It was meant to be (the love letter)

The asking price was $897K. I had learned that you didn't make an offer right at asking in this crazy Connecticut market. You had to bid over asking. The open house was on a Saturday and they were expecting "best and final" offers by Monday with a probably answer by Tuesday. Things happened super fast. I decided to bid $940K, thinking it was a decent offer, well over asking. Now remember, the kitchen and the primary bath needed an overhaul AND I wanted to open up the living room and dining room with case openings. I figured I was in for at least $200K if I also wanted to put in a small pool. Scott pointed out that other houses in the neighborhood were Zillow priced at around $1.5M so I'd be well under that all in with these costs.

I also decided on a secret weapon: a 'love letter' to the owners, telling them how much I wanted the house. Just a couple of weeks before I saw a TikTok video with the real estate maven Barbara Corcoran talking about these kind of letters sometimes make the difference in a bidding war, they make your bid stand out from all the others. I thought 'what the hell, can't hurt and it could help', so I wrote mine and laid it on THICK. Here it is... July 31, 2023 To the Owners of 98 Dogwood Lane, Yesterday was a very special day for me. After a full year of searching for a new home I think I’ve (hopefully) found the one....your beautiful house. From the moment I spotted the listing online I fell in love with so many of the details that make it special...the Tudor style, the stonework, the carefully thought-out landscaping, small things like the oculus window in front to big things like the soaring ceiling height in the main living room. All features that I never dreamed could be found in one home but there it was! BLAME IT ON LUCY When I was a kid growing up watching endless re-runs of “I Love Lucy”, I always wanted a home in Connecticut just like the Ricardos had when they moved out of NewYork. There was something about a lovely home amid tall trees and grass in a locale with real history that really spoke to this city kid. THE ARCHITECTURAL CHERRY ON TOP My minor way back in my college days was architectural history. So imagine my surprise to find that your home has such a famous pedigree in it’s designer. I am familar with Gustav Steinbeck’s work and it would be a complete honor to actually own such a fine example of his work, truly amazing. PRESERVATION IS MY MIDDLE NAME If I were lucky enough to own this home I would treasure it’s design and do everything to maintain it’s architectural integrity.Any upgrades would stay true to the historic feeling... why tamper with success? I BELIEVE IN SIGNS One of the first things that drew me to my current home was the sprawling dogwood tree right in front, I look forward to those white blooms every Spring. And now I find a house to purchase on DOGWOOD LANE...kismet? karma? divine intervention? whatever it is,The Universe could be imparting something here... So please know as you review my bid that I honestly LOVE this house and am convinced that I could spend many happy years there. I promise to be good custodian to it’s many wonderful charms, rest assured that the home would be in very caring hands. THANK YOU & sincerely, Ron Castillo I found out that Monday from my broker Marc that I didn't get it. I was the third highest bid. Bummer. I sighed a big sigh and thought "oh well". The selling broker told Marc that my love letter almost made the sellers go with me, but not quite, NATCH (money wins out every time). After another day of thinking I texted Marc and told him that I was pulling the plug on this house search, at least in these 'shoreline' towns. It was out of my price range, the process was too cumbersome, I was tired of it. I was done. Cut to one week later. Marc texted me to say that "the first two buyers have back out, Dogwood is yours if you want it". Apparentlyt the highest bidder, a woman, had "too much going on right now" and backed out of the deal. The second highest bidders had already found another place. That left me. In times like this I believe in signs. The Universe was telling me I should have this house. So I took it. And just like that it was mine. Of course I think it was the love letter that did the trick! LOL But first I needed to do the house inspection. Marc reco'd a company called Pillar to Post. They were not cheap. To do the most thorough inspection they offered was TWO GRAND. Ugh. But I figured this had to be done right so I swallowed and went for it.

We drove out the day of the inspection and met one of Marc's co-worker who was covering for him, Sue. Marc was on vacation in Europe. Sue was a dotty British woman who was quick with her opinions. She reminded me a lot of the character Aunt Clara from the old 60's sitcom "Bewitched". We were there for over 3 hours. In the end we found out that the well pump was old and needed to be replaced. There were also some leaks in some basement crawlspace pipes due to a low window that needed better drainage. I told Marc to go back at the sellers with a revised bid taking $11,500K off the initial offer. They countered at $10K and I accepted. Marc gave me the name of a local attorney who handled all the paperwork for me. His name was Jim Miller. A very nice man who was quick to let me know that he was legally blind. I never met him in person but I enjoyed every conversation I had with him, he had a genuine friendly personality. The closing came and went in a flash. It was all handled by the lawyers by FedEx. Scott met Marc that morning at the house for the final walk-thru. All was well and shortly after that the house was mine on September 7th.

The Forever Home?

Scott spotted it first. He loves to haunt Zillow and he came across a house that looked almost too good to be true. An English Tudor Revival in the town of Stamford, a town I knew absolutely nothing about. It was just so striking and handsome, it had me from the first picture in the listing. And that red door...I MEAN...

There was an open house that weekend, so I said "Let's go". Of course there were lots of people there when we pulled into the driveway. The house sits so nicely on the property, you look up at it placed elegantly on a small hill. It was built in 1939 and it's oozing with period charm...a high-ceilinged living room with rustic beams, a big stone fireplace, nicely proportioned rooms that are TOO big. Aside from the exterior lovliness, the layout of the floorplan is what's so interesting. The entryway and living room are flanked on one side by the bedrooms and home office, and on the other side is the dining room, sun porch, kitchen, and family room/den. Best of all is a whole separate upstairs bedroom and bath billed in the listing as the 'au pair suite'. I think back in the day it was probably called 'the maid's quarters'. That clinched it. That room would be an absulutely fanastic sewing room. Lot of space for me to do my thing, a creative sanctuary that no one would ever see except me, I loved it. Now the bad news: the kitchen and priamary bath were (and still are) terrible. My guess was that they were an early 90's renovation that the owners probably did with the best of intentions, but they haven't aged well at all, totally anachronistic to the style of the period the house was built. I also want to open up a couple of walls to create some case openings from the kitchen to the dining room and family den. I'm sure NONE of this will be cheap but it will look great once it'sre-done. Are these spaces fine for now? Absulutely. But could they be made SO much better? NO DOUBT. It was destined to be an adventure that would last at least 9 or 10 months, NOT a small undertaking. Here are the initial pics from the listing, the 'BEFORE' photos, if you will...

I decided to take the plunge yet again and make an offer. But this time it was going to be well over the asking price, I was determined to play this game better this time around.

The House Wars

Just over a year ago I decided that I wanted to move. I love my house in Sag Harbor but I was yearning for a little bit more space (things are, ahem, snug here to say the least), plus I wanted a small pool in the backyard, something that was either not possible due to village setback ordinances, or way too costly because the house's septic tank is smack dab in the middle of the yard, it would need to be moved (if possible) to the front yard. Sounds like nothing but dollar signs to me! Separately, I had wearied of the Hamptons...wearied of the high cost of living and it's remoteness. It would be nice to live closer to NYC to see shows, make apppointements with my doctors, see more of my firends, etc. Also, it would be much easier for Scott, my partner, to commute in seeing me. The 3 plus hour train ride out East is a killer. But where to look? Forget Middle Long Island...no style quotient AT ALL. The Gold Coast closer to the city was too expensive. How about New Jersey? Well, the property taxes are exhorbitant and I didn't know much about the towns out there. There was upstate New York, i.e. Columbia County, Duchess County, Ulster...but I never loved it up there despite many friends who now call it home. It's very rural and, alas, not in a good way, too 'Trumpy' in my opinion...you don't have to look too hard to see trailer homes with burn barrells in the front yard. Just not my jam. That left Connecticut. Scott was a HUGE proponant of the this idea. He owned a home there several years back until a new job located in Jersey City pushed him into buying an apartment in the city. He also had many old friends there and missed all those connections. And truth be told, I had always had a secret desire to live in Connecticut. Watching all those old episodes of 'I Love Lucy' when they moved to the country had a pull for me (yes, I know that was all a Hollywood set but STILL!). I had a VERY clear idea of what my dream Connecticut home consisted of: besides more space inside and out, I wanted one of those classic homes built in the 1920's, 30's, or 40's that had so much built-in character...well-proportioned rooms, interesting layouts, lovely millwork, and super well built. We focused on the 'shoreline' towns of Fairfield County...Greenwich, Darien, New Canaan, Norwalk, Fairfield, Westport, and the ultimate winner, Stamford (but I'm getting ahead of myself).

We quickly found out that the home search in this market was OFF THE CHARTS CRAZY. We would arrive at open houses and the line was out the front door. Or we'd arrive only to be told that there was already an accepted off THAT MORNING. Worst of all, I would make an offer on something on a weekend and told it would have to be 'best and final' by MONDAY.

I bid on a handful of places, all very nice, and lost out on all of them. One was this adorable Tudor Revival gem, I love it, but I was the NINTH highest bid. LOSER!

This was a process that stretched out over several months with many looong trips to Connecticut from way out here in Sag Harbor. I hate care travel and driving so this was torture for me. One day Scott spied an interesting place in Stamford, he said "look at this one, it's really cute". We drove out that weekend, there was a packed open house. I made my best offer, it was almost 40 thousand over asking price. I found out a few days later I lost out again. At that point I was done. I texted my agent and said "I'm pulling the plug on this search in this group of towns. I don't think this process and my budget will work here". It was over. And then a week and a half later I got a text from the broker, it wasn't over yet...

A Cottage in Sag Harbor

Before I begin the unfolding story of the new house in Connecticut, I thought it best to record my thoughts on the current, darling cottage I own in Sag Harbor, Long Island. I've had it for 26 years(!) and it has brought me great joy. I look around it and realize I've done so many changes, renovations, and updates to make it the cozy comfortable place it is now. I tried at every turn to add that quaint charm you would hope to find in little Cape home in a coastal town with lots of history. At just 1200 square feet it packs a lot into a little package. It will be bittersweet leaving this place, but I do need to sell it in order to pay for my new home in Connecticut. It's time for a change and new adventures. Here are the photos from the real estate listing. At this point it's only been on the market for two weeks. No offers yet but I'm remaining patient and hoping for the best. Stay tuned...

This last photo is a drone overhead shot of my neighborhood showing how close my house is to Sag Harbor Bay and the little Havens Beach.