Woodsman, Don’t Spare that Tree
With apologies to George Pope Morris, a great many homes for sale in town could benefit from a session with a Stihl-wielding lumberjack. Cute little spruce trees, planted decades ago in post-Christmas festivities, rhododendrons deposited by the front steps to celebrate the move into a new house and, worst of all, Norwegian spruces left unattended for decades, all tower over these houses, blocking out light and air and making them almost impossible to sell. I know of one house in particular that has been marked down several hundred thousand dollars and still sits unsold; a tiny fraction of that sum could have been paid to a tree service with much better results. My brother Gideon represents a client who buys, on average, one investment property a year; the two of them always seek out over-grown houses to buy because they invariably represent the best value on the market. That’s great for buyers, not so good for sellers. I am not suggesting that you clear-cut your property like that poor sap in the Back Country who was driven from town after an exuberant day with his chainsaw, and I certainly don’t question the capability of fine specimen trees to add hugely to a house’s value, but a ninety-foot Norwegian spruce rising five feet from your home’s foundation is doing you no favors. Call in the sawyers.

Horse Country
Speaking of magnificent trees, Carol Clark’s listing way up Bedford Road has them by the dozen: pines, maples and oaks, all at least a hundred years old, to this non-arborist’s eye. This is a solid, center-hall colonial set on almost five acres of sweeping meadows with a pool, ten-stall horse barn with paddock and riding ring. The house could use some modernization, but is certainly livable as is, and the views over the fields are fantastic. I won’t swear that you can see Long Island Sound from there but it’s high enough up and if the neighbors heed my advice about cutting down nuisance trees . . . .$2.795, asking.
New Construction
Two new houses have replaced one old one on Laddins Rock Road, to excellent effect. Built by Lee Seward and listed by Marilyn Secord (Anderson Associates), these are well built, very attractive three bedroom homes. I wondered a bit at the decision to create a large master bedroom suite at the expense of a fourth bedroom but not everyone has sixteen kids to house, and those master bedrooms are really nice. I bet these sell quickly. Asking about $1.490 each, which will set a record for the street.

Another Lee, Lee Neuberth of Pinecrest Builders, is building a new house at 122 Lockwood Road with an expected completion date of January and an asking price of around $2.5 million. Lee builds high-quality homes, using plywood sheathing instead of OSB, for instance, and masonry chimneys instead of pre-fab. He builds to close tolerances and does things right. Neuberth will spend about $50,000 on the heating system for this house; he could do it for half that, and the buyer probably wouldn’t notice the difference until it was fired up on the first cold night and produced a roar just slightly louder than a jet fighter. It’s then too late to wonder exactly how a home was put together. Anyone can put a flashy marble surround over cheap construction; I admire the builders who build the quality in, even in areas that buyers don’t notice. Lee is one such builder: you can reach him in Riverside at 637-9711.

And, speaking of quality, the “Fieber Group” built 2 Old Mill Road to an Alex Kaali-Nagy design so of course, it is beautifully done. Set on two acres off Round Hill Road, 10,000 square feet and an attractive pool. $6.995, from Sotheby’s.
What’s Selling?
The usual. Year-to-date, there have been five hundred four single family homes sold in town. The most active market segments were $650,000-$799,000 (15% of total), $1,000,000-$1,499,999 (20%), and $1,500,000-$2,299,999 (22%). The top of the market, homes selling for $5,000,000 or more, made up 4% of all sales. While this is probably not the best market in which to unload a $12,000,000 home, well-priced houses in the mid six hundreds to, say, the four million range sell quickly. Over-priced homes languish; buyers distinguish between good value and bad, especially after they’ve seen ten or twenty homes in their price range, and jump on the good. So if you want to sell you house . . . .