Harlem co-op chops asking price by $1K a day

From left: Steven Kopstein, a broker at SKNY Real Estate, and the interior and exterior of the apartment at 450 West 147th Street

The crowded residential marketplace often leads brokers to take great lengths to market a property for sale, sometimes offering unique incentives like free landscaping or even free flights for international purchasers, but today one New York real estate company launched a marketing scheme that even the most jaded New York brokers may balk at.

Steven Kopstein, whose firm Steven Kopstein Real Estate recently merged with Forecast Realty to become SKNY Real Estate, is dropping the price of a two-bedroom, pre-war Harlem co-op listing by $1,000 a day until the property sells or the owners decide to take it off the market.

For Kopstein, the main challenging of selling the 1,150-square-foot apartment at 450 West 147th Street in Hamilton Heights is getting prospective buyers through the door.

“A lot of people who aren’t from or haven’t lived in Harlem don’t know what it’s like,” said Kopstein, who has lived in the area for four years. “They have a perception of this neighborhood as being dangerous but it’s actually one of the safest neighborhoods in the city.”

The apartment has been owned by advertising executive Jennifer Carter-Campbell and her husband Colin Campbell since 2004. It is currently priced at $598,000. It hit the market just 19 days ago, according to data from Streeteasy.com, but hadn’t been attracting as much interest as the sellers had hoped.

“Obviously we don’t want to lower the price,” Campbell, whose family is looking to move closer to “good schools,” said. “We were discussing a larger wholesale drop in price, but this way it generates a little more attention.”

As For Harlem Being A Dangerous Place to live, Campbell disagrees: “There are lots of different parts of Harlem so to paint it with one bad brush is wrong. I’ve lived in a lot of neighborhoods, and I don’t know if it’s just a case of neighborhoods all over the city getting safer, but this is definitely the safest so far.”

Kopstein told The Real Deal that the couple does have an idea how low in price they would let the apartment get before pulling it off the market, but would not disclose details. It could go on for a while, he said.

Kathy Braddock, co-founder of Rutenberg Realty, said she finds the idea interesting.


Braddock also noted that a campaign such as this sends a clear message to buyers that the price is negotiable.