Buyer broker suits
A pending law suit in California pits a buyer against her broker, claiming that the broker failed to inform her that she was over-paying for the house. Because anything that starts in California eventually reaches us here in the east, I assume that we will soon be seeing such suits here. No one cared when brokers engaged in “mere puffery” when house prices were raising but now that they’re falling (if not in Greenwich, yet), watch for more of this fun. All of which emphasizes the importance of signing those “broker/buyer” agreements we agents are required to foist on you by Connecticut law. The old rule of agency dictated that agents represented the seller, exclusively, even if we never met the seller and worked exclusively with the buyer. Now, agency law has been changed so that we can have a fiduciary relationship with you. Which means you can sue us for not giving you the very best, most accurate information on the value of a house. This should keep lawyers busy for decades. By the way, you should know that Wall Street resists this trend. There, your stock broker can sell you any amount of worthless garbage and, when you complain, you’ll be told that, just like real estate agents of yore, she was engaging in “mere puffery” and you, you dolt, were foolish to listen to her in the first place. It’s why I love the free enterprise system so much.

New forum for shareholder meetings?
The Greenwich Association of Realtors, for some inexplicable reason, chose to hold their annual meeting at the Glenville Civic center which has almost no parking and a non-functioning PA system. I left after a few minutes since I was unable to hear anything but I was struck by the idea that this would be an ideal place for you corporate chieftains with pesky shareholders to schedule your own meetings. Some moron exceeded his trading authority and lost seven billion dollars? Lose a few billion in the sub-prime market? Got a bit of a budget deficit coming up? Here’s the place to announce it – no one will hear, even if they can find a parking space to attend. I’m not certain of how one goes about reserving this space but call my association and I’m sure they’ll give you the details. Cheap, too.

Realtorese
There’s a house on the market in Old Greenwich whose advertising boasts that it abuts “town property”. True enough, but if that term brings to mind a town park, think again. The property in question actually hosts our local sewage pumping station. I admire the listing agent’s creativity, but, while the prospect of a neighboring park might bring a first time visit, I suspect that any would-be buyer will be a bit cheesed off when he sees what he’s next to. I once ran an ad for a house right on the Merit Parkway claiming that it was “convenient to transportation”, but I was kidding. This guy isn’t, I don’t think.

Riverside
Jane Brash (Coldwell Banker) has just listed 9 Willow Road for $2,595,000. Five very large bedrooms in a tastefully re-done house, on a great street. Not much of a yard, I suppose, but sufficient for its purpose and, again, a great location. Unless the market has really turned belly-up, this house should sell before this column sees print. If so, all credit to Jane for pricing it so intelligently. It remains my contention that there’s nothing wrong with this market that a good price won’t cure.

Greenwich Adult Day Care
This great organization recently offered a tour of its new facility, the old pump house on the Mianus River. What a transformation. The building, which I haven’t seen since I used to jump off its roof into the Mianus, has been completely renovated and now offers terrific views of the river and the dam, fenced-in terraces, recreation rooms, a cafeteria and even a beauty salon for its clients. As I understand the operation, caregivers of the elderly can arrange for their parent, say, to be picked up at home and brought here during the week to be cared for and entertained, thereby providing a break for the caregiver. Nice concept and a beautiful new location. Many of my friends, including Greg (de la Fontaine) Islan and John Cooper are on the GADC board – nice work that is probably rarely recognized.