London Bridge (to NYC) is falling down This Britisher looks at the falling pound and Euro, examines this years sales of expensive New York condos to Europeans and concludes that the New York real estate business is about to fall on hard times . Perhaps he's hysterical [a newspaper reporter? You're kidding,right? Ed.] but bad news for that market is bad news for ours. Who do you think is, after selling their city co-ops, plunking the cash down here?

Politics for a Change! Biden funnels $2,000,000 campaign loot to family . But don't worry: Aides to Mr. Biden said all of the payments he has made to family members or their employers were aboveboard.

Well that's a relief. I was worried that, after only 38 years in Washington, the man had been corrupted!

Leather Jackets
When I sold my first book in 2000, I received a nice advance from the publisher and, suddenly flush with cash for the first time in years, I indulged myself: I had always wanted one of those cool horsehide WW II flight jackets and, as a young lad, my father forbade it - too much of a hooligan look, he felt. Well my father had died 12 years before, I was as adult as I'd ever be and so I went searching for the real thing. I found it at Lost Worlds, Inc., the link for which is above. I couldn't convert their pictures into postable jpegs (I'm sure it's possible but not with my limited skills) so you'll have to use the link to see the product. Or put up with my description. [ figured it out - God bless Google] Real horsehide, meticulously manufactured in NYC to the original Army Air Corp specifications and, all in all, a terrific jacket. Mine's 8 years old now and it's just about broken in. The only thing that's ever gone wrong with it was the little pull tab for the zipper that fell off last spring. An email to the owner, Stuart, got a replacement in the mail, free, that very same day.

So great service, too. They also make some good looking motorcycle jackets (my father would spin in his grave), 1950s western shirts, and all sorts of old fashioned quality garb that I've seen only in old movies.

I have the bonus of being reminded, every time I slip on my jacket, of my first publishing success. You don't need that rush to enjoy this clothing, just a boyhood memory of 12 O'clock High or Gary Cooper facing down bad guys on Main Street. So go to their website and check them out. Great company, great stuff. And if you know how to convert a "web archive" into a jpeg, please write.

Another funny tale about 25 Close Road
Funny to me, anyway. When my first book, The New Millionaire's Handbook had been accepted for publication and was being illustrated out in Kansas City the illustrator was obviously unable to comprehend the size of the monsters we were growing here in Greenwich. He kept sending me drafts of what he thought were mansions and I saw as hovels until, frustrated, I drove my daughter Kat and her camera up to this place and had her take some shots of it as it was nearing completion. I sent those off, the book came out and I thought nothing more of the house until it came up for sale. I brought my book to the broker open house and showed it to the listing agent: "Look! Your house is all over my book! Isn't that swell?" She closed the book and snapped, "put that away!"

As I said, funny to me.

Curmudgeon! From the comments section, this gloomy assessment from Ib'er, or retired investment banker:

Chris, I would agree that pricing will not go to zero.

I am beginning, however, to believe that the real estate correction is going to be much more severe than anyone is currently prepared for. Most prognosticators offered their peak to trough pricing views assuming a not severe recession or significant rising unemployment. I believe we are headed for a severe recession with much higher unemployment.

How far this will drive down prices I cannot guess. Nevertheless, the aforementioned factors added to the destruction of wealth in the stock market and lenders returning to prudent lending standards are/will be massive headwinds for future real estate pricing.

Retired IB'er

If you'll provide your address, IB'er, I'm sure the Greenwich Board of Realtors would be glad to send you a copy of "Everything's Coming up Roses", just to cheer you up. I've worn out my own copy and it didn't do me a damn bit of good.

Mortgage Money
Contrary to what you may have heard, it's still available, and at pretty good rates. My pal Nancy is in the process of refinancing (oh, those wonderful student loans!) with my own firm's mortgage banker, Mark Hawkins (203 257-5805) and approval was almost instant. I'm not flogging Ravies Raveis (tough when your boss points out that you spelled the name of your own G--D--- firm wrong) here and I certainly don't get a piece of the action (illegal and, by odd coincidence, unethical) but a number of large real estate firms have, out of self defense I suppose, pooled their cash and struck a deal with those banks that are still lending. The firms act as mortgage bankers rather than brokers and loans are getting done (for non-real estate customers as well as buyers, fyi).

What's changed, then? Nothing, if you got a loan 10 years ago, plenty if you borrowed last year. Credit score should be over 700 (there are exceptions, but 700 is a good starting point) you're definitely going to be putting 20% and perhaps even 30% down, documentation of income and assets is required - no more "no-doc" loans - appraisals may be tighter, and so forth. In short, the bankers have adopted the Who's credo as their own: "We won't be fooled again!" Of course, when it comes to reviewing the banks's own behavior over the past decade, one might be tempted to ask who was fooling whom, but that's for another day.

What to do with bankers who cling bitterly to their guns, religion and money? The NYT's Floyd Norris says, "jawbone them". Worked on asses, I recall, or do I have that wrong? IB'r, CEA, all you other financial wizards out there. Any suggestions?

In the Crapper Outhouse
In the past ten days, exactly four single family houses have gone to contract. That's not good, for sellers, but if you're tempted to buy right now, your position is pretty strong because you'll be just about the only game in town.

Spec Home Update
Or, as suggested by CEA and borrowing from Instapundit, "Carnival of the Spec Homes".
Either way, there are 44 new homes on the market priced from $6 million to $25 million. Most, but not quite all of them were built before the sellers had found buyers (Tommy Hilfiger's, $25 million on Round Hill Road, appears to be lived in) and at least one of them, 20 Langhorne, remains unbuilt and is offered as a completed house at $10.998 (down from $14.9) or as land, for $2.995. I'd bet it sells, if at all, for a building lot and I'm confident no more money will be put into this project to create another unsold house.

But that still leaves a large number of seemingly unwanted, very expensive buildings all looking for buyers. How many of those were put up by builders without the financial resources to hold on through this "rough patch" - or, if you prefer, "eff'in unmitigated disaster"? My guess is, not so many and if I'm right, we'll be seeing these at huge price reductions - perhaps 50% - or as bank-owned properties. Banks are always interested in getting their money back but they aren't in the business of holding real estate and they like to move those houses they do end up with so they, too may start whacking prices. What will that do to the other spec homes? Common sense suggests that if your stone and clapboard, 11,000 sq.ft. rah da da da house, priced at $12.5 million, is competing with essentially the same house down the street that's asking $5 ... you're in trouble.

Update: The house pictured here, by the way, 25 Close Road, isn't included in the inventory because it's currently off the market. Built in 2003 (by a Russian, I believe - a pioneer!) it never sold, despite all sorts of price "adjustments" from $15.9 million, up to $18 million and down again to, eventually, $15,750,000. Nothing worked. Of interest to me at least is that the seller went through about 5 brokers (it couldn't have been the price, it must have been the broker's fault) and only the last bothered to take her own pictures of the place - everyone else just used the first broker's efforts. I'd expect a little more if I were trying to sell a house in this price range but then, they were probably all very well dressed and to some sellers, that's all that matters.

From Dr. Helen (a/k/a "Instawife"): Is it time to go John Galt?

Perhaps the partisan politics we are dealing with now is really just a struggle between those of us who believe in productivity, personal responsibility, and keeping government interference to a minimum, and those who believe in the socialistic policies of taking from others, using the government as a watchdog, and rewarding those who overspend, underwork, or are just plain unproductive.

Obama talks about taking from those who are productive and redistributing to those who are not — or who are not as successful. If success and productivity is to be punished, why bother? Perhaps it is time for those of us who make the money and pay the taxes to take it easy, live on less, and let the looters of the world find their own way.

Sounds about right to me.

Gee, this doesn't look like any fun.

Chris Buckley fired
Christopher Buckley endorsed Barack Obama last week and has now been fired from his columnist's job at National Review, a magazine founded by William F. Buckley, Chris's father. What the F...?! I'm sensitive to the issue, fresh as I am from my own firing from the Greenwich Post for offending real estate advertisers, but you don't hire a columnist for his opinions and then fire him when he expresses that opinion. Not if you're a serious journal, you don't. Greenwich Post is just fluff, so I don't really give a hoot (and my blog is ever so much fun to write) but I subscribed to National Review for many years and was always impressed by its seriousness of purpose and excellence in writing.

I am by no means an Obama supporter, as regular readers of this blog will have suspected, but I am a huge fan of Buckley - his novels are some of the funniest works to come out of Washington ever - and if he has his doubts about McCain well, who doesn't? I would never resolve those doubts in favor of McCain's opponent but Buckley did. I'd say, "go, and sin no more" but I certainly would never stop reading him. This bitter election is causing once rational people, of all political persuasions, to lose their friggin' minds.

25 Beechcroft
Another Beechcroft spec house
This house is on the other side of Beechcroft from # 16, also a spec house, that started at $8.5 million and finally sold last week for $6.2. Undeterred by his competitor's loss, this past June this builder raised his own project's price to $7.950 from $ $7.5 million (which in turn, was an increase from the original price of $7.2). He paid $2.950 for the land back in July 2007 so I suppose he's stuck at a high price, but the sale price for the place across the street can't be encouraging.
Assuming a $400 per square foot construction cost ($3.6 million and adding in land cost of $2.950, this guy has $6,550,000 into the house before he begins considering pools, landscaping, conveyance taxes, commissions, overhead, etc. Not much wiggle room there, so he'd better hope for a (very) strong housing recovery, starting soon.

Can't we all get along?
Old folks battle it out over Obama/McCain in nursing home

George Manos, the 75-year-old Republican, told police that Edith Walker, the 73-year-old Democrat, jumped on his back and struck him in the head three to four times with her fists. Manos said two other elections workers had to pull Walker off his back, according to a report filed with Cuyahoga Falls police.

Heads slammed into walls; McCain urges supporters to "stand up and fight"; Biden calls McCain "fighting mad"; Obama supporters "ready for fight"

It's all pretty tiresome. Me? I'm going to hide from political news for the next three weeks and listen to Bob Dylan's My Back Pages on my iPod:

In a soldier's stance, I aimed my hand
At the mongrel dogs who teach
Fearing not I'd become my enemy
In the instant that I preach
My existence led by confusion boats
Mutiny from stern to bow.
Ah, but I was so much older then,
I'm younger than that now.

Yes, my guard stood hard when abstract threats
Too noble to neglect
Deceived me into thinking
I had something to protect
Good and bad, I define these terms
Quite clear, no doubt, somehow.
Ah, but I was so much older then,
I'm younger than that now.

Palmer Hill condo's revisited
Earlier there was a discussion of this project and I admitted that I knew nothing of the builder's finances but did note that it was the largest project he'd attempted, a yellow light, in my view. This reader's experience would seem to justify that caution:

I bought pre-construction and pulled out when told that the condos and townhouses that are completed would be delayed over 10-12 months for what they are calling re-design. They are pushing dirt away slowly construction to a crawl to prevent over supply. They had 40+ people committed in early 2008 and that number dropped to 20ish or so once they annouced the delay. They builders hold a 20 year option to finish phase 1, 2 and 3. they can stop construction at anytime. Alot of early investors pulled out after they started offering options as incentives.

So, porceed slowly and carefully, is my advice.

A reader asks,

This post brings up a question that has been nagging me for a while...does it make sense to put money into a now depreciating asset in anticipation of making it more desirable to sell at a later date? What determines whether or not a house is a "tear down"?

I purchased my house in the early 90's after it had been completely redone by the previous owners (perhaps making it what you referred to as antediluvian). Luckily, the previous owners were a bit ahead of their time for 1990 and we do have 12 foot ceilings in the family room, playroom, kitchen and master bedroom as well as a double height entry hall. The kitchen is "state of the art 1990 corian" but with the economy lately, I am not going to be updating the kitchen any time soon. I have re-done two of the five bathrooms recently, but I think the others need to be done so the house will show well when it eventually goes on the market. We have put a lot of money into maintenance the past 15 years and built a beautiful pool and have had a lot of landscaping done. Am I crazy to put any more money into my house now that it isn't worth what it used to be?

Probably - I've always thought that any improvements a homeowner makes should be done with an eye towards his own enjoyment of that added feature (like your pool and beautiful landscaping) rather than resale. The law of entropy ensures that whatever you put into a house will age, fall apart, or at least go out of fashion - 10-year-old master bathrooms in trophy homes look positively dated when we agents see them on tour. Of course, the homeowners have been happily splashing away in that whirlpool tub for the preceding decade and, if they weren't moving, would probably enjoy it for another decade or two without noticing that time had passed them by but buyers see it differently.
So if you want a new kitchen with granite counters and all new appliances and you plan to stick around to enjoy it, go for it. Just don't count on getting much of your investment back when you move. There are tables out there showing what percentage of the cost of an improvement you can expect to get back upon resale, and all of them are under 100% (and all of them, I assume, don't figure on your using those improvements long enough to start their deterioration).

If I had a house that I was planning to sell soon I would not put much money into it except to fix obvious structural flaws, like a failed paint job, a rotten porch, a crumbling foundation, whathaveyou (I purposefully mention some big ticket items because these are things that really will hurt your resale value and should be addressed, regardless of expense). I would certainly not waste money on a new kitchen - the would-be buyers probably have different needs and taste than you and updating baths, while nice and which might make your house easier to sell, will not return any gain. I've written before of houses I've seen that didn't sell and whose owners were persuaded by their agent to do all these things I've just cautioned against. Now they have a house that, overpriced for the neighborhood to begin with, is even more out of whack. Far better to have cut the price $150,000 than to pour that same sum into a sinking ship. Price it right, sell it and move on - you can put your cash into the new house.

What makes a tear down? In happier days, any older house that sat on decent land was quarreled over by builders and first time home buyers alike - picture sea gulls fighting over a fish carcass. Now that the builders are on hiatus there are fewer tear downs and a much better opportunity for young families who can't afford a mansion to move in, maybe add that new kitchen you so wisely avoided, and live happily ever after. Personally, I like that development; I represent a couple of builders, whom I like and admire, but I also live in this town and I'd be glad to see the return of "normal" families.

Give my regards to Billy Joel
Realogy shutters its Corcoran branch in Hampton Bays . Things aren't going swimmingly for Realogy, which owns Sotheby's, Coldwell Banker, Century 21 and Better Homes & Garden Realty and is in turn owned by Apollo management which is shuttering 317 Linen's & Things stores. Leon Black, Chairman of Apollo and known in certain circles as "Papa Sotheby's" is reported to have said, "Oops! But what's a piddly $1.3 billion mistake - you been following Lehman stock lately?"

It's estimated that all 17,500 Linen's employees will lose their jobs. "Oops" indeed.

So what's wrong with my house? Nothing!
There's a house for sale, and I don't want to embarrass its owner by giving its address, that's been on the market for well over a year. It was originally priced at just over $6 million and now, a couple of brokers later, it's down to $4 1/2. Trouble is, I think it's still too high. The place was built for its current owners nearly 20 years ago and, in terms of style and what today's buyers are looking for, that's antediluvian. Tomorrow's taste may change again but for now, this is little more than a building lot, on a nice, but not great, street. It was crazy to price it at $6 million to begin with and with building lots on Round Hill Road going unsold for $3.5, I doubt this one, in an inferior location, will see much action. Just my opinion, and I certainly wish the seller the best of luck, but somewhere along the line, the market will speak loudly enough for this seller to hear it.

(Click to enlarge only known photo of Jeffrey Gendell)

Now he tells us: "Mistakes were made."

Greenwich resident (7.27 acres in RA-2 zone, 5 bedroom, 6 bath brick colonial circa 1936 - ironically enough, that would mean it was built in the last Great Depression) Jeffrey Gendell's hedge fund, Tontine Associates, is down a wee bit this year: 65%, as of September 30, and possibly a bit more today, say what? He's certainly made tons of money for himself and his investors over the past 10 years so I'm not going to lose sleep over the possibility that he'll have to move from that colonial. But I was struck by this quote:

[Gendell's] fund is named after 17th century Italian banker Lorenzo de Tonti, who invented an annuity where several partners invest and receive annual dividends. As each investor dies off their share is credited to the remaining partners, leaving the last man alive with all the money. The name is a play on Gendell’s desire to be the “last investor standing.”

What do I know? Maybe being 65% down for the year is to be on top of the heap right now and Greenwich is indeed hosting the last money manager still paying his groundskeepers. I never could figure out hedge funds but I feel better about that ignorance now that I know that they couldn't either.

16 Beechcroft
Beechcroft (behind North Street's St. Michael Church) has seen a wave of new construction lately and this spec house was in that wave. Priced at $8.5 million when it came on the market in June, 2007 2008, its builder must have grown tired of waiting: he sold it yesterday for $6.150 million; 28% off. Hope his profit margin was a big one.