tiny price drop does magic for 458 Broome Street loft, kinda sorta

an almost yellow sale
So, sue me! I was away this weekend, so did not do my regular Saturday data dump of loft sales newly recorded in the last 7 days. Hence my early Saturday (getting in the car) post about an older sale (21 Astor Place loft sells up 21% in 2 years ) and today’s about another … err … mature sale. But gimme a break, as the March 30 sale at $1.98mm of the Manhattan loft on the 3rd floor of 458 Broome Street has some interesting twists. First, the listing history before we get to more salacious material.

a long time to go a short way
Regular Manhattan Loft Guy readers can anticipate where I am going next … that contract took a long time for such a small discount. Heck, even short-time readers (with a decent short-term memory) can see this coming, as it hit this very theme in my June 6, 65 West 13 Street loft sales shows the trick about being patient, which began with this statement:

I’ve been on a bit of a jag lately, noting Manhattan loft sales that defy Conventional Wisdom by holding firm at a price for a (relatively) long time, then getting a deal done within reasonable negotiating range of that price.

Yes, the guy who sold #3 at 458 Broome Street knew the same trick: you can be successfully patient if you pick the right price; otherwise, you are just stubborn. Two odd things about that price history. First, who knew that a $5,000 price drop (.025%) could prompt a sale?

Second, if the loft was worth $1.98mm in February (the contract proves that point beyond any doubt, right?), it was worth that much shortly before February, and probably in December, and probably in October, and perhaps even in August. But but but … The Market did not react that way, fickle god that she is.

nothing quite says bachelor pad as well as …
Call me sexist, but when I first looked at the listing photos (love that big picture option on StreetEasy btw), I thought that nothing quite says bachelor pad as well as a red pool table. But then I looked at the one-bathroom utility, and figured that nothing quite says bachelor pad as well as having a single bathroom in a loft said to be (per our data-base) “2,025 sq ft”. But then there’s this about the floor plan: if the loft is a roughly 20 x 50 Long-and-Narrow, nothing quite says bachelor pad as well as a 25 foot long bedroom (the only bedroom in this One Bed Wonder).

The broker babble hints at a somewhat dated interior, while making the obvious points that a buyer could expand the utility of the space dramatically beyond a wonder of 1-bedroom 1-bath: “full-floor classic SoHo loft is currently configured as…”, with “original tin ceilings and brick detail”, and more bragging about the bath finishes (“marbled”) than the kitchen (merely, “eat-in”). The alternative floor plan takes advantage of additional plumbing stacks and (if the zoom on my browser works right) suggests how simple it would be to have a classic long-and-narrow layout (two bedrooms in the back, plumbing in the middle along both sides).

A “simple” renovation, yes, but hardly inexpensive. Which helps explain the clearing price of $978/ft for a classic Soho loft in move-in condition with a marble bath.

funny thing about the bachelor pad thing …
Through the miracles of modern real estate transparency (ACRIS should be trumpeted as telling the truth about Manhattan real estate since 2004!) I see how close I am to the truth with this nothing quite says bachelor pad as well as … thing.

The 2011 seller is A Guy. That Guy and A Woman bought the loft in November 2005 for $1.425mm. (I am going to guess that A Guy and A Woman put in a kitchen, that marble bath and a few walls, as it was marketed then as a “[c]reate your masterpiece” classic.) But then the deed records reflect that something happened, the something probably involving a matrimonial layer or two, as The Guy seems to have bought out The Woman’s interest at less than 10% in February 2007, presumably as part of a larger involving other property and a legal separation.

Not to dance on their marital grave, but … I would love to know how long the red pool table has been in the loft. Probably only since 2007, or later.

But that has nothing to do with Manhattan real estate, so I will stop.

© Sandy Mattingly 2011