Moving into a seller's market?

2 Sylvan

There’s certainly a lot of activity for the middle of June. In fact, there’s been an accelerating amount of activity all Spring, despite and in the midst of the COVID requirements that have so effectively curtailed showings. when the dust settles I’ll be curious to see how many of these sales were to New Yorkers. And of course, the sale of an existing house frees the owners to buy something else; it’s been that inability to move that’s hurt our market the past few years.

2 Sylvan Lane, Old Greenwich, $2.890 million, has a contract after 13 days. Setting aside the buyers’ origin or motivation, that’s a quick sale. Of course, Sylvan’s a great neighborhood.

I showed this house to a potential buyers the last time it was for sale in 2005. The buyers liked it but the husband balked, saying he’d always had visions of tossing a baseball with his son in a back yard, which this one lacks. I pointed out that (a) he didn’t even have a son yet, (b) there was a huge side yard on which to toss the ol’ horsehide if that child were to materialize and (c) any kid he did have would either be off with a lacrosse travel team or in his bedroom playing video games. He laughed, but bought another house.

536 River Road

The upper reaches of Cos Cob’s River Road (east of the Mianus, beginning at Sheephill) don’t comprise much of a neighborhood at all, but 536 River Road sat unsold at $1.7 from last June through December. It came back on in late May at $1.680 and has a contract three weeks later.