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Thanks to Google's computers, this blog has been declared a spam site and all posting, editing etc. can only be accomplished via a laborious procedure. It sucks, and Google has absolutely refused to do anything about it. When their stock falls to 2 cents I will be the one you see wildly cheering it down.

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Goodbye Blogger/Google
I've switched over to Wordpress, where I won't be subject to Google's robots shutting me down. The site's still a work in progress but all previous posts and most comments have made it over. I'm working on an automatic redirect but that turns out to be more complicated than I'd thought. Until then, please click here: Christopherfountain.com
Thanks! See you there.

From "Mommy is a Democrat, a "heartwarming children's book" according to one review. So far as I know this isn't required reading in our public schools yet but it certainly should be in every right - thinking household!

Is there a Republican alternative to this dreck? Of course, but, because Republican kids are so much smarter , they can handle a bit of nuance and so the preaching is a little less heavy handed. That book, of course, is . You may remember the plot: Thidwick, because he has a kind heart, offers a ride on his antlers to, first, a pair of ungrateful squirrels and then an ever-growing succession of free loaders. When his life is threatened Thidwick begs his riders to get off so that he can save his life but they refuse, claiming that their desire for comfort and their "need" for a ride gives them the right to Thidwick's life. Fortunately, just as hunters are aiming their guns at Thidwick his antlers loosen and he throws off the whole load of beggars. The last pages show Thidwick happily munching on moose grass and the Democrat/animal riders, all stuffed, mounted above the Harvard Club's fireplace. So fitting. I read it to all my children.

Building activity is slowing or it isn't
That's the confusing conclusion this Greenwich Time article reaches. I'm not blaming the reporter, it's the data that are confusing. P and Z applications are holding steady, according to Dian Fox, but actual building permits are down. There's a lot of brave talk by builders but I don't see the activity I used to so ... guess we'll see.

Here it comes
the Washington Post admits it was in the tank for Obama. Others will probably follow. Chris Matthews has always admitted it but sees nothing wrong with his actions; I think the majority of reporters are beginning to suffer morning after regrets as they remember what they did last night and will soon start sheepishly confessing their sins and ask us to trust them again. I won't, maybe others will.

We're not out of the woods yet
Mortgage applications fell off the cliff last week. Down 20% from the week before, 47% from the same week last year. It makes sense, of course: if you're not buying a house, why would you need a mortgage?

Google shutting down blogs, cont.

I've been poking around the internet trying to find an answer to what's going on with Google and why it's trying to shut down my blog and the best guess I can make, right now, is that Google itself isn't concerned about content (unless the Chinese tell it to be, but that falls under the "do no evil" company motto). What it's done, however, is provide a button for angry readers to report objectionable content and spam. Too many hits of the old button, bye bye blog.

Google says this is impossible but earlier this year it labelled and shut down as spam down a number of pro-Clinton, anti-Obama blogs and could never provide an alternative explanation. The affected bloggers blamed the button and so do I.

None of which is the end of the world. I'll spend the weekend switching to Wordpress, which will be a pain in the neck, what with setting up new templates, links, etc., but that will be that. What I find interesting is that this is just another example of the left's contempt and fear for competing ideas. Somewhere in this nation a little leftist sits, furiously grasping with one hand what's below his desk and using the other to repeatedly jab the "report spam" button on a blog he doesn't like. He, and other morons of the left, hate free speech. They've imposed speech controls on college campuses, rip down posters advertising speakers with whom they disagree, destroy campus newspapers that contain hurtful (non-leftist) opinions, shout down speakers, etc.

The left has foamed at the mouth over talk radio, particularly when the logical answer, starting their own talk shows, failed so spectacularly. Now Obama, Senator Schumer and Nancy Pelosi are working on the final solution: shutting down all shows that offend them.

I have a number of left wing friends who speak wistfully of a philosopher King. They love the idea that China banned plastic shopping bags by simply ... banning them. No messy political debates, just save the environment now. Castro may have been a bit harsh on homosexuals and political dissidents a long time ago but is there any denying the prosperity and happiness he's brought to his country? These friends still pay lip service to the idea of democracy, especially now that their Messiah has prevailed, but they quite clearly would give up their freedom in exchange for peaceful security and everyone just getting along. Look at the commentator below who can't understand why anyone would object to enforced servitude if it is for the public good. He asks, "do you really object to that?" as though it is inconceivable that I or anyone else could be against such a thing. And for people like him, it is inconceivable. They can't help it, they were educated in government schools.

So it's off to Wordpress, where there is no "democracy button" and bloggers can still post their opinions, popular or not. Or we can for now.

Real Estate Agents urged to promote diversity
Somewhere in Florida a conference was held to convince realtors that "diverse" schools were a blessing. "Diverse" of course, means poor kids mixed with rich and whites with blacks. Such schools may indeed be better than homoginized schools, although the article linked to offers no fcts to support such a conclusion, but here's the rub: real estate gents are forbidden by fair housing laws to provide any information or opinions on the matter. Where's the nearest church? Can't tell you. Are there many children in the area? Go look for yourself - I can't tell you. Are the test scores at this school better than those at X? Call up the State Department of Education - I can't even give you a hint.

So what's the rple of realtors in promoting diversity? None. Parents are left to find answers to their questions on their own, sometimes from reliable sources, often from rumor and "common knowledge" that's completely wrong. Welcome to the brave new world.

Uh, Senator, about that mortgage....

Federal prosecutor investigating Countrywide Mortgage loans to Chris Dodd

Involuntary servitude, continued
A commentator to my previous post on The One's plan to require mandatory service from students lauds the concept as indeed do most liberals - their mind set is that we all belong to the state and the state is free to decide how to dispose of us. Some folks disagree with that concept but he rise of collectivism marches on and I fear threatens to subsume the world created in 1776.

But ill manned, selfish types like myself have not entirely disappeared and Obama hears our pain. He has now airbrushed his transition page to remove the word "required" and substitute "goal". Remember when pictures of Stalin were doctored to remove images of other criminals who had fallen out of favor after the snapshot was taken (a bullet in the back of the head was the usual signal that one had pissed off Papa)? Something like that.

Does Google embargo right-leaning blogs?

As noted yesterday, Google's secret algorithm (does that have anything to do with defending against attacks on Al Gore?) has declared my site a spam site and I can only post now if I type in a bunch of distorted letters which are so hard to read that often two or even attempts are necessary before I get through. Google won't disclose its criteria for deciding what's spam but a reader has suggested that the company seems to label right-leaning blogs "spam" more frequently than it does other sites. True? Is the button "report offensive material" an invitation for angry readers to shut down blogs they don't like? I really don't know, so I'm going to forward this post to some better-read blogs in the hope that the issue can be clarified.

The sound of one shoe dropping

UBS offers 112,000 sq.ft. for sublease. A commercial broker quoted in the article says this is just the first attempt to sublease a huge block of financial services space - the industry expects many more. I keep thinking of that Antares' principal's quote in the New Yorker, to the effect that he wasn't worried about charging such high rents to tenants at the old UST building in Greenwich because they were all hedge fund firms, "and these guys treat rent payments like lunch money bills." What if someone eats their lunch and steals their lunch money?

Oh, Goodie!
Obama will require high school and college students to perform community service. There was once a time in this country where only people convicted of crimes could be sentenced to involuntary servitude; all others were permitted to live their lives as they pleased. That old fashioned notion is gone now, thank goodness, and we're all just tools for society's great redistribution plan, as designed and run by the majority's elected representatives.

How's it going to work out? If you go to the link, which is the official Obama transition site, click over to his health plan and try this: match his wonderful goals: universal healthcare, lower insurance costs for everyone, a cure for cancer, cavities and love handles, with actual details of how he's going to accomplish them. Not there? Don't worry - your countrymen didn't care about such niggling details; nor should you.

Oh, darn!
There's long been a wide-spread belief in the local real estate community that mysterious foreigners backed up our market by paying ridiculous prices for houses here. Certain firms even marketed themselves as having a secret "in" to these people with the implication that, if you listed with them, they'd find an Irishman hiding under a wheelbarrow somewhere in the rocky fields of old Eire who wanted nothing but to buy your place. I never quite believed this hype and, while real estate agents are still flogging the idea, this article suggests that if these unsophisticated, rich foreigners ever did exist, they no longer do. On to the next myth.

Turns out it was a good day to go fishing
Not much went on according to the Greenwich Multi List. Fourteen price reductions but people are still thinking in the 5%-9% range which, in my opinion, isn't going to do it. There was one contract, 324 Overlook, which is of interest only because I wonder if my own Board isn't beginning to play games. The computer listing shows that its last asking price was $1.995 million and that its original ask was $2.375, Fair enough, but when I went to the property's history only the $1.995 price shows up - no mention of the previous price and searchin two other, different ways yielded the same result. Is it possible that the Realtor's Board is sanitizing pricing histories in order to make things appear better than they are? They wouldn't do that, would they? Nah - must be a computer error.

Chris Mathews: "It's my job as a journalist to make the Obama presidency work. As I said to a liberal friend just this morning when he was extolling the virtues of bi-partisanship, it would have been nice to see some of those sentiments during the past eight years. But oh yes, that was when McChimpy Pretzlechoker Bush was president. him, we don't like.

Tautog for now!

I was out fishing all day (hey, if you're not going to buy a house from me, I still have to eat). Caught two tautogs (blackfish) one bluefish and a confused scaup (porgie) who didn't realize that scaup season ended last month. The blue and the scaup were returned from whence they came; the two tautogs stayed for dinner. All of which is by way of explanation of why there have been no new postings today. I'm about to check out our MLS hot sheet and if anything interesting has happened, you can read about it here later. In the meantime, I see that there are 9 new comments, so someone's been working.

I also just discovered that Blogger's much vaunted Google algorithm has decided that this blog is a spam device, which is going to make posting difficult until an actual human intervenes, probably sometime in the next century. The last time Google screwed up my blogging in a different way I went as far as setting up a new account with a better system, Wordsmith. I stopped that process when Google got things going again but round two of this nuisance is probably going to send me over. I'll let you know.

What the heck?

I realize that no one at the soon-to-be-defunct Greenwich Post reads this blog but I'd hope someone who does and who knows someone at that paper would point out to them that they keep running a chart that purports to show the number of houses sales in Greenwich this past September. I think they've confused the entire year for September, or maybe it's the past decade, who knows. Either way, if we'd sold half that amount in September of this year I'd be writing this post from St. Bart's and Greenwich homeowners would be dancing down the Avenue. Haven't seen that happening, yet.

62 Ridge Street Open House
So they opened this place up to brokers' inspections today and, after commenting yesterday on the curious logic that prompted its builder to increase its price to $7.5 million, I thought I'd go see what he was selling. Hmmm.

If this place were to have replaced my father's old Brownstone on 233 West 11th Street, I'll bet he would have been delighted at the exchange. It's a very nice city house and in the city, views and proximity to neighbors are pretty much irrelevant (or at least I think so - I was ripped from the bosom of Greenwich Village and transported to the rural wastelands of Greenwich when I was just a few months old, so my memory of the view from that Brownstone is dim). But this is not a city house, and the view of the Honda dealership and the old warehouse where I used to grind up horsemeat after school is certainly interesting, but not necessarily what someone expects when he moves to Greenwich.

Or I wouldn't think so, anyway. The house itself is grand, although I wish Greenwich's spec builders would stop outfitting their creations with the same Viennese crystal chandeliers that some supplier obviously got a deal on - I've seen the identical fixture scattered around three houses now (this one has three of them!)and while the builders obviously love them, they bring to mind General Patton's comment when someone mistook the ivory grips on his Colt .45 with pearl: "Only a pimp in a New Orleans whorehouse or a tin-horn gambler would carry a pearl-handled pistol"; I think he'd feel the same way about these bits of glass. Price isn't everything, guys.

So is there a buyer for a $7.5 million house in this part of our "downtown"? I'd have advised any client of mine against gambling that there was but I wasn't asked. And considering those chandeliers - well, it was Patton who used the phrase, "tin-horn gambler", not I.

63 Sound Beach Ave. ext.

Here's another (almost)20% price reduction, from $785,000 to $640,000. That's probably where it should have started, in my opinion, but now it at least looks realistic. Of course, the seller may have done himself a disservice by starting off where he did but ....

There's a "new" listing way up Taconic Road today asking $3.5 million. It's actually an old listing for a house on 4 acres that didn't sell at $4.0 million and, while $500,000 may seem like a lot to whack off the price, sellers should remember that the place didn't sell at the original price, so the price reduction doesn't really represent an actual out-of-pocket "loss" of 12.5%. It's a bit of a slice off the dream, perhaps, but dreams have no monetary value. I think this property is still in dreamland.

A favor that will help me and your fellow readers
I get a fair number of requests for the names of good builders, contractors, painters, etc. I've posted some of that over on the right side of this column but I know that there are lots of good people out there I don't know about. If you have the name and contact information for a tradesman (or craftsman or whatever) whom you're pleased with or, for that matter, wouldn't wish on that lousy neighbor down the street, the one who ran over your cat and never apologized, would you pass them along? I'll compile a directory and, once I figure out how to do so, post it all online as a down-loadable pdf.
Thanks!

I don't know what all this means but it doesn't sound good.

Yesterday the DTCC (that would be the Depositors Trust Clearing Corporation) issued a report that, for the first time, established an estimate for the total pool of credit default swaps at loose in the world: $33.6 trillion, which seems to this writer to be a lot of money. Today, however, Bloomberg reports that some "expert" thinks that the DTCC missed 40% of what's actually out there. How much is that, then, $60 trillion? A whole bunch,no matter my math, so that's a pretty large liability floating around, no?

Are these guys all Greenwich home owners?
Poll: 67% of wall Streeters expect bonuses this year And one in 10 said they expect this year's bonus will be at least 33 percent higher than last year's - those are definitely the ones pricing houses here in town.

Sadly for them (and for those of us who like to sell houses) there's this from today's paper:

Wall Street pay expected to plummet And those bonuses they do receive will be stock shares, not cash. Big whoop. Here's a sobering thought:

In previous lean years, Wall Street banks justified large payouts by arguing that top employees would flee for higher-paying jobs. But with tens of thousands of Wall Street jobs disappearing, that argument may no longer hold. “Where are people going to go?” one senior banking executive asked.

A friend tells me that he had dinner with a Wall Street head hunter last night who told him that her CEO and his next in command were let go last week. According to her, we haven't even begun to see the carnage that's coming. Whether she's right or not, it's beliefs like hers that have frozen this market.

The gift that keeps on taking
Waxman to challenge Dingell for House Energy Committee chair. As promised by the One, say goodbye to coal, say hello to "skyrocketing energy prices".

Interesting real estate forum over at Forbes

He can still vote at North Street School but not at 745 7th Avenue or at least, not for long: Fuld to be terminated by bankrupt Lehman at year's end.

Another builder to recommend
I ran into Paul Bauts yesterday (Bauts Construction, Inc., (914) 8799027)and was glad to renew his contact information. I first met Paul when I lived in New Canaan with a friend who was considering a major renovation. We kept driving past a good looking renovation project and, in addition to the obvious quality of the work being done, I was struck how tidy the grounds were. In my experience, a builder who pays attention to the mess generated by his crews also pays attention to the details of what those crews are doing. We stopped in to meet the contractor and the first person we met was the homeowner himself who was living in the house with his family while the renovation was being done. The guy couldn't sing Paul's praises loudly enough which I took to be an excellent recommendation. We later checked out some of his other jobs and references and all were remarkable.

My friend's renovation never took place and I lost contact with Paul until yesterday but I was glad to learn that he's still busy, operating out of South Salem New York and still doing jobs down here (I know, for instance, that he did a project for one Riverside resident some years ago and when he finished, she recommended him to her own sister - assuming the two women have a good relationship, that's a powerful recommendation). Anyway, I'll be adding his contact information to the column of recommended builder types on the right hand side column (I'm going to put together an emailable document/brochure soon, with all this information)and you should be very confident in contacting him about work on your own house - new or renovation.

This would be neat, if it works
New coating technology captures more solar power
If true - it's a press release from RPI - and can be made cost effective, it will revolutionize solar energy collection. It will also make obsolete the existing technology that moves solar panels to track the sun. Under the now-discredited theory of free enterprise, that would put some businesses out of business and free up capital for new business to take advantage of something better. Now, of course, existing businesses will stay operating thanks to taxpayer subsidies and more taxpayer money will rush to support this one. It's a win win situation for everyone except those footing the bill.

62 Ridge Street

Say, here's an idea!
Can't sell your spec house for $7.250 million? Delete the listing and bring it back on at $7.450! If that doesn't work, I suppose you can yank it up to $12 million and see what happens.

To be kind, it's possible that the builder of this home was so swamped with offers as he was building it that now that he's nearing completion he feels confident that he can ask for and receive even more money. In which case, good for him - the market needs some good news. I myself am a little skeptical about this price on this street. Ridge Avenue is a neighborhood "in transition", as we realtors like to say, with the previous high sale being $2.850 each for two condos on the corner of Ridge and Havemeyer. Those sales occurred last year; one unit was returned to market this year at $2.895 and so far has found no takers. 62 Ridge is further down the road, closer to the highway noise and the railroad and, although I could certainly be wrong about this, I wonder whether there is a market for a 10,000 sq.ft., 5 bedroom 7 1/2 million dollar mansion in a location that's slightly out of the downtown district. I guess we'll find out.

247 Byram Shore Road

We discussed this house back when it saw an earlier price reduction, but here it is again, marked down today to $8.9 million, or 74% of its original price of $12 million. Sooner or later it will find its proper level.

My Dinner with Andre
Lunch with three close friends, actually, two of whom are real estate lawyers I labored in the trenches with back in our last bad market in the early 1990s. Their take? Things are simply awful, and much worse than they were back then (of course, we were all younger then, and optimism was easier to come by). "It's as though everything just froze overnight," one said. "Nothing is happening."

I asked how many high-end properties were purchased with high-end mortgages and they agreed that, while a lot of buyers in the past years simply took out the $1.1 million in mortgage money that is deductible, there were plenty of buyers who were stretching to the limit to get the house they wanted. These two lawyers, by the way, are involved in probably 25% or more of the real estate transactions in town, so their view is a good one. Their prediction, one I agree with, is that nothing significant will happen in the market until January. But then a lot of people who have been trying to hold out are going to give up and put their homes up for sale. When they do they'll price them to sell which will finally break the logjam that now exists, with realistic buyers butting heads with steadfast sellers.

If this prediction bears out, existing sellers are going to have a lot of competition and those competitors will be setting a new, much lower level for pricing. And if that happens, you out there who have been refusing to come down to a price that will move your house are screwed - the market will just pass you by and go to the new, lower-priced inventory.

So what should you do? The sad news is, there probably isn't much you can do. All four of us diners agreed that, today, almost no price cut seems capable of spurring a buyer into action. If someone is too nervous to buy, they aren't going to, regardless of what bargain they perceive. Of course, no house in Greenwich is worthless and if you marked anything down to some hypothetical price you'd find a buyer. But where's the happy ground between a ridiculously low price and one that will make economic sense to you and still move a buyer? It's hard to tell. The two quick sales I discuss below are evidence that, at least in some cases, price does still matter. The growing inventory, much of which has seen price reductions, indicates that demand is still too weak to be affected by price cuts and certainly not by 5%-10% cuts. So price it way below where you might have priced it two years ago and be prepared to whack at it even harder in 30 days. Might work.

I do suggest, however, that if you've been clinging to a price that you know is too high you might want to adjust it now, before the January flood ensues. Will it help? God knows, but it can't hurt.

384 Round Hill Road
Some sign of life: two houses were reported under contract today, 79 West Brother Drive, in Millbrook ($2.495, ask) and this fantastic property on Round Hill Road. This is a 1745 Colonial originally owned by a Lockwood and still has 6.6 acres attached to it. Diddle McAlister of Round Hill Partners originally listed it in September at $5.250 which was not a silly price whatsoever but, in this market, nothing was happening and so she and the owners slapped two quick price cuts on it, one 30 days after it listed and the second three weeks later, on October 28th. The third price, 15% off the original, or $4.450, did the trick. The lesson here is price your house reasonably to begin with and if it turns out you miscalculated - easy to do in a declining market - don't hesitate to correct your error. This house was on and off the market in less than 60 days, which is a good result in a strong market and a real accomplishment today. Congratulations to Diddle and her clients.

So do two contracts mean we're out of the woods? I don't think so - check back in a few minutes for my report on a lunch I just had with two real estate lawyer friends. They're discouraged.

All quiet on the front

Real estate activity in town is just about nonexistent. No contracts, no sales, few new listings and very, very few showings of existing listings. I was just speaking with a friend and fellow agent who told me that she has buyers with $4 million in cash who want a house in a specific part of town, on one of a few specific streets. There's nothing out there. I just checked, although my friend is one of the best agents working and would certainly know everything that's available and she's right: the one listing in that price range is in the wrong neighborhood (and hopelessly over-priced), another is on a very busy street and the handful of other listings are priced to appeal to Bill Gates, Warren Buffet and nobody else.

So we're in a quiet time. Tons of inventory, none of which appeals to buyers, a dearth of well-priced houses and a dwindling pool of buyers who still have the job security, cash and desire to move up. This won't last, I hope, but I do wonder if we'll see any resumption of business before the new year. I'm beginning to doubt it.

Hold on to your hats
Because here we go!

The Democratic president-elect has much more on his agenda, amounting to what may be the broadest overhaul of the U.S. economy since Franklin D. Roosevelt's New Deal. Beyond job creation and big investments in public works, Obama intends to shift the tax burden back toward the wealthy, roll back a quarter-century of deregulation, extend health-care coverage to all Americans and reassess the U.S. government's pursuit of free- trade deals.

So here's a test of your political convictions: Don't sell your house, hang on and wait for these nostrums to work their magic and then sell for a fortune; the extra capital gains you'll pay will be as nothing. Or get out now while you still can.

Election results

Voters pile on debt, nationwide including $9+ billion in California for a shiny new train.

John Matsusaka, executive director of the University of Southern California's Initiative and Referendum Institute in Los Angeles, had suggested the contracting U.S. economy and slump in consumer spending may sour taxpayers' appetite for debt.

``I thought voters would say, `We don't want to borrow because these are tough times coming,' but I guess not,'' Matsusaka said.

Tells me that taxpayers still believe in a free lunch, provided them by the Tooth Fairy. That's the same benificent being who's going to pay Obama's supporters' gas bills and mortgages, I believe - I do so look forward to the anger and chagrin that will sweep this nation in, say three years, when the Rev. Wright's chickens come home to roost.

Million dollar closet?
I saw a really nice house yesterday: new construction, priced at $9 million. That's an aggressive price for this market, I think, but what struck me was that the builders opted to place just one closet in the master bedroom. Mind you, it's a very nice closet, easily the size of two of my own kids' bedrooms combined, and one sure to please the lady of the household. But will she be pleased to have to share her closet with her husband? A quibble at, say, $2.5 million may be a major objection at this price range. I'll be curious to see how this works out.

Uh oh!
Write comment on blog, have angry real estate developer show up and scream at you. Hasn't happened to me yet but I did find one seemingly miffed realtor at an open house today, a house that has been discussed on this blog. I say "seemingly" miffed because he wouldn't speak to me, so who knows? Perhaps he was just tongue tied with admiration and gratitude.

I'm a winner either way
It looks as though I'm about to find out if everything I've believed since I was 18 was right, or wrong. If I've been wrong all these years, then, starting tomorrow, we'll see world peace, economic prosperity at home, full employment with everyone having rich,meaningful jobs, clean harbors and bays, an end to global warming, no more poverty and happiness abounding in every clean, decent home. In short, the Jubilee will have arrived and all because the collectivist way is the right way. And who could complain if all those good things come to pass?

If I've been right, then none of the above will happen and the country will be ruined, but I'll have the deep satisfaction of having been proved correct. Too bad for my kids but that's their look out.

Either way, there's absolutely nothing I can do about it so what, me worry? Not I.

Chieftans
A reader asked about the recent history of this place and I'll admit that my memory of the subject has faded. 96 acres, owned by a Borden heir until 1925 when Bernard Gimbel bought the place. My old law firm represented Mr. Gimbel and, as a young associate, I'd be dispatched there occasionally with documents requiring his signature. I never met the gentleman himself but I'm told he was very nice - certainly his property was. It was chopped into something like 17 lots in, maybe, 1990 and the first houses went for sale around then (if Greenwich Time had searchable archives you could follow Casey Stengel's advice and look it up - there was a long, protracted zoning battle over development plans, all dutifully reported on by that paper). Prices have climbed a bit over the years, from mid-$2s to, by 1998, as high as mid-3s. Judging from today's price reduction on 20 Chieftan Road, those prices may be returning to earth.

Another reader asked, "why would anyone want to live here?" I don't know - it's close to the Merritt Parkway and Westchester Airport, which might be considered a convenience, and it does have a guarded gatehouse - whether that speaks to necessity or simply the owners' desire for privacy is a matter of which I have no knowledge ("up with which I will not put!"). There's an association that takes care of all grounds keeping and such so, if someone just wanted a place to stay while making a brief visit to Greenwich, this could work.
Update:
From the comments section to the original post comes this far more knowledgeable history:

Chieftans - Alva Gimble created a beautiful spot.

The original developer died before beginning his project. John Ferari took it over.

John Ferari built good houses but there were some screwy sales, especially at the beginning of the sales effort (10 plus years ago?).Ex - Famous baseball player custom finished a unit and sold it before moving in. His buyer paid an extremely inflated price. Hard to generalize about prices - lot and house sizes vary, some have over an acre and pools, others don't.

I think sales had followed the market until the collapse. One of Greenwich's highest earning Realtors sold many of the houses at Chieftans, some more than once.

Plusses - Beautiful setting - acres of conservation land - gated, with excellent security if that's your thing. Residents are interesting group, with some under the radar "biggies". Convenience of Westchester Airport if you fly corporate, close to B'wick & Sacred Heart, and the Merritt, without Merritt noise.

Minuses -
Airport,though the bigger houses backing up to Sherwood aren't as affected. Who knows, with all the new FAA changes, we all may be buying earplugs.

Glenville isn't the golden triangle or circle, or any other golden shape, so those Wickie moms may have a problem.

A few years ago there was a great house on the market, right at the beginning of the drive. It was beautifully decorated, tasteful, warm. Fantastic views over the trees, and the sellers read books! There were real tomes on the library shelves, and books on tables-that were being read! Didn't see too much of that when touring open houses back in the day.

And still another update:
Highest price paid at Chieftans might have been (records are spotty) $6 million + back before 2000. At least a 2002 listing for #8 Chieftans, when it was priced at $4.3 claimed that the seller "originally paid more than $2 million over this price". It does appear for sale for $5.750 back in 2000 and four brokers and three years later, sold for exactly $4 million. So did someone overpay in the sixes in 1999, realize he'd been a chump and try to salvage what he could a year later? I don't know - ask his agent, Tamar Laurie.

History of Voting Rights
Inspired by an ongoing discussion in the comments section, I thought I'd dig up the history of property requirements for voting. Interesting footnote: Connecticut was the first state to impose a literacy requirement, in 1855. Couldn't we at least bring that one back?

A reader emails:
At North Street School, I stepped into a “privacy booth” that was situated between those being used by Dick Fuld and his wife. I was not the only one who recognized Fuld and, upon leaving, overheard this conversation between two other voters:

“Gee, I thought the guilty were not allowed to vote”

“Well, he hasn’t been convicted of anything yet.”

“I guess your perspective depends on whether you worked for Lehman or not”.

Only in Greenwich.

20 Chieftans

Another example of the death by a 1,000 cuts. This house was originally listed in February, 2007, for $4.350 and has dropped in price, slowly, ever since. Today it was reduced another 8% to $3.5 million, or 20% from its original price. The sellers aren't my clients and certainly don't want or need my advice but as an object lesson, it's hard not to conclude that it's better to cut deeply, all at once. I'll bet a surgeon would agree.

The crushing of dissent
The polls aren't yet closed and the Demmerkrats are already licking their chops, preparing to shut down talk radio. Senator Chuck Schumer compares Rush Limbaugh with pornography, which should give civil libertarians pause but won't - these are the same people who adore Che, after all.

414 Stanwich Rd.

How not to sell your house?
This property was bought for $2.1 million back in February, 2003. Three years later in March, 2006 the buyers put it back up for sale asking $2.695 which I thought at the time was a tad aggressive. For the ensuing three years the house has lingered, suffering the indignity of five price cuts, each too little to stir a buyer into action but gradually reducing its price to exactly what the sellers had paid for it: $2.1 million. Today they took a sixth cut, knocking another 5% off to $1.995, but wouldn't someone who liked the house (but not its price) before have offered 5% less to begin with? I think so, in which case this latest cut won't help.

My advice is, try to price your house right to begin with and if it turns out that the market disagrees with what you thought that right price was, don't dither. A $50,000 price cut, as this one once endured, won't accomplish anything. Move aggressively and swiftly and you'll be able to sell before something bad happens, like the DJI dropping off the face of the earth.

Go soak your head!
Some readers have had bad experiences with Summer Rain, complaining that as the business has prospered and expanded customer service has suffered. I have had no experience either way but for those looking for an alternative, reader CEA writes:

"Kevin Zosiak: 203 509 9568

My parents and I have both used him. He is prompt, he does great work, and is very professional."

Sounds good to me - I'll post his contact info in the column to the right.

Just voted at District 5 and discovered that there's no name printed on the ballot for the Libertarian candidate. I was limited to merely casting a vote to cancel that of the Greenwich Diva's but I have now found out that the Libertarian's candidate is
Bob Barr. Too late for me to write him in but it's not too late for those of you who have yet to vote. There's still time to avert disaster! Go vote.

27 Vineyard Lane
This 1920's, 2500 sq.ft. house on 3+ acres has been on the market since February. The owners switched brokers but until today, stuck fast to their price: $4.995 million. Now they've cut that 20% to $3.995. It's still a land deal, in my opinion, although it would be wonderful to see the house restored. And, oversized lot or not (it's in the RA-2 zone) $4.0 million seems rich, even for Vineyard Lane.

But it's more realistic than $5 million.

"And there shall be a great wailing and gnashing of teeth"

This woman thinks Obama's going to pay for her gasoline and mortgage

Oh, things are going to get interesting next year.

From John Cooke of Prudential Connecticut, October's Inventory (no, John, I didn't deliberately cut out your identifying material - I just couldn't fit it in the screen shot - it's down below.) Click on the numbers to enlarge, if you wish.

After tomorrow, this kind of horror will be a thing of the past.




Exotic dancer sues for discrimination

"Onward, Comrades!"

Fuel of the future:

Ethanol producer goes bust.

Update: Goldman drops coverage of all ethanol producers

Will those Republicans stop at nothing?!


Florida officials refuse to establish polling place for nudists.

I blame Katherine Harris.

17 Marks Rd. Rvsd

Here's what's happening with at least one property in town:
Sold $2.250 million-5/10/2004
ACT $2.835 9/01/05
Sold $2.494.5 7/24/06
ACT $2.695 4/10/08
Now $2.295

I'd say we're back to 2004 prices and still dropping.

Feminists lose sense of humor, Criticize GPS-fitted chastity belt. Well when the One is elected and shuts down our electrical plants no one will have to worry about these things after the first battery charge. Unless, of course, insecure macho-types can fit their loved ones with solar powered units.

I've lost my socks - is my shirt next?

Hilfiger Sale
435 Round Hill Road was purchased for $18 million by Tommy Hilfiger back in October '05, had a ton of new (and expensive) modifications dumped into it and was put back up for sale earlier this year for $27.9 million. It was reduced today 21% down to $21.995. Subtracting the money spent improving it and commissions, taxes and all the other assorted transaction costs, I'd guess that Mr. Hilfiger is already out-of-pocket from owning this house for three years; and he hasn't sold it yet.

It's "Think of a Pirate Day"!
Or it is on this blog, at least, so I thought to check up on our Somali pirates who've been sitting on a Ukrainian freighter stuffed with tanks and big-time weapons since September 25th. The update? They're still there! The long promised Russian warship is finally approaching but other than that, no one seems to be going anywhere.

I knew you were curious.

"Of course it's safe - trust us, we're Swiss!"

UBS - the next Bear Sterns?
If you believe these allegations - and I do - UBS peddled Lehman Brothers' notes as "Good for Retirement" when, of course, they were unsecured promissory instruments which are now worthless. UBS wasn't the only bank selling junk it described as valuable but they do seem to have engaged in a large number of activities like this or that were just plain illegal, and pretty much continue to insist they did nothing wrong even as they pay back billions. Those auction-rated securities come to mind - UBS was unloading them for its favored corporate clients while dumping them into private clients' accounts even when it knew they were illiquid. Aiding and abetting tax dodgers via Swiss banking secrecy laws hasn't helped the bank's reputation or its bottom line, now that federal prosecutors are on to them.

What gives with this bank? The people I know who work for UBS are outstanding individuals who would never act unethically - never. So how did rogues come to get free run at the place? It has to be the fault of upper management but, regardless of the cause, things look increasingly dismal for this institution.

(I notice that one of our town weeklies ran a chart purporting to show sales statistics for the month of September, 2008. The paper obviously failed to notice that the numbers provided it were for the year, not just one month. Since I had run the actual sales numbers for September and October just last Friday, I thought I'd repost them here, for easy reference and to set the record straight.)Here are the same sales statistics for Sept.- Oct., grouped by percentage of original listing price. Again, forgive the poor formatting but the numbers are, original price, selling price and % of final to original.


69 Rockwood $2.295 - $2.729 - 119%
7 Ginko $1.150 - $1.275 - 111%
28 Lockwood Dr. $1.495 - $1.595 - 106.6%
18 Orchard Hill $1.895 - $2.0 - 105%
990 North St. $ 672 - $ 685 - 102%

11 Island Drive $15.75 - $15.5 - 98.4%
22 Bramble $1.575 - $1.525 - 97%
25 Ridge St. $1.695 - $1.650 - 97%
18 Sherwood $5.4 - $5.2 - 96%
37 Sachem $ 915 - $ 860 - 94%
5 Hollow Wood $ 699 - $ 650 - 93%
5 Lockwood Dr. $1.575 - $1.4425 - 92%
27 Dandy $2.549 - $2.349 - 92%
4 Cross Ridge $1.340 - $1.210 - - 90%


123 Shore Rd $3.2 - $2.8 - 87.5%
25 Birchwood $4.2 - $3.6 - 86%
83 Rvsd. Ave. $1.750 - $1.50 - 86%
101 Brookside $6.995 - $5.995 - 85.6%
17 Suburban $1.995 - $1.695 - 85%
29 Old Wagon $ 849 - $ 720 - 85%
62 Cat Rock $2.25 - $1.9 - 84%
49 Arcadia $2.495 - $2.075 - 83%
29 Irvine $2.585 - $2.150 - 83%
67 Hillside $2.8 - $2.325 - 83%
10 Keofferam $2.940 - $2.415 - 82%
268 Round Hill $5.6 - $4.6 - 82%
29 Spring St. $1.950 - $1.6 - 82%
70 Pecksland $3.7 - $3.0 - 81%
752 North St. $4.9 - $3.9 - 80%

60 Gold $ 610 - $ 481 - 79%-- [paid $495, 2003]
3 Old Farm Rd $1.995 - $1.525 - 76% --[pd.$1.75, 2003]
4 Old Round Hill $14.5 - $10.875 - 75%
12 Deep Gorge $1.250 - $ 937 - 75%
16 Beechcroft $8.295 - $6.15 - 74%
47 Will Merry $1.895 - $1.350 - 71%

11 Hettiefred $3.375 - $2.349 - 69.6%
83 Circle $2.795 - $1.885 - 67%
21 Wilshire $3.495 - $2.180 - 62%
279 Davis $ 899 - $ 550 - 61%


11 Langhorne $28 million - $13.75 - 49%

30 Nearwater Lane
Then and Now
In January 2005 this property was listed for sale as a building lot for $1.199 and sold immediately via bidding war for $1.305. 18 months later the builder, having done little to improve the lot other than tear down the existing house, put it back up for sale asking $1.595. Buyers weren't convinced that scraping off an old house was worth that kind of premium so the property didn't sell until July, 2007 and received only $1.215. If you think that this story illustrates that the ones who make out best are those who sell at the beginning of a boom, rather than at its end, you'd be right.

In any event, the new owner has indeed built a very nice new house and has been trying to sell it for $3.195 since April. Today it was marked down 6% to $2.995. That might be enough to move it; then again, it might not.

Nickola Tesla at work raising money
The real estate agents' carmaker of choice, Tesla Motors
has raised $40 million from existing investors. They were shooting for $100 million but settled for what they could get, I suppose. Just as soon as there is any real real estate news to report we'll get back on track here. Until then, perhaps you'd like to learn about Mr. Tesla's 19th Century version of the tinfoil hat.
Would you order a car that was based on this "science"? So far, 1,200 techies have - perhaps that shield against delusions doesn't work so well after all.

Were you wondering where your favorite Savings and Loan officer got to?

The New York Time's Gretchen Morganson writes today on mortgage fraud at Washington Mutual. The only surprising thing here, if it's any surprise at all, is that this is exactly the same behavior that was going on at the S&Ls in the '80s. Weren't there supposed to have been regulations passed to curtail this? They didn't work.

Pixie Dust and propeller Beanies - that'll be a change!

Obama vows to bankrupt coal industry. So that's no nukes, no coal, but how much light do we really need to join hands around the campfire and sing Kumbaya?

Update: a reader says that, according to candidate Jim Himes, we'll do everything with windmills, which is certainly reassuring. This article by British historian Paul Johnson, however, is less sanguine. The author concludes with this vignette

I don't know whether this year's financial catastrophe will shock the politicians and people of the West into a new seriousness. There's certainly no sign of it yet. I had to laugh when a Chinese visitor recently said to me: "I see you're going back to the windmill in Britain. We Chinese cannot afford that."

Still more good news: In the same interview, The Messiah vows to "make energy costs skyrocket."

You know, when I was asked earlier about the issue of coal, uh, you know — Under my plan of a cap and trade system, electricity rates would necessarily skyrocket. Even regardless of what I say about whether coal is good or bad. Because I’m capping greenhouse gases, coal power plants, you know, natural gas, you name it — whatever the plants were, whatever the industry was, uh, they would have to retrofit their operations. That will cost money. They will pass that money on to consumers.

Oh, we're in for a good time!

A spiritual awakening in Greenwich?
Not in Greenwich, not yet. I included a chapter in my first book, The New Millionaire's Handbook entitled "Spirituality". The text simply read, "just kidding". Nothing much has changed in 10 years, apparently.

Abortion politics

The lady pictured above is a Chester, Connecticut real estate agent named Leslie Strauss who wants customers to know that she supports abortion. I personally find this an odd position to take by someone who is a self-confessed mother and grandmother but whatever. I obviously don't hide my own politics from potential customers so more power to Ms. Strauss. But abortion, an issue that so many people are at best ambivalent about, strikes me as something best left outside of business. Just my opinion, and perhaps Strauss will attract the huge amount of our populace that suffers from Bush Derangement Syndrome (recovery classes are scheduled to begin this next Wednesday at the YWCA). She'd better hope, however, that not too many of her customers practice what she preaches or who will be around to buy her houses?

The trouble with politicians

They think that driving around town in silly cars "builds excitement" and encourages people to vote. My solution for voters swayed by a wave from a fat politician in the rumble seat of an old car is the same as for those who are persuaded by a dozen candidate signs littering the grounds of our railroad stations: disenfranchise the idiots.

Selling it
In this otherwise banal press release I noticed that current real estate conditions are referred to as "choppy". This is the new preferred term for a market in the tank, as evidenced by a quick Google search. "Real estate Choppy" turns up 241,000 entries.

I don't know who dreams these things up but I do sympathize - it's got to be a tough job putting the best face on things day after day as things fall apart. My personal opinion is that the PR flack's job will be considerably eased come Wednesday morning, when the media will stop reporting bad economic news and will turn instead to trumpeting the arrival of the Jubilee. Happy days are almost here again - we just have to get through three more days of choppy weather.

Global warming should fix this

Britain labels Iceland a terrorist haven. Once those icebergs melt and wash these Eskimo bankers out to sea, peace will reign, eh?

The trouble with enacting broad, overreaching laws is that governments will be tempted to interpret them broadly and overreach. Support your local anarchist.

We were allies once, and strong

So U.S. commandos storm a terrorist hangout, kill at least seven and kill or capture the leader, one Abu Ghadiya, described as the “most prominent” weapons smuggler for Al-Qaeda in Iraq.

How does the Times of London see it? A "botched raid" that "seems to have gone spectacularly wrong."

The Times does concede that
"Despite the furore over the raid, there can be little doubt that the Americans will celebrate the death of Abu Ghadiya, whom they described as the “most prominent” smuggler for Al-Qaeda in Iraq. He allegedly ran guns, money and foreign fighters along the “rat lines” that lead across the desert into northern Iraq and sometimes led raids himself."

The Times reporter isn't mollified by such success and demands contrition: "American officials refused to apologise for the botched raid on Syria, " he notes disapprovingly. "They said the administration was determined to operate under a definition of self-defence that provided for strikes on terrorist targets in any sovereign state."

After castigating the wicked forces of the U.S., the article concludes with a reluctant admission: "For Al-Qaeda militants, the safe haven of Syria will be looking decidedly cooler as winter sets in."

A few more botched raids like this and we'll have to pack our bags and go home, heads bowed in shame.

How dare you be productive?!

Last week, the One promised to punish anyone earning over $250,000. His partner in The Great Taking, Joe Biden, revised that downward on Monday to $150,000 and today, the official definition of "rich enough to steal from" was lowered to $120,000.By the day of anointment we'll all be rich - but not for long.

The New York Times doing what it used to do so often, and so well.
In depth report on the banking shenanigans that dragged down municipal dupes - $200 million leveraged into a $20 billion exposure, no appreciable payments in exchange for that risk and, of course, huge profits for the guy who sold the stuff.

It's all reminiscent of the stuff I used to go after when Wall Street was still content to defraud individual investors - these guys just figured out how to go big time.

One thing the article passes over but which will be the next, huge financial disaster of the coming decades: the bankruptcy of municipal pension plans. General discussion of this latter sorry subject can be found here.

Buy land!

Okay, that's a shot of Wyoming's Wind River Mountains, where I'd prefer to live but if, like me, you're stuck here in the Hell Hole of Greenwich, you can still make the best of things by building a nice house. I mentioned yesterday that my pal Lou Van Leeuwen and his company, Greenwich Construction LLC (698-9420)were offering 20%-30% off construction projects and suggested that other contractors could probably be persuaded to be equally as generous. I mostly discussed renovations and additions but of course, this isn't a bad time to build new, either. Same lower building costs and the same pressures on sellers of building lots.

The Greenwich MLS currently shows 105 land listings, ranging from $35 million for waterfront on Field Point Circle (discussed yesterday - I think there ought to be some give in that figure)to $245,000 for a tenth of an acre on Peck Avenue. Plus, there are many house listings that would be suitable for new construction: my own listing, at 34 North Porchuck, adjoining Audubon property and available for somewhere between $1.6ish to $1.75 ish is just one example.

So look around. My sense is that a lot of these properties were priced when builders were active and buying. That's not true right now and in fact, most builders I know have put their land inventory back on the market. Deals can be had.

Figure it will take a year or so to build a new house. By that time, the market may have recovered in which case you'll have an easier time selling your existing house at a price you like and you will have constructed a new house for far less than you could have a year ago or perhaps you could a year from now. Not a bad deal, I think.