how to sell a loft quickly? (not a secret!) another 808 Broadway loft does it

modesty rewarded, as usual
The Manhattan penthouse loft 808 Broadway #PHA [Renwick] is an excellent example of what truly motivated sellers do. (Not the sellers who will sell if I get $Xmm, but the sellers who will sell, what can I get?) Having bought their beautiful loft with terrace in April 2006 for $1.7mm, when they came to market on May 21, 2010 they signalled they were not looking for a big gain (or for any gain at all, essentially) by asking $1.795mm, a mere 5.6% premium over their 4 year old purchase price.

Of course they were negotiable, so when they signed a contract by July 11 (at $1.735mm) they had achieved a deal in 7 weeks at a modest 2% premium over their 2006 purchase price. But they had achieved a deal.

As with many true penthouses, this one is all about the outdoor space. The interior is a relatively modest “1,337 sq ft”, arrayed with 2 bedrooms and two baths, with a modestly sized open kitchen that was ‘modern’ when last renovated (based on old listing descriptions and pix) in the late 1990s. The glory of the space is the “558 sq ft” roof top terrace that extends along the long west side of the loft.

a recent comp always helps
The dream for sellers and agents is to have a recent sale in the same building of a comparably sized loft in a similar condition. The odds of getting one are not great, of course, even in a building like the Renwick with 67 units. So it is nice to be lucky. The #PHA sellers were very lucky.

When they came to market on May 21, the neighbors in #PHH had just gone to contract on May 3. They had been asking $1.695mm since March 26, so it would have been pretty clear they were at least pretty close to getting their asking price, and there may have been shareholder scuttlebutt (as there often is) when a shareholder gets a full ask deal. In fact, they did get the full $1.695mm, which the #PHA sellers either knew or suspected.

Our data base shows #PHH to be “1,300 sq ft”, so just a tad smaller than #PHA (“1,337 sq ft” om the listing and on StreetEasy, though our data base has “1,400 sq ft”), but #PHH has a less desirable layout: a duplex with the master suite and terrace upstairs, and windows only on one narrow side on both levels. The dimensions of the west-facing upstairs terrace in #PHH compute to about 60% the size of the #PHA terrace, which is accessed from any room.

So #PHH was a comp for #PHA that was recent (contract 18 days earlier), nearby (same floor, same building), in similar condition (seemingly, based on the respective babble), and nearly the same size, both inside and out. Hard to do better than that!

Assuming they knew or guessed about #PHH’s full price contract, the #PHA set a modest asking price at $1.795mm. Is it reasonable to ask $100,000 more for a single-floor layout, a bit more interior and twice as much exterior? I would say, yes. The Market agreed, of course, by rewarding them with a contract in 7 weeks at a slight discount. Frankly, to me #PHA should be worth more than 2% more than #PHH, but that is close enough for Manhattan real estate.

five time seller in 15 years
I can’t remember the last time I noticed a Manhattan loft with as deep a sales history as #PHA at 808 Broadway. I have five sales of #PHA going back only to 1996 on the Master List of Manhattan Lofts Sold Since November 2008.

The babble, floor plans  and pix for those past listings are how I know the kitchen is probably the same since at least 1999, which would explain the large jump in price from 1996 to 1999.

© Sandy Mattingly 2010