"Built Date"?
A reader asked why 396 Round Hill Road was listed as having been built in 2006 when it had been on the market since January 2005. The best I can determine from checking its listing history is that, maybe, it didn't receive a certificate of occupancy until 2006. Here's what it looked like in the beginning of January 2005, when its built date was shown as "2005 - u/c" [under construction]:
Clearly, this structure was not ready to receive a final c/o at the time this picture was taken. So, if construction lingered for another year, then 2006 would be the right date. In any case, it never hurts to have your attorney examine all relevant building documents before you buy.
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9 comments:
That house looks "mostly built" to me. Putting a 2006 completion date on a house that looked like this in Jan. 2005 is really, really deceptive. If I were a builder today, I would put up the house, and not get a C.O. until the third price cut. Then - voila! Built in 2008!
I hate reading about deceptive stuff like this. It makes one feel like they're on the losing side of a 3-card monte game.
CEA
Chris - someone (was it you?) posted that people had been living there for a year or two. So---- people living there without a CO?
again, this all kinda squicks me out.
CEA
Well wait a minute - the c/o is the last inspection done. And if someone moved in in, say, 2007, that doesn't mean they were there illegally if the c/o was graneted in 2006, no?
But your idea of waiting until the third price cut to get the final c/o does seem like a good one.
you're right - if they got the C.O. in 2006. I thought people were living there "a couple of years" which might have put it before the C.O.
It really doesn't pay to get a C.O. if you're a builder until you have a contract, right? Otherwise, your "built in" date is that, not the actual when-it-went-up.
Thank you for getting back to us - Chris - great follow-up - very interesting - we all learn a-lot from you - Chris!
There are certainly some games played with that final c/o but I suspect the reason has more to do with taxes - the new valuation and higher tax doesn't kick in until the c/o's issued - than with fooling buyers. because after all, every builder is confident that he'll sell his beauty before the paint's dry. And nobody expects the Spanish Inquisition!
Yes: fear, surprise, ruthless efficiency, and an almost fanatical devotion to granite countertops.
CEA
What is the story with the big brick house on Stanwich road, just a little after the merritt parkway going north. They haven't receive a c/o yet, but it's been built for over 10 years now, it has plywood as a front door. do you know the one I am speaking one?
Greenwich Diva
Weird story about that house. Years ago a neighboring couple saw the owner/builder on the property so they walked up and introduced themselves. All went well until the wife asked, "so, are you going to put in a pool?". The owner stopped short, then ordered them to get off his property, "now!"
I haven't seen any activity on that place for years now, the plywood remains over the doorway and, given the seemingly unstable personality of the guy who's building it, I haven't dared stop in to ask what's going on.
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