Big ticket, mid-country homes are still a drag on the market.

(out of the office all day, so just catching up on posting)

There are mortar additives that can prevent that bleaching from chimneys, but they can cost hundreds of dollars.

110 Clapboard Ridge, which started at $35 million in September, 2015, is priced as of today at $25 million. It certainly seems to be an expensively finished home, but so far, no one has wanted it. The place was listed in 2009, "80 % completed", for $21.5 million, but eventually sold for $10.5. Maybe, now that it's been completed, that $10.5 price can be duplicated; hope springs eternal. 

Mel Gibson's house on Old Mill Road also had one of these life-sized chess games, but even with 75 acres (this one's on 5) it failed, badly, to fetch its own $35 million  asking price. Maybe chess is too complicated for today's buyer, and a checker game employed instead?.