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

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

All quiet on the front

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

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

Hold on to your hats
Because here we go!

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

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

Election results

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

Chieftans - Alva Gimble created a beautiful spot.

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

Only in Greenwich.

20 Chieftans

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

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

414 Stanwich Rd.

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

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

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

"Kevin Zosiak: 203 509 9568

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

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

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

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

But it's more realistic than $5 million.

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

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

Oh, things are going to get interesting next year.

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

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




Exotic dancer sues for discrimination

"Onward, Comrades!"

Fuel of the future:

Ethanol producer goes bust.

Update: Goldman drops coverage of all ethanol producers