foreclosure sale at 251 West 19 works out, for banks at least

don’t see this every day
While cleaning up the Manhattan Loft Guy Master List of downtown loft closings between $500k and $5mm, I discovered that 251 West 19 Street #3C closed on March 26 for $1,578,287 (deed filed April 14). That’s an odd price, right? A little digging showed that this was a sale by banks that had foreclosed last June 22. Long story here, no doubt with blood on the tracks, a story I touched on several times in 2007.

We’ll pick up the story in June 2004, when this "1,822 q ft" condo traded for another funny price, $1,201,280. I can’t access a description of the loft at that sale, but this baby flipped 17 months later for $2.35mm.

That seller may be the last truly happy person involved with this loft. That buyer put two mortgages on the condo on December 7, 2005 totalling $2.115mm, or 90% of the purchase price.

My guess is that the December 2005 buyer at $2.35mm ran into some financial pressure not later than early 2007. The frequency of Manhattan Loft Guy hits is an indication that this loft was fascinating, in a Watching A Train Wreck In Slow Motion kind of way. To recap, the owner’s behavior was bizarre: between March and September 2007 this loft was offered at, in sequence, $3.4mm, $2.75m, $2.1mm, $2.24mm and $2.4mm, with a price change nearly each month. None of these prices resulted in a sale.

wacky, wacky, wacky
The first time I hit this loft was in this period of extreme price volatility: June 5, 2007 how the (something) have fallen / 251 W 19 St at 40% off, and again on July 1, 2007, follow the bouncing price at 251 W 19 St – now UP. I noted that this loft was among several offered for sale as of my September 21, 2007, no lobby = no sale at 251 W 19? 1C price plummets, with that bouncing price that was then $2.4mm.

By January 2008, that December 2005 buyer with the $2.115mm mortgages had not been paying common charges for long enough for the condo to file a lien. (The neighbors could not have been happy.) It took the banks quite a while to foreclose, resulting in a transfer June 22, 2009 at $1,232,082 — probably at about 50 cents on the dollar (before expenses). (The banks could not have been happy at that point; the neighbors still not happy, but the arrears got paid.)

By October 1, 2009, the banks had #3C back in The Market, asking $1,794,900, a price probably derived by someone with a calculator rather than by reference to highly relevant comps. That is the listing that (finally) cleared on March 26, at $1,578,287.

While that sale probably generated one happy person (the buyer), the feelings of relief by the banks and the condo were probably the dominant emotions 6 weeks ago. And the buyer did not get such a distress deal, all things considered. This buyer paid just 15% less than the November 24, 2009 sale of #9C ($1.85mm), which was not only in better condition (more bragging about finishes) but is 6 floors higher and boasts "unobstructed northern views of midtown" (yes, including the Empire State Building).

Those banks actually drove a pretty tough bargain.

rare, but not unprecedented
Turns out that I have posted about foreclosure sales before, just not very often. For example, I was confused on September 28, 2007 by an unmotivated bank in anyone as confused as I am? rare foreclosure sale + rare pricing at Lion’s Head 11E. Hmmm … that was (at least) two condo lofts in Manhattan that were in or approaching foreclosure in 2007, on the way to The Peak.

© Sandy Mattingly 2010