first price of $16.8 million brought to mind Crazy Eddy and not necessarily in a positive way. It’s got a new broker and a new price today: $12.5 million. Still a tad out of my range, but an improvement.

Riverside

A reader has complained that I ignore houses in Riverside (!) He’s a regular commentator so I know he reads this blog – I can’t imagine how he’s missed all I’ve written about Riverside. If anything, I write too often about houses here. I know that I wrote just recently about 26 Marks Rd, now priced way below what the seller paid for it and still looking for a buyer. As a creek neighbor of this one I’m naturally rooting for a high price but so far, no luck. Nice house,too with creek frontage and good views. Further down that same road on the corner of Marks and Riverside Avenue is a renovated Dutch Colonial (or Georgian – everything’s a Georgian these days) originally priced at a shed over three million, now in the high 2s. Good location, good house. 30 Owenoke, the Nokia-owned house, recently went to contract – its last asking price was something like $2.6, below what the seller paid for it a few years ago. There’s a nice house down on Wesskum Wood near the Owenoke intersection that was added on to, renovated and been on and off the market the past few years. It’s on again now and, although I forget the price, it didn’t strike me as unreasonable. Again, a good location and a good-looking house. I’ll dig up its price tomorrow.

If I haven’t mentioned a number of Riverside houses recently it’s probably because I thought they were too over-priced to mention without embarrassing their owners. There is one on Welwyn, which I did write about, that came on at $3.6 million (I think). Nice house but I thought that was high for this market yet it drew an acceptable offer the first weekend it was on. Those buyers didn’t last for reasons that had nothing to do with the price or the house, but it was a sign of life. I mentioned 264 Riverside Avenue (or a number close to that) purchased for $3.850 in August ’07 and back on for what they paid. I said then that I’d be curious to see whether they could get that price or whether the market had dropped. I’m still curious, because it’s still for sale.

And so on. Point being, I don’t ignore Riverside. We’re just not seeing much new inventory and, like the rest of the town, very little action in the old. Stay tuned.

How much are refinished floors and a new furnace worth?

Sixty-eight Willowmere Circle is a modest house in a great neighborhood. It sold for $2.9 million in August 2007 and the new owners have done some painting, added central air, redone the floors and installed a new furnace. They have listed it for sale today for $3.150 million which certainly isn’t nuts, but may be a tough sell these days. It’s still a reasonable price to get into Willowmere, but I’m a Riverside boy and prejudiced.

4 Weston Hill, Riverside

4 Weston Hill

This is a nice house on a good street, nice pool, backyard, and all that. It sold for $1.650 in 2002 and was listed for sale again in 2008 for $2.495, which wasn’t the right price. That listing expired and its now with a new broker and asking $1.995. That may still not do the trick, but fans of this market should take note that it’s $500,000 less than its owners originally wanted. Reality bites.

Great new Riverside listing

No, not my listing, but the house belongs to friends of mine. 3 Marks Road, on the corner of Riverside Avenue, 3,000  5,000 – listing erred sf, beautifully renovated in 2002, waterviews of the creek (wave to me as I pass by) and asking around $3.1. There are recent comps to support that price and I think it’s a good one. Of course, I would, because what’s good around the corner can only be good for my own house, so take my opinion with a grain of salt, but I think this is good value. The nicest people in the world own it so if they’re moving, that’s a bummer. Say it ain’t so, Steve.

UPDATE: I saw it and it’s very nice. But, taking off my friendship hat and putting on my buyer’s rep  hat, I’d suggest that there’s some negotiating room here. But a very nice, 1913 house modernized, renovated and expanded. Good house if you want to live in Riverside.