memory lane: how well do buyers see? (the decor test at 32 West 18 Street)

One Year Ago Today on Manhattan Loft Guy

You were warned in my July 4 post that you’ve got a couple of weeks of archived Manhattan Loft Guy material coming up. In my July 12, 2012, a tale of 2 lofts: did (removable) decor add $126/ft to value of one 32 West 18 Street loft?, I address one of the oddities about marketing lofts: the same bones and basic condition do not necessarily get the same market response. For comping purposes, the two neighboring lofts are identical, yet the one with better (removable) decor sold at a 7% premium to the other.
 

My intro a year ago:

While it is interesting that the “3,007 sq ft” loft #2A sold quickly slightly above the ask of $3.995mm, I find it fascinating that it sold for 7% higher than the loft next door in May. This pair of not quite identical lofts on the same floor of the same building that sold within 10 weeks of each other makes me wonder how buyers (literally) see lofts.

And by “wonder” I mean more stand-back-in-awe than scramble-to-explain. Which leads me into an aesthetic discussion the likes of which I may never have had in 6+ years of Manhattan Loft Guy data-based blathering.

Read the whole darn thing, with commentary to support a side-by-side photo comparison.

This post, by the way, was in secret anticipation of a New York Times article about staging, for which I had been interviewed, and which I hit in my July 28, 2012, ruthless stagers, indeed! NY Times nails story about marketing apartments (and lofts!). That’s another keeper; no need to wait until July 28 to read it

© Sandy Mattingly 2013