And a bidding war closer to home

8 Woodside Road, in Deer Park, 1.9 acres, 1927 house, was listed April 1 at $5.395 million, contract on April 20, closed Friday at $5.856.

I’m seeing a lot (a whole lot) of houses going for over ask in this market, and many more selling very close to ask. The exceptions are those whose owners (and it’s my experience that it’s rarely the agent’s fault in most of these cases) are those that have initially tried for a number far above what comparable homes are selling for in this market. It’s understandable, and common, for owners to insist that “my house is better than those” but if 3-4 agents brought in for a price opinion all come in at about the same number, it’s usually wise to listen to the judgment of professionals who’ve actually seen those houses.

And as a totally irrelevant thought, I often wonder at what happened to the original owners who, as here, built beautiful, expensive homes just before the Great Depression. Did they survive?

Certainly, not everyone lost their fortune, as can be attested to right in Deer Park itself, where there are a number of gracious homes that were built during the 30s, but Greenwich itself was not immune from the Crash. A friend of mine’s (Grandfather?) was Town Assessor during that time, and a desperate owner offered to sell him almost the entire stretch of what’s now Indian Head Road in Riverside for something like $50,000, or maybe even 1/2 that. “I knew it was the chance of a lifetime, he said, decades later, but I was as broke as the rest of us..”

That was quick

2 Sparrow Lane, listed last Monday at $4.495 million, all wrapped up and pending by Friday

Border bidding war

11 Steeple Chase, a Sally Maloney listing, was priced at $2.375 million in May and was immediately swamped with offers. It closed Friday at $2.527 million. That’s a lot of money for most houses this far north, but compared to what that same money would buy closer to town, it’s understandable.

Major Improvements were made by the owners after they bought it for $1.6 million in 2012, including a 2-bedroom guest cottage.

New kitchen

original

UPDATE: Interestingly, I just noticed that while performing these renovations, the owners removed the existing pool, presumably because they had a better use for the area. I’m all for that — pools are said to be a neutral factor in home sales, because 50% of buyers don’t want them — and I personally would be with that half, but it’s still unusual in Greenwich, in my experience.

Gone

Two feel-good Olympic stories

Well, that’s carked it!

Transgender weight lifter flops

Go, Canada! US Women’s soccer team stunned by Canada in semi-final.

Trust what science? Where is it?

this is my brain on marshmallow

The Director of the NIH explains why we should all wear face diapers: “It’s mostly about protecting the unvaccinated”.

Uh huh. Not that I’m particularly concerned about people who’ve chosen not to get vaccinated, but what’s your justification for that statement? How do you back it up?

“Vaccinated people are capable of getting the virus in their nose and throat, and they do seem to have high enough levels of virus that they might be contagious,” Collins said. 

“And hence the reason, if you’re in a community where this virus is spreading, which is about 75 percent of counties right now, it is prudent to put on a mask, even if you’re vaccinated, just in case you might be somebody who’s currently spreading it.”

“Seem”, and “might”, and “just in case”, didn’t used to be scientific terms, and certainly not proof of anything, but the politicization of science, the substitution of the ruling party’s desired social outcomes for factual evidence has been underway for a long time now; it’s just accelerating.

Related: From climate change, to gender studies to COVID: why people don’t trust scientists anymore.

First Hmong Equals

Sunisa Lee medals again.

He must have lied on his permit application

Have the bloods integrated? Cool.

A reputed gangbanger with at least 25 prior arrests shot an NYPD lieutenant assigned to thwart surging city gun violence during a “fierce” struggle with cops in the Bronx, authorities said Saturday.

The lieutenant was among at least four cops on patrol just before midnight in Morrisania who spotted Jerome Roman — a 26-year-old member of the Lyman Place Bosses gang, a subset of the Bloods — holding a firearm, police said.

When cops confronted Roman — who sources said is known to pack heat and is on the NYPD’s criminal possession of a weapon recidivist list — he bolted about 50 feet before they tracked him down, Police Commissioner Dermot Shea said at an early morning press briefing outside Jacobi Medical Center.

“Stop reaching for it! Stop reaching for it, dude!” an officer is heard on a harrowing bodycam video of the incident released by the NYPD Saturday.

“A fierce struggle for the gun ensued, leading to a lieutenant being shot in the ankle. The officers did not return fire as they made the arrest & recovered the loaded gun,” the NYPD tweeted.

Just another night in NYC, but I did notice this part of the perp’s bio; if anyone were interested in slowing the internecine slaughter of gang members, I can think of an approach that might be more effective than a Kiss and Release” strategy for violators of one of the strictest gun laws in the nation.

Roman has been arrested at least 25 times, including eight felonies and 17 misdemeanors, with a criminal history that includes charges for menacing, gang assault, and other offenses — along with a sealed, “gang-related” murder bust from December 2014, according to records and sources.

His most recent bust was last November 14, for criminal possession of a semi-automatic pistol, law enforcement sources said.

All lies, all the time

At least this time the motive this particular bit of lying fearmongering is made explicit: she’s running for Congress

Update: Someone took the trouble to check the COVID case statistics in Dr. Doolittle’s home county. While, to be fair, the infection rates of alpacas and marmots aren’t included, the numbers don’t seem to support this candidate’s panic.

Missed opportunity

Matthew Boling

Jamaican sprinter Elaine Thompson-Herah has smashed Flo-Jo's 33-year-old Olympic women's 100m sprint record after winning the race in just 10.61 seconds.

On the other hand,

High school boys 100 M record time is 10.13 seconds. Held by Matthew Boling, Texas. Mr. Bolling, now a college freshman but still identifying as a male, just missed qualifying for this year’s male Olympics team.

Who reads the NYT? People like this

fwiw will be sponsoring a campus give-away campaign just as soon as schools reopen

Sophia from Bangor, for one, but she’s not alone

Dennis Prager: This past weekend, New York Times columnist Maureen Dowd added another column to the myriad irrational and hysterical pieces about the “existential threat” climate change allegedly poses to human life.

As I do after almost every piece I read on the internet, I read comments submitted by readers.

One provided me with an epiphany.

It was a comment submitted by New York Times reader “Sophia” of Bangor, Maine:

“I have one child, a daughter, who told me age 8 that she would never have a child because of global warming. She’s now 34 and has never changed her mind. So I will not experience a grandchild. For her wisdom, I am grateful. I would be heartsick if I did have a grandchild who would have to experience the onslaught of changing climate.”

….

[H]ere are some replies to Sophia’s comment from other New York Times readers:

B. Rothman, New York City: “I completely agree. I have 6 grandchildren and weep inside for the calamitous life that is ahead for them.”

Ida Martinac, Berkeley, California: “I weep with you, Sophia. Whenever I look my 11 year old daughter in the eyes I feel so many emotions: guilt for bringing her into this dying world.”

Liberal, Texas: “I feel your pain. I have 2 sons. Neither one will have children and their partners agree. I’ll never have grandchildren. But I also realize that their decisions have in some way been molded by me. I am proud of their decision.”

Liz, Portland: “Frankly, as someone who has been concerned about climate change, and observing what is happening over the last ten years with real dread, I do not understand why anyone in the last ten years would voluntarily have a child.”

CC, Sonoma, California: “My only daughter shares your daughter’s feelings. I will have no grandchildren. As I watch my peers enjoying their final years surrounded by grandchildren, I can’t help feeling a little jealous. At the same time … our daughters are stepping up to the challenge. I’m proud of them.”

Marisa Leaf, Brooklyn, New York: “I, too, am coming to terms and accepting that my 36 year old son will not have a child as well — for stated reasons. It is painful for me when I watch other young men and women his age going about town with their children. But I understand, and concur, on an intellectual level, that of course they’re right. Bringing more children into the world these days is an existential worry. And irresponsible. So, as I grieve for our planet, I also grieve for the grandchildren that I will never have.”

With any luck, these people will solve their problem, and ours, in just another non-generation.