August 20, 2004
Another One Bites the Dust
Sue Connal brought a new listing on Bramble Lane to the market just last week. I was surprised how much I liked it because, as a rule, split-levels don’t hold much appeal for me. But this one was nicely maintained on a good yard and a good street and well priced at $1,399,999.00. I recommended it to a couple of clients but it was gone by the weekend, sold, I hear, to a builder. Before my email in-box is flooded with demands for correction let me say that I do not know for certain that this particular house is destined for the dumpster. I mention its possible fate solely to illustrate a trend in our real estate market: end users (people who intend to live in the house they buy) are increasingly losing out to builders in the under $1.8 million range. A building lot in many parts of town: mid-Greenwich, Riverside south of the Post Road and Old Greenwich south of the Village, for example, is now worth somewhere between $950,000 and $2,000,000. A cute little Cape Cod that might see service as housing for yet another generation is instead coveted for the land it sits on. When a young family stretching to afford a house meets a builder who expects to triple his money, the builder often wins.
New Math?
The old saw in real estate development is that your land should cost a third of the eventual selling price: a third for the land, a third for construction and a third for overhead and profit. I’m not sure that still holds true in Greenwich because the land prices have soared so high but I notice a number of new homes on the market priced as if it were. These are houses that, in my admittedly often-wrong opinion, should be asking something under $2.5 million but are instead priced at $2.9 and above. I’m curious about their prospects and will be watching to see what befalls them. There is currently no shortage of buyers out there for the right house: one still under construction on Arch Street overlooking Binney Park recently sold, I’ve heard, for more than $4,000,000, but the houses I’m writing about are on inferior lots or less desirable locations and I just don’t know how the market will react. So we’ll see. As an aside, I notice that another lot on that same Arch Street is asking $2.6 million. Triple that price and its obvious that this land, at least, is not going to be sold to a builder because Arch Street is still a long way from supporting a $7.8 million house. I think.
Greenwich Point Conservancy
My plea for more information about this organization produced a number of leads, all of which culminated in the person of Chris Franco, a life-long Riverside resident (he says that, although younger than us, he’d “heard about the Fountain boys”. From the tone of his voice I felt obliged to assure him that we’re really are much nicer now). In any event, the Conservancy is a newly-minted non-profit that, working with the town, wants to document the history of and restore the old buildings at Tod’s Point (Chris’s article on one of those buildings, the Innis Arden Cottage of “Queen Anne building” was published in Greenwich Magazine last June, and has some fascinating, long-lost photographs depicting the building when it was new). The group’s membership is already diverse, encompassing over two hundred members who also are affiliated with the Old Greenwich Boat Club, the Historical Society, the Audubon, the Land Trust and so forth. They hope to expand that reach still farther in September when the Conservancy initiates its first fund raising campaign. First goal is $1,000,000 of which $50,000 has already been raised; considering their under the radar status to date, that’s pretty good. From what I understand, the old Tod buildings, including the Cottage and the Chimes building are in sore need of repair and maintenance with water leaks, rotting rafters and all the ills associated with old age and neglect. The town Parks Department does its best but has a limited budget already stretched thin, so this is more a matter of contributing funds to the Department rather than telling it what to do. If the Conservancy can meet its goals these buildings with their unique architecture and real historical value can be kept standing for many years to come. Just hope that no builders hear about them. You can reach the Conservancy at their web page (due to be expanded next month) at Greenwichpoint.org or write to them at P.O. Box 377, Old Greenwich, CT 06870.
Sue Connal brought a new listing on Bramble Lane to the market just last week. I was surprised how much I liked it because, as a rule, split-levels don’t hold much appeal for me. But this one was nicely maintained on a good yard and a good street and well priced at $1,399,999.00. I recommended it to a couple of clients but it was gone by the weekend, sold, I hear, to a builder. Before my email in-box is flooded with demands for correction let me say that I do not know for certain that this particular house is destined for the dumpster. I mention its possible fate solely to illustrate a trend in our real estate market: end users (people who intend to live in the house they buy) are increasingly losing out to builders in the under $1.8 million range. A building lot in many parts of town: mid-Greenwich, Riverside south of the Post Road and Old Greenwich south of the Village, for example, is now worth somewhere between $950,000 and $2,000,000. A cute little Cape Cod that might see service as housing for yet another generation is instead coveted for the land it sits on. When a young family stretching to afford a house meets a builder who expects to triple his money, the builder often wins.
New Math?
The old saw in real estate development is that your land should cost a third of the eventual selling price: a third for the land, a third for construction and a third for overhead and profit. I’m not sure that still holds true in Greenwich because the land prices have soared so high but I notice a number of new homes on the market priced as if it were. These are houses that, in my admittedly often-wrong opinion, should be asking something under $2.5 million but are instead priced at $2.9 and above. I’m curious about their prospects and will be watching to see what befalls them. There is currently no shortage of buyers out there for the right house: one still under construction on Arch Street overlooking Binney Park recently sold, I’ve heard, for more than $4,000,000, but the houses I’m writing about are on inferior lots or less desirable locations and I just don’t know how the market will react. So we’ll see. As an aside, I notice that another lot on that same Arch Street is asking $2.6 million. Triple that price and its obvious that this land, at least, is not going to be sold to a builder because Arch Street is still a long way from supporting a $7.8 million house. I think.
Greenwich Point Conservancy
My plea for more information about this organization produced a number of leads, all of which culminated in the person of Chris Franco, a life-long Riverside resident (he says that, although younger than us, he’d “heard about the Fountain boys”. From the tone of his voice I felt obliged to assure him that we’re really are much nicer now). In any event, the Conservancy is a newly-minted non-profit that, working with the town, wants to document the history of and restore the old buildings at Tod’s Point (Chris’s article on one of those buildings, the Innis Arden Cottage of “Queen Anne building” was published in Greenwich Magazine last June, and has some fascinating, long-lost photographs depicting the building when it was new). The group’s membership is already diverse, encompassing over two hundred members who also are affiliated with the Old Greenwich Boat Club, the Historical Society, the Audubon, the Land Trust and so forth. They hope to expand that reach still farther in September when the Conservancy initiates its first fund raising campaign. First goal is $1,000,000 of which $50,000 has already been raised; considering their under the radar status to date, that’s pretty good. From what I understand, the old Tod buildings, including the Cottage and the Chimes building are in sore need of repair and maintenance with water leaks, rotting rafters and all the ills associated with old age and neglect. The town Parks Department does its best but has a limited budget already stretched thin, so this is more a matter of contributing funds to the Department rather than telling it what to do. If the Conservancy can meet its goals these buildings with their unique architecture and real historical value can be kept standing for many years to come. Just hope that no builders hear about them. You can reach the Conservancy at their web page (due to be expanded next month) at Greenwichpoint.org or write to them at P.O. Box 377, Old Greenwich, CT 06870.
posted by Chris Fountain at 8:38 AM
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