data point in a sideways market / closing at 32 West 18 Street

… and sometimes the bear gets you
I need to address Josh Barbanel’s latest frustrating review of market data from Sunday’s New York Times (A Mixed Picture) soon, but the money quote for me was from The Miller, who:

poster child for "selling less" in Altair 18

32 West 18 Street #2B (Altair 18), had been for sale since October, starting at $4.6mm, dropping to $4.2mm, then $3.995mm, then $3.75mm, then (finally) $3.5mm in April, with $5,186/mo (condo). [The original PruDE listing info is gone from their site but Street Easy is a good ("easy") source of information about past sales (and current listings) in a building; this building’s page is here.] It had a signed contract in May and shows up as Sold & Closed in the inter-firm data today. While that is undoubtedly a huge relief for the sellers after 7 months and 5 prices, that sweet relief comes at quite a cost.

The closing price is not yet posted on city records that I can see, but the price trajectory suggests they did little better than the final asking price of $3.5mm (if that). The now-breathing-again seller was the original buyer of this unit (although he never moved in) in August 2007. He paid $3.45mm then (his during-construction contract was signed in August 2006) and launched his flip attempt within 3 months of closing, looking for a 33% bump. That did not work out.

The market for this particular loft has been flat, at best, over nearly a year — something that neither the seller nor his agent predicted.

been here, hit that (twice)

I hit this loft as part of a nice pair of dueling open houses in January (back when I was doing that sort of thing) with a similarly priced loft at 217 West 19 Street. That post was old enough that I did not get around to scraping it off when I pulled posts thatcommented on then-current listings from other firms, so it is still here: January 18, dueling $4mm open houses at 217 West 19 Street + 32 West 18 St.

Indeed, I hit this one again in a more recent post that did get scraped just a few days after I wrote it in early April. But I saved the text of that one, so here is a trip down Manhattan Loft Guy memory lane:

happier seller on 19th street

The other half of that ‘dueling open house’ pair fared better. As I said in closing that April7 post, above, it found a contract within 6 weeks of coming to market in January at $4.1mm, after one price drop to $3.995mm. It has since closed (7 weeks ago) at $3.9mm, less than a 5% discount from their original asking price.

I still think that these two dueling units are an interesting pair, having been offered at the same time at similar prices, being roughly the same size, being both rather high-end renovations. Altair 18 had all those amenities in its favor (and the common charges toreflect that), while 217 West 19 Street has those amazing 9 th floor views. Those views actually point at the major deficit for #2B at 32 West 18 Street: not only does the second floor not get much light (and no direct light), the rear overlooks a parking lot and some HVAC equipment, as I recall. #2B was punished for something — either that or (and/or?) the higher monthlies. But it is at peace now, finally.

© Sandy Mattingly 2008