Market Activity
August is usually a pretty slow month in the Greenwich real estate market and this year was no exception. Still, I was impressed how much activity there was. Forty-three houses went to contract during the month (compared to 41 in August ’06) ten of which at prices of $5,000,000 and up ($12,750,000 was tops, on Cedar Cliff Road in Riverside). That’s a substantial volume and you might find it reassuring to know that, even in this “national housing crisis”, there are still buyers out there and they’re doing more than just kicking tires.

“Green” houses
A number of my builder friends are either building or considering building “green” houses: super efficient, energy saving structures. They cost a bit more to build but produce a draft-free, comfortable house and offer much lower heating and cooling bills. The general sense the builders and I have is that consumers aren’t willing to pay more upfront even with the promise of paying less during ownership; my friend and builder, Peter Thalheim, says he builds them out of personal pride and a commitment to the environment, which is pretty cool. But 26 Bramble Lane, a house I wrote about before because of its innovative, super-insulated construction, sold in August for $3,725,000 and, without meaning to offend the buyer by suggesting that they over-paid for the house – they didn’t – I think that price may reflect a slight premium for its energy saving features. I hope so, because that will encourage builders to do more of these projects and buyers will end up with better houses. I am one of those “global warming deniers” and consider Al Gore and his ilk to be leading a new religious campaign based on fear and ignorance, rather than science, but that doesn’t mean we shouldn’t conserve resources – my father singly-handedly kept the 15 watt light bulb industry alive and raised his kids to abhor waste. I learned well, and I’d like to see more new construction pay attention to conservation.

White Houses
As one of the last subscribers to the printed book version of our MLS, I like to get my money’s worth by prowling through the whole thing, cover to cover. Did that recently, as was struck by the number of listing photographs that showed bucolic snowy scenes, reminiscent of Pieter Bruegel. Nothing screams “over-priced loser going nowhere” than a photograph, in September, of a bedraggled yard with a melting Frosty the Snowman in front. Any competent agent has a digital camera or can borrow one. If your listing is still depicting the snows of yesteryear, demand a new photo. Or, of course, you can wait a few months and you’ll be seasonally correct once again – but maybe you’d like to sell your house before February.

Chubby Wubbies
I’m delighted to have moved to Raveis’s Old Greenwich office because I’m now back in my “hood’ and get to encounter friends and neighbors regularly. The location also affords an opportunity to survey the street scene, and I’ve seen some amusing sights, including a porcine 4 year old, clutching both a bagel (with cream cheese, presumably) and a soda while being wheeled through town in a stroller. Far be it from me to offer parenting advice but this kid looked (a) old enough to walk on his own and (b) desperately in need of a little exercise. Just one man’s opinion, of course.

Don’t stage that house!
Saw some new construction the other day. The builder, seeking to recoup the expense of renting furniture for another, larger project, crammed everything into this much smaller house, thereby ensuring that prospective buyers will see exactly how tiny the living room, dining room and kitchen are. Bad move.

Speaking of melting snowmen
The new ethic, at least as preached by Leonard Decapprio and his new movie, “The 11th Hour”, is that we should all use less wood and curtail logging. Dr. Patrick Moore, a co-founder of Greenpeace and presumably no enemy of the earth, points out that trees suck up carbon better than anything else on earth and that carbon remains stored in the wood, even as it’s converted to furniture and houses. Young trees absorb carbon at far greater rates than mature ones so we should be doing more logging, not less. And shooting more methane-belching moose, of course.

Mortgage Meltdown

The so-called sub-prime mortgage market has been taking a beating and dragging down a number of very good companies. But I'm not convinced that recent "solutions" proposed by politicians will do anything to alleviate the situation; in fact, I believe they will only make things worse. One suggestion floating around is to ban variable interest rate loans. That's not going to help anyone who already has one and it ignores recent history, when rates went down, not up. Variable rates were a good deal for a long time, now they aren't. Such is life. The late Harvard libertarian philosopher Robert Nozick, author of "Anarchy, State and Utopia" liked to commend "acts of capitalism between consenting adults" and that's what variable rate loans were; they allowed folks to buy houses who otherwise couldn't. Same with the "no-documentation" loans. I recall when, 20 years back, we wanted to add onto our house to accommodate the arrival of our third child. While my income as a lowly lawyer didn't meet the precise standards of a conventional 30-year mortgage, I was confident I could handle the payments and Green Point Mortgage, looking at a requested $100,000 loan on a $1,000,000 property, took the chance. We got the house rebuilt, Green Pont got repaid and everyone was happy. But last week, Green Point was shut down, not because its loans were going bad but because the panic infecting Wall Street spread to it.

I suppose that my point here is that flexible terms and rates – even interest-only loans - weren't and aren't all bad. I'm reading now about poor homeowners who swear that they didn't know their rates could go up and about mortgage brokers playing fast and loose with income statements but all in all, I think it would be a mistake to switch the whole system back to the standard 20% down, 30 year mortgage model. It will only deprive a lot of people the opportunity to own their own house. And if some of those people dive in over their head and lose what they tried to buy? Well, that's a shame, but depriving the 80-90% of their peers who can handle it the chance to buy a house seems like overkill.

Mortgage Contingencies
They're back! Not so long ago, sellers were refusing to allow mortgage contingencies into their contracts and buyers were forced to go without this protection. The shoe's on the other foot now and buyers who need a mortgage (not every Greenwich resident does, naturally) can usually insist that their deposit be returned if they can't obtain financing. But be warned: the days of overnight mortgage approvals are over, at least for now, because there are fewer lenders making loans and those that are are insisting on far more documentation than before. Two weeks is probably the minimum contingency date you should ask for and if you can get the seller to agree to three weeks, all the better. Sellers, cheer up: these things all go in cycles, and you'll be back in the catbird seat, one of these days.

Yet another apples to apples comparison
16 Stanwich Lane listed at $2,250,000 back in November of 2005 sold that month in a bidding war for $2,466,000. It was returned to the market this year and my brother Gideon (Cleveland, Duble & Arnold), representing the new buyer, got it for $2,350,000 last week. On average, Greenwich prices are holding firm but, as I pointed out last week, we're seeing more of these losing propositions. As always, the advice is to hope that you don't buy in a heated market and have to sell in a soft one. No one's ever done badly in Greenwich real estate in the long run but if you can't hold out for the long run, hang onto your wallet and cry.

Nice while it lasted
Schools are back open, traffic's back. But that means the buyers are, too, I hope. Next year, I think I'll spend August in Montana.

Dog Days
Contrary to rumor, Leona Helmsly's last will and testament did not demand that her little dog, Trouble, be sent off to be trained by Michael Vick. Amazing the mean things people say about the dead

The sky is lowering, not falling

There are a lot of buyers out there who think that, if they only wait long enough, Greenwich housing prices will fall to affordable levels. So far as I know, these people have been waiting since, oh, maybe 1935. But it is true that waiting for a particular house to drop can be an effective strategy. One Ashton Drive came on the market 1/23/04 for $7.5 million and sold last week 3 ½ years later, for $5.125. One Indian Spring, the great old Rockefeller estate, was listed for $26,000,000 on 5/17/05 and also sold last week (via Barbara Zaccagnini) for $13,410,000. Now that's a price reduction. I don't mean to embarrass the sellers of these two houses but write this to make the point that, if you and your agent both think a house is over-priced, other agents may, too, and the house will linger, offering you plenty of time to work down the price. But beware: I've known buyers who rejected their agent's opinion that a house was priced fairly and then lost the house they wanted to someone else. So listen to your agent; if you don't trust her advice, get another agent – there are tons of us out here.

"Yacht" Club leases
Certain RTM members have complained that Greenwich leases waterfront property to four non-profit clubs, including the Old Greenwich Yacht Club and the Mianus River Boat Club. I think they're wrong to complain. As I understand the situation, these are not private clubs: any town resident can join. Dues are paid, the buildings are maintained at no cost to the town and any "earnings" (a term mistakenly employed by Budget Overview Committee head Don Conway) are plowed back into operations. No one's getting rich here, and the town itself collects all the revenue from slip and boat rack rentals. Even Mr. Conway admits the value of these clubs saying, "it'd great for kids who folks can't afford to join private clubs" but he misses the point: there are a lot of residents who, while passionate about boating, wouldn't join a private club at gunpoint. These four organizations provide a terrific, low-cost opportunity for Greenwich boaters to enjoy the water without enduring ten year waiting lists and the annual Commodore's Ball. Leave 'em alone, says I. As an aside, if the RTM wants to look at boat fees, perhaps it should eliminate the charge on windsurfers which are brought to the beach and depart the same day with their sailors. What services are provided by Greenwich that justify charging any fee at all?

Energy for Connecticut
Connecticut Attorney General and Greenwich resident Richard Blumenthal exulted over last week's judicial ruling stopping, at least for now, a cross-sound natural gas pipeline, "thus preventing an ecological disaster". Turns out, some clams were going to be temporarily displaced. I like clams, especially fried, but I also like having enough energy in this region to keep the economy going. I recently heard Blumenthal defend his opposition to the liquefied natural gas plant, which would sit six miles offshore, by claiming that there were other, safer ways to import energy, "like pipelines". But if he and his environmental friends won't permit pipelines to be built, or LNG complexes, or high voltage power lines, or nuclear reactors or conventional power plants - and they won't - how do they expect to supply the region with our future energy needs? The best I can determine, this advocacy group's solution is low energy lightbulbs and enforced use of scooters for commuting. If it weren't so serious, the lunacy of these people, including Mr. Blumenthal, would be pretty funny.



Save this Date

The Women's Club of Greenwich is sponsoring a cruise around the Statue of Liberty and New York Harbor on Thursday, September 20. Hors d'oeuvres, buffet dinner, taxes and gratuities included, all for $95, regardless of club membership. Why am I mentioning this in a real estate column? Well, the head of the Club is my adored former Third Grade teacher, Maria Krumeich and she asked me to. I would never deny a (great) former teacher anything. Besides, thanks to the generosity of Riverside's own Tom Peterson, I did something similar once on Malcolm Forbe's Highlander and it was a blast. Questions? Call Carla at the Women's Club @ 869-2046.

The sky is lowering, not falling
There are a lot of buyers out there who think that, if they only wait long enough, Greenwich housing prices will fall to affordable levels. So far as I know, these people have been waiting since, oh, maybe 1935. But it is true that waiting for a particular house to drop can be an effective strategy. One Ashton Drive came on the market 1/23/04 for $7.5 million and sold last week 3 ½ years later, for $5.125. One Indian Spring, the great old Rockefeller estate, was listed for $26,000,000 on 5/17/05 and also sold last week (via Barbara Zaccagnini) for $13,410,000. Now that’s a price reduction. I don’t mean to embarrass the sellers of these two houses but write this to make the point that, if you and your agent both think a house is over-priced, other agents may, too, and the house will linger, offering you plenty of time to work down the price. But beware: I’ve known buyers who rejected their agent’s opinion that a house was priced fairly and then lost the house they wanted to someone else. So listen to your agent; if you don’t trust her advice, get another agent – there are tons of us out here.

“Yacht” Club leases
Certain RTM members have complained that Greenwich leases waterfront property to four non-profit clubs, including the Old Greenwich Yacht Club and the Mianus River Boat Club. I think they’re wrong to complain. As I understand the situation, these are not private clubs: any town resident can join. Dues are paid, the buildings are maintained at no cost to the town and any “earnings” (a term mistakenly employed by Budget Overview Committee head Don Conway) are plowed back into operations. No one’s getting rich here, and the town itself collects all the revenue from slip and boat rack rentals. Even Mr. Conway admits the value of these clubs saying, “it’d great for kids who folks can’t afford to join private clubs” but he misses the point: there are a lot of residents who, while passionate about boating, wouldn’t join a private club at gunpoint. These four organizations provide a terrific, low-cost opportunity for Greenwich boaters to enjoy the water without enduring ten year waiting lists and the annual Commodore’s Ball. Leave ‘em alone, says I. As an aside, if the RTM wants to look at boat fees, perhaps it should eliminate the charge on windsurfers which are brought to the beach and depart the same day with their sailors. What services are provided by Greenwich that justify charging any fee at all?

Energy for Connecticut
Connecticut Attorney General and Greenwich resident Richard Blumenthal exulted over last week’s judicial ruling stopping, at least for now, a cross-sound natural gas pipeline, “thus preventing an ecological disaster”. Turns out, some clams were going to be temporarily displaced. I like clams, especially fried, but I also like having enough energy in this region to keep the economy going. I recently heard Blumenthal defend his opposition to the liquefied natural gas plant, which would sit six miles offshore, by claiming that there were other, safer ways to import energy, “like pipelines”. But if he and his environmental friends won’t permit pipelines to be built, or LNG complexes, or high voltage power lines, or nuclear reactors or conventional power plants - and they won’t - how do they expect to supply the region with our future energy needs? The best I can determine, this advocacy group’s solution is low energy lightbulbs and enforced use of scooters for commuting. If it weren’t so serious, the lunacy of these people, including Mr. Blumenthal, would be pretty funny.

Save this Date
The Women’s Club of Greenwich is sponsoring a cruise around the Statue of Liberty and New York Harbor on Thursday, September 20. Hors d’oeuvres, buffet dinner, taxes and gratuities included, all for $95, regardless of club membership. Why am I mentioning this in a real estate column? Well, the head of the Club is my adored former Third Grade teacher, Maria Krumeich and she asked me to. I would never deny a (great) former teacher anything. Besides, thanks to the generosity of Riverside’s own Tom Peterson, I did something similar once on Malcolm Forbe’s Highlander and it was a blast. Questions? Call Carla at the Women’s Club @ 869-2046.

The sky is lowering, not falling
There are a lot of buyers out there who think that, if they only wait long enough, Greenwich housing prices will fall to affordable levels. So far as I know, these people have been waiting since, oh, maybe 1935. But it is true that waiting for a particular house to drop can be an effective strategy. One Ashton Drive came on the market 1/23/04 for $7.5 million and sold last week 3 ½ years later, for $5.125. One Indian Spring, the great old Rockefeller estate, was listed for $26,000,000 on 5/17/05 and also sold last week (via Barbara Zaccagnini) for $13,410,000. Now that’s a price reduction. I don’t mean to embarrass the sellers of these two houses but write this to make the point that, if you and your agent both think a house is over-priced, other agents may, too, and the house will linger, offering you plenty of time to work down the price. But beware: I’ve known buyers who rejected their agent’s opinion that a house was priced fairly and then lost the house they wanted to someone else. So listen to your agent; if you don’t trust her advice, get another agent – there are tons of us out here.

“Yacht” Club leases
Certain RTM members have complained that Greenwich leases waterfront property to four non-profit clubs, including the Old Greenwich Yacht Club and the Mianus River Boat Club. I think they’re wrong to complain. As I understand the situation, these are not private clubs: any town resident can join. Dues are paid, the buildings are maintained at no cost to the town and any “earnings” (a term mistakenly employed by Budget Overview Committee head Don Conway) are plowed back into operations. No one’s getting rich here, and the town itself collects all the revenue from slip and boat rack rentals. Even Mr. Conway admits the value of these clubs saying, “it’d great for kids who folks can’t afford to join private clubs” but he misses the point: there are a lot of residents who, while passionate about boating, wouldn’t join a private club at gunpoint. These four organizations provide a terrific, low-cost opportunity for Greenwich boaters to enjoy the water without enduring ten year waiting lists and the annual Commodore’s Ball. Leave ‘em alone, says I. As an aside, if the RTM wants to look at boat fees, perhaps it should eliminate the charge on windsurfers which are brought to the beach and depart the same day with their sailors. What services are provided by Greenwich that justify charging any fee at all?

Energy for Connecticut
Connecticut Attorney General and Greenwich resident Richard Blumenthal exulted over last week’s judicial ruling stopping, at least for now, a cross-sound natural gas pipeline, “thus preventing an ecological disaster”. Turns out, some clams were going to be temporarily displaced. I like clams, especially fried, but I also like having enough energy in this region to keep the economy going. I recently heard Blumenthal defend his opposition to the liquefied natural gas plant, which would sit six miles offshore, by claiming that there were other, safer ways to import energy, “like pipelines”. But if he and his environmental friends won’t permit pipelines to be built, or LNG complexes, or high voltage power lines, or nuclear reactors or conventional power plants - and they won’t - how do they expect to supply the region with our future energy needs? The best I can determine, this advocacy group’s solution is low energy lightbulbs and enforced use of scooters for commuting. If it weren’t so serious, the lunacy of these people, including Mr. Blumenthal, would be pretty funny.

Save this Date
The Women’s Club of Greenwich is sponsoring a cruise around the Statue of Liberty and New York Harbor on Thursday, September 20. Hors d’oeuvres, buffet dinner, taxes and gratuities included, all for $95, regardless of club membership. Why am I mentioning this in a real estate column? Well, the head of the Club is my adored former Third Grade teacher, Maria Krumeich and she asked me to. I would never deny a (great) former teacher anything. Besides, thanks to the generosity of Riverside’s own Tom Peterson, I did something similar once on Malcolm Forbe’s Highlander and it was a blast. Questions? Call Carla at the Women’s Club @ 869-2046.

The newest “Must-Have” fashion accessory
According to NPR, and who argues with NPR, fashionable families now count at least four children as necessary accessories, to go along with the yellow Labrador and the Mercedes. That many children, apparently, sends a message that you can afford four private school (and college) tuitions, a very large house and nannies to care for the brood. One young mommy interviewed for the article said, “I’m highly educated, ambitious and no longer employed in the workplace so of course I want to excel at something; in this case, raising the perfect family”. Let’s see: well educated, ambitious, rich young women – where do we find those? Instead of mulling over closing Parkway School, the Board of Ed should start planning new schools (I realize that all these perfect children are slated for private school but, as that young mommy may soon discover, not all perfect children are quite so perfect and some, alas, are going to end up rubbing shoulders with the great unwashed in the public schools).

The sky (isn’t) falling!
The New York Times reported over the weekend the sad story of a supposedly rich young thing from Wall Street who applied for a $1.5 million mortgage and was quoted rates as high as 13%. Leaving aside that a someone buying a piddling house under $2 million hardly qualifies as rich, in Greenwich, is it true that the pool for large mortgages is drying up? I called Marcos Zavattaro, Vice President of Patriot Bank and one of the most experienced mortgage guys I know (252-5922, if you want to talk to him yourself) to get the scoop. “One of the most ridiculous stories I’ve ever read”, was his response. According to Marcus, the so-called “jumbo mortgages” – loans over $1.0 million that can’t be sold to FannyMae, have indeed been hit by the recent credit panic, but not to the extent reported by the New York Times. Last Monday, he had a quote of 6 3/8 for one such loan; the next day, that same loan was 8%, because no one is willing to buy loans until they know what’s happening. Still, 8% is not 13%. Marcus’s advice – I think it’s his advice, but call him personally, in case I blew this - is to wait and let the panic subside over the next 60-90 days, when, he thinks, rates will retreat. If you want to buy a house before then, he suggests that you go interest only and pay the loan off when that bonus rolls in. If that bonus rolls in, of course. If not, we in the real estate industry stand ready to help you unload your unfortunate purchase at only a slight discount. Ah, just kidding – all my smart friends on Wall Street seem to have already figured out how to profit from the present scenario and if you haven’t, maybe you should be here with me on the other side of the trenches.

Change your broker, lose your buyers
I’ve been busy recently showing houses in the $5-$9 million range and rarely have I seen so many over-priced homes. I marked a number of them as ripe for realistic offers but saw this week that the owners of several of them have switched brokers and retained original price. That’s a sign of serious derangement – it’s not your agent’s fault that your house hasn’t sold, buddy, it’s your price – compared to others in your price range, you’re out of whack. So, when I see an owner refusing to acknowledge this truth, I cross the house off my list for future consideration. I’ll come back to it next spring when it will probably be in a free-fall and be a real bargain.

Pomerance Property
Did you see the interesting quote from Dianne Fox, our Town Planner, stating that there is nothing to prevent moderate income housing from being erected on the Pomerance park? I realize that many in town feel we need more moderate-income housing, but I suspect none of us who supported the town’s purchase of the parkland, for $20 million plus, did so with the intention that it be built over with housing. Bait and switch, or just another town official imposing her will over what the town wants? I don’t know, but it seems to me that we should fire our town planner and the current members of the RTM Land Use Committee. Time for a fresh start.

Old Greenwich bargain?
I think so, at least. Cathy Adams, of Country Living Associates, has listed a completely renovated four bedroom house at 54 Highview Avenue for $1,695,000. Highview is a deservedly popular street, within walking distance of Old Greenwich School and the village and a pretty easy walk/jog/ride to Tod’s Point. I think, comparing this house to what else is out there in its price range, this one’s the best by far (a comment that will surely solicit a dozen emails from other agents asking, “what about my listing?”, but what the heck).

Pool safety, continued
I never did hear back from my pool safety expert but from what I could learn there are a number of ways to address the suction pump peril (I’d think that a simple grill would do the job but apparently not). One device is a vacuum breaker that, installed, shuts down the pump when it senses a blockage. My advice, if you have young children or grandchildren, is to make an appointment with whoever services your pool and arrange for a thorough, careful safety inspection. And make the recommended changes.

Multiple Listing Service
I heard from a reader who pointed out that I often say it’s impossible to price a house too low in Greenwich because the marketplace will bid it to its proper price. So why, he asks, should he spend the money hiring a broker? He himself has sold three properties on his own and did just fine to which I say, good for you. But my point about the marketplace effect assumes, of course, that the property is fully exposed to every potential buyer and I know of no better mechanism to achieve that than the MLS. A “For Sale by Owner” sign stuck on the front yard won’t do it. Here’s an example: several years ago, an older acquaintance of mine decided to sell his waterfront property but shuddered at the thought of strangers wandering through his house. He approached a local agent and asked him to find a buyer. This was done, the house traded hands for somewhere around $4.0 million and both sides were happy. Those of us who heard about the sale thought the seller had left at least $1.5 million on the table and in fact it sold for more than twice the original selling price a few years later. That usually doesn’t happen when your house is on the MLS, although there are exceptions, especially when a house has been over-priced originally and then grown stale.

Besides, a source of objective advice and tactics can be invaluable. As a former NASD arbitrator I felt sorry for the poor deluded fools who came before our panels without benefit of counsel. Stock broker fraud and selling a house are different things, of course, in that, in the latter case, someone actually wants to give you (some) money while in the former Wall Street, having taken your money away, has a fierce determination to keep it. I’ve never strong-armed anyone into using my services as a lawyer or Realtor but if I had legal difficulties, I’d hire a lawyer and if I wanted to sell a house, I’d use the services of my fellow Realtors and the MLS. But feel free to ignore my advice; some folks succeed at the going-it-alone route and others have created an entire subspecialty in my business: turning FISBO’s (for sale by owner) into listings. If there weren’t a lot of failed FISBOs out there, that market niche wouldn’t exist.

Interest rates
Very much not an area I know much about (so perhaps I should start a hedge fund?) but I hear from my financial sources that there are an awful lot of people with bad credit in Connecticut and even here in Greenwich and the borrowing market has pretty much dried up for them. It’s killing deals and I assume that will create a ripple effect because, if someone with excellent credit can’t find a buyer for his existing house, he probably can’t afford to buy yours. Greenwich has always had a solid real estate base and I can’t imagine that collapsing but it’s not inconceivable that things may slow down, for awhile. It’s not quite the cop’s “nothing to see here, move along, move along”, but I wouldn’t panic. Yet.

Drop that price, now
I checked up on some numbers: in the second and third week of July 74 single family homes were placed on the market while only 31 moved off to contract. That’s not awfully astonishing, or alarming, because the holiday slowed momentum and besides, like forest fires out west, this happens every year. But a month from now, all sorts of new inventory will be coming on and your poor listing, tired and stale, will be buried amid the new ones. It’s your money, but if you’ve been resisting a price reduction, you might want to make one now and sell your house to some nice family that needs a house before school starts.

Old Greenwich traffic
Have you noticed the traffic buildup in Old Greenwich these days, especially between the hours of 11:30 am to 1:30 pm? Some days, the cars are bumper-to-bumper from Mackey’s Mobile to Binney Park. I suspect it’s a mixture of beach, lunch and ordinary business traffic and I have absolutely no solution to propose; we’re a one traffic light town down here, but it’s simply awful. I try to avoid coming into town during that period and, with due apologies to Tomac Road residents, just bypass the business district. Must be hard on merchants, though.

Trusty service
I mentioned Mackey’s, and I have always had a great relationship with, first, John Mackey himself and then later with Peter, his son in law and his associates Paul and Kenny. That said, I happened to bring my car into Soundview Service Center, across from the Post Office on Arcadia Road, for the cheapest gas in town and, while I was at it, a question about my air conditioning. My Honda’s four years old and on really hot days the A/C seemed to have lost its punch. I left it to be serviced and an hour later received the scariest words you can hear from a mechanic, or a cancer surgeon: “Mr. Fountain, could you come down here? I want to show you something.” Well, the “something” turned out to be nothing more (or nothing less?) serious than my own inability to set the A/C controls properly and, once they straightened out this moron, everything was fine. I mention all this because the proprietors could so easily have taken advantage of my ignorance and run all sorts of tests, added whatever has replaced Freon these days, etc. I thanked one of the owners, Pete Parente (it’s a family business with a bunch of adopted kids so whoever you meet there is probably a Parente) for his honesty and he said simply, “that’s not how we operate.” Indeed they don’t, so SoundviewService Center (637-2033) has now been added to my list of recommended service providers.

Swimming Pool Safety
Nancy and I came very close to losing our boy John, now a strapping 24-year-old, when he was three and playing in our friend’s lake. So the tragic death of six-year-old this past weekend in his parents’ pool struck an awful chord. I have many clients with small children who insist on a swimming pool and, while I suppose a sale’s a sale, I always point out the statistic in that great book, “Freakonomics” that a child is 100 times more likely to die in a family swimming pool than from a gun in the household. Deadline pressure prevents me from including advice from local pool safety experts (next week, I promise) but do be aware of the danger of pools. This from someone who raised three kids on a tidal creek without losing one of them (I think so – Nancy, is that right?)

630 Lake Avenue
A loyal reader has emailed, informing me that this property is going to auction in the near future. He asks why the Multiple Listing Service, touted by me as the best method of exposing a house to the market, so obviously failed. My answer is, … I dunno. I liked the house very much when it was first listed on the MLS and still liked it, a year later, when it reappeared with a new broker and a lower price. But it’s a quirky house and even the MLS can’t move a house when its price is wrong and, in this case, the market says the price is wrong. Minimum bid, according to my reader, is now $500,000. Now that would be a bargain.

Lowther Point
My friend and colleague here at Raveis, George Lowther, has had his waterfront property in Riverside listed for sale (at $25,000,000) for a long time, and I've been laughing at him for just as long. But I recently was back on the property and I confessed to George that I think the market may have caught up with him. This is a spectacular piece of property, with unparalleled views down the Sound to Manhattan, a deep water dock, high bluffs, four plus acres etc. etc. I don't think its equal exists in Greenwich and if not, then it may very well be worth every penny that George is asking. I know he's not budging from his price and, if my family had owned this land for 125 years, as George's has, I'd be just as stubborn. The present house is an 1880 charmer that may well be headed for the dustbin of history but it certainly be updated if desired. It's the land and its views that provide the real value here, however, and, based on recent sales of inferior waterfront, I wouldn't be surprised if, at long last, someone recognizes this parcel's uniqueness.

Internet mortgage loans
Buyers sometimes shun our suggestions about local mortgage brokers and insist on going online to find the cheapest rate. I've always thought that was a false economy because rates are pretty much equal all over; it's about service, not a $5 difference in monthly payments. When something goes wrong, the day before closing, it's awfully nice to have a local person on hand to straighten things out and, because so much of a local mortgage broker's business is steered to them by agents (we always recommend at least three, so don't get the wrong idea here) they have a real incentive to make things right – not so with someone you found on line. And now, I'm hearing about a new problem, involving online brokers lining up financing with banks that aren't licensed in Connecticut. This little flaw usually surfaces a day or two before the scheduled closing which makes things, …interesting. If you really fell it necessary to use an online service, check with the lender (not the broker, who is probably clueless) and make certain they can lend money in our fair state.

Stinky houses
We all get used to the particular odors of our homes and stop noticing anything unusual but some houses present quite an olfactory challenge to an agent and her clients when first encountered. Stale cigarette smoke is a real deal killer, as are cat pee and mildew. Your listing agent may not tell you for fear of hurting your feelings but try to get an honest opinion and, if there's a problem, address it, even if it involves ripping out carpets or curing the moisture problem. I know of one house with pet stain odors so bad that the floors had to be completely sanded down and refinished. It was worth it, though: the original odor was so bad I had to conduct the agent open house outdoors. Ugh.

But well priced houses are still selling
Ann Simpson, one of my favorite colleagues even if she does work with Prudential, listed 30 Dawn Harbor Lane for $3,295,000 in March. The house was decent enough but, no offense to the owners, nothing too special. So Ann, wise woman that she is, priced it a few hundred thousand dollars less than a somewhat comparable house down the street had recently sold for. Result? A bidding war, and a final selling price of $3,906,000. As I keep mentioning here, you can't under-price a house in this market, but you can certainly over-price it.

Savage Kindom
A great new book on the founding of Jamestown by Benjamin Wooley. Very entertaining. And because Old Greenwich was settled almost around the same time, its events and characters seem connected to us up here, hundreds of miles away. A terrific summer history read, if Harry Potter lets you down.

No truth to the rumor
Greenwich's best referee, Tom Mahoney, has not been indicted for throwing Greenwich Academy girls basketball games nor has he retired on his ill-gotten gains. Instead, the poor guy injured his Achilles' tendon, which demonstrates the foolishness of playing kids games as an adult.

Is the bloom off the rose?
In March 2005 my brother Gideon’s listing, asking price of $1,199,000, sold in a bidding war for $1,305,000. The builder/buyer tore it down and cleared the lot, then changed his mind and put it back on the market for $1,395,000. It finally sold last week for $1,215,000, or $90,000 than was originally paid. One transaction does not make a trend, of course, but I do notice builders getting more cautious with what they’ll pay.

Calling all hedge fund managers!
Joe Barberi has just listed an incredible old mansion on 77 acres of land for $39,000,000. Out of respect for their privacy, I never disclose sellers’ identities in this column, but it’s safe to assume that the owner is one of our town’s more noted celebrities. This place has everything, including a dungeon. Built in 1926, it was a bit shopworn when the current owner bought it in 1994. He’s brought it back to its original condition and wisely left it at that. The grounds are spectacular, with room, far away, for donkeys and even a flock of chickens but the best feature is the great hall which, with its soaring (40’) vaulted ceiling and stained glass windows gives real meaning to the term, “cathedral ceiling”. 17th Century English paneling abounds, as do fireplaces, including a walk-in fireplace in the great hall with a 6’ claymore sword hanging above the mantle (you’ve probably seen the sword before). The only scary thing about all this is that the listing information includes a copy of a four-lot subdivision plan. I’m a little short of funds this week so cannot personally save one of the last of the “Great Estates” but surely someone on Wall Street has a bit of spare change; I hope so, anyway.

New Construction
Not every teardown need be mourned, especially if the house is replaced by something far nicer. In my entirely subjective opinion, two new homes illustrate this: Mark Van Hoesen ‘s project at 27 Grove Street, in Cos Cob, and Mark O’Brien’s at 9 Binney Lane in Old Greenwich. 27 Grove is a great house on a quiet street in a close-knit, friendly neighborhood. It backs up to a town park, has five bedrooms, is very well built and is priced at $1,999,000 – I think it’s the best value in this price range that I’ve seen in a long time. Mark O’Brien also builds a great house and I think his new one on Binney is his best effort yet. A terrific limestone entrance opens to a five bedroom, airy house with what the trade refers to as “good flow”. Top quality construction, to this eye, with Mark’s usual quirky taste showing up in unexpected places: his choice of color for the onyx flooring in the mudroom, for instance, certainly caught my attention but I finally decided that I liked it. One of the things I admire about Mark is that he’s not afraid to depart from the plain vanilla, build it to sell philosophy that most builders have. I don’t mean to imply that this house is some kind of weird creation, it isn’t; it’s beautiful. The house he built next door sold last month in a bidding war and I wouldn’t be surprised if this one did, too. $4,900,000, asking.

John Bird, R.I.P.
I was sorry to see that my old principal, John Bird has died at 80. Mr. Bird was principal at Eastern when I was causing trouble there and moved to the High School just in time for me to continue to plague him. He was a kind, wise, teacher who even tolerated our shutting down the school during the Kent State protests in 1970 (I don’t remember the date but my pal Mike Horton does and sends me a reminder note each anniversary – May?). His assistant (and my House Master), Doug Mertz, told me in 1971, after he’d miraculously shepherded me to graduation, “Fountain, you’ve done what no other student could do: you’ve driven me out of education - I’m moving to Idaho to grow cherries on my father-in-law’s farm.” I always thought I did Mertz a favor but Mr. Bird was made of sterner stuff and stayed at the school long after I left. Those were turbulent times and I admired Mr. Bird for dealing with us rowdies in a firm but fair manner and allowing us to at least pretend to be intelligent young adults. Great guy.

Dog Days of Summer
With the Fourth falling on a Wednesday, not a heck of a lot went on last week by way of new listings or broker open houses. But I’m sure I wasn’t the only agent busy with clients looking at houses so if you’re a seller, don’t despair: there are plenty of interested buyers still out there and still in town.

Which reminds me
August is coming and will bring with it a great buyer’s opportunity. Everyone flees town (which is why I stay – it’s like Greenwich in the old days, quiet and uncrowded) and so if you hang around, you’ll find that there very few other buyers and agents prowling the very property you’re interested in. If you move quickly, before Labor Day, you can often grab a decent deal. But see the very next paragraph for the obligatory caveat.

You aren’t necessarily the only buyer
32 Meyer Place in Riverside priced in September at $1,995,000, eventually dropped to $1,795,000. But it recently sold for $1,807,500 in a bidding war. Two (or more) buyers showing up at the same time after a house has sat on the market for a long, long time is more common than many buyers think. It’s not a conspiracy, just a quirk of this business, so if you’re interested in a property and are told that someone else is, too, the listing agent (probably) isn’t lying. In short, if you want to make a bid, don’t assume that you have all the time in the world to do so.

Old Greenwich Sidewalk Sales this week
Not a big whoop for me but it affords the opportunity to comment on a simply awful traffic rule here down east: parking fines. The town permits you to park along those sidewalks for an hour, free. Signs say so. What those signs don’t mention is that the fine for over-staying your welcome is a whopping $55, far higher than the fine for staying too long in metered parking. If that high a fine is necessary to keep the streets clear for shoppers, okay, but where’s the deterrent value if it’s undisclosed? Parking in a handicapped space could cost you $75 and there’s a large notice informing you of that so most people don’t do it (I’m ignoring the moral issue here that you just shouldn’t take a space set aside for the lame). By not warning parkers how much it will cost to stay longer than an hour, the present setup serves only as a revenue gatherer and as a deterrent only to those who get stung. No, I didn’t just get a ticket, but I think the town’s being unfair.

More unfairness
I’m aware of a new house that, having been built exactly according to the plans submitted to and approved by the Building Department, was denied a certificate of occupancy because it’s roof was pitched too steeply, allowing possible use (gasp!) of its pull-down attic for storage. Why, that’s a violation of our floor area ratio rules! The builder had to weaken the rafters by cutting huge notches in each, then adding trusses to support the roof and then providing an engineer’s certificate attesting that the roof would collapse if the trusses came out. His before and will say it again but the purported purpose of our FAR rules is to preserve our streetscape and keep houses from appearing too large from the outside. This house remained exactly the same size after it was weakened – the only difference being that, with trusses added inside, the owner could no longer store things in his attic. I have used this column several times to ask the head of our RTM’s Land Use Committee for the rationale of this obsession with what people do inside their own homes and have received back a bit of angry outrage but no explanation. Maybe he should convene (another) public meeting: not to listen to our objections – that’s been tried, and we were ignored – but to explain why this rule exists. If, as I see it, there is no reason for it, it’s just policy, then perhaps the entire RTM will see the ridiculousness of the situation and tell the Land Use Committee to clean up their act.

Make way for ducklings
If only. Instead, Brunswick School has plowed under a beautiful playing field (and many huge, old trees) to accommodate a parking lot. It’s their property, and I’m sure Mahr Avenue residents will be glad to see their street cleared of parked cars but the project strikes me as an unfortunate allocation of resources. By the way, and this same observation can be made about Greenwich High School, with somewhat lesser accuracy, but do check out the students’ cars when school is next in session. The teachers drive beaters; the students seem to prefer Lexus SUVs, which seem to be about two years old, which I assume means they’re family cars coming off lease. The kids look so cool behind the wheels of these things, especially when they’re wearing their Che Gueverra T shirts and have gangsta rap pouring out the windows.

On the other hand
If my father had sprung for a Lexus and I had been able to attend Brunswick, I probably wouldn’t have placed Glendower and Hotspur in “The Tempest”, as I did in a recent column. Henry IV part I, of course, which I knew, at one point. Interesting lesson here: when writing the original column I Googled the lines and up came a very authoritative site attributing it to “The Tempest”. I ignored my own doubts in favor of the power of the Internet, which is obviously a dumb thing to do.

Whither diversity?
The Supreme Court’s recent 5-4 decision regarding school desegregation, bans, I think, considerations of race when assigning students to particular schools (I’m hedging here because I have not read the decision and the commentators are having a wonderful time trying to figure out what it all means). If so, what does that do to Greenwich’s efforts to move kids around town? Perhaps a continued expansion of the magnet schools which is okay, I suppose, but I’ve always wondered: if changing curricula or putting extra resources into a school makes it a “magnet”, why aren’t we doing that for all our schools, now?

Location is everything
Even for summer homes. My Realtor friends Marshall and Mary Ann Heaven recently bought “Sea Biscuit”, a six bedroom “cottage” in Kennebunkport, just down the street from The Colony and two blocks from the Bush family compound on Walker Point. Because of its siting, Sea Biscuit is ideally suited for President Putin to host a Russian-style dinner for his hosts so the Embassy rented the house for the weekend. As I write this, the Heavens are in The Colony while their house is filled with KGB and various security types, the refrigerators are sealed, filled with a planeload of Russian delicacies flown in from Moscow and an armoured stretch limousine is parked in the front yard. No sightings of Putin or Bush yet but Sunday night should be a memorable one. Beat that, Scott Frantz.

Oops
A house in central Greenwich just sold for $3.5 million, which struck me as a bit low for such a nice house on such a good road. But it came on the market two years ago asking $4.895 million and I think that just killed it. By the time a buyer finally showed up, the stench of a decaying listing badly affected its price. Do what you like; if you enjoy keeping your home in showing condition for two years and entertaining strangers at all hours of the day, seven days a week, then price your house at whatever you like and go at it. But the market will not reward you for your effort. My advice is, if you aren’t receiving offers, it’s time to dramatically downsize your expectations.

Lawyer’s revenge
The favorite legal case that I ever read involved a New York City landlord who refused to rent to a lawyer because, he reasoned, she’d end up suing him. She promptly proved him right (“you won’t rent to me!”) and a judge eventually ruled that lawyers were not a protected class and could thus be discriminated against. Made sense to me – As a real estate lawyer, I always cautioned my real estate clients to be wary of offers from lawyer/buyers especially, worst case, two married lawyers moving from the city – but I was saddened to learn from the New York Times this week that “occupation” has been added to the list of protected classes for housing discrimination cases in New York City. That category was referred to in the article as a “lawyer’s protection clause” and obviously my former colleagues, after failing to win in court, went off to the City Counsel and got what they wanted there. So far as I know, we can still discriminate against lawyers here in the Nutmeg state and, while some of my best friends are lawyers, if I were a renter or seller and a lawyer wanted my property, I’d be cautious.

Is the sky falling?
I think not, but I have noticed several houses that recently sold for less than was paid a few years ago. Average sale price is still climbing nicely, especially in Riverside and Old Greenwich, but seeing a $50,000 markdown from a three-year-old sales price does concentrate the mind a bit.

On the other hand
Maria Ruggerberg, of this office, had a listing a month or so ago on Owenoke in Riverside. She convinced her sellers to let her place it into the multi-list system (a lot of people just hate having tons of strangers wander through their house) and, just as important, priced it at $2.595 million, a tad below what you might otherwise reach for. Result? It came on the market on a Thursday, it received four full-price offers by Friday and on Monday the sellers’ lawyer had in hand a non-contingent contract for $2,743,000. The deal closed last week, showing that there’s nothing wrong with this market when the price is right and also, the power of exposing your house to the largest number of buyers possible. It didn’t hurt that the house was in great condition and showed beautifully.

Greenwich Schools
I was a bit taken aback recently when I learned that a friend’s kid had been dragooned into “translating” for two classmates who allegedly suffer from “selective mutism”. I’d never heard of such a disability and, struck by the odd coincidence that two unfortunate children in one small class should have the same affliction, I Googled the term.It’s the new PC term for what we called “shy”. Greenwich already has one of the highest percentage of “special ed” students in the country because sophisticated parents have figured out how to game the system and get their kids untimed SATs, tax-payer-provided tutors, and the like, but I wonder if any real good is going on here. I remember my first Moot Court experience, where, faced with arguing a hypothetical legal argument before six robed judges, my mouth dried up and my brain turned to mush. The solution turned out to be not relying on a brighter student to speak for me but to repeat the process a number of times until I could think and speak on my feet. At some point, every kid will have to do the same thing and I’d suggest that process start early.

Has it really come to this?
An ad for a 15,000 sq.ft. McMansion describes it as “an aspirational compound for today’s lifestyle”. Geeze, how insecure are you if, having scraped together the wherewithal to buy this whopper, you still have unmet aspirations?

Shakespeare in Greenwich
From The Tempest: Glendower: I can call spirits from the vasty deep.
Hotspur: Why, so can I, or so can any man; But will they come when you do call for them?
This quote struck me as apt when I read that Eric Clapton will be performing at a private soiree at Belle Haven this summer. He’ll be paid $1.5 million for an hour’s work, which is probably far less per hour than his employer, hedge fund owner Raymond Dalio makes but you never want to over-pay the help; like over-tipping in poor countries, it spoils the natives. So why would anyone pay that kind of money for a once- famous singer? I wouldn’t presume to plumb the motives of a particular person, especially when, as here, lots of money will be raised for charity, but as a general observation of this social phenomenon, I’d say it’s because one can. And what’s really cool is that, unlike poor Glendower, the spirits will indeed come when a Greenwich millionaire summons. Top Greenwich social life is about showing your friends up – you can do what they can’t. Own a Gulfstream II? Heck, even the mud-soiled builders in this town have those. Helicopter skiing in Banff? Swap tales with your gardener – he was there last April. But pull Clapton into town for your charity event and you’ll have topped your peers, at least until one of them manages a Beatles reunion. I’m sure someone’s working on that now.

19 Andrews Road
This is a beautiful 1928 five bedroom brick Georgian completely renovated and located close to town on an acre. Marc Robinson (New England Land) has listed it at $4,900,000 which I think is a fair price. It remains unsold because, I would guess, at just under 5,000, sq.ft., it’s smaller than today’s young customers feel they must have. Too bad, because it’s an absolute classic, with five bedrooms and a pool, that even the most upwardly mobile couple should be proud to live in. I realize I’m getting grumpy here, but the best quote I overheard at this showing was one agent to another: “If my clients had any taste, I’d tell them about this place.”

Cops at Greenwich High?
I was all set to blast the idea of posting a policeman at the high school because, I reasoned, today’s kids couldn’t possibly be any worse-behaved than we were in 1971. We didn’t need a cop to keep order back then so why should a police presence be necessary now? But speaking with people who actually know something about the situation, it turns out that our current crop of young folks is quite a bit nastier than they were in my day. Really? In Greenwich? Why? (I hate when facts interfere with my opinions).

Price it, sell it
A house came on the market a year ago at a price that, given the house’s tired condition, seemed a bit steep to me (okay, really steep). The listing expired and the owners have now re-listed it with another broker for even more money. Yeah, that’s the ticket: it’s not the price that’s wrong, it’s the marketing!

Welcome to the digital age
The Greenwich Board of Realtors has elected to give Realtors a choice to drop their subscriptions to the bi-weekly multi-list book, which I think is a mistake. The cost of printing will now be split between just the few of us who still want the book and, I suspect, that cost will soon be unaffordable. I’ve found the book invaluable with clients because we can sit down and flip slowly through the entire inventory rather than be restricted to a computer search with arbitrarily imposed search parameters. But that’s how the world’s moving, so on we go.

Pricing
I recently prowled through that very same MLS book and was gratified to see that most of the houses I had originally pegged as over-priced, some as long as a year ago, are still out there, begging for buyers. I am not always right, of course: one house that was priced well over $10,000,000 should have, in my opinion, sold for about half its asking price but went for 75% and in just a few months. There’s no accounting for taste but, leaving the clueless, tasteless freaks aside, it’s usually pretty obvious when a house isn’t going anywhere.

A whiff of mortgage fraud?
It’s not too common here in Greenwich, but we occasionally encounter a listing that at least hints of nefarious things going on. Listings that, for instance, expire unsold and then sell immediately for more than their last asking price, suggesting that the seller is giving cash back and the buyer is gaining a mortgage far in excess of what the house is worth. I saw such a deal a few weeks ago and it certainly made me suspect that some out-of-town lender hadn’t bothered to check out the house’s location or its condition. The name “Greenwich” alone doesn’t justify a wild appraisal but I think some banks don’t know that, and don’t care. Or they won’t until they have to foreclose on the place.

26 Bramble Lane
I mentioned this new construction some time back, when it was just beginning to be built, and several readers took me to task for what they interpreted as a criticism of its construction technique, an innovative process using insulated concrete walls. In fact, I’m always interested in new construction methods and this one, with the potential for huge energy saving, struck me as particularly nifty. In any event, it’s almost finished so I stopped by the other day to meet the builder, (Rob?) Wahl, and offer him a chance to punch me in the nose in case he thought I’d said mean things about his house. Instead, he gave me a complete tour and I think the house lives up to its promise. Very efficient, draft-free, quiet and impervious to rot, plus very, very nice finishing details. Five bedrooms, four baths and a finished “lower level” (we don’t call them basements anymore). Pam Chiapetta and Fran Unrine have it listed for $3,850,000, thus supplying further evidence of Bramble’s ever-increasing appeal. If nothing else, keep an eye out for a public open house and stop by for an education on this insulated concrete business. To this non-builder, it seems quite promising.

What’s killing my marsh grass?
I have been trying, completely without success, to get someone in town interested in discovering why the marsh grass (we always called it eel grass but everyone assures me that that’s extinct) on Ole’s creek (betweenRiverside and Old Greenwich) is dying off. Something’s happening and the banks are eroding rapidly and dramatically but no one seems to care, other than the creek residents. I don’t know if there’s a solution but this devastation must be a symptom of something worse going on. I blame Bush, of course.

Attention dieters!
Darlene’s, that very tempting ice cream and chocolate shop has moved from Cos Cob to a far more visible location on Sound Beach Avenue in Old Greenwich. It’s very much a family business: wander in and you’ll probably meet Darlene’s mom, Darlene herself and often, Darlene’s husband, plus an assortment of friendly teenaged staff. Pretty nice way to finish off a trip to the beach, as it offers tons of flavors in both conventional and soft ice cream, plus a variety of good-looking chocolates. Because the store’s located right next door to our Raveis office, I fear for our waistlines.

Talk Radio
I haven’t had much opportunity to tune into Russ Pruner’s Friday real estate show (WGCH, 10-11:00 am) but did so last week and heard my good friend Jeremy Kaye being interviewed by Russ and his new side-kick, Bill Andruss. Great show. Jeremy, one of the very best real estate attorneys in town, gave an hour-long walk through of a typical real estate transaction, from Town Hall records, to contract negotiation to closing. You might think that’s a pretty dry subject to spend an hour on (in my first year of law school, when I couldn’t sleep, I’d open my property law case book and doze off in minutes) but Russ and Bill asked good questions and Jeremy is almost as funny as his brother Joel so the time flew. If Russ is smart, he’ll make this interview available as a download on his firm’s website so that you can load it on your iPod and learn while you jog. Or you can just call Jeremy (625-5300) and ask him to entertain you. My only regret: Russ refused to take calls from listeners, thereby shutting off my creative impulses for the morning.

Two Nice Houses – cheap! (for Riverside)
I live down the street from Valerie Bromley’s new listing at 62 Arch Street and as I passed it each morning I wondered at the wisdom of its owners as the spent a year renovating what, to my eye, was a dated contemporary destined for a dumpster. I was (as usual) wrong, they were right. The house and yard have been transformed and the result is a very nice, livable house with five bedrooms, three fireplaces and a great deck overlooking Binney Park – throw your own July 4th party and have the best seats in town. Good price, I think, at $2,250,000.
Barbie Jackson has listed 23 Pierce Road for $2,395,000 and I liked it, too, although it’s a completely different type of house. This one is a 1927 farmhouse, totally updated and renovated in the past few years. Nice yard and a great porch. Either one of these houses would be a good choice.

Decks
The Arch street house includes a deck made of composite (okay, plastic) material that looks really good. This is a very practical choice for decking – more expensive than pressure treated wood but maintenance-free. My pal Nancy, tired of replacing rotten boards on our old deck, hired Rick Crossman of Old Greenwich (Archadeck, 978 –9050 archadeck.com) to rebuild the entire structure using composite decking and it looks great. I’ve known Rick and the rest of the Crossman family for many decades – good people and Rick sells a good product. He’ll make a deck from whatever you want: pressure treated wood, Brazilian Ipe (great, beautiful wood that lasts forever and comes with a price tag to match its longevity) or, as noted, composite. It’s always nice to use local vendors because in the unlikely event that a problem develops later, you know where to find them and, with a local reputation to defend, these guys will always work to make it right.

Attack Cat
My mother’s cat Henry, a 17 pound brute we adopted from the ASPCA, loves people but detests interlopers on his territory (which, sadly for my Nancy’s Miss Kitty, includes the house two doors up –poor Miss Kitty is terrified). But I watched with great amusement the other morning when Henry spied two geese on my neighbors’ yard. He crouched behind our hedge, then stalked the interlopers in a slow manner that caused them increasing concern and, when he finally charged they flew off, squawking in protest, landing in our creek, where the belong. Cheaper to maintain than a Border Collie, I may rent him out.

More on fluorescent bulbs
Interesting discussion on NPR the other day on the new fluorescent bulbs, soon to be mandated as the only light bulbs sold in America. Turns out that they don’t work in “cans’, the overhead lights so many people have in their houses. The trapped heat destroys them quickly and even while still working, their light is distorted. I don’t think this will be a popular law.

Memorial Day Parade this Monday, Old Greenwich
Best chance to revisit all those people for whom a once-a-year conversation is just about right. Besides, the kids on bicycles are cute and, although last year was a bit thin in this regard, you can usually count on some good marching bands. Don’t miss it. 10:00 AM.

Economists at work
The Greenwich Board of Realtors has commissioned a study by a UConn economist to measure the growth of Greenwich real estate. His conclusion: 600% over the past 20 years, outpacing all of the various stock indexes. That's reassuring, but should be taken with a large grain of salt. So far as I can tell (and a meeting to discuss these findings with its author won't be held until next week) the data don't reflect improvements made to the subject property. That's not necessarily fatal, because it's the land that is soaring in value, not the housing stock. My kids were horrified when I told them that their childhood home was destined for the dumpster when its sold, but there it is; Nancy and I put in over $150,000 to improve it (okay, that's a powder room for most readers but for this middle class family in the '80s, it was huge) but whoever buys it will be buying it for its location, not our improvements. All in all, I suppose the study demonstrates that Greenwich has been, and remains, a solid investment – just don't take the price you paid in 1986, multiply it by six and assume that that's your home's current value. Could be, but not necessarily.

Morons at the gate
I overheard two fellow agents (and friends, hence no names mentioned here) commenting at an open house the other day. The house we were in happened to be near the railroad tracks and some overhead power lines. "I'd never sell this place," said one, " those power lines kill". "Leukemia," confirmed the other, nodding with supreme confidence. Now, I know these two to be well educated, otherwise-intelligent people, so I was dismayed at their ignorant acceptance of junk science – if they're blundering around in a fog of ignorance, how are we supposed to calculate house prices? What (negative) value do we ascribe to bad Feng Shui, graveyards within 500 yards, nearby cell phone towers, a death down the street, etc? (I'll concede that Mr. Kissel's bloody, bound demise on Dairy Road significantly affected that house's resale value – by the way: another murder "solved" by our gendarmes, who declared it a suicide). If our otherwise well-educated sales force thinks these things matter, surely some customers do, too. I don't know how to adjust prices to accommodate superstitious nonsense but I sense that it's a skill I'd better develop, and soon – we're moving into over-drive in this country.

And in our laundries
Did you see Consumer Report's latest review of "energy efficient" washing machines, now mandated by Congressional edict? Turns out, your basic top-loader machine no longer cleans clothes. You'll now have to spend $1,000 to get something that will do the job. That's probably no hardship for the average Greenwich household but I suspect that consumers in most of the rest of the country won't be pleased. Just wait until they can no longer buy incandescent light bulbs. With luck, we'll have a revolution.

The Back Country
A recent newspaper article on the Back Country quoted another two friends of mine who claimed that the beauty of the area has not been diminished by all the recent construction. Phooey, says I. A 15,000 sq.ft. badly-designed mansion crammed onto a 4 acre lot looks just awful, especially compared to the graceful houses set on 100 acres that they replaced. I understand market forces and I can accept change, but don't try to pretend that nothing has been lost; the town has suffered greatly. North Street, once the grand, beautiful entrance to our town, is now cluttered with tasteless, over-sized collections of builder's kitsch (fortunately hidden behind towering stone walls) – the rest of the Back Country has suffered as badly.

Wanna be a landlord?
Dan Piotrowski has listed a five unit condominium complex at 9 Riversville Road for $5,350,000. I assume that's not quite the right price or it would have sold by now but these are pretty neat units, each renovated and each, I would think, capable of bringing in a decent rent. So at some capitalization rate, these ought to be a good buy.

Vile bodies
Speaking of corpses, did you see the news account of a Realtor and her clients discovering a three-week-old corpse moldering in bed? We just hate when that happens.

Local Produce
Some time back I wrote, in response to a silly politician claiming that only losers with no better opportunities joined the Army, of Old Greenwich’s own, 1st Lt. Stephanie Whittle, GHS 2000, who turned down Harvard in favor of attending West Point. I just received the following email from another of her fans and I thought I’d reprint it here:

“That (now) Captain Whittle you speak of is pretty darn incredible. I spent four years with her at West Point in awe of her brilliance and extraordinary world view. She has always been the one to go to for advice, encouragement, and help with anything. That is to say that Greenwich Connecticut sends some good ones out into the world, and I'm sure that's enough endorsement to help those multi-million dollar properties sell themselves. –CM”

In fact, Greenwich has always turned out some pretty accomplished kids. I’m still amazed that my small Humanities course at the high school produced at least five published authors, including a Pulitzer Prize winner. Artists, musicians, investment bankers, too many lawyers (that would be any more than one), we have a talented pool of young people here and CM is right: people ought to be willing to buy in Greenwich just so their children can matriculate with winners. I single out Stephanie because she’s sacrificing potential financial gain and her personal safety just to serve her country. At a time of war and with Memorial Day approaching, it seems appropriate to give her an honorable mention.

Attention deficit disorder
I read that Sony is condensing a variety of truly awful 70’s shows like Charlie’s Angels to 3-4 minute episodes: the Angles meet, get instructions from Charlie, chase bad guy, catch bad guy, end of show. They intend to post these on the internet and expect to make a lot of money, which I’m sure they will. But besides illustrating just how little actual content was packed in the original 30 minute shows, I think this development has instructional value for homeowners: the younger generation buying homes has almost no patience; not for letting plots develop and not for renovation jobs. I’m speaking in broad generalities of course but I have noticed that “fixer-uppers” are increasingly a drag on the market. I recently listed a really charming cape in a great location. Although families have happily lived there since 1935, it could have used a new, expanded kitchen and a new master bedroom suite upstairs. Both those improvements could have been easily done but we received exactly zero expressions of interest from end-users and numerous bids from builders who were interested solely in the land it sat on. That’s an increasingly common phenomenon, I think. So, if you’re thinking about selling your older home, either consider doing needed renovations now, yourself, or resign yourself to selling for land value. The latter isn’t so bad, fortunately, because the price of good building lots keeps rising, while the value of a physically obsolete, dated house is falling.

But if you’re going to renovate …
Be careful – some houses just aren’t worth putting more money into. I’m aware of two houses, side by side on the same street that were priced within $200,000 of each other. One was a tear down, the other had a much better yard, a beautiful pool and a completely redone interior that, unfortunately, kept its original front-to-back split arrangement. The tear down was sold in days while the renovated house, at this writing, still sits because builders aren’t willing to pay extra for what they don’t need and, apparently, home buyers don’t want it either (their loss, in my opinion –it’s a nice house). So, before you commit to a big re-do job, you might want to pick the brains of a friendly Realtor.

Humor on the circuit
I thought I was being funny advertising a drawing for an Airbus 380 at my recent broker open house (no one wanted the rough sketch of a plane that I presented) but Andy Healy, of Surf &Turf Realty did me one better by requesting agents to “please remove shoes before entering”. Agents who showed up were confronted with a muddy, vacant lot. Well done, Andy.

Tod's Point wing ding this Sunday
The Greenwich Shellfish Commission (and I hope you knew that we have one) is sponsoring a pretty cool event this Sunday, from 1-4, at the Point. Besides a clam digging class, there will be an additional 25-30 exhibitors demonstrating or passing along information on just about every possible salt water recreation, from reading (Perrot Library), fishing (Sportsmen's Den), diving (Ski & Scuba), lobstering (Bill Fossum himself!) and on and on. The sloop Soundwaters will be moored off the Old Greenwich Yacht Club and available for inspection, Bruce Museum is doing something else which I can't recall so you'll have to go see for yourself, and so on. A map to the whole thing will be available at the gate but basically head down to the Yacht Club work your way past the windsurfing launching area, and you're there. Questions can be directed to either Roger Bowgen at 243-6364 or Sue Baker 637-4610. No rain date, so keep your Sou'wester handy.

Smart Renovation in Old Greenwich
Ginny Hamilton has just listed 27 Shore Road for $3,350,000. It's a house I liked a lot, an old (1894) Victorian that was intelligently expanded and renovated in 2004. I used to subscribe to "The Old House Journal" and each issue included a back-cover photograph of the "re-muddling of the month". Horrifying. The careful work on this house would qualify for a picture on the front cover. Of course, in Greenwich, we have less to fear from bad renovation jobs than from dumpsters swallowing old houses whole. It's true that some houses are simply obsolete, with low ceilings, failed basements and the like but I wish that people planning a tear-down would visit this house first to see what can be done to bring a great older house into the new century. Ginnie, perhaps you should hold a public open house.


Doing it on the cheap?
An agent who attended the broker open house for a very, very expensive house (if I gave its exact price I'd embarrass the builder, who probably deserves it but …) reports that its master bath was a cheap-looking plastic tub. I understand that weight considerations may dictate an acrylic, rather than cast iron spa but if the resulting product comes out looking cheesy and you're hoping to set a price record for you house, you might want to try a bit harder.

And speaking of trying harder …
I held a broker open house in Riverside the other day for a nice new house priced around $4,000,000 and only 47 agents showed up. The low turnout at open houses puzzles me. There are currently over 1,000 agents in town yet, as I've written here before, you see the same 150 faces at open houses – where are the others, doing lunch? Oddly enough, the largest turnouts come at the super mansions, when dozens of agents I've never seen before show up to tour. They have as little chance of selling a $15,000,000 mansion as they do of dying from the sudden loss of all the air in their living room but out they come, like groundhogs, before disappearing again. Riverside and Old Greenwich are still experiencing bidding wars over new construction so you'd think more of my competitors would be working the area but I'm grateful they don't. As it is, my listing is going to contract this week.

Floods
I have a great deal of sympathy for my fellow-residents who were flooded recently (by the way, I've heard nothing but praise for the firefighters and police officers who responded to calls) but I lump their complaints and demands that the town "do something" in with those of the citizens of New Jersey – don't build in flood plains if you don't want your feet wet. This isn't heartlessness but rather basic geology, taught me many years ago in college: rivers have channels and they have flood plains which, by definition, flood when it rains a lot. It's stupid for states like New Jersey to keep rebuilding on floodplains, as though re-setting ten pins, and Greenwich might want to reconsider its policies, too. "Flood control" is an oxymoron – just ask Noah.

Storage Comes to Riverside!
A new, six-story building complex is coming to Pinecrest Road in Riverside. An eclectic combination of (windowless) Nantucket/Shingle-style Georgian-Colonial, the structure will provide room for town residents to place everything they can’t fit into their current homes. “It’s the least I could do for my fellow citizens,” said Franklin “Westy” Bloomer, ruefully surveying the rubble of his former residence. “We thought we were zoning out addicts, not attics, but now, thanks to FAR, no one has space to store a pogo stick. If I won’t admit I was wrong, at least I can say I’m sorry.” Completion date is expected by July 14th.

Okay, that was a joke.
But Mr. Bloomer, the “FAR Czar” (Tom Gorin, you have nothing on me!) has written an angry letter to this paper suggesting that, if I have any ideas on improving FAR regulations, I attend the next FAR meeting, date as-yet unscheduled. Heck, I’ll be there with pencil and pad, ready to report, but I’ve been there before and listened while residents complained about the extraordinary costs incurred trying to comply with the regulations, heard cogent arguments against its present interpretation (why, for instance, should a house of 5,700 sq.ft. be perfect for a one-acre lot yet 5,200 be the maximum allowable size for a two-acre lot?) and even learned of great solutions to the problem of reducing bulk while still permitting homeowners to have the house that they want. Every time, the FAR folks nodded their heads, tugged their beards and proceeded to enact even more stringent regulations. The only answer, I think, is to toss these people off the RTM. Until then, let me leave you with a question: what possible business is it of yours, mine or Franklin Bloomer what people do with the interior of their homes? If someone wants a lighted, walk-out basement or a useable attic, does it concern you, so long as height and set-back requirements are met? I think not; Bloomer thinks so. We’ll agree to disagree, until the next election.

What’s Unsaid
When you see a listing for a waterfront real estate listing that fails to mention, er, taxes, should your hairs prickle? I think so. Recent example, a property in Riverside that neglects to mention a tax bill of $54,000.00. Obviously this little omission would turn up sooner or later, but I prefer to see my numbers up front.

The $5,000,000 - $7,000,000 Market
My clients and I toured a number of houses recently in what used to be considered nosebleed altitudes and saw very little that impressed us. “How much do we have to pay to get quality?” asked my client. The answer, sadly, is far more than $5,000,000. Even considering the high price of land, that’s ridiculous. We saw cheap (and identical – Home Depot must have been holding a yard sale) thermostats, light fixtures, California Closets, and on and on. I suspect (or hope) that a number of builders who have refused to open their wallets to pay for the quality their high prices supposedly demand will get their comeuppance, either when they sell at drastically reduced prices or at the foreclosure.

Realtorease
Saw a listing recently that claimed that the house in question had been built by “a reputed local builder”. Somehow, that doesn’t set my mind at ease.

Nanny Quarters
Back to the recent tour of high-end houses. Again and again, I saw little windowless basement cubicles designated as “nanny quarters” or, just as bad, basement bedrooms with a single tiny window. Here’s the deal – if you want to place a human being in a basement bedroom, you have to provide a window large enough to accommodate a fireman and his (or her – I don’t care who saves me) breathing equipment. I don’t have the exact specs, but figure on something about 5 ½’ X 3 ½’. If a Realtor shows you something smaller and says it’s legal, she’s blowing smoke. You may not care about the safety or comfort of your staff but, given a chance to bring a wrongful death case against a rich, Greenwich mansion owner by an impoverished, hard-working Philippino girl, I’d dust off my law degree in a second. Do the right thing, or someone will do it for you.

“Could Be…”The other thing that annoyed my clients the other day were silly signs proclaiming, “could be wine cellar”, “could be video room”, etc. Build it and charge for it or forget it; don’t price your house as though these amenities are there.

Old Greenwich Waterfront
164 Shore Road, an “antique” (in this market, you can probably read that as “tear-down”) on an acre of direct waterfront has gone to contract. No word on final price but I assume it’s somewhere close to its asking price of $7,900,000. Gosh. I realize that they aren’t making anymore waterfront but prices for the stuff just keep zooming – must have been an okay year for Wall Street, after all. Helen Maher listing, Ellen Moger’s customer

Bigger Lots?
A builder-client of mine recently wondered whether he wouldn’t have made more money leaving a large lot intact and building one large house rather than two smaller ones. Too late now, but I think he might have. The one thing Riverside and Old Greenwich are short of is large yards, mostly because builders have been dividing up the original lots into the smallest lots allowed by zoning. They’ve been doing this since at least 1880 and until now, the market has rewarded them. But recently I’ve noticed owners paying large premiums for big yards. 402 Sound Beach Avenue, for instance, is set far back from the road on two combined lots with neighbors’ backyards affording additional privacy. Priced at $5,850,000 and not scheduled to be completed until August, it’s already under contract. A house on Gilliam Lane was just purchased for more than $6,000,000 by the neighboring homeowner who intends to tear it down and expand his back yard. 164 Shore Road, mentioned above, has more than an acre. A harbinger of all this was the purchase of a house on Indian Head a few years ago. The new owner tore it down and replaced it with a very nice stone garage and a beautiful side yard for his own house. I hope I’m seeing a trend developing in my area of town. At the cost of making houses still less affordable, little, crowded areas like Riverside and Old Greenwich will be considerably improved.

On the other hand
A building lot came on the market a year ago for about $1.1 million and none of my builders would touch it despite my assurance that it would support a new house in the low $3 million range. So it went to an out-of-town buyer who has put up a very nice house and priced it at $6 million, no doubt because of a recent sale around the corner. But bad things happen when you don’t know the town you’re building in and, in this case, sales around the corner are irrelevant. At least in my opinion, this guy is in for an awful disappointment.

Digital Cameras for Realtors
When I started this real estate gig my pal Nancy Fountain presented me with a very nice Canon digital camera, which has proved invaluable for snapping quick pics of new listings to email clients, etc. But, like most “point and shoot” digitals, its lens is too large to take effective shots of interiors (unless I’m photographing one of those Back Country houses with 500’ hallways). No matter how far you back out of the room, you just can’t capture all of it. So when I heard about Kodak’s new (new last year, anyway) V570, with two lenses, telephoto and wide-angle, I was intrigued. This review, from imaging-resources.com (Google for the Kodak model and you’ll find the appropriate link) clinched it:

“Our first thought when we took our first shots with Kodak V570 was that realtors are going to flock to this camera for its innate ability to capture more of a room than any other [camera]. This quick and simple panorama mode makes it even more compelling. (If you're a realtor, you can stop reading now and just go out and buy a Kodak V570: If you need any convincing, just check out the ultra-wide and panorama samples below.)”

Good enough for me. The camera can now be found on Amazon for less than $200, down from its original price of $400 (ah, technology!).

Vocabulary
Tom Gorin, head of Cleveland, Duble & Arnold, suggests two new terms for our real estate industry. One is “Farport”, describing what results when a builder is prevented by our Floor Area Ration rules (FAR) from building a real garage: you get a lattice-sided carport, easy prey to thieves and vandals but, by God, it’s not included in FAR calculations because the walls are see-through. Does this (farports, not the term itself) make any sense? I was on the Riverside Association Board of Trustees (or whatever) when that august body voted to support the FAR concept. I thought it was a dumb idea at the time but my fellow members did not. Dumb or not, the concern was restricted to protecting the streetscape from too bulky buildings; no one on the board seemed concerned with what individuals did with the inside of their homes, they just didn’t want to see large houses.

Franklin Bloomer and his fellow FAR zealots did, and do care, however, with the result that the interior space above garages must now be rendered unusable, garages can’t have walls and houses on two acres in the four acre zone must now be smaller than those in one acre zones. None of this affects bulk or serves streetscape preservation. In fact, the results are so blindingly stupid that the only possible excuse for not amending the FAR, in my opinion, is the refusal of Bloomer et als to admit that they were wrong in the first place. Dumb, dumb, dumb.

More Vocabulary from Tom“Listing wars”, used to explain a ridiculous price on a new listing. Happens when three or four agencies are invited to “price” a house. The first one in probably has a decent grasp of value. The third or fourth, knowing that others have trod where they are about to, shoots the moon and comes up with an absolutely insane price and wins the listing. Of course, the house will never sell for anything close to what the agent proposes but by then, it’s too late.

Maher Avenue
Two great listings on this street, 4 Maher Court (Michelle Klosson listing) asking $3,250,000 and 15 Maher Avenue (Martha Jeffrey) at $2,799,000. Each nicely redone, each with its own distinct charm. An added bonus: you can admire the cars parked along the street by Brunswick students. Nothing lesser than a Lexus, naturally.


7 Middle Way
This Lucas Point home, listed by Ann Simpson, is owned by friends of mine (well, I thought they were friends, until they listed with Ann!) so take my praise with a grain of salt. But really, it’s a wonderful old house. Built in 1889, nicely renovated and updated over the past century and located in one of the best neighborhoods in Greenwich. Lucas Point is a “you get it or you don’t” kind of place; if you get it, and I do, you’ll pay to have a terrific group of neighbors and friends, a private beach, boat yard, and so forth. You don’t get it, you’ll see a crowded area with no privacy and small yards. Testament to its virtues is that folks here either move entirely away, out of town, or just shift around within the Point. No one seems to leave voluntarily. Neat house, three floors, 5,000 + sq. ft., a ½ acre yard, all for $4,450,000. I think that’s a good price.

Lost Art
There’s a great book called, I think, “The Lost Art of Building Stone Walls”. I used it years ago when I was trying, with limited success, to rebuild drywall stonewalls but it’s superfluous now that our Mexican neighbors have figured out how to mortar and shape stone. We do seem to need, however, a new book instructing folks how to build banisters – I am amazed at how many otherwise decent houses have shaky banisters that wobble when gripped and give absolutely no assurance that they’ll prevent one from falling to his death twenty feet below. What gives? After the exterior appearance, the first thing a buyer encounters that suggests the quality of a building is the banister as he ascends the stairs. If that’s a flimsy bit of nonsense I, at least, assume that the rest of the house suffers from the same lack of attention to detail. Crazy, especially when the asked price is $6,000,000 and higher.

The Best Streets in Town (Published in Greenwich Magazine, April 2007)
Some of smartest people I know in real estate (not as low a barrier as you might think) advised me against taking this assignment because, they warned, I’d be bound to offend hundreds of homeowners who expect their own address to be included among the best streets in town. Offend hundreds of people at once? That’s the kind of challenge I relish, so here goes.

First of all, of course, there is no such thing as “the best street in town”. Individuals and their desires are far too idiosyncratic to allow that kind of ranking. For every desperate striver who would gladly sell his first-born in exchange for a huge house in a prominent location that simply shrieks, “look at me!” there’s another who, like Garbo, wants to be alone. A Back Country house may be perfect for a hedge fund trader who’s chauffeured to work every day but a mother of five who is the chauffeur might prefer a house in crowded Riverside, where her kids can walk to school or their friends’ houses without parental supervision (although these days, observing the nearly-empty bike racks at Riverside School, I wonder if that happens any more). With that caveat, here are some of the streets in town that command a premium.

Field Point Circle
David Ogilvy, speaking of the entire Belle Haven community, says that it “retains the feel of a summer community that just happens to be attached to Greenwich”. Grand old summer-houses with great architecture and all long-since converted to full-time residences. There’s high security and a neighborhood club (as a sailor, I won’t vouch for its harbor but, in this case, that’s a quibble and beside the point). I’d suggest that Field Point Circle should be at or near the top of anyone’s list of best streets in town, even though it’s approached via the Grass Island sewer plant (there are compromises involved in every scrap of Greenwich real estate). While it doesn’t hold the record for the highest sales price achieved (Conyer’s Farm, at $45,000,000 has that distinction) I think, year in and year out, this address holds the most prestige and commands the best prices. One thing of note: my brother Gideon once researched sales in this neighborhood to see if the “international marketing” pitch some firms tout as the way to sell Field Point Circle homes actually worked. Turned out that, out of twelve recent sales, eleven of the buyers were relocating within Greenwich. Sometimes you have to live in town awhile to appreciate or at least understand its high market prices.

Maher Avenue
Other than the Brunswick traffic and the great Halloween invasion, when half the town and all of Westchester descends on the place, this is a great, family neighborhood littered with grand old houses, almost all of which have been renovated. Owners who live here seem to gladly put up with Brunswick (and some actually enjoy the Halloween frenzy) in exchange for living in beautiful houses and having good friends on either side.

Park Avenue/Park Place (Greenwich)
One of my very favorite streets. Big yards, dignified houses of all ages and a really convenient location. Without spending too much time on research (okay, no time on research) houses here seem to sell rapidly and well. You or your agent will have to keep on top of new listings if you want to live here.

Parsonage Road
I only know this street from my bicycling tours but its western half, beginning after the parsonage itself, holds some of the best-looking houses in town. I like it a lot but one potential buyer, eying St. Mary’s graveyard behind and the Nathaniel Witherall down the road protested, “I’ll be living between the dying and the dead!). Aren’t we all. Get over it.

Back Country Roads
Cathy Adams still sounds wistful remembering her commute, pre-real estate days, to IBM via these roads. “I’d drive up Clapboard to Round Hill, cross Porchuck to John Street. When the leaves were turning …”. These are all still nice streets but, to my eye, they’ve lost some of their lush beauty as, one-by-one, the 100-acre estates have been chopped into 4-acre ranchettes and high, towering walls have blocked the views of what were once rolling meadows. It’s your call but, in my opinion, we’ve lost something here.

Quintard, Keofferam
Almost any street in this section of Old Greenwich is a winner. A huge stock of large Victorian summer homes all long-since winterized and updated and, although lot splits are becoming more common, still some very nice, big yards. There’s easy access to Tod’s Point, Old Greenwich School and the train. Riverside native Mary Karlan has lived on Keofferam since 1998 with her nine (!) kids – okay, it’s a blended family – and loves the street: “there are lots of kids, everybody’s really nice and if you like to run at the beach, walk your dog or walk your kids to school, this is the place.”

Club Road/ Gilliam Lane
These parallel Riverside streets present a bit of a quandary. My editors chose Club Road while, no doubt because I grew up on Gilliam, I prefer the latter. Club Road is busier in the summer due to the daily stampede of cars delivering and picking up kids at the Riverside Yacht Club but, for now, the houses are mostly larger and more impressive. I suspect that will change as the tear-down boom continues its sweep through Riverside but you can’t lose on either street.

Up and Coming?
Perhaps Arch Street, right next to Binney Park. This area starts off with some so-so 1960s contemporaries but four new, expensive and good-looking houses have been constructed recently (Peter Fusaro, of Riverside, got the ball rolling with a nice one on the corner of Wesskum Wood that sold for around $2.4 million a few years ago – it’s worth at least $1 million more today) and, as prices climb, you’ll see more such projects. The latest mind-blower was 30 Arch, built by Doran Sabaag two years ago and recently listed for $6,250,000. Several of us thought the sellers would get their price, others, also very experienced agents, thought that someone had sucked a bit too long on the old bong. Turned out we were all wrong and the house went in just two days for, rumor has it, $6,400,000. Mr. Sabaag is one of the best builders currently working in Greenwich and, if anyone’s creation is going to draw a premium, his is, but still – astonishing.

Start High, Finish Low
There are a number of streets that provide a friendly, close neighborhood experience that approaches or surpasses that offered by Field Point Circle. Fado Lane in Cos Cob, for instance, is a dead end street that gets closed off for neighborhood block parties on a regular basis. Its houses are not going to win any architectural awards but you can get your family into a house here for under $1,000,000. These days, that qualifies as a starter home. And, by way of amends, may I suggest Cary Road which I once described as the worst street in Riverside? (I heard about that, believe me). A tiny, crowded street abutting the Mianus River with, it turns out, and notwithstanding the tone of their letters to me, some of the nicest folks in town. Without the river, it’s not much but the water yields skating, boating, fishing and swimming, all for far less than you’d pay to belong to the Belle Haven Club.

Pricing!
I was at Starbucks the other Sunday when a man approached me to ask if I wrote ‘that real estate column”. Upon confessing that I did (an admission that always leaves me wondering whether I’m about to be punched in the nose) he thanked me, saying that the one thing he’d taken away from my writing was not to be stupid when pricing a house. So he’d rejected his Realtor’s advice and insisted on a price three hundred thousand dollars less. Result: multiple bids, all over asking price, and a contract in four days. Contrast this result, if you like, with a recent sale where a house came on the market in the spring of 2004 at $8,500,000 and finally went to contract last week at somewhere below (presumably) it’s final price of $6,500,000. I do not suggest that you give your house away but a realistic view of its true value will spare you months or even years of annoyance and inconvenience.

Wood roofs – worth the cost?
There are differing opinions on the value of wood roofs on New England houses. These roofs are traditional and certainly add to a house’s looks, often transforming them from boring capes to seemingly-Revolutionary War-looking cottages, but they require a lot more maintenance than other materials and, with a life span of about twenty-years, they are expensive. My pal Mickey at ARE Restoration (arerestoration.com, 531-0600) isn’t impressed by them, even though he can, and does, do a beautiful job installing them. My personal choice is synthetic look-alikes, either slate or shake, but many Realtors insist upon only the real thing. Your decision; if you’re planning to move in five years, you’re probably better off using wood and leaving the maintenance/replacement issues to the next owner but, if you’re in it for the long run, you might want to check out alternatives.

Beach Cards
I recently had occasion to learn the cost of a summer at Tod’s for a summer rental family. Three kids, two adults and a car will cost them about $1,000.00. That’s a lot, considering that the tax-paying family that’s renting to them will, obviously, be away this summer and not using the beach themselves. The town collects twice, which is nice for the town, but does it deserve to? As I wrote earlier, you may not want to rent your house but if you do, you’ll find these excessive fees to be a deterrent to success, in my opinion. I prefer the old system, which provided beach access to summer renters at the same rate charged to year-round residents. We’re double dipping here, at a miniscule gain for ourselves and at a great cost to residents who wish to rent their houses for a month or two.

Old Greenwich Riverside Community Center
A group of my fellow citizens has announced some pretty grand plans for the replacement of what I knew as the Eckman Center. The building was originally built by Electrolux as a recreational center for its employees but it opened to the public after the workweek. We could bowl there for $0.35 a game which, even then, was pretty cheap. Later, after the town bought the place, the Pearson family (Jones Park, Riverside) in conjunction with First Church, ran “The Sound”, a weekly dance featuring up and coming bands. We (they, but I hung out with Ridley) hired “The Young Rascals” for instance, for $650. The band appeared in knickers, floppy-collared shirts with big bow ties and rocked the place. A week later, their song “Good Loving” broke number one and the “Young” prefix, the knickers, and their $650 fee went the way of history. The building’s a wreck now and certainly could benefit from being replaced, but the proposed $40,000,000 cost, (to be privately raised) seems daunting. Do we really need another indoor pool in town, especially with the YMCA’s current ongoing fiasco? But I wish them well – I have so many fond memories of the place and I think a community center in Eastern Greenwich has much to offer and anything would be an improvement over the current, leaking edifice.

Worst Streets in Town?
I just wrote an article on the best streets in town. It would be fun to write its opposite but judging from my past forays into this subject, my opinion isn’t welcomed. I never called DeLuca Drive the worst street, for instance, just questioned their neighborliness, but the reaction was … strong.