Real estate news?

There is none. No contracts yesterday, no contracts today. I have a sale coming up that was never reported as under contract (that’s up to the listing agent) and, I hope, a contract to report in a day or two. I hear rumors of more activity – someone told me today that that new construction on Tomac, asking mid $3s, has a buyer (!) and that’s all I hear.

But there are a lot of active buyers out and looking so I think we can expect a flurry of sales before Christmas, if anyone out there drops his price. The buyers are ready, the sellers are not.

 

Sale and a contract, two bits

40 Meyer Place in Riverside, one of those “convenient to transportation” locations, sold today for $920,000, down from its asking price of $1.095, 1.08% of its $853,000 assessment.

UPDATE: I blew this call. Back in September when this house was reported as under contract I predicted it would sell for “well below” its assessed value. Not the first time I’ve been wrong and certainly not the last.

10 Sparrow lane, a nice older house with a good yard backing up to a graveyard started out at $5.250 in February 2008 is reported “pending” today. Its last asking price was $3.8 million so depending on its actual selling price, it could come out quite a bit ahead of its $3.0 asessment. Or not – we’ll see.

Early morning reporting activity

Two sales reported from last week:

98 Lower Cross, a renovated house on 0.5 acre in the 4-acre zone, listed at $2.195 and sold for 84% of that, $1.850. Assessment was just $1.056 but in this case, I think the assessor, not the buyer, was off.

39 Hearthstone, $1.750 ask, sold for 82%, $1.450. Assessment was $1.428.

I think the fact that both these homes sold where they did is testament to their listing agents (Gideon Fountain and Joanne Gorka, respectively) recognizing what has happened to the market in the past year. Or at least, they didn’t start at 2004 prices and go up from there, as so many current listings have done.

And we have a contract reported, 21 Gatefield Drive, originally priced at $3.675 and marked down, after a year, to $2.895. Noo word on sale price yet, but assessment is $2.1. I was not enthusiastic about this house nor its location, but obviously someone else was. Which is how real estate works.

Two more sale prices to add to data base

149 Old Church Rd

This is a great house that started out at $3.795 in ’08 and sold today for $2.304 million – 61% of asking price. The owners paid $1.975 million for it in 1998 and poured a ton of money into renovating it so as an investment, it was no better than Bear Stearns stock, but they had a lovely place to live for years. There are two similar houses still for sale on the same street, still priced way up in the $3s. But, as their owners will tell you, those houses are different.

 

 

4 Buxton Lane

And here’s a surprise: 4 Buxton Lane, asking $2.795, has sold for $2.4 million. That’s not only 86% of its asking price, it’s substantially higher than a similar house sold next door in 2004 or 2005. Well, Riverside is a nice place to live and someone obviously liked this home’s build and back yard more than he cared about the noise from I-95. Or perhaps he’s a truck spotter – they pay extra for proximity to their quarry.

No contracts today, but some sales data

41 Stonebridge nee Hooker Lane: $1.590 million. Purchased $1.555 2003. Assessment: $1.490

11 Juniper: $4,000,000. Purchased 2002: $4.3 million. Assessment: $3.5 million

48 Byfield Lane (new). $5.150 million. Original price (2007) $7.5 million. Assessment: $4.12 million

143 Otter Rock: $4.5 million. Bought 2007: $4.7 million.

407 Sound Beach Ave (new): $3.250. Original price (2008): $3.995 Assessment: $1.96 (must have friend in assessor’s office)

Sales

12 Buckingham (off Roberta). Listed at $1.295, increased to $1.5 (go figure) sold – out -of-town-broker, $1,302,501. Assessed value (70% of 2005 market value) $1.310,810.

72 Summit – quarter acre lot (with a house in the way). Listed at $795, sold for $799. Now you know what a building lot on Summit’s worth. Assessed value, $911,000.

25 MacArthur – renovated, bought for $1.450 in 2007, sold Friday for $1.380. Not too bad.

Back on market: 357 Stanwich, 1900 house on corner of Cognewaugh, listed at $2.850 August ’08, new broker (Round Hill Partners), new price: $2.095. ML# 74069.

Friday happenings

On the run since 7 this morning and no time to post until now but obviously I’m not the only agent who’s busy. The difference is, some have been more productive than I. One sale reported today, and four contracts. That’s nice, but it’s interesting to see the histories of these properties.

19 Dingletown Road sold for $1.6 million in 1998 and was listed for sale again, untouched so far as I could tell, for $2.495 in 2008. It sold today for $1.6 million, so at least it provided symmetry to the seller, if not riches.

510 North Street, a grand old, tired brick home (1924?) on 2.8 acres remaining from its original land, was listed by David Ogilvy in 2002 for $11.5 million. The Ogilvy magic wasn’t enough to overcome the demerits of the house but it did finally sell after a few broker and price changes for $6.550 in 2005. The buyers renovated and put it back up for sale this past May with Shore & Country at the very smart price of $5.995, and already has a buyer.

407 Sound Beach Avenue, new construction was listed at $3.995 a long time ago and finally dropped to $3.350. It, too is under contract.

65 Meadow Road in Riverside started at $4.750 an recently dropped to $3.995 and has a contract today. My guess, and it’s just a guess, is that it’s selling for around $3.5.

143 Otter Rock in Belle Haven has been for sale practically forever, starting at $6.2 million in 2002 and ending up today, again after many brokers and price changes,with Katharine Adams, at $5.395. And lo, a contract.

Finally, 14 Ben Court, in Old Greenwich, was a land deal priced at $1.495. I’d pegged it as worth maybe $1.1ish but 24 days after being listed it has a contract so it shows what I know.

But, looking at these histories, it’s clear that with the exception of Ben Court and 510 North Street, all these sellers endured long, long periods where their houses were on the market but not selling, all because they were chasing illusory prices. As the previous owners of 510 North would probablyagree, overpricing your house ends up annoying and inconveniencing you with no concomitant reward. What a bummer.

House sales

9 Ridgebrook (near Greenwich Academy), ML # 73453, sold for $2.6 million. That’s a hefty price for this place, but not as hefty as the $3.7 the sellers tried to get for it in 2007. They’ve been whacking the price ever since then and after dumping their first broker and retaining another, they finally got it to $2.695, which attracted a buyer. This place last sold, as a wreck, in 2003 for $1.861 and the new owners did a lot of work to it. The assessed value was just $1.630 but I don’t know if that reflected the improvements.

9 Boyd Lane, ML # 72202, that little dead end off Riverside Lane and at the epicenter of last year’s whiffleball kerfuffle, sold for $400,00, down quite a bit from its ask of $575,000 and way down from its assessed value of $661,780. At $400,00o, even an obsolete little cottage of 1,200 sq. ft. seems reasonable, or it does this year. We’ll see what it looks like next July.

A sale and a price cut

27 Ford Lane

27 Ford Lane, new construction in Old Greenwich, asked $4.550 million, just sold for $3.576. The builder paid $2.085 for the land in ’07, so I wouldn’t call this a home run, but it’s a nice house and I think the buyer got a fair value. ML# 72676

3 Roger Rd (Lane? Off of Baldwin Farms) was renovated and sold for $4.595 million in 2002 and sold again for $5 million in August, 2005. That buyer has now dropped it to $4.195. ML # 73134

Sales

21 Cornelia Drive closed at $5.350 million. Original price, 2005, $11.7 million. Assessed value: $4.205

52 Round Hill Rd sold for $2.150 million. Original price $4.4. Bought for $3 million in 2000. Assessed value: $2.641

18 Woodside. Never on market, $2.295. Assessed value, $1.875

Two sales reported

135 Park Ave (Greenwich)

135 Park Avenue , ML # 73158 (the Greenwich Park Ave, across from Christ Church) sold for $2.450 million yesterday. Listed originally in 2008 at $4.3 million, assessed value $2,755,200.

 

17 Marks Road (ML# 70934) sold for $1.820 million. Sold for $2.250 in ’04, again in ’06 for $2.495 and listed in 2008 for $2.695. Assessed value, $1.663 million.

Three sales

16 Irvine (ML# 71938) sold for $822,000. Owners paid $640,000 for it in 2003, renovated it with new kitchen, baths, etc. in 2007 and tried selling it that year for $1.150 million. Took two years and many price cuts but the job got done. Assessment: $733,810.

11 Brown House Road sold for $1.665 but this is one of those “for reporting purposes only” deals so it was never exposed to the market and  we don’t know anything about that price, good or bad. Owners paid $1.120 for it in 1999.

48 Highview (ML#72788) sold for full asking price of $1.685, which makes sense: I know the owners and they deliberately priced it to sell. Shows what can happen even in this market (this was a May contract) when you aren’t stupid. They bought this for $1.560 in 2002 and did a beautiful job renovating it, so they may have “lost” money on the deal, if you don’t consider the shelter value for seven years, tax deductions etc. And of course, they’re buying something else that is much cheaper now than it was a year ago and they knew enough to look at the entire transaction, not just the sell side. I told you they were smart.

Quiet morning

Not much happening on this rainy Tuesday morning. That land on Meadowcroft, asking $5 million and reported under contract a few weeks ago, was reported sold today for $5.1 million, showing that there is still a market for exceptional land in great locations.

Other than that, lots of price reductions. I find it encouraging to see house prices lopping off $3-$400,000 because it means that, slowly, Greenwich prices are becoming more affordable. That will bring in buyers who have wanted to live here but until now, couldn’t.

One bit of “wisdom” picked up by a friend who was talking to a band of New yorkers last night. They and their friends all want to move to Greenwich but are afraid to do so because “all” their friends out here plan to pull their kids from private school and send them to our public schools, so Greenwich schools will be too crowded. There’s lots of knowledge out there that isn’t, so I won’t believe this until the tuition bills come due in three weeks. On the other hand, real estate rumors, especially in Greenwich, often have a grain of truth. So we’ll see in three weeks, I guess.

Sales still happen

215 Orchard

And not necessarily at rock-bottom prices. This one on Orchard, across from Central Middle School, sold last week for an even $3 million. That’s down from its asked-for price of $3.8 back in 2006 but it’s not all that painful. Who knew there was a $3 million buyer out there?

 

126 Cat Rock

But here’s an example of a house that still won’t sell, despite being very close to its 2001 price, when it sold at full price for $3.6million. Today it’s at $3.7 million. Other than reader Stanwich, who loves the road, Cat Rock is often a difficult sell, particularly in a weak market. My guess, and it’s just a guess, is that, if these owners have to sell in the near future, they’re going to have to take a loss.

The Power of Cash

114 Overlook Drive

I wrote about this house just two weeks ago when its price dropped. It sold for $1.695 million in 2004, $1.896 in August, 2007 and was listed last December for $1.990. It sold last Friday to a cash buyer for $1.550 million. Other sellers in Milbrook will disagree, but their house values just dropped, I think – yes, I know, this house is not officially in Milbrook proper, which begins on the opposite side of the street, but you’re still affected. In my opinion.

4 Waterfall Lane, a Cos Cob cottage that I also wrote about recently, also sold Friday for $900,000. It last sold, almost 5 years ago, for $879. Before that, it sold in 2002 for $730,000. That seller had purchased it for $430,000 in 1998, thrown a little money into fixing it up and then cleared out. I’d say he made out best of all the recent owners. But that was then and ….