Jay Cooke

We have a house in Ridgefield, Ct where we were staying last weekend when the Northeast was pounded by an early snowstorm. The event started earlier than predicted, dropped far more snow and wrecked more havoc with downed trees and wires than the recent Hurricane Irene. As I write large parts of the town are still without power.

But it is Sunday morning that I wanted to write about. As my neighborhood woke up to the day, it looked so wild - with a deep blanket of snow and trees and limbs everywhere. The portable generators were not yet hooked up so it was very quiet. Slowly we all bundled up and commenced the clean up.

The snow was the perfect consistency to build a snowman so clearing the drive to the road was a long process. When I reached the road I noticed one of the neighbors hard a work with his chainsaw. Our neighbor Mary had lost two trees, one blocked her garage, the other the street. As she lives alone we all try to watch out for her and help with snow etc. In this case, it was trees first and then the clearing.

Across the street, I saw Ann with a shovel making slow progress. I figured her husband must be away on business as he’s always the one out. So off I went to help her. Turned out their snow blower was on the work bench in for some repairs. We worked as a team and got the drive cleared in due course.

As I was finishing I noticed yet another family out with shovels making slow progress on their long, deep drive. So off I went to their assistance. Their blower will in for the Fall tune-up - talk about bad timing. As we worked, I learned that Hope had just taken her cell phone over to an elderly neighbor whose service was via cable which was out. Hope didn‘t want her to be alone with no means to summon help as she had been post Irene.

As the morning progressed other neighbors appeared to help other neighbors and it struck me so clearly - this is what we as real estate professionals do - we are neighbors helping neighbors. We are building relationships, neighborhoods, towns and the future one client and one sale at a time. Like clearing snow it can be exhausting and time consuming but it also brings enormous satisfaction for a job well done.

Sales figures through the end of August have just been released from the Greenwich MLS. The trend is positive, as analyzed by Joe Valvano, Managing Broker Coldwell Banker Greenwich.

YTD - Units sold is up 16%.

YTD - Dollar volume has increased by 15%.

And there are a healthy number of transactions in contract slated to close (Pendings).

I am also happy to report that Coldwell Banker in Greenwich now has a 20.1% market share leading all Greenwich firms. We are up 71% in Units sold (outpacing the market by 500%) and up 47% in dollar volume (outpacing the market in this case by 300%).

In this challenging market and economy the old saw " location, location, location" was never truer.

Recently I posted this comment to my Blog:

A Magnificent Waterfront Estate in Greenwich Connecticut

One of the great joys of our business is touring the homes for sale. Whether a modest starter home or an amazing estates, some of our market areas run the complete gambit.

This week I was privileged to tour a truly amazing waterfront estate in Greenwich Ct that is being marketed by Sotheby's. Originally the site of the Roebling's summer house, the estate even comes complete with a 175 foot suspension bridge which echoes the more famous one in Brooklyn. Offered at $42,500,000 I thought some of you might enjoy looking at it: http://grw.mlxchange.com/Pub/EmailView.asp?r=1325381979&s=GRW&t=GRW

This home which had been featured in Architectural Digest was a unique in many respects. I am very happy to report that it is now in contract. This is very good news for the top end of our spectrum iin Greenwich. Of course this is a very special home in a great waterfront community.

It's back!

Dunellen Hall, one of the "Great Estates of Greenwich" and former home of Harry and Leona Helmsley is back on the market. Originally for sale at $125,000,000 in May of 2008, the estate went through several brokers and numerous price reductions before selling in October of 2010 for $35,000,000.

Now it has returned to the market with a price tag of $42,900,000. Or the additional $7.9 the next buyer gets to customize the new kitchen and baths. Yet as fascinating as this 40 acre estate is, the new price would seem aggressive. You can view it here:

Some previous owners of this fabled dwelling have come to sad ends or endured significant loss and travail. One wonders if these owners will be joining the list. Time will tell all.

Recently a collegue asked me to help her with a CMA for a new listing. She couldn't find active comparables or recent sales with which to work.

I suggested several alternative methods for her to use. I was stunned therefore to see the new listing on the MLS with an amazing list price. Turns out that the owners had purchased the house new within the last several years and have now listed the property much higher! So who didn't get the memo - the agent, owners or both? Here is Fairfield County Connecticut our sales volume is up, inventory is shrinking in certain price ranges BUT prices are not rapidly rising. At best, they have stabilized and have very modest gains.

What is true about this market is that we have buyers. We have buyers looking and hunting for value. Without perceived value they probably won't purchase - they is very little sense of urgency in this market. They also have a range of options with which to research markets and listings that we couldn't dream of 10 years ago. The upshot is all about value in the list price. Here is Greenwich, we seem to have bi-polar listings prices. There is the "dead-on" list price that reflects current value and the "pipe-dream price" - 'cause there's no way it will sell for that!

The well-priced home, all things being equal, will receive great traffic and possibly even go into multiple offers here in Greenwich. The other will have the usual "death by price cut". As an agent, as person with fiscal duties to your client, which side of the pricing divide should you be on?