25 Keoffram
Two contracts reported already this morning, one being Brad Hvolbeck’s whopper in Conyers Farm, and now this Thalheim spec house on Keoffram in Old Greenwich that’s been asking the outsized price of $5,000,000 +. I liked the house very much and Keoffram is one of the prettiest streets in Old Greenwich but I couldn’t recommend the house to my clients at this price. Someone disagreed, obviously, and I’m glad – it will be a great place to raise a family, and if that’s more important than a few odd million (which I think it should be – I’ll let you know if I ever have a few extra million) go for it.
10 Comments
July 10, 2009 at 11:44 am
I heard there was a bidding war for the Conyers Farm Drive property, and that it has now gone to contract.
July 10, 2009 at 11:45 am
One of the reasons this blog is a great read is that when a positive data point comes along, you acknowledge it even though it runs against your view of the market. Even to a Manhattan resident, the Greenwich prices seem astounding and my reaction to reading the blog has been that even the prices you find reasonable often seem huge to me. Even acknowledging all the town’s natural advantages, the high standard to which many of these homes are built / renovated and the concentration of high earners, it is still astounding that a house like 25 Keoffram could fetch close to $5 million. I think Greenwich / Darien are fantastic and I am no suburban basher, but I wonder whether even for the nicest town in the region the implied cost of the dirt under this house is just too high. At a guess I am thinking construction costs of $300/sq ft in normal (not boom) conditions for this 7,300 sq ft house = $2.2 million. If the buyer paid $4.5 million, the implied cost for the quarter acre of land is $2.3 million. I like the house but not the postage stamp lot. Can’t I replicate this house for the same $4.5 million by purchasing 2 acres of land in Greenwich and hiring my own builder? I am not familiar with all the different neighborhoods but maybe I am missing some huge value to the location. My general reaction to reading your blog has been that if anything, maybe your estimates of reasonable value are too high?
July 10, 2009 at 12:02 pm
I think they started the Keofferman house close to $6 million and it was down under $5 million last time I looked. Another house I am suprised sold, but its a great road is that adds to it, but I’ll be interested in seeing the price.
Old Greenwich doesn’t have much land available. You aren’t going to get 2 acres, you’ll be lucky to find 1/2 acre. All the land that is currently for sale is either priced very high (Quintard) or has too many restriction to make it worth the hassle. (Meadowbrook) or both (Nawthorne)
July 10, 2009 at 12:15 pm
You’re right, xyzzy: $5.9 million originally, down to $4.9. Still steep to my eyes, but what ya gonna do?
July 10, 2009 at 12:22 pm
Thanks for the clarification on land availability. My understanding of Greenwich geography is hazy (I am usually lost when up there). Still, I am fascinated by the willingness of the average home buyer anywhere in the US to buy without comparing close substitutes. Obviously, a home / town is a very personal issue with commute times, personal preferences, schools, etc all important. But at some level none of these things offset a price well above apparent replacement cost. Maybe my strategy to spend $4.5 million building something would require going elsewhere in Greenwich, but what I assume is a marginally longer commute to the train station would be offset by having a real piece of land, etc (I know $4.5 million won’t ever buy an estate in Greenwich again). My point of comparison is people who paid $3,000-5,000/sq ft for top of the line apartments in Manhattan when probably no building on the island has ever cost more than $1,000/sq ft (including land). At some point (around $25-30 million or so), developing an apartment building for your own account became a potential substitute.
July 10, 2009 at 12:42 pm
HG, land prices in any upscale suburb can become egregious (on a per ac basis) if one looks at neighborhoods where land is sliced into 0.5 ac postage stamps, as opposed to estate areas where lots are >>2 acs each
Greenwich’s most elite areas of MidCountry or BelleHaven actually have some of cheapest land of any upscale suburb in US…about $1MM/ac or ~$4MM/ac, respectively
Surprisingly, in otherwise cheap, low-tax TX, Dallas’ most wealthy suburb, Highland Park, is largely divided into ~0.5 ac lots, and land costs roughly $6MM/ac; Dallas’ other elite area, PrestonHollow, which largely has >2ac ac lots, costs ~$3MM/ac
July 10, 2009 at 12:56 pm
Rumor has it that Keofferam went to a family renting in OG & with a couple of kids in the Old Greenwich School.
They’ve been negotiating with the builder for a while, so presumably they knew the market/knew what they wanted.
July 10, 2009 at 1:26 pm
And that’s great, Betty. To me, it remids me of some of the prices fetched on Club Road in Riverside. No one from out of town would believe those prices but they sell to townies who know exactly where they want to live and are willing to pay more to get it. Nothing wrong with that – I object when I see someone paying too much for a dodgy neighborhood because they’re ignorant and their agent is takig advantage of them but buying on Keoffram makes perfect sense to me.
July 10, 2009 at 1:37 pm
Chris:
It would be helpful to all your readers if you could provide the data (or do the calculation) on $/SF for actual transactions. I know we had some fun with Mad Monkey but if $4.5mm bought 7,300 SF (actual, finished), then that is $600/SF. I know this is not a great indicator but is just one more factor to consider. Thanks.
July 10, 2009 at 2:05 pm
Thanks for all the input on land costs especially…I will start diverting my city kids’ private school tuition toward some mid-country or back country lots.
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