Aww, too bad — and I truly mean that

Dumpster Dust

Reader "Maybo" (hey, I don't choose these monikers; you guys do) reports that 180 Stanwich Road has a "Notice of Demolition" notice posted on the yard. I liked the house, a lot, but when the land value exceeds that of the house, off it goes. The house sold for $2.050 earlier this month, $2.6 in 2005. 

I just hope that the fad for neo-Victorian-shingle-homes has passed, and something different, maybe even better, will replace the worst of our builders' excesses of the past couple of decades.

88 Meadow Road

My guess is that the same fate awaits yesterday's new listing on 88 Meadow Road, in Riverside, a 1929 house that's been listed at $3.595 million. The sellers paid $3.4 for it in 2005, but that may be their problem, not yours. It's a half-acre on a great street, but if the floor plans are to be believed, it's got five-foot-wide bathrooms, tiny (for today's tastes) bedrooms, and a pretty dated kitchen, baths, etc. My guess? A $2.5 million land value, a $2 million rehab job. 

That doesn't make sense, to me: Gentlemen, start your engines.