The Dog Days of Summer
The rains have finally stopped, at least for the moment, and the market has slipped into dormancy. Greenwich brokers have jetted off to their summer homes on Nantucket and Fishers Island and (practically) no one is watching the store. This can be a good thing for buyers, as there is less competition for those few houses that do come on that are priced correctly. A few weeks ago any well priced home instantly attracted multiple bids, frustrating to buyers and delightful, of course, for sellers. Now, there’s a reasonable chance that an attractive home will linger for a few weeks, unnoticed, giving buyers an opportunity to pursue it alone. August and the week between Christmas and New Years have always been good times for bargains; July is a close second.
What’s That You’re Smoking?
One home that did come on the market recently is of a “non-traditional” design—always a tough sell in Greenwich—and located on a less than desirable street down a long, long driveway. That’s three strikes, but the owner apparently likes a challenge because he has insisted on pricing his house a full third higher than it’s worth. How do I know that it was they buyer, and not the broker who was responsible for this foolishness? Because the broker had slips of paper ready at the open house asking us for our opinion of the price. That’s a sign of a broker who won the listing battle but lost the pricing war; he’s hoping to use our collective wisdom as ammunition against the owner. I was kind, suggesting that the house was only $800,000 over-priced. Other agents I spoke with thought $1.2 would have to be shaved off before it sold. If you’re interested in buying this place but worry that you’ll be away all summer, don’t fret: this one will be waiting for you in September.
But On the Other Hand
One house that won’t wait for you and may well be gone by the time this article is published is Dancy Cassell’s listing at 17 Copper Beech (off North Street) for $3.995. The present owners took a converted brick carriage house and stable and performed a complete restoration and modernization with fabulous results. Copper Beech is a secluded, dead end street and this home provides an additional level of privacy with it’s enclosed court yard and pool. The house itself is just beautiful: open, airy and flowing seamlessly from end to end. In my next life I think I want to come back as Dancy because she consistently gets some of the most interesting, fun listings in town.
Missed It!
One Lockwood Avenue in Riverside (Jeff Bell) has finally gone to contract somewhere in the $1.2 range. I’ve watched this house as its price slowly settled and I’ve considered it a good buy for quite awhile now. It is a little plain on the outside but a couple of dormers and a front porch will solve that and create a very nice house on a 1/2 acre. Not bad.
See No Evil
Betteridge Jewelers had three watches lifted from its display window recently by a guy who cut through the glass and helped himself. Not all that unusual, I suppose, but the perpetrator worked his malfeasance in broad daylight, less than a hundred feet from a cop directing traffic; so close that the officer could have reached out and loaned him a glass cutter. It will only offend Lieutenant Keegan to raise this topic again, but if his tricycle terrorists presently cruising Tod’s Point were reassigned to the Avenue, both the beach and our downtown might benefit.
What Would We Do without Experts?
The New York Times reports that the Federal Reserve Board of Boston recently invited a quartet of behavioral economists (who argue that emotion plays a huge role in people’s economic decisions) to address a meeting of more traditional economists. The latter, it seems, have exhausted their mathematical skills in trying to explain and predict human behavior and are looking for new solutions. This is a promising development; I have long thought that the mathematicians hijacked Adam Smith’s field and eviscerated it, but the Board didn’t need to summon four Noble winners for this insight. They could have just as easily spent a day or two with real estate agents and their clients and witnessed the phenomenon for themselves.
The rains have finally stopped, at least for the moment, and the market has slipped into dormancy. Greenwich brokers have jetted off to their summer homes on Nantucket and Fishers Island and (practically) no one is watching the store. This can be a good thing for buyers, as there is less competition for those few houses that do come on that are priced correctly. A few weeks ago any well priced home instantly attracted multiple bids, frustrating to buyers and delightful, of course, for sellers. Now, there’s a reasonable chance that an attractive home will linger for a few weeks, unnoticed, giving buyers an opportunity to pursue it alone. August and the week between Christmas and New Years have always been good times for bargains; July is a close second.
What’s That You’re Smoking?
One home that did come on the market recently is of a “non-traditional” design—always a tough sell in Greenwich—and located on a less than desirable street down a long, long driveway. That’s three strikes, but the owner apparently likes a challenge because he has insisted on pricing his house a full third higher than it’s worth. How do I know that it was they buyer, and not the broker who was responsible for this foolishness? Because the broker had slips of paper ready at the open house asking us for our opinion of the price. That’s a sign of a broker who won the listing battle but lost the pricing war; he’s hoping to use our collective wisdom as ammunition against the owner. I was kind, suggesting that the house was only $800,000 over-priced. Other agents I spoke with thought $1.2 would have to be shaved off before it sold. If you’re interested in buying this place but worry that you’ll be away all summer, don’t fret: this one will be waiting for you in September.
But On the Other Hand
One house that won’t wait for you and may well be gone by the time this article is published is Dancy Cassell’s listing at 17 Copper Beech (off North Street) for $3.995. The present owners took a converted brick carriage house and stable and performed a complete restoration and modernization with fabulous results. Copper Beech is a secluded, dead end street and this home provides an additional level of privacy with it’s enclosed court yard and pool. The house itself is just beautiful: open, airy and flowing seamlessly from end to end. In my next life I think I want to come back as Dancy because she consistently gets some of the most interesting, fun listings in town.
Missed It!
One Lockwood Avenue in Riverside (Jeff Bell) has finally gone to contract somewhere in the $1.2 range. I’ve watched this house as its price slowly settled and I’ve considered it a good buy for quite awhile now. It is a little plain on the outside but a couple of dormers and a front porch will solve that and create a very nice house on a 1/2 acre. Not bad.
See No Evil
Betteridge Jewelers had three watches lifted from its display window recently by a guy who cut through the glass and helped himself. Not all that unusual, I suppose, but the perpetrator worked his malfeasance in broad daylight, less than a hundred feet from a cop directing traffic; so close that the officer could have reached out and loaned him a glass cutter. It will only offend Lieutenant Keegan to raise this topic again, but if his tricycle terrorists presently cruising Tod’s Point were reassigned to the Avenue, both the beach and our downtown might benefit.
What Would We Do without Experts?
The New York Times reports that the Federal Reserve Board of Boston recently invited a quartet of behavioral economists (who argue that emotion plays a huge role in people’s economic decisions) to address a meeting of more traditional economists. The latter, it seems, have exhausted their mathematical skills in trying to explain and predict human behavior and are looking for new solutions. This is a promising development; I have long thought that the mathematicians hijacked Adam Smith’s field and eviscerated it, but the Board didn’t need to summon four Noble winners for this insight. They could have just as easily spent a day or two with real estate agents and their clients and witnessed the phenomenon for themselves.
posted by Chris Fountain at 10:06 AM
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