Posted on 02/16/2009 5:09:42 AM PST by dennisw
Almost 50 mansions built on spec for the hedge-fund set - and priced from $5 million to upwards of $25 million - sit empty in Greenwich, Conn., where the real-estate market has tanked.
"They're going nowhere. Nothing's selling," said Christopher Fountain, who writes a blog called "For What It's Worth" about the Greenwich real-estate scene.
Those who still have cash can find spectacular, never-occupied estates in move-in condition, complete with wine cellars for their Bordeaux and Sub-Zero refrigerators for their caviar, including:
* A 22,185-square-foot Georgian mansion on 4.8 acres off prestigious Round Hill Road with eight bedrooms, elevator, butler's pantry, home theater and fancy flourishes such as crown moldings in the closets. The sale price is $25 million, and it has been on the market since May.
* A seven-bedroom Georgian mansion with 13,000 square feet that includes a solarium, wine cellar and elevator. It is still under construction, giving buyers time to add custom details. It just went on the market for $12.7 million.
* A stone-and-shingle mansion that replaced the one where real-estate developer Andrew Kissel was found murdered in 2006. It has been on the market since September 2007, despite a price cut from $10.7 million to $8.4 million.
The spec homes are scattered throughout town from the woodsy "back country" in the north to the Long Island Sound waterfront.
Julianne Ward, a broker with Prudential Connecticut Realty who sells spec homes, said CEOs, CFOs and other moneyed buyers used to snatch up these manses in just months. "Most houses used to sell before they finished building them," she said.
Now they may linger for a year or longer, Ward said.
There were 161 houses from $5 million to $95 million for sale in Greenwich as of Friday, according to Realtor.com.
(Excerpt) Read more at nypost.com ...
I’ll take one from column “A” and one from column “B”.
But seriously I’m not sure if it’s the current disinterest in history or FReepers are getting younger.
Maybe it’s just the thread we’re on.
The sad part is they think they are actually defending Free Enterprise and fighting against some type of Marxist class warfare baloney, when in fact they are useful idiots for the State/Banking oligarchy as I tried to point out above in my post 51.
Until we conservatives understand that the liberals in Congress are tools of the bankers and doing their bidding....I mean, what is BUSH-PAULSON and OBAMA-RUBIN if not a capitulation to the fiat money boys.....we are doomed to become poorer and poorer.......Barney Frank is a diversion...the true enemy is the Federal Reserve Banking System and their aiders and abettors...the politicians and bankers.....to paraphrase Patrick Henry...if that be class warfare, make the most of it !
“Obamaville” is today’s “Hooverville”..... That’s how I read his post. LOL
You are an OK libertarian guy. Just don’t confuse this present crop of Wall St wise guys with real capitalists who actually produce something of value
I respect the Wall St of the past... not the one of today that has plunged America into the ninth circle of economic hell
I’m aware of the differences.
Why aren't they being prosecuted? The same reasons Madoff was never prosecuted. A combination of bare-faced nerve, smooth talking, incompetence, institutional corruption and a network of actors who were all in each others' pockets.
If his scheme hadn't collapsed, Bernie would still be out there and you'd be calling him a "capitalist", too. It took a confession for the authorities to feel his collar.
Secondly, because there have been no indictments yet, doesn't mean that there won't be any. The Feds are investigating the whole Lehman debacle as well as the lending practices of many of the mortgage lenders. It's going to take a while to sift through the ashes of this mess but I'll be surprised if nobody apart from Madoff goes to jail when all is said and done.
Do you also use the term “predatory lender”?
The Feds will certainly be looking at the way junk mortgages were bundled together and sold up the line as "gilt edged securities".
If there is/was no dishonesty or fraud in that process, I'll eat my hat.
I boutght a house in the last few years, and I don’t recall a single lender engaging in any practice i’d consider predatory. It’s funny how only scumbags got wrapped up in bad mortgages. I doubt you find one lender ever forced a borrower into accepting a loan product.
No, I do not blame lenders for stupid peoples mistakes.
I may suggest some tabasco for your hat.
I laugh when morons slam an entire industry, then make stupid comments like this. It's not as though one badd apple spoils the bunch. I would betthere are some bad apples in the industry you work in, and you don't feel like a sleazewhore because of them, do you? I woul be intellectually dishonest for making that claim, as intellectually dishonest as your claim in the referenced post.
I read your post #51 too
I don’t like the present fiat money. It could have been managed much better but perhaps man’s innate corruption prevents this. Man ruins gold standards too
I like gold but a gold standard would be a very wrenching experience. The best way to go that others have suggested would be a parallel gold backed currency that would seek its own level on the FOREX markets. A 50% gold backing might be sufficient
Thanks for the anecdotal evidence. Why use the term "predatory"? Did you bring that into the discussion just to move the goalposts and polarize the discussion?
A man comes into your office and applies for a mortgage. His credit rating isn't great and there are questions about his employment. Furthermore, the home he wants to buy is probably too expensive for a man of his income. There's no need to be "predatory" and twist his arm. Knowing you'll be selling his mortgage to someone else, you simply stamp his application and move on.
Would you like to insist that this has never happened?
It’s funny how only scumbags got wrapped up in bad mortgages. I doubt you find one lender ever forced a borrower into accepting a loan product.
They're all "scumbags" are they? Are you the same guy that was laughing at someone else for using emotive language ("rich idiots")? And why are you talking about being "forced" to accept a loan product? That's a ridiculous straw man. It's not my contention and it is not the issue. The issue is lenders who failed to comply with accepted lending guidelines and then misrepresented the mortgage securities which they sold.
Have I got this right? Lenders were all scrupulously honest and the borrowers were "scumbags". Is that the take home message?
I'm suuuuure that the LIBERAL Billionaires in Greenwich, Conn. would welcome them with open arms.
Now why would the government do do that? Rich liberals don't want to live next to poor "people of color."
The government has a better idea. There going to move these same Section 8 residents into the empty, foreclosed homes in smaller, middle-class neighborhoods where people are busting their ass to keep the modest homes they already have. And when the Section 8 residents turn them into crime-ridden ghettos, the government is going to tell the law-abiding residents to suck it up and deal with it.
Thanks for further proving my point.
How about you taking some time, and studying up a little better on the subject. Also, how about not spouting the DNC talking points on a conservative website. Man, you sound like keith olberman, only with wa worse suit and less spittle.
Follow my advice, and I won’t have to thoroughly embarrass ou like i did to RedinBluePA earlier today.
Nice.
Thanks for not responding to any of my questions.
How about you taking some time, and studying up a little better on the subject. Also, how about not spouting the DNC talking points on a conservative website. Man, you sound like keith olberman, only with wa worse suit and less spittle.
What's happened to the guy who was demanding "facts" from other posters? .
Follow my advice, and I won’t have to thoroughly embarrass ou like i did to RedinBluePA earlier today.
LOL......go ahead and embarass me, Superman. I don't mind.
Your self-congratulatory rhetoric is as empty as your straw men.
Tell us all what a great "capitalist" Bernie is.
When you educate yourself a little better, try again, but I have no time to educate those who clearly aren’t up to speed right now.
Come by and kick my ass again sometime, tough guy!
>Liberal democrat thieves shoot selves in foot.
Man, I just love happy news like this!<
But, the losers are not the “liberal democrat thieves”. The losers here are the custom home contractors, who are often just small business people.
I know a guy in this business. Started out building furniture, and then houses, and then large houses. He did beautiful work. Rich people liked his work and bought his houses. His margins were never large, but he made a decent living (not millionaire living, just a good living). Two of his rich clients can no longer afford the houses they had under contract and he had another on spec. He is now in bankruptcy. He had four employees - guys who built things, not rich guys - who are now out of work. That doesn’t include all the subcontractors who got caught up in this bankruptcy.
Gloating about the rich failing is really gloating about all those folks who provide them goods and services failing.
>Are you actually suggesting that we feel sorry for real estate speculators? If so, why? <
All businesses speculate. I own a small business with 15 employees. Every day I speculate. I base decisions about the future speculating as to what the future will bring based upon the past. Every time I believe that business might be stronger and I hire another person and increase my inventory to meet that anticipated need, I am speculating.
So a small businessman contractor builds a spec home based upon past sales. He makes the decision 18 months ago to build that home because he is reacting to market conditions. 18 months later the bottom falls out and you gloat because he speculated?
We would not have personal computers, automobiles, airlines, many of the homes we live in and many of the services we have come to rely on if people had not speculated.
Business is not the enemy of America.
Disclaimer: Opinions posted on Free Republic are those of the individual posters and do not necessarily represent the opinion of Free Republic or its management. All materials posted herein are protected by copyright law and the exemption for fair use of copyrighted works.