Legal Terrorismristopher Fountain
The Greenwich Time reports that, even though Pathways, Inc. has won its fight to install a group home for the mentally ill on Brookridge Drive, the group is continuing a separate discrimination law suit against the individual homeowners who dared oppose it. One can support the creation of housing for the sick without approving this kind of bullying. Pathway’s tactics are not original: it’s an approach pioneered by rich, powerful real estate developers who wanted to send a message to environmentalists: oppose us at your peril. And it’s often effective; once you’ve seen your neighbor reduced to beggary, you may well decide to let the developer have his way with you, too. Of course, what is effective and what is just are not necessarily the same thing, and this type of law suit has been widely condemned as an infringement on individual rights and an abuse of legal process. But that doesn’t bother Pathways or its lawyer, Daniel Moger (my friend, alas). I had originally thought that Pathway’s selection of a location for their group home in an area of multi-million-dollar, single-family residences was just an “in-your-face” slap at Greenwich and that, having proved their point that they could put these homes anywhere they wanted to, would select less controversial spots for their future projects. As this law suit makes clear, Pathways has far more ambitious plans in store and is preparing the ground for its campaign by making an example of Brookside Drive residents. Pathways, by the way, is a Greenwich United Way agency. I stopped contributing to that organization when it cut off all financial support to the Greenwich Boy Scouts; that they are providing the wherewithal to maintain this vicious act of legal bullying only reinforces my decision.
To Market to Market
Very little that is new is showing up these days as the market slips into the Thanksgiving- to-Christmas slumber. It’s easy to understand a homeowner’s reluctance to mix holiday entertaining, family obligations and keeping a house in perfect order, but there are still buyers out there and, as I have suggested here before, anything new gets the undivided attention of all of them. Twenty-nine houses, some new listings, others old, went to contract in the week and a half leading to Thanksgiving, including Old Round Hill Lane at $6,995,000, 70 Zaccheus Mead Lane at $4,800,000, and on down the price range to the low sixes. While you never know what will trigger a sale (or at least, I don’t – better agents than I probably do), the reduced inventory seems to be working its magic by making buyers less choosy. I know of several houses that sat on the market since mid- summer and finally sold in the past few weeks. Their prices dropped during that period, but I suspect part of the explanation for the happy result was that certain features which were viewed as objectionable by buyers became less off-putting as buyers’ choices diminished. Those choices will increase significantly in January, if past is prologue.
Byram
Jane Basham has a very nice listing at 114 Mead Avenue with an asking price of $599,000. Built in 1919, it was completely renovated in 2000. It has three bedrooms, one bath and is in the R-6 zone, which means you could convert it to multi-family (I wouldn’t) or add on to your heart’s content (I’d add a mud room and powder room on the first floor and call it quits). A very nice starter home, with hardwood floors, crown moldings and lots of sunlight. Taxes are $2,298. By far the nicest house available in this price range. And if the P&Z ever lets Byram flourish by approving the Whabba’s waterfront project, this area is going to take off. Mary Crist, a fellow Realtor whose opinions I respect greatly, thinks Byram is “the next Cos Cob”. For you snobs out there who haven’t been paying attention to real estate prices, that’s meant as a compliment.
Soooeee!
At the opposite end of the price range I saw a new house this past week that I, at least, think has some problems. As a matter of personal taste, I don’t like master bedrooms with twenty-five foot high ceilings— reminds me of waiting out snow storm delays at Kennedy—but that’s a quibble. Of more concern is the lack of land. This house’s approach is flanked by other driveways, the front yard is graced by the neighbor’s kid’s trampoline and the back yard is practically non-existent. I could easily be all wrong on this; buyers might be willing to trade land and privacy for a huge mansion, so I’ll be watching with curiosity. As the Back Country and two-acre zones continue to be developed we’ll see more and more homes built on what would have once been considered sub-standard lots. We’ll see if these sell and if so, for how much.
The Greenwich Time reports that, even though Pathways, Inc. has won its fight to install a group home for the mentally ill on Brookridge Drive, the group is continuing a separate discrimination law suit against the individual homeowners who dared oppose it. One can support the creation of housing for the sick without approving this kind of bullying. Pathway’s tactics are not original: it’s an approach pioneered by rich, powerful real estate developers who wanted to send a message to environmentalists: oppose us at your peril. And it’s often effective; once you’ve seen your neighbor reduced to beggary, you may well decide to let the developer have his way with you, too. Of course, what is effective and what is just are not necessarily the same thing, and this type of law suit has been widely condemned as an infringement on individual rights and an abuse of legal process. But that doesn’t bother Pathways or its lawyer, Daniel Moger (my friend, alas). I had originally thought that Pathway’s selection of a location for their group home in an area of multi-million-dollar, single-family residences was just an “in-your-face” slap at Greenwich and that, having proved their point that they could put these homes anywhere they wanted to, would select less controversial spots for their future projects. As this law suit makes clear, Pathways has far more ambitious plans in store and is preparing the ground for its campaign by making an example of Brookside Drive residents. Pathways, by the way, is a Greenwich United Way agency. I stopped contributing to that organization when it cut off all financial support to the Greenwich Boy Scouts; that they are providing the wherewithal to maintain this vicious act of legal bullying only reinforces my decision.
To Market to Market
Very little that is new is showing up these days as the market slips into the Thanksgiving- to-Christmas slumber. It’s easy to understand a homeowner’s reluctance to mix holiday entertaining, family obligations and keeping a house in perfect order, but there are still buyers out there and, as I have suggested here before, anything new gets the undivided attention of all of them. Twenty-nine houses, some new listings, others old, went to contract in the week and a half leading to Thanksgiving, including Old Round Hill Lane at $6,995,000, 70 Zaccheus Mead Lane at $4,800,000, and on down the price range to the low sixes. While you never know what will trigger a sale (or at least, I don’t – better agents than I probably do), the reduced inventory seems to be working its magic by making buyers less choosy. I know of several houses that sat on the market since mid- summer and finally sold in the past few weeks. Their prices dropped during that period, but I suspect part of the explanation for the happy result was that certain features which were viewed as objectionable by buyers became less off-putting as buyers’ choices diminished. Those choices will increase significantly in January, if past is prologue.
Byram
Jane Basham has a very nice listing at 114 Mead Avenue with an asking price of $599,000. Built in 1919, it was completely renovated in 2000. It has three bedrooms, one bath and is in the R-6 zone, which means you could convert it to multi-family (I wouldn’t) or add on to your heart’s content (I’d add a mud room and powder room on the first floor and call it quits). A very nice starter home, with hardwood floors, crown moldings and lots of sunlight. Taxes are $2,298. By far the nicest house available in this price range. And if the P&Z ever lets Byram flourish by approving the Whabba’s waterfront project, this area is going to take off. Mary Crist, a fellow Realtor whose opinions I respect greatly, thinks Byram is “the next Cos Cob”. For you snobs out there who haven’t been paying attention to real estate prices, that’s meant as a compliment.
Soooeee!
At the opposite end of the price range I saw a new house this past week that I, at least, think has some problems. As a matter of personal taste, I don’t like master bedrooms with twenty-five foot high ceilings— reminds me of waiting out snow storm delays at Kennedy—but that’s a quibble. Of more concern is the lack of land. This house’s approach is flanked by other driveways, the front yard is graced by the neighbor’s kid’s trampoline and the back yard is practically non-existent. I could easily be all wrong on this; buyers might be willing to trade land and privacy for a huge mansion, so I’ll be watching with curiosity. As the Back Country and two-acre zones continue to be developed we’ll see more and more homes built on what would have once been considered sub-standard lots. We’ll see if these sell and if so, for how much.
posted by Chris Fountain at 10:02 AM
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