22 Warren Street loft seller paints a portrait of motivation

painting by numbers
Maybe the winner of the Oscar for Most Motivated Buyer would have dropped in another price or two, but 4 price drops in 9 weeks looks to me like at least an performance worth a nomination by the sellers of the “1,800 sq ft” Manhattan loft on the 4th floor at 22 Warren Street. Submitted for your consideration, ladies and gentlemen:

Consider the merits of this space and you may be more sympathetic to the sellers and their evident frustration; heavily excerpted, the broker babble can be distilled to this:

exquisite, 2000 square foot, full-floor … a seamless merging of the past with modern, state-of-the-art finishes. … sprawling, sun-flooded … 11’ ceilings, a working fireplace, a gorgeous exposed brick wall, and south-facing oversize windows. … chef’s kitchen features a dining island, custom-designed cabinetry, … vented Viking Professional stove, a SubZero fridge, and a Miele dishwasher. … spa-caliber en-suite [master] bathroom, beautiful natural light, and a private terrace. … an equally luxurious [2nd] full bath. … gorgeous maple floors … a wealth of customized closets, a W/D, low monthlies, and central A/C. … pin-drop quiet.

(I can see why they did not mention the fire hydrant [no plumbing line right there ;-)], but why not the very old-school sliding fire door in the second pic?)

That the final deal was at (an unadjusted) $1,056/ft based on the “1,800 sq ft” in the StreetEasy deed record instead of at (an unadjusted) $950/ft based on the “2,000 sq ft” in the broker babble is but small comfort, no doubt.

Seriously, when was the last time you saw price drops in this sequence of days: 15, 20, 29, and 2? (Two??) After that, they’d had it, and held out for the eventual contract, after another 46 days and 3 major holidays.

comping without enough details is … unrewarding
These sellers undoubtedly knew how their 4th floor loft compared the 5th floor when it sold on January 19, 2007 (a full 4 quarters before The Peak) at $1.96mm, but it is clear that the 5th floor babble cannot compete with the enthusiasm of the 4th floor excerpts above (“gourmet” kitchen, “elegant” master, “lovely” second bedroom is not a lot of enthusiasm). I, too, would have pegged the 4th floor in 2011 at no worse than even with the 5th floor in 2006.

Whether or not they would have sold the 4th floor at a higher price if they had not dropped so quickly, these folks clearly did not want to stay very long once they decided to sell. An outsider can never understand the mindset of a seller, but these folks may have been in a hurry to … sit on their equity.

could you give up the Tribeca loft life more extremely than this?
Voyeur that I am, if you put a notice in the deed record when you sell a Manhattan loft, expect Manhattan Loft Guy to trace it (be warned!). In this case, the same folks who seamlessly merged past and present in an authentic southeast Tribeca loft for 10 years cashed out for a rental in a 40-story tower with 921 units (!) on (way) West 44th Street that is about as far away as you can get from a small loft building between Church and Broadway near City Hall in every sense other than mere mileage.

Empty nesters, or folks needing to be liquid, or light-starved, or …. Who knows why people leave such beautiful loft spaces for soulless cookie cutter modern apartments? Eight million stories in the naked city; I bet this was a good one.

© Sandy Mattingly 2012