No home run here

For rent or sale?

40 Husted Lane has sold for $3.795 million, six years after it was purchased for $4.425. That qualifies as an “ouch”.

Start with the direct loss: $630,000. Subtract an estimated 7% in transaction costs of commission and conveyance taxes, and even assuming the sellers used the legal services of one of the Kaye brothers, Joel or Jeremy, who do this sort of work for free and credit in Heaven, you’re still down $895,650. Toss in property taxes, mortgage interest, and maintenance, and it would seem that no one’s getting rich on Greenwich real estate these days except the agents selling it (did I mention that Brother Gid and Joe Barbieri collaborated on a $41-million sale a fortnight ago? I’m too jealous to calculate precisely what 5% of that comes out to, but I suspect it’s quite a bunch).

There’s certainly nothing wrong with brokers hanging on to money that would otherwise be squandered by feckless homeowners, but still and all, renting, rather than buying, might be more appealing than it once seemed.

Perish the thought.