Taxes
I held an open house on the western border of Greenwich last weekend and met a couple from NYC. They asked about taxes and, when told that they were under ten thousand a year, insisted I must be wrong. “We were just across the street,” the husband said, “and the taxes were twice that. For a less expensive house.” I pointed out that “across the street” was also across the state line, and welcomed them to Greenwich. Greenwich’s mil rate is $10.43 per $1,000 of assessed value (70% of market). A home with a market value of $1.2 million is taxed $8,761. Westchester County taxes that same property 2 1/2 times as heavily (plus an additional 15% as of last week) as does Stamford. That’s one reason why Greenwich real estate values are so high. If we can avoid Hartford’s attempt to double the conveyance tax and impose a “millionaire’s tax”, we should continue to enjoy our position of strength. If Hartford does impose those new taxes (and because most voters don’t live in Fairfield County it probably will) Stamford will suffer even more. Lucky old Stamford.
Speaking of Stamford
I notice a rivulet of Stamford agents coming into town, attending open houses and listing homes for sale. Nothing immoral about that; an agent licensed in Connecticut is free to sell anywhere in the state, but I wonder why they’re here? Most Greenwich agents know far too little about Stamford—its schools, neighborhoods or respective values—to even consider trying to sell there. An agent offers his client knowledge; if that’s lacking, so too is value. My guess is that, just as a bad winter drives starving deer out of the woods, Stamford’s real estate market is suffering. There is no statistical support for my theory, but it at least has the merit of being mean-spirited.
Is Paris Burning?
Here’s a conundrum: If a $14 million dollar home sells for $10.5, and an $11 million listing drops to $7 million, shouldn’t that decline continue through the price line? $5 million to $3 million, and so on, until the owner of a $450 thousand dollar home pays you to take it off his hands? So far, nothing like that is occurring. The high end has been trimmed by Wall Street’s collapse but other prices are still firm, and homes are selling. I theorize that that there aren’t enough houses in the nose-bleed altitude to affect the rest of the market. If, say, there are two hundred potential buyers in the $1.5-$3.5 range (and if so, all of you are invited to contact me immediately), the presence on the market of a dozen suddenly-reduced mega-mansions won’t meet that demand. Perhaps if all eighty-eight houses now on the market above $4.5 million were suddenly offered at half price we might see a significant impact. But many of these homes were purchased for cash and their owners, even if temporarily “looking for the next opportunity” aren’t under pressure to sell at a give-away price. I’m no economist and don’t even play one on TV, so readers should feel free to invent their own explanation. The phenomenon is there: I report, you decide.
Old Fashioned Quality
David Ogilvy’s new listing at 15 Dairy Road is exactly the type of home I remember as a Back Country manor. Built in 1941 using antique floorboards (and trim?) it’s set atop a hill on five acres. Long Island Sound glints in the distance, fields roll away from the house, it’s the very ideal of the “home in the country” once cherished by city folks. Unpretentious, comfortable and unique. Priced at $7.5 million, I hope and think it will defy the statistics I cite above: there’s nothing else like it on the market.
Fear of Libel Makes Me Vague
I recently visited a new home for sale. It must have been manufactured using the metric system and assembled using American inches because nothing fits. Cheap stonework rambles around its surface with huge, uneven gaps—they mis-measured near the garage, slapped three inches of mortar into the resulting gap and called it a day. The synthetic floors are already separating, the walls are cracking and the plastic-gridded-windows look like hell. What seem to be little Brussels sprouts comprise the landscaping. Beginning at its own price level and continuing down, I can think of better homes in all categories until perhaps $900K. The highest and best use is for this multi-million-dollar monstrosity is probably to raze it and restore the swamp from whence it arose.
Speaking of Stamford
I notice a rivulet of Stamford agents coming into town, attending open houses and listing homes for sale. Nothing immoral about that; an agent licensed in Connecticut is free to sell anywhere in the state, but I wonder why they’re here? Most Greenwich agents know far too little about Stamford—its schools, neighborhoods or respective values—to even consider trying to sell there. An agent offers his client knowledge; if that’s lacking, so too is value. My guess is that, just as a bad winter drives starving deer out of the woods, Stamford’s real estate market is suffering. There is no statistical support for my theory, but it at least has the merit of being mean-spirited.
Is Paris Burning?
Here’s a conundrum: If a $14 million dollar home sells for $10.5, and an $11 million listing drops to $7 million, shouldn’t that decline continue through the price line? $5 million to $3 million, and so on, until the owner of a $450 thousand dollar home pays you to take it off his hands? So far, nothing like that is occurring. The high end has been trimmed by Wall Street’s collapse but other prices are still firm, and homes are selling. I theorize that that there aren’t enough houses in the nose-bleed altitude to affect the rest of the market. If, say, there are two hundred potential buyers in the $1.5-$3.5 range (and if so, all of you are invited to contact me immediately), the presence on the market of a dozen suddenly-reduced mega-mansions won’t meet that demand. Perhaps if all eighty-eight houses now on the market above $4.5 million were suddenly offered at half price we might see a significant impact. But many of these homes were purchased for cash and their owners, even if temporarily “looking for the next opportunity” aren’t under pressure to sell at a give-away price. I’m no economist and don’t even play one on TV, so readers should feel free to invent their own explanation. The phenomenon is there: I report, you decide.
Old Fashioned Quality
David Ogilvy’s new listing at 15 Dairy Road is exactly the type of home I remember as a Back Country manor. Built in 1941 using antique floorboards (and trim?) it’s set atop a hill on five acres. Long Island Sound glints in the distance, fields roll away from the house, it’s the very ideal of the “home in the country” once cherished by city folks. Unpretentious, comfortable and unique. Priced at $7.5 million, I hope and think it will defy the statistics I cite above: there’s nothing else like it on the market.
Fear of Libel Makes Me Vague
I recently visited a new home for sale. It must have been manufactured using the metric system and assembled using American inches because nothing fits. Cheap stonework rambles around its surface with huge, uneven gaps—they mis-measured near the garage, slapped three inches of mortar into the resulting gap and called it a day. The synthetic floors are already separating, the walls are cracking and the plastic-gridded-windows look like hell. What seem to be little Brussels sprouts comprise the landscaping. Beginning at its own price level and continuing down, I can think of better homes in all categories until perhaps $900K. The highest and best use is for this multi-million-dollar monstrosity is probably to raze it and restore the swamp from whence it arose.
posted by Chris Fountain at 12:52 PM
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