Upper East Side
$480,000
333 East 66th Street
1-bedroom, 1-bathroom, 800 sf co-op in a postwar elevator building; 24-hour doorman; unit has northern exposure, city views and hardwood floors; building has pool, sauna, health club and roof deck; maintenance $1,148 per month; 50 percent tax-deductible; asking price $490,000; 20 weeks on the market. (Brokers: Gloria Giese, City Connections Realty; Richard Merton, Stribling & Associates)
“A brand-new management company was hired for the building right before the sale, and that made the process quite torturous for the buyers. The people who bought it are longtime friends of mine, who had already owned in the building for many years. They were buying something larger and planned to give their original apartment to their daughter. The management company requested much more information than my friends thought was necessary, given that they already lived in the building. At one point, the deal almost fell through because the process was taking so long.” — Gloria Giese, City Connections Realty
Upper West Side
$495,000
250 West 94th Street
1-bedroom, 1-bathroom, 850 sf co-op in prewar elevator building (the Stanton); 24-hour doorman; unit has windowed galley kitchen and interior courtyard exposure, and needs gut renovation; building has gym, roof deck, courtyard and live-in super; maintenance $834 per month; 41 percent tax-deductible; asking price $499,000; three weeks on the market. (Broker: Dan Danielli, Halstead Property)
“The apartment was a complete wreck. It was an estate sale, and the executor had hung on to the apartment for almost four years after her brother died because she just couldn’t part with it. It was just atrocious — dusty, filthy, jammed from floor to ceiling with all kinds of stuff. I had the executor hire someone to create a path in there so there was room to walk. It was a third-floor apartment facing the courtyard, and there was a tree branch that had literally started to grow into the bedroom — it had cut in through the window. It was so scary on the inside that I would just unlock the door, flip on the light switch and wish the buyers luck. We didn’t bother to take any interior photos for the listing. There wasn’t even enough space to take a picture. It turns out the people who bought it already lived in the building so they knew what it was worth, but aside from them we were getting such insulting bids from the people who came — in the high $300,000s and low $400,000s.” — Dan Danielli, Halstead Property
Williamsburg
$487,500
63 Jackson Street
1-bedroom, 1-bathroom, 990 sf duplex condo in a new building; unit has marble baths, hardwood floors, terrace and washer/dryer; building has a roof deck; common charges $259 per month; taxes $15 per month (abated); asking price $529,000; 12 weeks on the market. (Brokers: Sonya Spitznas, aptsandlofts.com; David Kazemi, Bond NY)
“The buyers are a young family with two kids and a third one on the way. Three kids in a fourth-floor walk-up — that’s very unusual. But they loved the place and it’s the location they wanted. They are first-time buyers and had been looking for a little over a year. They had actually already been in contract elsewhere, but that deal fell through. I’ve had so many young families coming into Williamsburg, and what I’ve found is that they’re attracted to the area because they’re looking for more space for their money but also don’t want to lose their social lives. You’ll see young couples with babies in the bars during the World Cup.” — Sonya Spitznas, aptsandlofts.com
Interviews conducted and condensed by Sarabeth Sanders