Murray Hill
$1.83 million
325 Fifth Avenue
325 Fifth Avenue
2-bedroom, 2-bathroom, 1,221 sf condo in a new elevator building; full-time doorman; concierge; unit has 104-square-foot balcony, floor-to-ceiling windows and washer/dryer; building has fitness center with pool and sauna, children’s play room, conference center, garage; common charges $1,290 per month; taxes $201 per month (abated); asking price $1.895 million; 13 weeks on the market. (Brokers: William Landhauser, Prudential Douglas Elliman; Ann Cullen, Bellmarc Realty)
“This was a corporate purchase — the buyer plans to use the apartment as an investment property. In some ways, it’s harder to work with investors because they’re not as emotional. A buyer who plans to live in the apartment may decide to go up $10,000 in price because they just really love it, but an investor is more likely to walk away from a deal if he’s not getting what he wants. In this case, we did walk away from two deals where we couldn’t agree on a price. There are still some sellers out there that are not as realistic about the market. The owner of this apartment needed to sell and was very reasonable for today’s market, so we got it at a good price.” Ann Cullen, Bellmarc Realty
Upper West Side
$725,000
372 Central Park West
372 Central Park West
1-bedroom, 1-bathroom, 850 sf condo in a postwar elevator building (the Vaux); full-time doorman; newly renovated unit has home office, southern exposure and Central Park views; building has fitness room, garden, laundry, storage; common charges $480 per month; taxes $219 per month; asking price $749,000; 19 weeks on the market. (Brokers: Linda Chipurnoi, the Corcoran Group; Helen Leshinsky, City Connections Realty)
“The buyer was one of my first real estate clients when I started four years ago. We’re both alumni of NYU and we met at a real estate-oriented lecture. He raised his hand to ask a question about how his landlord had hiked up his rent and I raised my hand to answer his question. Afterward, he asked to talk to me about buying an apartment. He has been renting on West 60th Street in Midtown for the past seven years and has been thinking about buying an apartment for the past 10 years. I think we saw apartments in every borough except Staten Island. We saw condos, co-ops. … We visited at least 10 neighborhoods in Manhattan alone and saw possibly 100 properties. We became friends in the process. He’s a journalist, and he said that was a journalistic tendency — to want to get the full story on what he could compare. Plus, if you have a really great rental in New York, it’s hard to give it up. Now that he’s closed, I think he realized that he likes buying real estate. He recently asked me, What do you think about buying an investment property in the Bronx?” Helen Leshinsky, City Connections Realty
Upper West Side
$680,000
215 West 95th Street
215 West 95th Street
1-bedroom, 1-bathroom, 690 sf condo in a postwar elevator building (Princeton House); full-time doorman; unit has wood floors and dishwasher; building has health club, live-in super, laundry, roof deck; common charges $540 per month; taxes $448 per month; asking price $699,000; 16 weeks on the market. (Brokers: Robert Rosa, Century 21 NY Metro; Peter Griffiths, the Corcoran Group)
“I was the broker when this gentleman originally purchased this apartment a few years ago, so I felt like I had an attachment to it. Unfortunately, he had to sell it because he lost his job in the banking industry. He is a single guy and lived there by himself with his two cats. Now he’s moving back in with a relative in Boston and is looking for a job over there. The couple who purchased the apartment was buying it as an investment property. They rented it out for around $2,800 a month.” Robert Rosa, Century 21 NY Metro
Interviews compiled and condensed by Sarabeth Sanders