from the Department of Odd (But Round) Numbers: 3 lofts sell in July $5,000 above ask

small samples can be fun, if limited
Anyone who has checked out my Master List of Manhattan Lofts Sold Since November 2008 at all recently is aware that I have let it get woefully out of date. But I am working on it! My excuse is that I usually update it on Saturdays, for lofts that had deeds filed in the prior week, but that I have a long string of too-busy Saturdays. Mostly family stuff (as if that can be an excuse for a blogger!), but enough things that have kept me from spending the hour or two that it takes if I do it weekly. As of today, I am caught up for July deeds filed as of last weekend, but I still have June-filed deeds to catch up on.

I mention this because in looking at the 23 Manhattan loft resales on the Master List (for closings between July 2 and July 12) there are five that jump out (in green) because they closed above the last asking price, three of which closed exactly $5,000 above the last asking price. That’s just weird enough to catch my eye, and perhaps your interest.

Sharp-eyed readers of Manhattan Loft Guy will remember that two of them were the subject of blog poasts already (my July 12, a tale of 2 lofts: did (removable) decor add $126/ft to value of one 32 West 18 Street loft?, and my July 16, it should not be this hard to get the right price, as 40 West 15 Street loft (finally) sells above ask); the third is the “1,375 sq ft” Manhattan loft 49 East 21 Street #9A, which one day (soon?) will get its own blog post for having beaten its prior sale, just before The Peak in the overall Manhattan residential real estate market.

In each case, the contract followed quickly after the last marketing campaign, although as noted in that July 16 post in one case there was a curious and long campaign before that last successful one. In all three case, my guess is that the time frame was so short and the above-ask premium so small both indicate that there was no bidding war, just a single buyer saying “let me pay you $5,000 more than you are asking to get you to take it off the market right away”. Again, I am guessing, but a $5,000 premium does not seem like much of a ‘war.’

I know I should do more posts looking back at the aggregate loft closing data on the Master List (Note to Self …, of course), but I need to get fully caught up first. Back to the data base ….

© Sandy Mattingly 2012