Midtown East
$2.35 million
250 East 53rd Street, Apt. 2401
Two-bedroom, 2.5-bath, 1,560 sf condo in the Veneto; unit has hardwood floors, washer/dryer, marble bath; building has doorman, concierge; common charges $1,462 per month; taxes $369 per month; asking price $2.49 million; 15 weeks on the market. (Brokers: Joan Brothers, Manhattan Global Properties; John Carapella and Rory Nichols, Town Residential)
John Carapella
“My colleague and I had a listing at 80 Park Avenue — it was one of those apartments where we had multiple offers within the week. That’s how I met the buyer. It didn’t work out with that transaction, but he ended up working with us. His focus initially was on condos, and we looked all over Midtown. He wanted to stay close to the 42nd Street area, so 53rd Street was not too big a compromise. It had as much space as he wanted — a 32-foot living room and views from every room. [The transaction was] all cash, so financing was not an issue. He is from Hong Kong originally. It was a quick turnaround — offer accepted, and three weeks later it closed. The seller had bought the apartment as an investment property and it had been rented to the same tenant since it was built. We had to go up in budget to get what we were really looking for. Ultimately, the price per square foot was similar [to what he initially wanted at 80 Park]. It was an older building, but the apartment had been renovated.” John Carapella, Town Residential
Park Slope
$465,000
556-558 Fifth Avenue, Apt. 3A
One-bedroom, two-bath, 700 sf prewar condo with elevator and roof deck; unit has eat-in kitchen and hardwood floors; common charges $275 per month; asking price $469,000; six weeks on the market. (Brokers: Shantal Cooper, A.C. Lawrence, and Katherine Barron, A.C. Lawrence. The brokers represented both the buyer and seller.)
“I got the listing from one of my colleagues. At the first open house, we had 25 groups waiting outside. We had some offers on the table and decided on one at $465,000 — the buyer was a dentist and owned a bar on the corner. … There were a lot of issues with the financing. He was closing on his house in Bay Ridge and he never told us [that his financing] was contingent on selling the other house. The contract took five or six weeks to get signed, and in the meantime, we had higher cash offers, but these sellers were very ethical and said, ‘You know, we will give this guy some time.’ [The buyer] had used Wells Fargo in the past, so he thought he would have no trouble with financing, but he did. The mortgage broker kept saying, ‘Trust me, trust me.’ The buyer liked the location because his bar was down the block. The numbers worked out really well because there was no condo in the area that was [at his price point].” Shantal Cooper, A.C. Lawrence
Greenwich Village
$330,000
24 Cornelia Street, Apt. 1
A 320-square-foot studio in a prewar co-op; building has live-in super, courtyard, bike storage; unit has high ceilings, fireplace; maintenance $733 per month; asking price $335,000; 36 weeks on the market. (Brokers: Stephen Dore, Bond New York; Philip Tabor, Prudential Douglas Elliman)
“I represented the seller. It was a referral through my sister-in-law. It’s very small — 350 square feet tops. It had an old kitchen, this eating counter, which made the living space even smaller, and they [originally] had an agent who just was not proactive. So they renovated the apartment, after which I got the listing. But it was still on the market for about six months — the size just did not work for some people. We listed it at $340,000 and thought we might be stretching … but the market seemed to be improving, and we ended up closing at $330,000. The buyer made the offer on a Wednesday and had required that the contract be executed by a Friday. We got the package together really fast, but the board took three or four weeks to get back to us. [The buyer] had wanted to move toward the beginning of September. We just closed this week; she moved in [Oct. 19].” Stephen Dore, Bond New York