manhattan real estate: The intense interest in m127 auction is ironic
- 07/08/10 02:35 AM
When my recent posts on the auction of six condos in a new development called m127, at 127 Madison Avenue, generated a record number of page views on my blog, I was struck by an irony. What hit me – ouch! – was the difference between the number of people who registered to bid for the apartments, which were developed between 30th and 31st streets in Manhattan, and the number of buyers who rush headlong from competition in other purchase situations. To them, the very idea of a bidding “war” is anathema. But I’ll bet many of these same potential buyers … (0 comments)
manhattan real estate: Get those certified checks to bid at city auction
- 07/06/10 03:25 AM
3 Hanover Square Bidders will have the opportunity on July 29 to win an apartment at the city’s estate auction of five co-ops and a condo ranging from the Financial District all the way up to Washington Heights. Manhattan Public Administrator Ethel J. Griffin will seek to dispose of the properties, which can be inspected July 13, 15, 19 and 22 from 10 a.m. to 2 p.m. each day. Two of the properties failed to sell at the last auction, and had the amount of their minimum bids cut, so this is your second chance. (Should they go unsold this … (0 comments)
manhattan real estate: In Manhattan, buyers rarely offer their loyalty
- 07/05/10 09:26 AM
When I was a broker in D.C. , Maryland and Virginia, I refused to search listings, make appointments and load buyers into my car to show them properties unless they signed an exclusive agreement for me to represent them. Call me arrogant, but I wouldn’t even show them property in one of those three areas, say Washington, if they told me they wanted to work as well with another broker who they already had met in Virginia. Perhaps you can sympathize with my reasoning. Unless a buyer was willing to be loyal to me, I could be stuck working many hours … (2 comments)
manhattan real estate: How does your garden grow?
- 07/02/10 03:20 AM
Humboldt Spotted Lily (Photo by Jon Siess) Nearly as rare as a Humboldt Spotted Lily is the city dweller who doesn’t yearn for outside space. More often than not, it is garden space that buyers crave, a chance to dig into friable earth, raise a crop of juicy tomatoes and impress neighbors with a postage stamp lush with fragrant iris, iridescent roses or plumes of ornamental grass. Ah, but the price such buyers pay! Not only do such places command a premium – there is only so much vacant land in Manhattan – but the tradeoff for a garden may be … (2 comments)
manhattan real estate: Don’t believe everything you read, even my posts
- 07/01/10 05:58 AM
The headline words “jump,” “rebound,” “normal” and “healing” have just surfaced about second-quarter reports for Manhattan released in the last 24 hours. While it is true that the statistics don’t lie, they do represent a snapshot of history and they don’t reveal month-to-month changes in the housing market. I have observed the growing somnolence of the June market compared with April, but you wouldn’t know it from reading the articles. Nor would you know it from the blather uttered by the heads of the biggest brokerages. You can read the Times’ account here and the Wall Street Journal’s here. You may … (0 comments)
manhattan real estate: Guest post: 10 rules for renting your condo right
- 06/30/10 10:50 AM
What appears to be the beginning of a beautiful landlord-tenant relationship can turn ugly faster than you think. So notes seasoned real-estate lawyer Ron Gitter, whose sage advice has graced this blog before and whose Web site contains much more valuable information. "Perform your due diligence when you intend to hand over your precious property to a stranger, or even a friend or relative," he counsels. Ron continues: "For your peace of mind and financial security, consider all the issues that might have an impact the tenancy. Be upfront about any conditions in the apartment that may be of concern … (3 comments)
manhattan real estate: It’s either a perfect storm or a Bermuda high
- 06/29/10 03:10 AM
If you think the weather's fine, just dive in. (Flickr photo by SuperFantastic) There is a pretty strong likelihood that soon-to-be released second-quarter reports will show pretty strong sales in Manhattan along with prices that have more than held their own. Indeed, the Wall Street Journal said yesterday that sales of Manhattan apartments were 80 percent higher than one year earlier during the second quarter. The pace was the fastest since the summer of 2008, an illustration that the market has been recovering during the spring selling season, according to writer Josh Barbanel. He also quoted unnamed “analysts” as saying they … (0 comments)
manhattan real estate: If you just can’t get enough of the m127 auction in Manhattan, read this
- 06/28/10 03:52 AM
This poorly illuminated photo may give you some idea of the crowd. In the event you want to see the official press release from Paramount Realty USA on yesterday’s auction of six condos at the building called 127m, at 127 Madison Ave. in Manhattan, I figured I’d make available the first of nearly two and a half pages of the eight-page press release issued by its public relations firm (the remainder being even more fluff). But first, I’d like to point out that I’m always tempted to say an auction can be the best determinant of market value. Unfortunately, there … (2 comments)
manhattan real estate: m127 auction in Manhattan enjoys brisk bidding, modest prices
- 06/27/10 12:21 PM
Hiding in the dark at the left is the auctioneer (thanks to my limited flash). An estimated 250 individuals filled the room in which six new condos listed for a total of $12.25 million in a building called m127 went up for auction today. In bidding that accelerated in mere seconds before nearly reaching the final price, the units at 127 Madison Ave. in Manhattan sold for $8,431,500 including a 5 percent buyer’s premium. The total represented a discount of 31 percent. Excluding the penthouse, the price per square foot averaged $821, which strikes me as rather low for a … (0 comments)
manhattan real estate: Terms of condo auction at m127 are changed
- 06/26/10 03:21 AM
Purchasers who forked over $30 for a bidding package learned minutes ago that the developers of the building at 127 Madison Avenue in Manhattan no longer face foreclosure. According to an announcement by Paramount Realty, which is conducting the auction, “as of Friday, June 25, 2010, Bank of Smithtown has been satisfied in full.” The statement continues: The Sponsor wants to assure you that they can and will close with every buyer at today’s auction. Referring to today’s lending environment, the announcement said further that the seller will grant a 30-day extension to the original 30-day closing date provided that the … (0 comments)
manhattan real estate: Interest is heats up for absolute auction of condos
- 06/24/10 08:25 AM
Flickr photo by Capture Queen. Although I have been writing about real estate auctions for some time, the interest that I have observed in the selling of six condos at 127 Madison Avenue in Manhattan this coming Sunday at the Roosevelt Hotel has been intense. Hundreds of readers have looked at my posts on the auction, an unprecedented four readers have called me for advice on the sale, and two asked me to represent them at the auction (before I explained to them the hazards that they faced if their bids were accepted). Paul Jaber, a hedge fund executive who studied … (0 comments)
manhattan real estate: Most property managers really tick me off
- 06/23/10 01:56 AM
For some folks, arrogance knows no bounds. (Image from the New Yorker.) Possibly the biggest bane facing buyers, sellers and their brokers is property managers in New York City. You’d be hard-pressed to find one of us who praises any of them. In a purchase of a Chelsea co-op that finally is scheduled to close on Thursday, the behavior of the property manager of the building in which my buyer will live strains credulity. It took this dame one and a half weeks to get back to the listing broker and me – only by e-mail – regarding the hefty board … (2 comments)
manhattan real estate: Price is important, but it shouldn’t be everything
- 06/22/10 02:54 AM
Living room of $660,000 one-bedroom co-op on Manhattan's Upper West Side. This is one of four apartments that I took the opportunity of broker open houses to visit last week on the Upper West Side of Manhattan. The price of $660,000 for perhaps an 800-sf co-op may or may not seem too steep in the eyes of a prospective buyer. However, less important than the value of the place is the way that the savvy listing broker talked about price by putting it into intelligent perspective. His is a lesson often lost on other brokers and, even more frequently, on consumers … (1 comments)
manhattan real estate: If apartment doesn’t feel right, go with the flow
- 06/18/10 01:46 AM
When buyers can’t put their finger on what troubles them about an apartment, often the root cause will be layout. Rooms don’t seem to flow naturally into each other, are awkwardly situated, present decorating difficulties or suffer from some combination of such attributes in those units. Nowhere are these issues more likely than in combined apartments –for example, one in the high 80s on a corner of Amsterdam Avenue. The co-op in question is in a very good pet-friendly building designed by Emery Roth. The 1925 building has a 24-hour doorman, live-in super, gym, playroom, beautifully landscaped roof deck, party … (0 comments)
manhattan real estate: What to make of a Times story on stalling sales?
- 06/11/10 10:52 AM
An article in the New York Times today does little to inspire confidence in the Big Apple’s housing market. In case you missed it, the long piece by Vivian Toy begins this way: This year, the burst of real estate action that marks the spring season came early in New York. Manhattan saw a big sales spike in March, well before the market’s usual busy season in May and June. But now, instead of going into the expected overdrive, some brokers say, sales have started to stall. That could simply mean that spring arrived and ended early, as buyers gained confidence … (0 comments)
manhattan real estate: The devil is–well, you know where to find him
- 06/10/10 12:44 PM
Photo by phil.d on Flickr. Of course, the devil is in the details. But what are the details that purchasers of co-ops, condos and townhouses may, to their subsequent dismay, overlook sometimes immediately after closing or, not infrequently, months later? In the kitchen, consumers may too late discover that the gleaming stainless steel of the commercial-style oven does not contain a self-cleaning feature or that the equally gleaming refrigerator does not come with a water dispenser. Prospective buyers also should check whether: the drawers are self-closing, indicating highest quality; the cabinets are sturdy and composed of solid wood; the backsplash … (3 comments)
manhattan real estate: Why not be a part-time real estate broker?
- 06/09/10 10:44 AM
Being a real estate broker is a glamorous and leisurely pursuit. Right! (Photo by loungerie on Flickr.) Someone told me a few days ago that she was thinking of becoming a real estate broker part-time. “Don’t,” I said unhesitatingly. Even if she has a wide social network, there is no way she can succeed. That’s because becoming a broker means working not just full time but all the time. Although many people think of brokers working on weekends, what they don’t know is that brokers also work most other days as well. In the case of the aspiring part-timer, either she … (4 comments)
manhattan real estate: Comparing sales just got harder, in a way
- 06/09/10 01:35 AM
Six of one and . . . (Flickr photo by theilr) Starting March 12, the city changed the way it displays property records in its online database, the Automated City Register Information System, or ACRIS. The modification was little noticed until the Real Deal ran a piece on its Web site the other day. For example, as the publication observed, the closed sale price of a unit at 10 West 66th St. that had shown a recorded sale price of $1 million jumped to $1.75 million. A studio at 61 Jane St. had a price tag of $87,900 when the deal … (0 comments)
manhattan real estate: ‘For all sad words of tongue or pen . . .’
- 06/08/10 03:19 AM
” . . . The saddest are these: It might have been.” The San Remo So wrote the 19th Century poet John Greenleaf Whittier. The building pictured above and the one below represent some of the most memorable moments in which my life as an apartment owner might have been quite different. The time was probably 1974-75, when New York City was facing possible bankruptcy. My then-wife and I had saved enough money for a modest down payment–laughable now for its small size–and had decided it was time to buy an apartment. We looked and looked, even made a false start … (1 comments)
manhattan real estate: There is only one right time to buy
- 06/07/10 10:50 AM
The Frank/Pattersons' new penthouse apartment with huge skylights. In an uncertain market, the question on every buyer’s mind is whether it is the right time to get off the fence. One buyer recently answered that question in an e-mail quoted by the New York Observer. His response is worth noting in part because of the credentials that he and his wife possess. Robert Frank is the wealth reporter for the Wall Street Journal and author of the best-selling book, Richistan: A Journey Through the American Wealth Boom and the Lives of the New Rich. His wife is Rebecca Patterson, global … (0 comments)
When my recent posts on the auction of six condos in a new development called m127, at 127 Madison Avenue, generated a record number of page views on my blog, I was struck by an irony.
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