Pending

28 Pheasant Lane, $2.950 million, Sally Maloney’s listing. Originally listed in October, it went to contract almost immediately, but then that deal fell through, and the house was pulled from the market until after the holidays. It came back on in January, and this time, the deal stuck.

As an aside, the fact that a house has fallen out of contract shouldn’t be given much weight unless the reason is known. It could be that it failed a building inspection, which is obviously a matter of concern, but contracts fail for all sorts of reasons: job loss or transfer, cold feet, even good fortune: I once had a client who, ready to pull the trigger on a $4 million house, suddenly received a promotion and a very nice bonus and decided to raise his target to $6 million. So you never know.

Postscript: I’ll add that, in Greenwich, where realtors reach an accepted offer and then turn it over to lawyers to negotiate the contract, there can be many slips before cup reaches lips. Back when I was on the lawyering side and a proposed contract came in, I’d check who’d sent it. If it was one of the Kaye boys, Joel or Jeremy, I’d give the deal a 100% chance of success because, one way or the other, I knew we’d reach a satisfactory agreement. Other lawyers, and I won’t name names, because some of them are still practicing and are very nice people otherwise, I’d rate the odds as low as fifty-fifty: when individual ego and the need to “win”, overrides achieving the goal of the client, which is to sell his house, nothing good happens.