Greenwich CT Real Estate | October Transactions

Oct. 4 and Oct. 10:

• 8 Circle Dr — The Ferber Family Revocable Trust to TM Margaret LLC, $722,000.
• 46 Gerry St — Alexandra Klein to Norma Aida and Jason Bevis, $585,000.
• 38 Greenwich Dr — Elizabeth Biers to Andrew Karlen, $627,500.
• 48 Hettiefred Rd — The Estate of Margaret Monson to Joseph and Lauren Agovino, $750,000.
• 4 High Meadow Rd — Paul Smith and Caralyne Hart to Jennifer and Sameer Jain, $2,300,000.
• 4 Hillcrest Park Rd — Thomas and Susan Sperry to David and Susan Decker, $1,331,600.
• John St Map 5088 — David Kane, trustee under the Development Trust by David J. Kane, to Elizabeth and Robert Berner III, $2,148,111.
• 32 Midwood Dr — Rodney and Michelle Adkins, trustees of the Michelle L. Adkins Revocable Trust, to Brian Keil, $4,475,000.
• 351 Pemberwick Rd Unit 102 — Ursula Catalano to Lauren and Gregory McConell, $610,000.
• 135 Taconic Rd — Ashwin and Mari Vasan to Eastern Shore Holdings LLCX, $14,000,000.
• 25 West Elm St Unit 2I — Angele Elliott-Smith to Tampa Enterprises LLC, $345,000.

Oct. 11 and Oct. 17:

• 8 Alpine Rd — Alpine Rd LLC to Timothy Yantz, $2,220,000.
• 326 Cognewaugh Rd — Stanley and Joan Karasick to Yongxing Wang, $1,250,000.
• 45 Ettl Lane #102 — Rosdrio Mazer to Dorothy Lee Collins, $645,000.
• 51 Forest Avenue #152 — Priscilla Whittington to Phyllis Geoffroy, $550,000.
• 22 Georgetowne North — Oliver Layton to Tory Clements, $850,000.
• 2 Lauder Way — Jennifer and William Berkley Jr. to William and Liza Green, $6,200,000.
• 269 Milbank Avenue — 267 Milbank Avenue LLC to 269 Greenwich Milbank LLC, $2,000,000.
• 6 North Ridge Rd — Peter and Kathleen Saxon to Sarah and Richard Pocock III, $836,000.
• 22 Oak Dr — David Geske and Elizabeth Champlin to Jayen and Manini Madia, $1,950,000.
• 9 Paddock Dr — John Craig Oxman to Michael Wei-Kwun Tai, $2,340,000.
• 36 Park Avenue — Paul and Jane Shang to Scott and Peggy Kalb, $7,005,000.
• 14 Pilgrim Dr — Janet Larkin to Laura Westfall, $530,000.
• 133 Porchuck Rd (one-half interest) — Dorothy Lee Collins to Eric and Jessica Esterkin, $725,000.
• 133 Porchuck Rd (one-half interest) — The Trust of Jerome T. Collins to Eric and Jessica Esterkin, $1,450,000.
• 661 River Rd — Peter and Rita Dadzis to Ajit Gupta, $1,687,500.
• 7 Stormy Circle Dr — Joseph Ghiloni to Vincent and Donna Fiorito, $1,060,000.

Oct. 18 and Oct. 24:

• 10 Edward Place — Thomas and Polly Campenni as trustees to Eric and Jaimie Voehl, $760,000.
• 18 Halock Dr — Robert Dobbs Jr. to 18 Halock Dr LLC, $450,000.
• 33 Highland Farm Rd — Lisa Marie Rowland to Jonathan Torop and Barrie Silverman, $6,100,000.
• 59 Hillside Dr — Brookside Properties LLC to Todd and Laura Khoury, $2,647,500.
• 5 Keofferam Rd — Linda Layman as trustee to Sheryl and Paul Coughlin, $3,030,000.
• 52 Le Grande Avenue — John and Catherine Squillace to 52 Le Grande Avenue LLC, $350,000.
• 33 MacArthur Dr — Suzanne Wind to Cynthia Erensen, $1,100,000.
• 169 Mason St Unit 3A — Victoria Prisco to Edmund Savage, $475,000.
• 32 Meadowcroft Lane — Tom S. Ward Jr. as trustee to David Mastrocola, $4,350,000.
• 31 Meadowood Dr — Quarry Farm Development Inc. to James and Jesse Eisenberg, $2,500,000.
• 23 Nicholas Avenue — Elizabeth Augustine as trustee and as executrix to Karen Soika, $490,000.
• 23 Nicholas Avenue Lot C — Elizabeth Augustine as trustee and as executrix to Giovanna Vernuccio, $185,000.
• 534 North St — J. Goodwin and Rosanah Bennett to Marcel and Erica Bens, $2,100,000.
• 545 North St — VJHC Properties Inc. to Melissa Graham, $6,238,000.
• 211 Otter Rock Rd — Igal Salamon and Sara Zakuto to Kurt and Yvonne Leutzinger, $5,200,000.
• 275 Riverside Avenue — Mary Catherine Kelly to James Stehli, $3,375,000.
• 4 Robin Place — David and Ann Tulcin Kates to Nanci and Mark Schwarzman, $905,000.
• 65 Rockwood Lane — John and Julie Burke to Sekou and Jennifer Kaalund, $2,085,000.
• 100 Strickland Rd Unit 9 — Adam Zakka to Bertt Wilbur, $606,500.
• 10 Valley Dr — The Estate of Terrell Van Ingen and the Estate of Harriet Judson Van Ingen to Mark and Brooke Morell, $785,000.

Oct. 25 and Nov. 7:

• 8 Arther St — Robert Serrano to Merritt Holdings LLC, $575,000.
• 5 Blanchard Rd — David Rosenzweig and Karen Ross to Frank and Kristen Ingarra, $2,425,000.
• 28 Bonwit Rd — Mark and Sharon Lynn Wu to Scott Caroll and Lynn Kimura, $875,000.
• 18 Cat Rock Rd — Carol Nicholson and Jeffrey Grim to Buckfield Development LLC, $626,850.
• 16 Chapel St — Nation Star Mortgages LLC to Advance Funding LLC, $357,000.
• 73 Club Rd (portion) — 73 Club Rd West LLC to West Mianus Neck LLC, $6,077,712.
• 73 Club Rd (portion) — 73 Club Rd East LLC to East Mianus Neck LLC, $3,422,288.
• 453 East Putnam Avenue Unit 3A — W. Braeden and Brenda Harris to Matthew and Susan Diana, $450,000.
• 70 Hamilton Avenue — Alvaro Manriquez to 70 Hamilton Avenue Associates LLC, $775,000.
• 14 Hartford Avenue — Dorothy Doyle to Milly Fernandez, $450,000.
• 5 Irvine Rd — Julie Brennan to Kevin Michael Silva, $2,800,000.
• 453 East Putnam Avenue #4B — Jennifer Weaver to Juan Carlos Mier Giraud, $597,500.
• 11 Mill Pond Court — Eneas and Nancy Freyre to Don Williams, $1,315,000.
• 1044 North St — James and Melissa Raezer to Frank Verni, $1,050,000.
• 44 Prospect St — Miguel Angel Palavo to Ji Even Lee, $600,000.
• 16 Ridge Rd — Kevin Mora to Michael Mora, $512,500.
• 75A Richland Rd — Diane Long to Diane Marie Long, Tamia Marie Simonis and Stephen Simonis, $1.
• 104 Ritch Avenue West — Marilyn Cassiu to Danyelle Boilard, $752,000.
• 18 Roosevelt Avenue — Patricia and Richard Quigley III to Richard and Maureen Harper, $1,755,000.
• 79 Silo Circle — The Estate of Helen W. Nicholl to Peng Tian and Xiaolong Zhu, $555,000.
• 107 Stanwich Rd — Jared Lissaver and Deborah Lizak to Gregg Moskowitz, $903,000.
• 313 Stanwich Rd Lot 4 — R. John Punnett to Traditional Building and Design LLC, $1,250,000.
• 661 Steamboat Rd Unit A — Mairtin and Berdie Brady to Dorinda Dodge Schreiber, $2,450,000.
• 31 Valley Dr — U.S. Bank National Associates to Anthony DiPalo, $769,000.
• 62 Valley Rd — Charles Chiappetta to Julia Chiappetta, $650,000.
• 241 Valley Rd — Phyllis Dooney to Christopher Toussig Graves, $735,000.
• 340 Valley Rd Unit 2 — Greyrock of Greenwich II LLC to David and Erin Linney DePalma, $1,710,000.
• 312 West Lyon Farm Dr — Marcia Schoeller to John and Margaret Larkin, $1,325,000.

Market Summary Report | flexmls Web

Posted by Barbara Heins @ Greenwich Patch

Greenwich First Selectman Peter Tesei. Photo credit: Barbara Heins.

Tradition and long-standing friendships will be the major features in the swearing-in ceremony Sunday afternoon when the Greenwich Board of Selectmen take the oath of office.

Republican First Selectman Peter Tesei will be sworn in for his fourth two-year term by his “mentor,” former First Selectman Rebecca Breed. “This is her fourth time swearing me in,” Tesei said. “She was one of the principal people who spurred my interest in town affairs. She is a mentor, a dear friend. I wouldn’t think of having anyone else.”

The ceremony begins at 4 p.m. Dec. 1 in the Town Hall Meeting Room and will include attendance by several former First Selectmen including Roger Pearson, John Margenot and Jim Lash.

Republican David Theis will be sworn in for his third term by childhood friend William Giacomo who is a Supreme Court Justice in Westchester County. “I’ve known him ever since we were kids growing up in Cos Cob,” Theis said.

“I’ve worked with him on his campaigns for judgeship … and he’s a Democrat,” Theis said with a laugh. “This is illustrative of my personal belief that we work together … find ways to work across the aisle `a la Ronald Reagan and Tip O’Neill,” Theis explained.

Swearing in Democrat Drew Marzullo for his third term will be Connecticut Lt. Gov. Nancy Wyman.

The ceremony, which is open to the public, also will include the honor guards from the Greenwich Police Department, the Greenwich Fire Department and the Greenwich Emergency Medical Service; the performance of patriotic songs by the Rev. Christopher Tate of the Second Congregational Church and the benediction by Rabbi Yosef Deren of Chabad Lubavitch of Greenwich.

By C. J. HUGHES

AFTER seeing Jimi Hendrix play a 1969 concert at the Fillmore East, a few blocks from her building in the East Village, and living in the same tenement as the poet Allen Ginsberg, Elena Abrahams became enamored of her artsy, walkable neighborhood.

But in Old Greenwich, a distinct section on Long Island Sound in the town’s easternmost corner, about 35 miles from Midtown, she found neighbors who, in addition to being transplanted New Yorkers, were writers, painters and musicians.

Further, both the pint-sized business district, known as “the village,” and a Metro-North train station, were just a short stroll from her front door, evoking the East Village of her younger days. “I thought, this is a really good, progressive place to be,” said Ms. Abrahams, who works as a substitute teacher.

But not many musicians, or at least the struggling variety, could afford the prices today, with single-family homes starting at around $500,000.

Indeed, Ms. Abrahams’s home, a four-bedroom 1929 colonial, with flower-pot cutouts in the shutters, cost $300,000 in 1984; she estimates it could sell for $2 million today, based on listings on her block.

A better bet for a starter home might be one of the neighborhood’s 400 condominiums, like the alcove studio bought in April by Laura Bennett, who runs a family jewelry store that has been in the village since 1945.

The unit, with 650 square feet and a terrace through sliding glass doors, cost $325,000, she said.

Next-door Stamford, where she also looked, didn’t have nearly the charm of Old Greenwich’s “quaint old-style street,” with many longtime merchants, said Ms. Bennett.

That street, Sound Beach Avenue, evokes an island resort town envisioned by Norman Rockwell, despite afternoon traffic that can snarl 20 cars deep in both directions. It has an ice cream parlor and an open-air restaurant, a barbershop with a checkered linoleum floor and a toy store with trucks in the window.

With the exception of a pharmacy, “we don’t have any chain stores,” Ms. Bennett said, “and we don’t want them.”

WHAT YOU’LL FIND

Measuring just over two square miles, with about 10,000 people, Old Greenwich is split in half by a one-two punch of Route 1 and Interstate 95.

Houses north of that noisy dividing line, which tend toward colonials, raised ranches and brick Capes, are about half the price of ones south of it, and smaller, too. Many examples are found in Havemeyer Park, a 1940s subdivision partly developed by the boxer Gene Tunney, where streets like MacArthur Drive, Halsey Drive and Nimitz Place, bear the names of World War II military leaders, apparently in a bid to appeal to returning soldiers.

The more coveted homes sit south, on Old Greenwich’s nearly eight miles of winding coastline, which encompasses coves, ponds and rocky points, close to named microenclaves like Lucas Point, Tomac and Shorelands.

Here, among traces of a late 1800s summer colony, sit hulking shingles and ornate Mediterraneans and eyebrow-dormered colonials; some seem to have been “Victorianized” with porches, fish-scale shingles and additions.

Along prestigious Shore Road, there is evidence of teardowns behind boxwood hedges, where builders have maximized what’s allowed under generally quarter-acre zoning.

Also, because this section is prone to flooding in severe northeasters, many homes have had to prop themselves up in recent years under federal law.

Condos, meanwhile, are scattered, though most are found in two complexes: Old Greenwich Gables, from the 1990s, and the Commons, from the 1970s, each with about 180 units, brokers say. Rental housing, few and far between, usually consists of sublet condos.

In general, the narrow, twisting roads of Old Greenwich are tough enough to navigate by joggers and bicyclists. But dozens of others, marked private, are made almost impassable by sections of fence, alternated like gates on a giant slalom ski course.

Yet house hunting by car might be a moot point anyway. Greenwich bans all for-sale signs, stuck in the lawn or otherwise.

WHAT YOU’LL PAY

The median price of a home in Old Greenwich in late June, when 76 properties were on the market, was $2.2 million, according to the Greenwich MLXchange, a multiple listing service.

For that price, buyers can typically pick up a 1950s colonial, with 3,500 square feet of space, in move-in condition, according to Rose Revel, a sales associate with William Raveis Real Estate in its Old Greenwich office.

Occasionally, homes trade above $8 million, especially if they’re newly built, with a dock, pool and 6,000 square feet of space, she added.

The prices of these homes are comparable to next-door Riverside, which also has its own train station, but are about half those found in Belle Haven, a gated community with one-acre zoning to the west, brokers say.

Those prices have also held steady in the last two years, while other markets softened, though this spring there has been a dip in prices of about 5 percent, Ms. Revel said. “But it’s usually the overpriced houses that drop,” she said, “especially if the seller is under duress and needs to sell.”

WHAT TO DO

The 24-acre Binney Park, tucked on the western flank of Old Greenwich, has four tennis courts, a pair of band shells and ponds ringed by rhododendrons and hemlocks.

The bigger jewel, though, is Greenwich Point Park, whose 147 acres sweep across about an eighth of the neighborhood. On the beach-lined spit, great egrets pick their way through sea grass while joggers pound paths.

Since 2001, out-of-towners can use the park, after the State Supreme Court ruled in their favor to end a six-year legal battle. But they must pay $25 a day to do so, which is about what locals pay for the season. Only about 3,000 nonresidents took advantage last year — a fraction of the 500,000 total park visitors — possibly rebutting the argument that it would be inundated.

“There was never the deluge that people expected,” said Fred Walters, parks superintendent.

THE SCHOOLS

In terms of test scores and reputation, the neighborhood’s schools rank among the state’s best.

The Old Greenwich School, which teaches kindergarten through fifth grade in a stately two-story brick building close to the village, enrolled 413 students last year.

On the 2007 Connecticut Mastery Test, 96 percent of fourth graders at the school met standards in math, while 90 percent did so in reading and 96 percent in writing. Statewide, those numbers were 81 percent in math, 71 percent in reading and 84 percent in writing.

From there, students head to Eastern Middle School, in neighboring Riverside, for Grades 6 through 8. Eastern enrolled 726 students last year. On the mastery tests, 98 percent of eighth graders met standards in math, as 95 percent did in reading and 99 percent in writing; statewide, those numbers were 81 percent, 76 percent and 83 percent.

Greenwich High School offers seven languages, including Mandarin Chinese, and more than three dozen varsity-level sports. Last year, it enrolled 2,712 students, and of the 667-student graduating class, 23 were National Merit Scholarship semifinalists and 43 others received letters of commendation.

On last year’s SAT’s, the average scores were 564 in math, 558 in reading and 563 in writing, compared with statewide scores of 504 in math, 502 in reading and 503 in writing.

THE COMMUTE

Situated on Metro-North’s New Haven line, Old Greenwich has weekday morning rush-hour trains from a red slope-roofed National Register structure about every 20 minutes; they take 53 to 72 minutes to arrive at Grand Central Terminal. Monthly passes cost $237 in person and $232.26 online.

Near the station, there are 524 reserved parking spaces; permits cost $242 a year. There is a waiting list of 120 names, or a wait of about a year, said Allen Corry, the town’s parking services director.

THE HISTORY

When the railroad arrived in 1872, it gave the station in Greenwich Old Town, where European settlers came ashore in 1640, the name Sound Beach, to avoid confusion with the main Greenwich station down the line, according to Megan McWhorter, an administrator at Greenwich’s historical society.

That name stuck until 1931, when the railroad switched to Old Greenwich. The fire department, however, retains the name Sound Beach.

Interesting view of the residential real estate industry and investing in it.

As an odd October 2013 draws to a close, the real estate market is among the industry sectors quite happy to see it over. WIth interest ratescreeping upward since summer, August and September indicators were already pointing at home financing slowing to a crawl through the second half of the year. On the heels of pending U.S. home sales slowing in August and a 5.6% drop in the sales pipeline in September, the government shuttered its doors. As the full moon rose over a nation back to work on the third Thursday in October, we are all looking for equilibrium, or at least some very good clues for the winter.

Schizophrenic indicators

In September 2012, Trulia announced it would discontinue itshousing barometer in its current form introduced 18 months earlier to track housing market recovery. Citing conflicting data in taking the temperature of key market indicators, the doctor has gone into consultation this autumn. “Tracking the recovery’s progress as a single number is not the best approach anymore,” said Jed Kolko, chief economist at Trulia. While experts struggle to define the new normal, the patient continues to show schizophrenic behavior. Unable to shine a clear light on a confirmed diagnosis, it seems everyone has gone shopping for a new thermometer.

First, the good news

No one is shouting good news from the rooftops, but the news is far from all bad. In analyzing the best and the worst of the housing bust, Trulia says we’re two-thirds of the way toward full recovery. However, the National Association of Realtors points at the government shutdown as a new key indicator for October, sure to have a knock-on effect. With IRS offices closed, delays in tax transcripts needed for approval of mortgage loans ground to a standstill. Not only were government and contract workers left sitting it out, but also overall consumer confidence “curbs major expenditures such as home purchases,” said Lawrence Yun, NAR chief economist. Meantime, the question remains the same: what about prices? Funny enough, the government shutdown did not seem to affect asking prices negatively in the first half of October, according to Trulia.

Location, location, location

A San Francisco Bay Area-based realtor with Coldwell Banker, Susan Hewitt underscored the topsy-turvy conditions found in the current housing recovery. Hewitt noted, “There really is no such thing as a national response to the very local question on everyone’s mind: should I buy or should I sell?” Through three generations in thefamily business, Hewitt has seen lots of ups and downs, but at the moment she cites location as being more pertinent than ever. “We see micro-sized pockets of double-digit price rises with competitive bidding situations happening next to depressed markets just one county over.”

While the old thermometers point to a flat remaining couple of months in 2013, we trust that those shopping for the new thermometers will bring them to market very quickly so that we can properly take the temperature for the 2014 housing market outlook.

Laurie JM Farr is a freelance writer covering all things in her adopted San Francisco. A dedicated urbanite, she’s a transplanted New Yorker by way of a couple of decades in London as a hotel sales and marketing manager. Follow her work on @ReferencePlease, USA Today, Yahoo! and on Examiner.com.

For those of you who are interested in Greenwich, CT (real estate, shopping, services, etc..) this is an interesting video produced by one of our high end hotels – Delamar.

Here are some videos of the previous light shows. Can’t wait to head down to Belle Haven (Greenwich, CT) to see how Paul Tutor Jones has set up for this year!

Scott Elwell 

Sotheby’s International Realty- (MBA) - GreenwichCT.com
One Pickwick Plaza, Greenwich, CT 06830 | Licensed in CT & NY
Mobile: 203.940.0444 | Fax: 203.930.2808 | Email: scott@elwell.com

Things to do – Greenwich CT Tourism and Vacations (Trip Advisor)

The JHouse99 reviews	Delamar Greenwich Harbor Hotel194 reviews	Stanton House Inn59 reviews

Warren Buffett (Berkshire Hathaway) talking about investing in residential real estate. Towns like Greenwich, CT (since this video) have seen a fairly strong spike in activity within the market. We have seen a very strong influx of buyers gravitate towards downtown areas such as Riverside, Old Greenwich as well as gated communities like Belle Haven.

I gather it is going to snow tonight, though I also hear it is going to rain tomorrow. Greenwich weather all over the place… I’m not sure if I should put the snow tires on my audi or not. We live on a small lake and I would love for it to get cold enough for that to freeze over. Last year there wasn’t much skating to be had. Yes the winter was pretty harsh, though there were enough warm days to let ice melt.

06830 - Downtown, Byram, Belle Haven, central Mid-Country

06831 - Glenville, Pemberwick, Back Country,  Banksville, Stanwich, North Greenwich

06870 - Old Greenwich

06878 - Riverside, North Mianus

06807 - Cos Cob, Mianus, eastern Mid-Country

For those of you that are interested, Greenwich is broken up into 4 different neighborhoods (census-designated place) between Greenwich, Cos Cob, Riverside and Old Greenwich and covers 5 different zip codes (two for Greenwich and one for each of the three remaining).

I’m looking forward to some new campaigns in 2014 for myself. This clip gives some great ideas…

My manager asked me to participate in a video project for Sotheby’s International Realty –  I figured I’d give it a try.  Not sure how I feel about being in front of a camera –  I think I’ll keep my day job as a realtor…