REAL ESTATE

(Page 2 of 6)

His request was denied. "Anyone may put a few pigs in their back yard, but a viable farm is more than having something for personal use," the town assessor was quoted in the New York Post—which was not our aforementioned "reliable source," by the way. And we may add that in Greenwich, no one we know has "a few pigs in their backyard" or anywhere else for that matter. "It's about producing a viable product," he concluded.

Now that we're all clear on what a farm is and is not, the motivation for Mel's move remains a matter of speculation. The truth is if the man didn't make movies, he'd still have millions thanks to the money he's made in real estate. He has priced his Greenwich home to clear $30 million above its purchase price of $9.25 million and also, per the Post, he's already sold a Malibu home for nearly $30 million, bought and sold a multimillion-dollar ranch in Montana and purchased another in Costa Rica for $25.8 million.

Who's Buying Now?
In real estate, bad news is better than uncertainty. After all, it's only when the market is declared to have hit bottom that the trifecta occurs: a bloated stock of reduced-priced listings, desperate sellers and a rush of buyers spurred on by the hope that the pendulum will soon swing the other way.

In the absence of that perfect storm—and the presence of a pervasive fog—who's buying now? "That's easy," groused one broker we spoke to. "Nobody." While that perception is widely shared, the reality is that the number of homes sold in some towns will have increased by year's end as compared to 2006. Westport, for instance, reports a higher sales volume this year than last (362 homes vs. 353).

Broker Laurie Crouse of Coldwell Banker Riverside Shavell in Westport says there are four kinds of buyers ringing up sales.