Is it the market, or just this house?

398 Stanwich Road

While I was out yesterday, 398 Stanwich Road announced another price cut, down to $4.795 million. I was not particularly impressed with this house when it was built by Jordan Saper and put up for sale back in 2004, but someone was, and Saper sold it for $5.5 million. That buyer, in turn, listed it for $5.850 in 2010 but wisely took the money and ran, collecting $5.350 for it in just 95 days.

The current owners have put some money into the place and have been trying to move it since 2012, when they started at $5.695 million; $900,000 off that may still not be enough.

There's nothing particularly awful about this house, it's just that there are a lot of this era spec houses just like it on the market, and buyers have their choice. I'm viewing this as a reflection of the market more than this particular house: the buyer pool has thinned out considerably since 2004. There are currently 45 active listings of homes built after 2001 and priced between $3.5 and $5.5 million, and while the good news is that we've seen 26 sales in that same category during the past 12 months, many of those sold for a million or less than the sellers had paid for them.

look! A wine cellar with more than a dozen bottles in it; eventually, builders will figure out that no one uses home theatres, wine cellars or whirlpool tubs, and will put the space to BETTEr, or at least fifferent use.

Eventually.