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Manhattan Loft Guy

New York, New York

on matters of interest to Manhattan coop or condo loft apartment dwellers, buyers, sellers, and others, especially about New York City real estate

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Manhattan Loft Guy

quote for the day / NYT The Hunt

Aug. 30, 2009
Categorized in: Psychology of the market
The Sunday Real Estate section of the New York Times regular feature by Joyce Cohen, The Hunt, today profiles a woman who seems to have spent much of the last 18 months looking for a 2 bedroom with light on a narrow slice of the Upper West Side. She event

modesty rewarded, but 'how well?' remains the question

Aug. 29, 2009
Categorized in: pricing analysis
Sometimes Manhattan Loft Guy gets it right. I posed a question on July 8 that was answered very quickly: will pricing 25% below 2007 hit The Market in a sweet spot? The answer came in an update on StreetEasy the very next day: contract signed. It sure is

one less funny person at The Porter House

Aug. 28, 2009
Categorized in: Market Trends
I checked in at 66 Ninth Avenue (The Porter House) on August 16 (Porter House loft may be "beyond the beyond" but sells off a million, up 40% or down 25%) to tell a tale of Manhattan loft sellers who recently closed 40% above their November 2003 purchase

did 525 Broome Street get value for the 2008 renovation?

Aug. 25, 2009
Categorized in: Loft neighborhoods / SoHo
Of course The Market does not care what a seller has to pay, or has paid; The Market only cares about what the seller and buyer can agree upon. In this case, the July 31, 2009 buyer of a renovated loft and the June 19, 2008 buyer of a blank canvas agreed

risk, revisited / I am still a coward, but the 'brave' did not sell (yet)

Aug. 21, 2009
Categorized in: Psychology of the market
I recently had a conversation with a former shareholder in one of the Manhattan loft buildings that I visited in my March 25 lengthy rumination, am I a coward? assessing + bearing risk in a risky world, as she was curious about how her former neighbor's l

buying high, selling low (ouch) at 114 Spring Street

Aug. 15, 2009
Categorized in: Loft neighborhoods / SoHo
The Manhattan loft #2 at 114 Spring Street has (and has had) a lot to recommend it: prime Soho location, "1,900 sq ft", 12 foot barrel-vaulted ceilings, bright lights and cast-iron views, and a renovation described as "magnificent" (Venetian plastered wal

155 Franklin Street crashes past 2006 to close up 28% (since 2000)

Aug. 5, 2009
The Manhattan loft #3S at 155 Franklin Street (the Sugar Loaf) was one of only five lofts in Tribeca that closed in June, per recent articles in The Real Deal Trouble in Tribeca. For a seller who started so far from The Market in October, these folks caug

bowing to the inevitable price drop, but 25% impresses

Aug. 4, 2009
Speaking of lovely Manhattan lofts (as we were last week, July 31, why isn't a Tribeca premium renovation worth at least 250/ft?) with pricing difficulties (as we were yesterday, ditto), there's a new firm and a price on a loft to root for: this baby just

when you reach the right price ... 105 Fifth Avenue closes

Aug. 2, 2009
ice The Manhattan loft #7A at 105 Fifth Avenue closed on July 22 at $1.125mm, only a 4% discount from the (last) asking price of $1.175mm, proving that if you drop the asking price enough you don't have to discount very much to make a deal. (File this un

down a million bucks, now pitching at a pre-2005 $625/ftaa

Jul. 20, 2009
Categorized in: Market Trends
There's a rather large Manhattan loft for sale at a new price that is $1mm less than the original asking price. When it came to market last Summer (happy birthday wishes are now in order) a smaller loft in the building had just cleared at about $850/ft. T

another big drop that worked / 69 Wooster Street closes under $1,000/ft after $850k drop

Jul. 18, 2009
Categorized in: Loft neighborhoods / SoHo
A Manhattan loft on the 5th floor at 69 Wooster Street closed in April under $1,000/ft, despite the fact that it was "newly renovated in a classic but modern style" and a ridiculously low maintenance ($0.42/ft). These sellers also bit a pretty big bullet

dropping $2mm to make an un-lofty sale at 175 Sullivan Street

Jul. 16, 2009
Officially, the Manhattan "loft" #4A at 175 Sullivan Street was on the market only since January 2009 ("starting" at $3.25mm) before closing on June 16 at $2.65mm -- an apparent 18% discount. But the longer listing history tells a longer, darker story....

does not compute / 2007 + 10% = no sale?

Jul. 13, 2009
Categorized in: Market Trends
Tagged with: 2006, 2007, flip, price drop
A not-quite-recent new listing of a Manhattan loft caught my eye because it is in a building in which i have recently looked at a recent sale compared to past sales, and found a 2009 clearing price that approximated an old clearing price. Based on the ope

50 Warren Street closes, off 45% from original ask + 14% off 2005 price

Jul. 11, 2009
It is fair to assume that the sellers of the Manhattan loft on the 3rd floor at 50 Warren Street were quite frustrated with how ... realistic ... they had to be to sell, considering that they started in February 2008 (the height of The Market, pretty much

(too rich, too thin) too stylish to sell (well)?

Jul. 1, 2009
Categorized in: pricing analysis
There is a lovely (anonymous!) Manhattan loft for sale that is almost a One Bed Wonder (haven't talked about one of those for a while). It is rather large, wonderfully renovated in a manner tres chic moderne, and has had a bit of trouble finding The Mar

why would you do that? flipping (trying) at 25% over February 2009

Jun. 25, 2009
Categorized in: Market Trends
Tagged with: contract, flip, lehman, price drop
There's a Manhattan loft new to market in a building that has had a fair amount of activity in the past couple of years. One bit of that activity was this very same loft, selling in February for $1.73mm. When that happened, the loft was a poster child for

"gotta sell" at 315 West 36 Street, so dropped 40% -- and sold

Jun. 23, 2009
The Manhattan loft #12C at 315 West 36 Street was marketed with some urgency, some big price drops, and all caps (I have taken that annoying formatting off): "major price drop, must sell immediately!!!". Darned if they didn't do it (not "immediately", but

"absolute showplace" at 113 Greene Street in Soho goes for $918/ft (absolutely)

Jun. 16, 2009
Categorized in: Loft neighborhoods / SoHo
The Manhattan loft on the 4th floor of 113 Greene Street has sold twice in the last four years, in nice before-and-after fashion. Yes, "before" The Market changed (Lehman, AIG and all that other 'fundamental' stuff), but also "before" it got dressed up fr

price drop can re-set expectations IF low enough

Jun. 15, 2009
There's a Manhattan loft newly returned to market in a brand-name Tribeca building that has been for sale for quite a while. It is now on its third firm and fourth price. It is hard to see that the new firm and new price will have more luck than the last

opportunity knocked at 60 West 15 St for $828/ft (and more), answered at $622/ft

Jun. 12, 2009
The Manhattan loft on the 4th floor at 60 West 15 Street was marketed as a masterpiece (to be), with the interesting come-on that "architects and designers are vying to renovate" it. At "3,133 sq ft", there's a lot of work for those architect and designer