Pemberwick Sale & What you get for $500k In Greenwich

10 Pemberwick Rd closed yesterday for $500,000 after a mere 35 days on the market. Kudos to the seller and the List Agent, Patti Meyer. These parties were not playing around. The property was listed at $545,000 and the agent noted in the list sheet that the property was priced for "quick sale."

This sale gives us our third sale in the Pemberwick area and the Hamilton Avenue School district this year and establishes a decent benchmark for what to expect for $500k. Based on the sales data (see table below) one gets a two bedroom, two bathroom, 1,400sqft house on 0.14 acres. Based on my viewings of these properties, the appliances and fixtures are functional, but dated. Two of the three sales are located on double yellow line streets, which means moderate to high traffic flow (or at least more traffic than on single or no line streets).

Not long ago, there were no single-family properties for sale under $500k. A client and I looked and waited for two years (2005-2007) to find one. We had no no luck. The client finally bought a multi-family, where she could offset the higher cost with rental income. Now there have been three sales in Pemberwick and at least two others in Byram. Greenwich is becoming more affordable.

Foreclosure Watch: 30 Curt Terrace

I wasn't surprised to see the foreclosure sale notice in the local paper for this property in Glenville (Western Greenwich). The house sits on 0.36acre at the end of a cul-de-sac. The property itself slopes gently down from the road grade until it drops-offs a cliff near its rear boundary. I'm not sure if the drop off is part of this property or the neighbors, and while a simple fence will protect little ones from going down the hill, this is not all usable, kid-friendly land.

This is one of those houses that sticks with me after what seems like a couple years since I saw it. The house offers 4 bedrooms, 4 bathrooms and over 3,800sqft according to the builder. My recollection is that the house layout is choppy and flow through the rooms is poor. The space is inefficient and poorly designed. Is this what happens when non-pros get into the real estate development business and get caught on the downside of a correction?

Either way, the property will have to sell at less than the $1.289mln that the owner was asking back in December '08. After the house at 35 Glenville St (see picture #2) sold for $1.025mln in Dec. '08, you would have thought this guy would have lowered his price into the 9s. But it may have been too late by then.

According to the notice in the Greenwich Time, the foreclose sale is May 30, at noon.

49 Hillside Dr. vs 477 Riversville Rd.: Comparing $4+mln Sales

Table 1.

These two properties closed within $300,000 of each other a day apart.

Table 1 contains selected data from the purchase, build and sales of the properties.

If I assume no change in the land values, the two properties sold around +/- $310/sqft plus the original land cost. Its a safe bet that the land values dropped.

If I take a different tack and assume a $350/sqft price (and assume lower level finished space sells for half of above grade living area), the land value for Hillside and Riversville drop to $1.52ml and $1.64ml respectively, or -23% and -9% of purchase price. It seems odd that the Riversville land would decline less than the Hillside property. But maybe the nearly 5 1/2 acres at Riversville buoyed the price, because I don't think the house did.

'

I consider the layout and configuration of the Riversville house poor to middling--shallow room depth on main floor; confusing and inefficient space layout in master; non-practical/functional elements--a fireplace in master bedroom seems to be inches from what looked like the only place the master bed could go. Greenwich has enough hot heads without builders trying to create more. Hillside is better designed and built structure, while Riversville has better piece of land.

Table 2.

Another point of interest, at least to me, and contributing factor to sale price is that the list agent for Riversville was not local and she represented both sides of the sale. In Greenwich Non-local agents frequently bring buyers who overpay for property. Second, if an agent represents both sides of a sale, there is always a chance that the property owner will get a discount on RE commision and net greater proceeds.

6 Irvine Sells for $1.14ml OR 3 years waiting and a 33% price reduction

I saw this sale notice on the MLS this morning and wondered if the wait was worth it for the owner. This shore colonial, that's what the list agent calls it, came on the market June 15, 2006. After nearly 3 years and 4 price reductions, from $1.699mln to a last list of $1.347mln, the property closed today at $1,143,500.

And talk about commitment, the owner stayed with the same agent over the whole period! I'm sure both parties are glad to move on.