Fix up a house for your pleasure and enjoyment, not for profit

66 Perkins Road, asking $1.990, is pending. The owners bought this 1961 house in 2006, when it was tired and worn, paying $2.2 for it, and completely redid it. They tried reselling it for $3.6 million in 2007-08 but gave that effort up and have lived in it since.

It’s a nice house and one I’m sure the owners have derived great satisfaction from, but the days of fixing up Greenwich houses for fun and profit have gone, perhaps never to return — not soon, anyway.

Circ 2006

ORIGINAL KITCHEN

Truth to power; not

This morning the NY Times reported on Trump’s speech in a factual, neutral fashion; that’s what newspapers were once supposed to do, eh? But not in today’s climate of hysterical hate, so the Times, responding to reader outrage, quickly came out with a new, improved version of its headline.

Original effort above, redo below.

And here I'd thought Greenwich matrons reserved their affections solely for the club tennis pro

The Devil finds work for idle hands

By making them busy hands

Greenwich personal trainer sues former client after she has him arrested

BRIDGEPORT - A Florida personal trainer claims in a lawsuit that he was falsely accused of kidnapping by Greenwich police and held for more than a week in prison.

[So] states a lawsuit filed Monday in U.S. District Court in Bridgeport by Darnell Davis of Miami Beach, Fla., against Greenwich Police Officer Ryan Carino and Greenwich residents David and Zhanna Zervos.

The 43-year-old Davis was charged in December 2018 with strangulation, third-degree assault and unlawful restraint in Greenwich — all of which were later dismissed.

However, Davis’ lawyer, Robert Berke, said that his client in the meantime spent eight days in a North Carolina jail and 27 hours in prison here until he was released.

According to a press release at the time, Davis was accused of kidnapping and assaulting Zhanna Zervos in her home on Orchard Hill Lane in Greenwich on Aug. 15, 2018. But the lawsuit states that, in fact, on that day Davis was traveling around Europe with Zhanna Zervos and having a sexual affair with her.

Her husband, David Zervos, later discovered the affair after seeing photographs of the couple on Instagram, the lawsuit said, and threatened divorce.

The couple made up the criminal allegations against Davis with Officer Carino, who “drafted his arrest warrant affidavit with reckless disregard for the truth,” the lawsuit states.

Davis was arrested by warrant on Nov.15, 2018 in Mecklenburg County, N.C.

Allegations in a civil lawsuit are, of course, just that: unproved claims. Still, there’s the matter of all charges being dropped, and one of the defendants’ Instagram page does indicate a personal familiarity with Europe.

Bernie Sanders: "Open borders is a Koch brothers plot"

“It may make the world richer, but it will make Americans poorer”. I guess he’s worried that all that free stuff he’s promising will have to be paid for by his fellow citizens.

Full tape here:

Compare and contrast; or location, location, location

26 St. Claire Avenue, south of the Village in Old Greenwich, has been on the market for 48 days and now has a contract. It’s priced at $1.950 just about what 9 Hillside just sold for after 2 1/2 years. In terms of what that sum buys in a house, there’s no comparison, but neither is there a close similarity between the two locations.

Bargain in Rock Ridge?

I hesitate to declare any house in Greenwich a bargain these days — who knows what the market will bring in the future? — but the sellers of 9 Hillside Dive, which sold yesterday for $1.925 million, paid $2,132,500 for it in January, 2011, and performed a huge amount of renovation between then and 2017, when they put it up for sale at $2.995. After 2 1/2 years, all that work accrued to this buyer, at no charge, in effect. I think the buyers did well.

“Home Improvements for 9 Hillside Drive, Greenwich CT 06831:”

2011

•  Painted exterior and interior of house

•  Refinished all hardwood floors

•  Installed gutters and leaders on house and garage (house did not have any until then)

•  Repaired / re-cemented all flagstone steps leading from Hillside Drive to front door

•  Added low temperature, water and carbon monoxide sensors to alarm system

•  Replaced all windows upstairs (12) with new Marvin windows upstairs

•  Installed fence around swimming pool

  2012

•  Installed permanent whole house generator

•  Installed new wooden garage door, repainted garage

•  Rejointed all flagstones on terrace around house

•  Replaced all downstairs, basement and attic windows (16) with new Marvin windows

  2013

  •  Kitchen remodel – Wolf / Sub-Zero stainless steel appliances, custom wooden cabinetry, marble backsplash and marble island countertop

  •  Retiled pool

  •  Refurbished front door; new hardware installed

    2014

  •  Renovated master bath with new vanity, hardware, lighting, shower enclosure, marble floor and shower tiles

  •  Updated 2 upstairs bathrooms with new sinks, vanities, hardware and shower enclosures

  •  Updated powder room

  •  Reshingled roof over family room with pressure treated cedar shingles

  •  Installed whole house water filter

    2015

•  Installed new pump and sand filter for pool

•  New AC air handler and condenser for ground floor. Added AC vents for dining room and

  master bath.

•  New water heater.

  2016

•  Roof over main house and 2 arched stucco gates reshingled with pressure treated cedar shingles

•  Painted interior of house 2017

  • New driveway gate motor and sensor installed

  • New motor for awning over terrace installed

  • New carpet and tiles in basement

  • Installed new plantation shutters for living room and main stairway windows

And judging from results, the finished product is worthless

Yale law students: classes were cancelled so the little darlings could travel to Washington and demand the revocation of the right to confront one’s accusers (donuts were provided, apparently)

Grade inflation on campus: degrees are now participation awards, and even that participation is optional.

One explanation for the rise in student GPAs is grade inflation. Researchers from the Woodrow Wilson Institute told the Washington Post that while only 7% of college grades in 1969 were an A- or higher, 41% of college grades are an A- or higher in 2009. Similarly, the number of C- and below grades has dropped from 25% in 1969 to less than 5% in 2009. Overall, the average GPA increased from 2.52 in the 1950s to 3.11 in 2006. (RELATED: University Grading Based On Race, Not Merit)

Conversely, time spent by students studying for classes dropped precipitously in the second half of the twentieth century. While full-time college students studied on average 40 hours a week in 1961, they studied less than 27 hours a week in 2003, according to a study by the National Bureau of Economic Research conducted in 2010. A survey by the Bureau of Labor Statistics reported that the average time students spent on class and studying had fallen to 17.5 hours per week by 2015.

Grade inflation benefits colleges and universities. The National Association of Colleges and Universities reported in a 2013 study that 66% of employers screened applicants by GPA, and 58% of employers noted that a GPA below 3.0 essentially eliminated a candidate’s chance of being hired. Students with higher GPAs get employed more often, and colleges look good when their graduates have high employment numbers.

Perhaps the next time someone suggests slashing UConn’s budget in half and eliminating what were once useful liberal arts, taxpayers will listen.

And here’s what the best and the brightest of those students are doing on their summer vacation (bonus: notice the use of “jazz hands”, rather than loud, triggering clapping)

Price cut on Lake

390 Lake Avenue, now $3.6 million. Started off at $5.250 in 2015 and with the exception of 2018, it’s been on the market ever since, slowly dropping to market value. Not my style, but the location’s convenient.

An ironic reference to brick face?

Staging has moved on from The Zebra and now it’s cute, borrowed dogs

Fun facts

After posting on 70 Sheephill Road and mentioning Congressman Hank Johnson’s infamous questioning the stability of Guam if 8,000 additional military personnel were brought ashore, I thought to check to see whether the gentlemen is still helping run our country. Indeed he is, and I found these two related points of interest in Wikipedia. Taken together, they neatly sum up our Congress.

In 2014, Johnson was named the 18th most effective Democrat in the 112th Congress [out of 204 Democratic members] according to a new study by Vanderbilt University and the University of Virginia (UVA).[38] He was also ranked higher than any of his Republican colleagues from Georgia. The study judged effectiveness by looking at a lawmaker's "proven ability to advance a member's agenda items through the legislative process and into law." The scorecard looked at the number of bills a member introduced or sponsored; the significance of the bills; and how far each made it in the legislative process.[39]

On October 5, 2014 The Washingtonian published their 15th biennial "Best & Worst of Congress" list. Rep. Johnson was voted "Worst Speaker" and "Most Clueless" by congressional staffers.[40]

The fact that this man has been repeatedly returned to Congress offers a powerful argument for redistricting.

Odd marketing strategy

Someone catch that tree on the right before it tips over — this isn’t Guam, by golly! *

70 Sheephill Road was returned to the market after being withdrawn last March. Still showing just one picture, the exterior, taken in February, and with just a minuscule price cut from $1.765 to $1.745 million.

UPDATE: Never mind. Pictures are up now, and they look quite nice. I’m leaving this post up anyway.

Pulling a house from the active list during the height of the spring market and putting it back on in the dead of summer, when most buyers and their agents are off in the Hamptons (I assume that’s where they go), combined with a nothing price cut that’s guaranteed to draw no attention is not how I’d go about marketing a property.

Lest we forget: