Images from 127 East 78th Street and the listing agents (from top), Matt Perceval and Michael Pellegrino, both of Sotheby’s

An Upper East Side summer townhouse rental has jumped to its third brokerage in five years — with a price increase.

The 4,000-square-foot townhouse at 127 East 78th Street hit the rental market today for $25,000 a month. But rather than seeking year-long tenants, this listing is hoping to nab summer residents only — something it’s failed to do twice before.

The four-bedroom, three-and-a-half-bathroom home, which is available for July and August only, was first listed by Warburg Realty for $20,000 a month in 2006. Halstead Property had the exclusive three years later, with an asking price of $24,500 per month, that was later chopped to $19,500. And, after a failed effort to market the townhouse as a “holiday season” rental in 2010, also with Halstead, (asking $15,000 for a Dec. 19 to Jan. 1 lease term), the listing moved to Sotheby’s International Realty.
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Rivendell House, a subsidiary of venture capital firm Founders Fund, has purchased the Bacchus House, a six-bedroom townhouse at 40 West 10th Street for $20 million, according to city records. Seller Enrico Cinzano, of the Cinzano wine company, had been trying for the last few years to sell the building, which was first listed with Brown Harris Stevens, Real Estate Weekly reported. The listing agent is now Michael Pellegrino of Sotheby’s International Realty, who declined to comment. The Beaux-Arts house, between Fifth and Sixth avenues, features a 40-foot landscaped atrium plus its own garage. [more]

From the June issue: In politics, most elected officials have some sort of “advance” team
that arrives at events hours beforehand to scout out a perfect photo op
or to set up a news conference. It turns out similar sorts of advance people exist in New York real
estate, in the form of brokers and personal assistants who preview
properties before the potential buyer even walks through the door.
While brokers have been doing this for some time, more personal
assistants are taking on a surrogate real estate role for their bosses.
Previewing properties in New York has become an increasingly
popular trend as buyers have become pickier about getting bargains and
inventory has risen. On a recent episode of the new real estate reality television show “Selling New York,” high-end broker Michele Kleier showed a townhouse to an advance man checking out the property for an unnamed Hollywood bigwig.

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Images from 1016 Madison Avenue (click image for larger version)

A $65 million townhouse at 1016 Madison Avenue has returned to the market after a year hiatus and with a new $72 million price tag, according to listing agent Michael Pellegrino of Sotheby’s International Realty.

The 10-bedroom, 12,000-square-foot turn-of-the-century home, which is next door to Mayor Michael Bloomberg’s home, between 78th and 79th streets, underwent several renovations since it exited the market last year, according to Pellegrino, and was “restored to its original grandeur.”

The home — which is asking $6,000 per square foot — may have a certain draw for art enthusiasts because it was once owned by noted German art dealer Klaus Perls. The seller of the single-family property is noted antique, book and maps dealer W. Graham Arader. It is currently being used as a gallery, Pellegrino said.

“It’s rare,” Pellegrino said, “[and] it’s a little pricey, but it is what it is.” [more]

From left, Neil Binder, Wolf Jakubowski and Jonathan Miller

From the November issue: The beleaguered luxury real estate market in New York is beginning to show some positive signs, but there is expected to be a lot of stumbling along the path to recovery. The high-end market here has been harder hit in terms of both price drops and activity than any other sector, and there’s still a sense of nervousness among many about buying multimillion-dollar properties. However, in this month’s Q & A, The Real Deal talked to market analysts, top luxury brokers and heads of firms who said that while there is still a lot of caution, they are beginning to see a mild increase in activity in Manhattan’s most exclusive property trades. Within the last two months, some say they have noticed an increase in buyers, who for the first time in the last year are not convinced that prices will continue to go down. But sales are still way off, and one analyst disputed the notion that prices are going to head back up anytime soon, saying “inventory is still grossly overpriced for the current conditions.” Meanwhile, many of the transactions that have taken place are from all-cash buyers who are paying lower prices, or from buyers who are putting in at least half of the cash needed to finance the purchase. That means the jumbo mortgages that drive the segment are still not getting easier to obtain — a reality that does not bode well for the sector in the near future. And many of those interviewed said sellers are still not dropping their prices to the levels they need to be at to lure buyers. They said the $2.6 million to $5 million range and the $10 million to $20 million range have suffered most. For more on what’s going on, which areas of Manhattan have seen the largest drops in the luxury sector and which ones are holding stronger, we turn to our panel of experts.

The unit to see the biggest price cut today is Buttonwood Real Estate President & CEO Andrew Heiberger’s townhouse at
161 East 63rd Street, according to Streeteasy.com. The price of the
home, which has seven fireplaces, was cut by $2 million, and the home
is now on the market for $14.85 million. The townhouse is now listed
for 12 percent less than its asking price of $16.85 million when it
first went on the market in February. Heiberger, founder of Citi Habitats, bought the home for $8.15
million in 2004, according to Streeteasy.com. Sotheby’s International
Realty’s Michael Pellegrino has the listing. TRD