Rush to Judgment?tain
One of the big chain Realtors in town signed a listing contract for a Cos Cob house on September 1 and held it “in house” for twelve days before submitting it to the multi-list (not a nice thing to do, according to our rules). When it did appear on that list it was labelled “no show until open house” meaning that no one could see it before then. It turns out, the agency immediately broke its word and began shopping the house around to a few agents, cancelled the open house and the seller accepted a bid, all without ever exposing the house to the full marketplace. Smart move? Perhaps, if the seller was more interested in keeping strangers out of her house than in receiving top dollar. My own estimate is that asking price was $50,000-$75,000 below what this modestly-priced house might have sold for. I could be wrong, or the few buyers who were permitted to see the house might have bid it up to exactly the right value. But because the seller terminated the process before it really began, she’ll never know.
Buying Trouble
Of all the potential difficulties in owning real estate, shared driveways and wells are two of the most problematic. There is no reason why reasonable people can’t cooperate and live comfortably sharing such facilities but in my experience, reasonable people are often in short supply. I know of two-house, one driveway situations where one neighbor, having nothing better to do, sits on his porch and screams at visitors and residents of the other house to keep off “his side” of the driveway. This is an inaccurate legal position, as tenants in common each have the right to use all of the pavement, but it makes for an unpleasant welcome each evening. Similarly, a shared well in the Back Country led one owner to move the pump controls to his home where he delighted in tormenting his neighbors by reducing their water to a trickle and sometimes shutting it off completely for days at a time. Visits by the police were unavailing; a court ordered injunction finally addressed the problem but again—why bother?
Remodeling for Fun and Profit
When Harry Cohn, the despised head of Columbia Studios finally died in 1958, his funeral was a smash hit, attended by everyone who was anyone in Hollywood. Eyeing the unexpected mob Red Skelton quipped, “See? Give the people what they want and they’ll turn out every time.” I mention this because there are several newly-renovated houses on the market whose builders would have benefited from a conversation with Mr. Skelton. These houses could have been winners, selling for exactly what their builders are asking, but they lack certain features that buyers demand. All are missing master bath suites, for instance, and one has an awkward (and ugly) garage situation that should have been addressed. I spoke to one of the Realtors involved and learned that she had suggested these changes to her client and been rebuffed. Real estate agents are out with clients all day, every day, and really do know what buyers want. Talk to them; you might be surprised what you learn.
758 North Street
Elizabeth Douthit’s (Round Hill Partners) listing at 758 North Street has been reduced to $3,595,000 and is beginning to look like a real bargain. A 5,000 + square foot, renovated center hall colonial originally built in 1937, the house sits way up on four acres of lawns, with great old trees and stone walls, a tennis court and a six car garage (one for each bedroom). I like it a lot. The day I visited, a red tailed hawk swooped in from the adjacent conservation land and perched on the tennis court fence, waiting for tasty ball boys, probably, but adding a nice sense of wildness to the late afternoon. Nice house.
To Market to Market
Very limited inventory these days, which causes consternation to buyers and their agents. What is out there is selling well. Kathy Wasilko’s (Cleveland, Duble & Arnold) listing at One Little Cove Place in Old Greenwich, built in 1999 and brought on the market on a Monday went to sealed bids within five days. No word on what the winning price was, but I assume it was more than the asking price of $3.3 million. Note, by the way, how effective an intelligently-price can be; this property could have been set at, say, $4 million and sat for months as its price was gradually whittled down. Instead, buyers perceived value at $3.3 million, reached for it, and the house is gone immediately. Nice when things work that way.
One of the big chain Realtors in town signed a listing contract for a Cos Cob house on September 1 and held it “in house” for twelve days before submitting it to the multi-list (not a nice thing to do, according to our rules). When it did appear on that list it was labelled “no show until open house” meaning that no one could see it before then. It turns out, the agency immediately broke its word and began shopping the house around to a few agents, cancelled the open house and the seller accepted a bid, all without ever exposing the house to the full marketplace. Smart move? Perhaps, if the seller was more interested in keeping strangers out of her house than in receiving top dollar. My own estimate is that asking price was $50,000-$75,000 below what this modestly-priced house might have sold for. I could be wrong, or the few buyers who were permitted to see the house might have bid it up to exactly the right value. But because the seller terminated the process before it really began, she’ll never know.
Buying Trouble
Of all the potential difficulties in owning real estate, shared driveways and wells are two of the most problematic. There is no reason why reasonable people can’t cooperate and live comfortably sharing such facilities but in my experience, reasonable people are often in short supply. I know of two-house, one driveway situations where one neighbor, having nothing better to do, sits on his porch and screams at visitors and residents of the other house to keep off “his side” of the driveway. This is an inaccurate legal position, as tenants in common each have the right to use all of the pavement, but it makes for an unpleasant welcome each evening. Similarly, a shared well in the Back Country led one owner to move the pump controls to his home where he delighted in tormenting his neighbors by reducing their water to a trickle and sometimes shutting it off completely for days at a time. Visits by the police were unavailing; a court ordered injunction finally addressed the problem but again—why bother?
Remodeling for Fun and Profit
When Harry Cohn, the despised head of Columbia Studios finally died in 1958, his funeral was a smash hit, attended by everyone who was anyone in Hollywood. Eyeing the unexpected mob Red Skelton quipped, “See? Give the people what they want and they’ll turn out every time.” I mention this because there are several newly-renovated houses on the market whose builders would have benefited from a conversation with Mr. Skelton. These houses could have been winners, selling for exactly what their builders are asking, but they lack certain features that buyers demand. All are missing master bath suites, for instance, and one has an awkward (and ugly) garage situation that should have been addressed. I spoke to one of the Realtors involved and learned that she had suggested these changes to her client and been rebuffed. Real estate agents are out with clients all day, every day, and really do know what buyers want. Talk to them; you might be surprised what you learn.
758 North Street
Elizabeth Douthit’s (Round Hill Partners) listing at 758 North Street has been reduced to $3,595,000 and is beginning to look like a real bargain. A 5,000 + square foot, renovated center hall colonial originally built in 1937, the house sits way up on four acres of lawns, with great old trees and stone walls, a tennis court and a six car garage (one for each bedroom). I like it a lot. The day I visited, a red tailed hawk swooped in from the adjacent conservation land and perched on the tennis court fence, waiting for tasty ball boys, probably, but adding a nice sense of wildness to the late afternoon. Nice house.
To Market to Market
Very limited inventory these days, which causes consternation to buyers and their agents. What is out there is selling well. Kathy Wasilko’s (Cleveland, Duble & Arnold) listing at One Little Cove Place in Old Greenwich, built in 1999 and brought on the market on a Monday went to sealed bids within five days. No word on what the winning price was, but I assume it was more than the asking price of $3.3 million. Note, by the way, how effective an intelligently-price can be; this property could have been set at, say, $4 million and sat for months as its price was gradually whittled down. Instead, buyers perceived value at $3.3 million, reached for it, and the house is gone immediately. Nice when things work that way.
posted by Chris Fountain at 10:37 AM
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