Back again, except that it never went away

434 Riversville Road’s listing was canceled today and immediately relisted by the same brokerage, same agent, and same price: $8.9 million. I don’t know what that’s all about, but this is the same seller who back in 2019 listed it at $5.2 million, and deliberately posted just two pictures: a bad shot of its unimpressive exterior front, and an aerial shot from 2017 (but dated 2019) implying that it was still under construction. That was done to kill buyer interest, and lower its tax assessment by convincing the assessor that there was no market for the house, and it worked: taxes were dropped from $63,492 in 2019 to $48,678 in 2020. Whether I’d want to do business with a spec builder who was so cheap that he’d cheat the town out of $15,000 is open to question, but that’s a personal opinion.

While the house isn’t to my taste, a client liked it very much, and made an offer, closer to that original $5.2 price, an offer that wasn’t even responded to. My guy bought in Westchester, where houses like this are common, and the builder still owns this one.

So it goes.

From the 2019 listing