buyer blinked at 79 Laight / November sale near ask

follow-up on Oct 11 post
I posted on October 11 about the “toddler of a listing” at 79 Laight Street #3A, which was first to market in September 2006 at $4.75mm, then quickly reduced to $4.5mm at which it held for nearly a year before dropping in September 2007 slightly to $4.35mm and landing a contract in October (who blinked at 79 Laight? contract in 13th month).

My bold question about that October contract was “did stubborn seller find compliant buyer?” and I stumbled across (part of?) the answer: the clearing price on November 6 was $4.33mm, from which I infer that the seller remained stubborn, while the buyer complied. Considering that the price held at $4.5mm from October 12006 it September 2007 and then dropped only $150k, there was very little price movement and very little listing discount for the closed price.

As I reviewed in October, aside from one anomalous “E” line sale and one low “C” line price, the closed price of $1,220/ft for $3A is in line with past sales of #2E ($1,280/ft in May 2007) and #5E ($1,198/ft in April 2006). No kidding around – a listing with a birthday requires an owner that (if motivated at all) is both confident of the value and stubborn.

This owner got 96% of a year-old asking price. That’s a lot of confidence, and nerve. Good for them.

© Sandy Mattingly 2007