From left: Elliman brokers Melanie Lazenby, Dina Lewis and Frances Katzen and 34 Greene Street

[Updated on March 5 with comment from the developer] The seven-unit Soho condominium at 34 Greene Street sold its last three units for a total of $19 million, according to a statement today from Prudential Douglas Elliman, the building’s exclusive marketing agent.

The transaction included the duplex penthouse, which was sold for $11.5 million, and two apartments on the fourth floor, which went for $7.5 million together. The penthouse unit has an outdoor terrace with kitchen and shower, and a fireplace, according to the statement. [more]

Though they are often considered undesirable because of their location, a ground-floor apartment can have hidden benefits, brokers say. “The stigma is usually they think it’s a little bit dark, and they assume there’s a security issue and they also assume it’s a little bit loud if it faces the street, but not all of them do,” Josh Cohen, an agent at the Real Estate Group of New York, told NY1. “Unfortunately someone might overlook something like that and they may be overlooking a good deal or good value.” Though many buyers assume that a ground floor unit is undesirable, many are in the back of a building and are situated behind a doorman, so they are secure and private, Cohen pointed out. [more]

From the September issue: The National Association of Realtors reported last month that home sales nationwide dropped by 27 percent between June and July — a phenomenon largely attributed to the expiration of federal housing tax credits.

The bleak news sent the stock market into a nosedive and gave more credence to the national conversation about a possible “double-dip” recession. Yet Manhattan real estate brokers said they’re seeing an increase in activity as the summer draws to a close, suggesting a strong fall market may be in the works.

“Business has been building,” said Frances Katzen, an executive vice president at Prudential Douglas Elliman. “People are buying through the summer months and property is moving. This is a far cry from last summer.”

Ryan Fitzpatrick, sales associate at the brokerage CORE, said that in light of the strength of demand this summer, he “expects the market will be robust through the fall.

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HGTV’s new realty reality show, “Selling New York,” premiers tonight at 9 p.m., promising to showcase the “top of the real estate food chain.” The show follows Gumley Haft Kleier’s Michele Kleier and her broker daughters, Samantha Kleier Forbes and Sabrina Kleier Morgenstern, as well as Core’s Shaun Osher, among other brokers from each firm as they maneuver their way through some of the city’s most high-end real estate transactions. In honor of the debut, The Real Deal did some digging to find out which of the city’s prized properties are slated to be featured this season. Among them: a four-bedroom loft at the Chelsea Mercantile listed for $22.45 million, the 25 Murray Street loft for which former Giants star Michael Strahan is asking $1.85 million, a $17 million landmarked townhouse at 109 East 69th Street, and a 2,295-square-foot spread at highly-anticipated One Brooklyn Bridge Park (see slide show of many of the homes above). Click here for more information about the residences expected to appear in the upcoming season.
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From the August issue: Frances Katzen, an executive vice president at Prudential Douglas
Elliman, was elated when she found a buyer for the one-bedroom she was
representing in a Lower East Side condo conversion.
The transaction went awry, however, when the buyer learned at the
closing table that the financing she had been counting on had fallen
through, thanks to an obscure loophole in guidelines by the Federal
Housing Administration: Loans insured by the FHA currently cannot be
issued in a condo conversion until at least one year after the condo
has been declared effective.
The buyer “got all the way to the closing and was told that the
mortgage was not issued,” recalled Katzen, who now refuses to work with
FHA-insured loans, despite the fact that the government-backed
mortgages are exploding in popularity. [more]