On Vacation
The public schools (those are those large brick buildings you pass along the way to Greenwich Country Day) were closed last week and so was much of the real estate market. Much, but not all. Don Imus’s Westport home (106 Beachside Avenue, if you’re curious) appeared, asking $25,000,000. In Greenwich, nineteen new single family residences came on the market while twenty came off via accepted offers, demonstrating that not all the buyers were at Disney World. It’s of interest, perhaps, to match the asking prices of those houses with their days on market. Seven Wyckham Lane, asking $6,450,000, spent three hundred and three days waiting for a buyer. Forty-four Grahampton, $5,250,000, shows as having lingered only seven days but that does not reflect the nearly two years it was on with a much higher asking price. Nearly everything else sold almost immediately: Ninety-eight Round Hill Road, $4,500,000, took nineteen days (which reflects the time lag of drawing up contracts; in fact, it had an accepted offer in days), Six Wyckam Hill Lane, $4,395,000, eight days, Thirty-one Stonehedge, $950,000, twenty-nine days, and so on. The point is that the market is quite active and, if you price your house right, you can expect to receive an acceptable offer almost immediately. In many instances, a bidding war will break out; bad for buyers, good for sellers.
13 Martin Dale Road
I don’t know whether this home enjoyed a bidding war but it certainly did ten months ago when it came on the market asking $2,295,000 and sold for $2,433,000. Martin Dale is a great street close to town and this was a nice house on nearly three-quarters of an acre, but it needed a lot of work. The winning bidders changed their mind about doing that work and put the house back on the market at $2,750,000. It sold instantly. It is often hard to calculate a house’s appreciation when the building has been renovated or expanded. This one was untouched, so we can compare apples to apples. Assuming that it went for its asking price (and it may well have gone higher), that’s a thirteen percent increase in ten months or an annualized rate of fifteen per cent plus. Transaction costs (otherwise known as commissions and taxes) will reduce that gain, of course, but homeowners on Martin Dale, at least, should be pleased with how the year went.
Enlightened Self-Interest
While this has nothing to do with real estate, it’s been a slow week so I’ll mention it. Petsmart, a huge supermarket type of pet store in Norwalk (on the Post Road, across from Old Navy) has given almost a third of its space to the Connecticut Humane Society to showcase their cat collection. Usually, these adoption agencies are located in low-rent, hard-to-find places but not so here. The store is bright and cheerful, the cats get lots of attention and the staff is great. Fifty bucks gets you the pet of your choice (as long as your choice is a cat), a free veterinarian check-up for the beast and the satisfaction of doing something nice about the cat surplus. And of course, if you’re adopting a cat you may want supplies for the animal, all of which Petsmart conveniently offers for sale, right there. I’m more of a large dog person myself, but we found a two-year-old cat there that is as affectionate as a Labrador and almost the same size. Great deal.
Price Reductions
My advice is to take them early and often and in chunks large enough to make a difference. What usually happens, however, is that the owner takes grudging, tiny slices off the price, long after they’re due. The current market is hot. Inventory is slim, and anything decently priced is selling quickly. So if yours is the last house available at three million dollars, for instance, and you’ve been out there for six months, here’s what the market is telling you: you aren’t a three million dollar house. And knocking ten thousand dollars off the price isn’t going to help matters. Take a meat-axe to that price, mister, and move your house.
And Speaking of Moving Houses
Saw a house last week that, the last time it was for sale, had a beautiful water view. My client bid on the house back then but was worried about the lot next door which, if developed, would destroy the view. Her lawyer and I examined the plot plan and all the applicable zoning regulations and satisfied ourselves that there was no way anyone could build on that lot. Fortunately for my client, she was gazumped and someone else got the house because, notwithstanding our opinion, the lot was indeed developed and now it, and not the neighboring house, has the view. Lesson being, (aside from finding out the name of the brilliant lawyer who crammed this building in) that if your potential home’s value depends in part on its view and there is even the possibility that that view might be built upon, be wary.
The public schools (those are those large brick buildings you pass along the way to Greenwich Country Day) were closed last week and so was much of the real estate market. Much, but not all. Don Imus’s Westport home (106 Beachside Avenue, if you’re curious) appeared, asking $25,000,000. In Greenwich, nineteen new single family residences came on the market while twenty came off via accepted offers, demonstrating that not all the buyers were at Disney World. It’s of interest, perhaps, to match the asking prices of those houses with their days on market. Seven Wyckham Lane, asking $6,450,000, spent three hundred and three days waiting for a buyer. Forty-four Grahampton, $5,250,000, shows as having lingered only seven days but that does not reflect the nearly two years it was on with a much higher asking price. Nearly everything else sold almost immediately: Ninety-eight Round Hill Road, $4,500,000, took nineteen days (which reflects the time lag of drawing up contracts; in fact, it had an accepted offer in days), Six Wyckam Hill Lane, $4,395,000, eight days, Thirty-one Stonehedge, $950,000, twenty-nine days, and so on. The point is that the market is quite active and, if you price your house right, you can expect to receive an acceptable offer almost immediately. In many instances, a bidding war will break out; bad for buyers, good for sellers.
13 Martin Dale Road
I don’t know whether this home enjoyed a bidding war but it certainly did ten months ago when it came on the market asking $2,295,000 and sold for $2,433,000. Martin Dale is a great street close to town and this was a nice house on nearly three-quarters of an acre, but it needed a lot of work. The winning bidders changed their mind about doing that work and put the house back on the market at $2,750,000. It sold instantly. It is often hard to calculate a house’s appreciation when the building has been renovated or expanded. This one was untouched, so we can compare apples to apples. Assuming that it went for its asking price (and it may well have gone higher), that’s a thirteen percent increase in ten months or an annualized rate of fifteen per cent plus. Transaction costs (otherwise known as commissions and taxes) will reduce that gain, of course, but homeowners on Martin Dale, at least, should be pleased with how the year went.
Enlightened Self-Interest
While this has nothing to do with real estate, it’s been a slow week so I’ll mention it. Petsmart, a huge supermarket type of pet store in Norwalk (on the Post Road, across from Old Navy) has given almost a third of its space to the Connecticut Humane Society to showcase their cat collection. Usually, these adoption agencies are located in low-rent, hard-to-find places but not so here. The store is bright and cheerful, the cats get lots of attention and the staff is great. Fifty bucks gets you the pet of your choice (as long as your choice is a cat), a free veterinarian check-up for the beast and the satisfaction of doing something nice about the cat surplus. And of course, if you’re adopting a cat you may want supplies for the animal, all of which Petsmart conveniently offers for sale, right there. I’m more of a large dog person myself, but we found a two-year-old cat there that is as affectionate as a Labrador and almost the same size. Great deal.
Price Reductions
My advice is to take them early and often and in chunks large enough to make a difference. What usually happens, however, is that the owner takes grudging, tiny slices off the price, long after they’re due. The current market is hot. Inventory is slim, and anything decently priced is selling quickly. So if yours is the last house available at three million dollars, for instance, and you’ve been out there for six months, here’s what the market is telling you: you aren’t a three million dollar house. And knocking ten thousand dollars off the price isn’t going to help matters. Take a meat-axe to that price, mister, and move your house.
And Speaking of Moving Houses
Saw a house last week that, the last time it was for sale, had a beautiful water view. My client bid on the house back then but was worried about the lot next door which, if developed, would destroy the view. Her lawyer and I examined the plot plan and all the applicable zoning regulations and satisfied ourselves that there was no way anyone could build on that lot. Fortunately for my client, she was gazumped and someone else got the house because, notwithstanding our opinion, the lot was indeed developed and now it, and not the neighboring house, has the view. Lesson being, (aside from finding out the name of the brilliant lawyer who crammed this building in) that if your potential home’s value depends in part on its view and there is even the possibility that that view might be built upon, be wary.
posted by Chris Fountain at 10:41 AM
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