I’m a fan of"Carpe Diem" as well. I finally spent that month in Paris and plan to move there. But not at the expense of the bank and their policy of “Carpe Domus”.
I have no mortgage … that was just lucky. We sold the big house for enough to pay cash for where we are now. The housing market was lucky for us. In a downturn, someone really really wanted my particular house.
My brother and sister-in-law have lost money on three houses.
I am not smarter than they are. They are really smart people. They can’t really afford to downsize now their kids are out of the nest. So they pay taxes and utilities for square footage they no longer want. They have been extremely unlucky with real estate.
I googled Garber’s house.
I don’t think the house is worth anything close to $2.6 million.
Somebody must live near the East Hamptons. Would that somebody drive over to his place and check it out. 
Hopefully, he will have enough equity in the house he can take that equity and move to a cheaper place when he retires.
Ask your son to drive over
@alh, you’re being naughty.
@dstark It might not look grandiose from a satellite view but such is life in places like East Hampton, or Nantucket, or Greenwich and other places where the upper crust like to congregate. Even more modest homes than Garber’s in scale go for a bucket load. It’s the zip code and the land value. I have found Zillow to be surprisingly accurate and if it’s off, it not going to be off by 50%. From his own comments in the article, he mentioned being doubtful that he could sell it for more than the bank loan.
I can imagine that phone conversation:
dstark: “Hey son! When you’re not working this weekend, go drive across Long Island to East Hampton and check out this writer dude’s house. I’ve been hanging out too much on CC and we’ve been discussing this guy’s lifestyle. There’s no way his house is worth $2.6M. Tell me what you think. By the way, all my CC buddies know you live in NYC.”
dstark’s son: “Dad, I’m really busy. You need to get another hobby.”
The Stanford kid got a PhD from Oxford in between.
@doschicos, that’s not the answer I am going to get. If that was his answer, I would call him.
Other sites have the house worth less. You might be right about zillow.
We have his property tax. We could work backwards from the prop tax to get a value.
Is this considered stalking or is this investigative journalism?
I am actually meeting a real life friend within the hour so I have to change my persona during the next 45 minutes into a more productive citizen. My friend still takes me seriously.
I just listened to the On Point interview. What an insufferable fool. He keeps saying that he take full responsibility for his financial miss steps and then goes on to place blame on the “extortionist schools” and exorbitant taxes. Nothing is really his fault. BTW—all you real people struggling. He just said “he feels your pain and in fact, knows your pain.”
He is just a regular guy.
:-&
I find Zillow’s estimates to be way off sometimes but no, not by 50%. You could see the property tax assessment and split the difference. Property taxes should be public record although it can take some dredging. Oooh, then we can find what he paid for the house too.
I can see your kids have talked to you about the amount of time you spend on CC.
Using my stalker/investigative journalist skills 
aided by google and the fact that folks who live in places like East Hampton seem to like gossipy real estate news, here’s this nugget from 1999:
"WINCHELL BIOGRAPHER GIVES GREEN LIGHT TO FARMHOUSE. Tinseltown chronicler Neal Gabler, who wrote the definitive biography Winchell: Gossip, Power and the Culture of Celebrity , made sure there was a first-look-style clause in his lease for the 1920’s house in Amagansett that he has rented and lived in year-round for the last five years, so it wouldn’t be sold out from under him. Mr. Gabler finally took advantage of the fine print and bought the renovated farmhouse for $731,500.
The house, on 1.5 acres on Dennistoun Drive, not far from Gardiner’s Bay, was briefly on the market in 1993 for $750,000; when it didn’t sell, it was taken off the market and continued to be rented. Brokers who have since then approached the owner, a Canadian woman, have been told that Mr. Gabler had the right to make the first offer if she wanted to sell it. According to Hamptons brokers, the sale of the house took place directly between the author and his landlord.
The house contains three bedrooms, three baths and a loft space. “It’s a truly elegant, post-and-beam-style home with a lot of class and character,” said Stuart Epstein, owner of Devlin McNiff Real Estate in East Hampton. “It’s a very beautiful part of East Hampton. Very un-Hollywood.”
Mr. Gabler, whose most recent book, Life the Movie: How Entertainment Conquered Reality , was published last year, shares the house with his wife, Christina Gabler, and his two daughters…"
http://observer.com/1999/03/buyout-king-pete-peterson-asks-15-million-for-his-ocean-view/
@dstark Who, me?!.. B-) :-"
“Life the Movie: How Entertainment Conquered Reality”
HOW GOOD IS THAT :))
He said on “On Point” that his house needs a $30,000 new roof. Perhaps he should consider a GoFundMe appeal.
That was a bit of money for 1999 when prices were just beginning to go up. If he hasn’t refinanced and taken money out, he’s made a very good deal.
If he was smart, he could probably rent it out for weddings or other events for money. Or, he could start growing something, put up a token farmstand like Christie Todd Whitely did and claim a special tax status as a farm.
I just listened to “On Point.” He is the wrong messenger, IMO. I was also disappointed that the host didn’t question his decision making at all. The callers circumstances were nothing like his.
I bet he is also paying a boatload of property tax. I’m in NY and my house is accessed at $260k and I pay $9k/yr in property taxes so imagine what his are! And you can’t go by Zillow which shows my taxes at $6k. That
is just the school tax part they show - not the whole prop tax we pay.
I bet he’s taken out all his home equity - why else cash out your 401k for a wedding.
Didn’t he write that it was not worth what he owes on it? Quite a lot of equity out if he bought it in or before1999. Prices had fallen from the late 80s and had not quite recovered (at least in the NE).
My guess is he took out equity given his financial straits. I also would imagine his property taxes aren’t too crazy. They often aren’t in places like the Hamptons where the $15M summer cottages pay the lion’s share and where those same seasonal property owners don’t put pressure on local resources like schools.