A bargain that shouldn't be
I always thought if you owned one of those Gilded Age waterfront castles you had it made in the shade.
But in this real estate market, apparently not.
The Globe, in this Sunday’s Homes section, looks at some of the latest markdowns in the local real estate market.
Take the Wyck Estate in Manchester-by-the-Sea.
When it was first put on the market four years ago, it was priced at $23.5 million. Now it’s been reduced to an all so affordable $12.25 million.
Teasing aside, for the price of a unit at the Mandarin Oriental you get an entire mansion built in 1912 in the style of a French chateau, complete with sweeping views of the ocean and the Boston skyline. The grounds, designed by none other than Frederick Law Olmsted, roll right down to a private beach. There are also a swimming pool and tennis court to boot.
Meanwhile, the South Shore has its own waterfront bargain, a $14.75 million, early-1900s mansion on Cohasset’s Cary Point.
It was first put on the market more than a year ago, for $19.5 million.
I grew up with a mother who spent her childhood in a rambling Victorian and who never lost her love of old homes.
So it’s hard for me to imagine anyone not going nuts over something like the Wyck Estate in Manchester-by-the-Sea.
But today’s rich don’t necessarily want to live in a monument to past glories.
Instead of building mansions on the waterfront at Newport, they are busy decorating their shiny new units at the posh Mandarin Oriental in downtown Boston.
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Scott - The Wyck Estate was a summer house, as were the cottages in Newport and Beverly Farms. The owners also had townhouses of equal or greater value in Boston , New York City or Chicago. Income and Estate taxes made everything different and wiped out the wealth necessary for this type of property.
The Mandarin owners are not in the same league with the owners of these cottages.
AMEN to that, Scott Von Voorhis!! As picturesque and pretty as such estates may be, todays gilded and discerning buyers are flocking to the downtown city center market in ever increasing droves.
Is it any wonder why the inventory in downtown markets remains at historically low levels? And is it any wonder that those markets have remained resolutely immune to any price decreases? And in fact continue to escalate ever higher?
Today's buyers are shunning the suburbs. Even if they could afford a manse in Marblehead, the luxe swells of today are far more environmentally conscious than your typically middle-brow McMansion homebuyer of the past decade. Quite a few that I rub elbows with are personal friends with Al Gore. And to these priviledged upper crusters, a giant suburban palace equates to high carbon footprint, Hummer-driving overconsumption, trans-fatty lifestyles and a high bodyfat index.
Buyers in my markets are thin, rich and low-carb, and by that I mean low-CARBON.Downtown city living means a car-free existence, walking to the wine shop in Burberry, strolling to Formaggio with the Weimeraner on a leash, stopping by the dogpark and trading hellos with like-minded neighbors, enjoying a glass of organic Malbec at Rocca. These people are artists, activists, and volunteers, striving to make the world a better place. They know that heating a 7,000 sqft home with 3 SUVs in the driveway is no way to save our planet! These are the ones who are busily snapping up condos at the Mandarin, and elsewhere in our blessed downtown nabes. And may there be more of them! If we all thought this way then perhaps our planet would stop heating up!
So to all your readers, I say "Save a Polar Bear, buy a condo at the Mandarin!" LOL
The median resale price fell 13 percent from a year before, to $181,300, “probably the largest price decline since the Great Depression,” National Association of Realtors Chief Economist Lawrence Yun said in Washington. Sales slid to an annual rate of 4.49 million, lower than forecast.
I can't wait to see Fun Yun spin this one;, down again boys and girls and headed much, much lower!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!
I would gladly pay you Tuesday, for a mansion in Cohasset today.
Who would ever want the overhead associated with one of these monsters? It would be strictly and ego buy for most people. Warren Buffet lives in a $1.2mm home, that's right the richest man in the world...
oh how I wish I could cavort with these artists, activists and volunteers! not. you really think that they're living downtown because of their carbon footprint? no. they live there because they love the lifestyle. the carbon footprint thing is just some bull that they spew out at cocktail parties.
as for the north shore estates: the upkeep costs on those properties are obscene
Um, we had record-breaking housing numbers today. Shouldn't we have a post on that?
Marcus, at this point it is just same old, same old news ..................what more is there to say..............?
we do, and here it is...
U.S. Economy: Home Prices Fall Near Depression Pace (Update1)
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By Bob Willis and Shobhana Chandra
Dec. 23 (Bloomberg) -- Sales of single-family houses in the U.S. dropped in November by the most in two decades and resale prices collapsed at a pace reminiscent of the Great Depression, dashing speculation the market was close to a bottom.
Purchases of both new and existing houses dropped 7.6 percent from the prior month, the biggest decline since January 1989, to an annual rate of 4.43 million, government and industry figures showed today. A 13 percent drop in the median resale price from a year earlier was the most since records began in 1968 and was likely the largest since the 1930s, the National Association of Realtors said.
clearly it must be a great time to buy.
Half price sale on all Titanic tickets.
But I though real estate never went down...
Manchester, MA is so beautiful - it has great schools and you can walk to everything... if I could afford to live there, you bet I would. I hope to some day! My friend lives there, and she hardly ever takes her car - they ride bikes or walk. Carbon Friendly!!!
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