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Column: Surviving the Move: Three Mid-Market Listings in Greenwich

31-guinea-road
31 Guinea Road

By Mark Pruner

They say that there are seven events that are major traumas in your life. Most of them are dramatic and soul rendering; death of a parent or child, life threatening illness, divorce, loss of a job, imprisonment and then there is moving. The good thing about moving is that you actually have a fair amount of control over that last event, unlike the other major life stressors.

I know because before I was 12 years old, my parents had moved 13 times and were experts at minimizing the trauma of losing your friends, school and neighborhood. My father had a successful career at an international oil company and they way they promoted you then was to give you your bosses job, but in another office, and usually in another state.

My mother was wonderful at making a move an adventure. From the ages of 2 to 12 for me, and even younger for my brothers, Russ and David, we always looked at moving as a way to meet new friends, experience different world outlooks (though we wouldn’t have described it that way at the time) and move to new and interesting neighborhoods.

Today, I have listed houses for sale for three families that are doing the same things all from very different neighborhoods in Greenwich. They include a couple moving within Greenwich and downsizing, a couple whose kids have left home and they are moving to NYC to be closer to work and the activities there and an international family being transferred to Florida. Each seller presents a different challenge to make the house most appealing for today’s market.

The couple downsizing have a beautiful colonial off of Stanwich Road in the northeast section of the 2-acre zone. The house, located at 31 Guinea, is an immaculate, beautifully cared for, 4-bedroom house, that could of have had an open house the day that I first walked in to meet my clients.

The 4,722 s.f. house sits on 2.3 acres and was reduced to $1.85M. It would be appealing to a younger downsizer whose kids come back for holidays or a growing young family. It’s Parkway ES and Central MS, but it has a bit of their parent’s house feel for younger buyers. While I thought it was move-in condition, one young couple who came back twice estimated it would take $500K to make it “their house” with their look and feel.

11 Wilmot Lane

Meanwhile, in Riverside, I have another house at $1.75M located at 11 Wilmot Lane in Riverside. My clients took a 1927 colonial with3,479 s.f.  on 0.25 acres that had been expanded and renovated, but not well. In some ways, they unrenovated fixed it. They only owned for it 4 years, but each year they improved a major aspect of the house and created a very- comfortable colonial with a modern feel.

When they moved in the whole first floor had an exaggerated open floor plan; it was literally one big room. They smartly added a wall along the central stair case defining a family room/kitchen area on the left side and a formal living room with fireplace in the center. They also enclosed another open area on the left side and made a comfortable media room with a huge flat screen TV for movies and cartoons for their young daughters. (Disappointingly for me, even though they are from a country that is participating in the World Cup, they are not using this Cinemascope experience to watch the World Cup limiting my pre-showing conversations with them.)

Meanwhile over at 108 Pecksland a couple raised a family on 2.54 acres in a 3,127 s.f. house with a pool and pool house and is on for $2.15M in what has become the new Golden Triangle. Pre-recession the Golden Triangle was the north central section of the 2-acre zone that nestled below the Merritt Parkway along Lake Avenue.

Now, that post-recession people are looking for places closer to town, the Golden Triangle has moved south, closer to town as evidenced by days on market and sales price to list price ratio for listings in this new Golden Triangle. This house is a very elegant 1936 house with a modern kitchen and a family room addition that can accommodate the large screen TV on the wall above the new third fireplace. (Large screen TVs have done more to reshape today’s layout than anything since the large center islands in kitchens.)

This classy house could be a movie set for a 1930 romance or a black and white film noir where Philip Marlowe visits his upscale clients, but the interesting thing about it is that also a candidate for a historic overlay. If P&Z were to grant a historic overlay then you could put a second house on this lot just as if this 2.54 acres were in the 1 acre zone. The historic overlay zone was designed to permanently protect our historic houses and this house would be a great one to preserve.

All in all, these three houses epitomize what is going on in mid-market for both buyers and sellers. One family is downsizing within in Greenwich to a condo, an empty nester is returning to New York City for all the city has to offer, and one family is going to Miami for the career opportunity. It will be interesting to see who the buyers are for each property.

108 Pecksland Road

Mark Pruner is an award-winning real estate agent with Berkshire Hathaway. He can be reached at 203-969-7900 and mark@bhhsne.com

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