Competency Hearings
A homeowner I know has contracted to sell his house. The deal will probably go through, but not without some incredibly difficult contortions, none of which would be necessary had he received professional advice when he originally bought the place. When he purchased the property the homeowner was represented by an out-of-town attorney and a real estate agent who was presumably more interested in luncheon dates than in protecting her client. As a result, no one checked for open building permits or tested for radon, water potability, septic capacity, etc. The prospective new owner has done all that and now the seller is scurrying around, dealing with a six bedroom house with a three bedroom septic system, a large number of open building permits which require final inspections if he is to close them and obtain certificates of occupancy, radon far in excess of EPA guidelines and grossly polluted well water. All these problems can and will be corrected, but if a real estate professional— agent or attorney—had provided some guidance a few years ago this man would be happily on his way to a new home instead of cooling his heels in the Building and Health departments. And he wouldn’t have been serving his children filthy water all this time.
My advice to buyers is to use a local attorney, one who knows the conventions of Greenwich real estate practice and who knows how to find his way to Town Hall. And if you’re working with an agent who tells you that there is no need to perform building or well inspections, send her off to lunch and find someone who will put your interests ahead of her own desire to close a deal.
New Listings of Note
Ken Yorke (Surf &Turf Realty) has one of the old Lockwood properties for sale with an asking price of $1,560. I think that’s an excellent price. Built in 1868, it’s set back from the road at 7 Hearthstone Drive, which was itself carved from Lockwood farmland in the 1950’s (I think). With four bedrooms and a really nice, modern eat-in kitchen (the house was completely renovated in 1994) this house is pretty nifty. I like its location, its curb appeal and, as noted, its price.
Around the corner, sort of, at 46 Terrace Avenue, Michael Dinneen’s listing offers a different opportunity. With apologies in advance to its owner, this house needs a complete gutting and expansion. But its price of $899,500 reflects that. While it may be a bit too pricey for a builder to make it work financially an end user could put, say, $3-400,000 into this property and end up with a home worth far more than the total he invested.
And although I don’t think I’ve ever been on Mannetti Lane before, I thought both the street itself (off of Cat Rock, in Cos Cob) and Maria Kelly Steven’s listing at 11 Mannetti were quite nice. The house is the standard mid-seventies builder’s special but it’s got a great yard of almost a half acre and, like the street, is light and sunny. $1,060,000. In need of some updating, but your investment would be returned in spades.
Finally, and a bit further along the price scale, MaryJane Bates (Cleveland, Duble & Arnold) has a new listing at 60 Round Hill Road for $4,000,000. Five bedrooms, with the master on the ground floor, this is very much an “adult” home. It’s on a very private, beautiful two-acre lot and has a nice free-form pool. It has been completely renovated and I predict that the combination of location, condition and layout will produce a quick sale.
Sell That House!
A Back Country house recently came on the market at a price that, in the consensus of several of us, was perhaps a million dollars too high. Nothing too surprising about that; owners of older homes often age along with them and grow accustomed to the dated kitchen and baths while focusing instead on the building’s charms. They see no reason to lower its price to “compensate” for non-existent flaws. What sets this story apart from others, however, is the alacrity with which the seller responded to what he heard from the market. Rather than resist that news he has instead taken two half-million dollar price reductions in the past two weeks. This was really smart. The house is now where most of us thought it should be in the first place and it’s still new enough to the market that those of us with feeble minds can remember its charms and recommend it to our clients.
A homeowner I know has contracted to sell his house. The deal will probably go through, but not without some incredibly difficult contortions, none of which would be necessary had he received professional advice when he originally bought the place. When he purchased the property the homeowner was represented by an out-of-town attorney and a real estate agent who was presumably more interested in luncheon dates than in protecting her client. As a result, no one checked for open building permits or tested for radon, water potability, septic capacity, etc. The prospective new owner has done all that and now the seller is scurrying around, dealing with a six bedroom house with a three bedroom septic system, a large number of open building permits which require final inspections if he is to close them and obtain certificates of occupancy, radon far in excess of EPA guidelines and grossly polluted well water. All these problems can and will be corrected, but if a real estate professional— agent or attorney—had provided some guidance a few years ago this man would be happily on his way to a new home instead of cooling his heels in the Building and Health departments. And he wouldn’t have been serving his children filthy water all this time.
My advice to buyers is to use a local attorney, one who knows the conventions of Greenwich real estate practice and who knows how to find his way to Town Hall. And if you’re working with an agent who tells you that there is no need to perform building or well inspections, send her off to lunch and find someone who will put your interests ahead of her own desire to close a deal.
New Listings of Note
Ken Yorke (Surf &Turf Realty) has one of the old Lockwood properties for sale with an asking price of $1,560. I think that’s an excellent price. Built in 1868, it’s set back from the road at 7 Hearthstone Drive, which was itself carved from Lockwood farmland in the 1950’s (I think). With four bedrooms and a really nice, modern eat-in kitchen (the house was completely renovated in 1994) this house is pretty nifty. I like its location, its curb appeal and, as noted, its price.
Around the corner, sort of, at 46 Terrace Avenue, Michael Dinneen’s listing offers a different opportunity. With apologies in advance to its owner, this house needs a complete gutting and expansion. But its price of $899,500 reflects that. While it may be a bit too pricey for a builder to make it work financially an end user could put, say, $3-400,000 into this property and end up with a home worth far more than the total he invested.
And although I don’t think I’ve ever been on Mannetti Lane before, I thought both the street itself (off of Cat Rock, in Cos Cob) and Maria Kelly Steven’s listing at 11 Mannetti were quite nice. The house is the standard mid-seventies builder’s special but it’s got a great yard of almost a half acre and, like the street, is light and sunny. $1,060,000. In need of some updating, but your investment would be returned in spades.
Finally, and a bit further along the price scale, MaryJane Bates (Cleveland, Duble & Arnold) has a new listing at 60 Round Hill Road for $4,000,000. Five bedrooms, with the master on the ground floor, this is very much an “adult” home. It’s on a very private, beautiful two-acre lot and has a nice free-form pool. It has been completely renovated and I predict that the combination of location, condition and layout will produce a quick sale.
Sell That House!
A Back Country house recently came on the market at a price that, in the consensus of several of us, was perhaps a million dollars too high. Nothing too surprising about that; owners of older homes often age along with them and grow accustomed to the dated kitchen and baths while focusing instead on the building’s charms. They see no reason to lower its price to “compensate” for non-existent flaws. What sets this story apart from others, however, is the alacrity with which the seller responded to what he heard from the market. Rather than resist that news he has instead taken two half-million dollar price reductions in the past two weeks. This was really smart. The house is now where most of us thought it should be in the first place and it’s still new enough to the market that those of us with feeble minds can remember its charms and recommend it to our clients.
posted by Chris Fountain at 10:44 AM
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