It was in the fall of 2004 that I started writing about Connecticut and Westchester real estate, when the market was so white-hot that charmless, circa-1978 raised-ranch homes with a view onto the Hutch or the Merritt were selling for close to a million. With multiple offers. Just days after they were listed. We now know the market peaked the following fall, in 2005, although our area didn’t see real erosion until two autumns ago, in 2008, when Wall Street imploded.
My point? The autumn selling season is often marked by a pivotal point when the market turns on an axis—typically unseen, except in hindsight—toward its next cycle.
I was thinking of this on my drive to the train station, fall colors ablaze all around in the early light: bright leaves fluttering against clear skies; meadows studded with pumpkins; farm stands spilling over with apples, grapes and mums.
By contrast, the real estate market is uncharacteristically, well, not ablaze. Buyers are in an indecisive mood, it seems—never a good thing for sales. Sellers, too, are a waffling bunch. One broker shared with us, under the cloak of confidence, the tale of an actor whose name you’d recognize priced and prepped his home for the fall market, only to decide he didn’t want to sell it after all.
So we were cheered when another actor, the incomparable Polly Bergen, stuck to the script and actually listed her Southbury, Connecticut antique. A Hollywood star (in the original Cape Fear), Bergen’s currently best known as a meddling mother on Desperate Housewives. Her beautifully renovated three-bedroom home, on nine acres, is listed for $1,095,000 with Stacey Matthews of The Matthews Group, affiliated with William Raveis Real Estate (860-868-9066).
In Westchester, a current favorite listing is a star for another reason: it’s just incredibly cool. For starters, the 18,471-square-foot residence was designed by Wadia Associates with all the best amenities: a marble reception hall, a paneled library, a plush home theater, an elegant indoor pool and a 2,500-bottle wine cellar. On the 14-acre grounds: another pool and a pool house, rolling lawns, gorgeous gardens and garaging for seven cars. Houlihan Lawrence has the $14,995,000 listing which is represented by brokers Brian Milton (914-273-9505, extension 302) and Peter Elebash (845-677-6161, extension 317).
Know of a home you’d like to see featured here? Have an opinion about our opinions? Leave a comment—we promise to comment back!
