The house at Westport’s 59 Old Road, near Maple Avenue North, was demolished today. Built in 1940, the two-story conventional had 1,834 square feet, was situated on a .53-acre property and changed ownership this month at $552,000. It was the WestportNow Teardown of the Day on Jan. 6, 2011. (CLICK TO ENLARGE) Dave Matlow for WestportNow.com

“Confidence has returned for those looking to buy their piece of the American Dream. And the place to buy a house is Westport, according to Multiple Listing Service figures.”

So says the Fairfield County Business Journal today in a report published on its website, Westfair Online.

Quoting Virginia Klein, owner of RE/MAX Heritage in Westport, and other real estate professionals, the report said the trend of dropping demand for the median single-family house has begun to reverse.

Comparing Darien to Westport, the newspaper said MLS information showed Darien’s monthly average for closings last year in the first six months was 17 per month and Westport’s was 21.

Radio host Don Imus and his wife, Deirdre, have cut the asking price on their waterfront estate in Westport’s Greens Farms area from $30 million to $24.95 million.
The Beachside Avenue home has 10,000 square feet and six bedrooms. (CLICK TO ENLARGE) File photo

The four-acre Beachside Avenue property, listed in 2005 and 2009 for $30 million, has a 10,000-square-foot Georgian Revival-style main house with six bedrooms, a guest house and a gatehouse. (See WestportNow March 27, 2009)

The estate, which the town’s Tax Assesor appraised in the latest revaluation at $13.5 million, has 215 feet of sandy beach frontage. (See video slideshow here) The Imuses bought the property in 1997 for $4.6 million and completed the home in 2000.

The Wall Street Journal quoted listing broker Darlene Letersky of Coldwell Banker as saying the couple is selling because they use the property infrequently.