the unique property next door at 114 East 13 Street, “sold” to a unique buyer

if a neighbor buys, is that a comp? (maybe)
The Manhattan loft #2B at 114 East 13 Street is another one of those loft sales with the StreetEasy notation "no listing associated with this closing", which is one indicator that a "sale" might not have been at arm’s length. (I just dealt with this arm’s length issue on Super Bowl Sunday, in measuring arm’s length / not a real "sale" at 125 East 12 Street, curiously on the back of this block.) In this case, there is another indication that the very recent (February 1) #2B sale at $958,650 might not have been at arm’s length: the purchasers own the loft next door (#2A).

It is hard to know if a neighbor got a discount (as a friend? because they will pass board easily??) or if the neighbor paid a premium (is this the only unit they can expand to?). So this is another tough comp, a subtlety you would miss if you did not know this "sale" is between neighbors.

comps are hard
I don’t believe there is enough information to determine if this transaction is a good comp or not. There’s no floor plan and no description, in our system or elsewhere I can find. The loft is said to be "1,086 sq ft" on StreetEasy, which computes to $883/ft. Since I don’t even know if this loft has a balcony, I can’t begin to assess how it compares to the three lofts that sold in this building with balconies in 2009, for which this January 12 post title tells the relevant story: 114 East 13 St lofts go 3-for-3 above $1,000/ft.

I can imagine several reasons why #2B might fairly be valued up to $200/ft lower than these three sales (poor condition, no light, no balcony among them); the problem is that the use of my imagination pretty much renders the exercise worthless to any principled examination of value.

So I will pass on this as a comp, and resolve to ignore it unless (until) more information is available. (In a private transaction like this, not even neighbors might know The Real Story.) So cue the Chorus: comps are hard; if you use this one without knowing more than I do you are making a mistake.

© Sandy Mattingly 2010