How serious is this seller?

This is actually a beautiful apartment in an area we liked, with a great terrace.

But the sellers/brokers are idiots all around. We saw this apartment in May 2008, when it was listed at $2.0MM. Broker said the sellers were very serious, really wanted to sell, BUT felt the apartment was priced fairly, and were really not interested in offers below asking price. When the Elliman broker failed to sell it after two insufficient price cuts, they fired her (because their ridiculous asking price was clearly her fault), and re-listed it with a Corcoran broker. At a higher price than it had failed to sell at! In October. Well done, fellas.

To make it worse, I have no idea why they're marketing it as a 2-bedroom. Who on earth would pay anything remotely approaching their asking price for a 2-bedroom unless it was on 5th or top CPW building, or something like that? The apartment was configured as a 3-bedroom when we saw it (I presume it still is), and showed just fine as such. The 3rd bedroom was a little weird-shaped, but worked just fine.

I have to agree with newbuyer99. I'm actually a broker with one of the big manhattan firms and can't believe the dream world that a lot of the sellers (& brokers) are in. Hello ppl, we are in a recession, wake up- you can't price apartments for more than what you paid for them 2 years ago. Prices are still not where they need to be, my guess is that it will take another 3-6 months for prices to come down across the board. The $1 million + apartments are NOT selling right now and if you find a seller that needs to sell, you might be able to get a good deal- make an offer b/c nobody else is.

thank you for the market color, soph. It's great to have an honest take from one of the 'big manhattan firms' tune in to reality, finally. It's frustrating that so many in the brokerage community treat customers like they know nothing about what's really happening in the marketplace. The reality is that with streeteasy anyone with time & inclination can be pretty well educated about the overall state of the real estate market.

Ow, not a bad looking apartment but $3200 a month of carrying costs! I guess that is the all-in rate and not abated.

Just a theory, but I think people who have had 'family' apts. on the market (by this, I mean anything that has children's beds and cribs in it) since last spring are going to get religion in the next two months. As the school year will start to wind down, they will realize that if they want to be out of their place by the time the new school year starts then they need to get a contract in place no later than May-early June. I think we'll see a lot of downward price movement from this type of seller in the next 2-3 months.

407PAS, fair point on the maintenance/taxes. We noticed that too, not high enough to be a deal-breaker, but definitely has to be factored in.

One other point. I think the square footage on this one is pretty honest, unlike the vast majority of listings. Just something else to consider as you're comparing.

So, if this apartment is going to change hands in this market what would be the price?

"407PAS, fair point on the maintenance/taxes. We noticed that too, not high enough to be a deal-breaker, but definitely has to be factored in."

Those carrying costs break the deal for us, ;-) , but each to his own tastes. Chacun sont gout, as the French say. The price is whatever price buyer and seller will agree to. Go and negotiate for the place. Make an offer.

This looks like a 2 bedroom--not a legit 3. Just like a junior-four with a wall up doesn't become a 2 bedroom. It is 50% more interior space than most junior-fours in comparable buildings. Those are being offered for $530K-$780K with $1400-1500 maintenance in some. So even if this is a high maintenance building, I'd expect about $2300--no more--for this unit. Then you have to add some more on for the 700 sq/ft outdoor space. That is where the problem is for me because the maintenance for this apartment seems to treat the terrace as if it were indoor space in terms of value sq/ft. $3200+ is at the very, very highest end I think for this area.

With high maintenance and a price that is by no means anywhere near a bargain, I don't see why someone interested would be willing to pay this is a deteriorating market. The price is not set to "move" this place IMO. It is still a "let's hope" price.

And now the seller's approach to nibbling away at the initial price, bit by bit, will undermine market interest, the listing is getting (or already is) stale, time goes by, the market deteriorates further. What kind of sell plan is that? In fact, it isn't a plan at all. It is groping. Too common in RE.

It might move for 1.6m. I give 35% credit for the terrace in a per sf calculation (a random subjective figure, admittedly) - 1.6m would be $938 per square foot (1460 + 700 * .35) - far enough below $1000 to entice a buyer.

Would seem something below $1000/sf is necessary given the maintenance, which at 1.9x/mo the adjusted square footage is firmly in the upper half of neighborhood comps. I don't think it's crazy high like kyle thinks but definitely above average.

1500 ft @ 900/ft = 1.35M 50k for terrace = 1.4M if they're lucky.

The days of this garbage clearing at $1000 /ft are gone and they're not coming back anytime soon. Even 900/ft is generous.

If I were seriously interested (which I'm not, since we want/need something bigger, and are waiting anyway), I'd maybe consider it for $1.5MM, since I like the location and the terrace.

As far as it being a legitimate 3-bedroom, obviously depends on your definition, but it's meaningfully bigger and works better than many "real" 3-bedrooms that we saw. Examples off the top of my head:
http://www.streeteasy.com/nyc/rental/418570-rental-230-west-55th-street-times-square-new-york
http://www.streeteasy.com/nyc/sale/320507-condo-212-east-47th-street-turtle-bay-new-york

I know this is an emotional comment but, when I see a maintence break $3000(for apts in this range) I can't help thinking... What the heck am I getting for that kind of money? When there is a pool, nice gym, reasonable parking I start to think........oh, thats not so bad, I going to use that stuff and enjoy it. When all you get is a basement laundry, not so excited.

There might be a soda machine in the laundry room, that would increase the excitement factor a little bit. Ask about storage space in the basement, some people are willing to spend hundreds of thousands of dollars for storage space.

Behold the world of increasing monthly charges - Combined is now $3407, up from $3232 last year.

http://www.corcoran.com/property/listing.aspx?Region=NYC&listingid=1418575

It is a great neighborhood -- and nice sunlight -- but the bedroom locations (adjacent and off of the the kitchen_ are HORRIBLE!!!!

carrying costs too high.

I say it goes for 1.2 million now -- or they can wait another year and sell it under a million...

Good spot on that increase in CC.
Came with it's own little price drop.
How wikk this end?
Under a Million...For sure!
or off the market

will.................typo