(no irritating Ps but) more seller psychology / are loft-sellers more prone to ego errors? : Manhattan Loft Guy

Manhattan Loft Guy

Nov. 11, 2006 - (no irritating Ps but) more seller psychology / are loft-sellers more prone to ego errors?

the Lake Wobegon effect?

My P-filled post about sellers not adjusting to the current market (pseller psychology pstuck pso psales psuffer?) leads to wondering about Manhattan loft sellers.

Although my prior post talked a lot about ego-driven decisions for sellers, I am not suggesting that loft owners are more ego-driven than other Manhattan apartment sellers (really – I am not). But I think that Manhattan loft sellers (and Manhattan loft owners in general) are more likely to think of their lofts as “unique” or at least “special” that apartment owners who can see that the genius of their apartments is in the decoration (their personal taste is sublime) rather than in the four walls and floors.

all lofts are above average…

At least that’s my theory. And it is related to the reasons that I think it is harder with lofts than with apartments to get true ‘comps’.

Because apartment owners are much more likely to believe that they live in an apartment that is “just like” their neighbors’ apartments in the same building, except for the personal touches that make it uniquely theirs – most of which they will take with them when they move.

… or at least unique

Loft owners are more likely to live in Garrison Keilor’s Lake Wobegon, where all children are above average. In Manhattan, most lofts are “unique”, so loft owners are tempted to believe that the “general” market trends (flat or down, of late) simply do not apply to their above-average lofts.

Indeed, they may derive perverse pleasure in thinking that their loft is so special that only special people will appreciate its charms, and the longer it stays on the market the more they are convinced that it is more and more special. Perverse, as I say.

the longer it takes to sell, the more special it is (maybe)

With that mind-set, the data about greater inventory and longer days on the market can be rationalized as “problems” only for apartments that are not so special.

I will have to start paying more attention to lofts that have been on the market for quite a while without a single price change. Those may be examples of loft-sellers-with-ego (not that there is anything wrong with that). Or loft sellers who are waiting for the right buyer to pay the right place.

So long as their agent is patient – and they are patient with their agent – everyone will stay happy….

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Nov. 11, 2006 - (no irritating Ps but) more seller psychology / are loft-sellers more prone to ego errors?

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