price right, sell quick at Ruggles House, 112 East 19 Street

simple rule (hard to apply?)
You will be excused if you failed to notice that the Manhattan loft #4R at 112 East 19 Street had been on the market, as it was available for 21 days before finding a buyer on December 4. The Board at the venerable Ruggles House must have taken a while to approve the deal (or the paperwork was delayed), as the loft did not close until April 20.

Consistent with this velocity, the clearing price of $1.65mm was a spare 3% off the asking price of $1.7mm.

repeat after me, kids…
A well-priced loft sells (relatively) quickly in any market. Signing a contract in 21 days is a sign of a well-priced loft. So is pricing below building comps.

reading between primitive lines
Everything that this listing description does not say screams "primitive":

Let’s review…. From this (complete) description, we know this is 3 bedrooms, with 11 foot ceilings and maple floors. We can reasonably conclude that the windows are big (pix = consistent with "huge"), and are prepared to believe it is sunny, though we’d need to see to really believe.

Here’s what we can be pretty sure about: neither the kitchen, nor the baths, nor the overall condition is much to brag on. Thus, expectations are set that the place needs an upgrade, at a minimum. Pricing the "1,950 sq ft" loft at $872/ft is another hint.

renovations commend(ed) high prices
It is not surprising that a building with only 24 lofts would not have had a sale since The Peak, but here are the last three sales at Ruggles:

Starting #4R at $1.7mm after these on-the-way-to-Peak prices was a concession to the changed marketplace and to the work that any buyer is likely to do. Remember: 21 days to contract at a 3% discount. Props to the seller and to Karen Hartnett of PruDE for getting this on and off The Market in a hurry.

© Sandy Mattingly 2010