Stephen Ferrara thinks he knows the West Village as well as anyone. And he has the courage of his convictions: The veteran agent just closed on an apartment there for $3.55 million after offering more than the asking price without even seeing the place.
A 15-year neighborhood resident, Ferrara is also the co-founder of the Hudson Advisory Team, one of the highest grossing real estate teams in the city. So when he saw a condo unit listed at 132 Perry Street for $3.1 million, he immediately bid north of that.
“My feeling was that it was undervalued,” he said. “I know the building, I know the block, I would argue I know the neighborhood better than anyone in terms of inventory. There weren’t any variables I didn’t understand about the building.”
The two-bedroom, two-bathroom apartment has a renovated marble kitchen and a set of large glass French doors that open onto a 1,800-square-foot shared terrace.
The seller was Anthony Leichter, who also knows a little something about the business: He is a managing member of Stawski Partners, a fixture in New York City real estate for more than 50 years. Among its projects is 27 Wooster Street.
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The acquisition gives Ferrara a home near his team’s office and two developments, on Charles Street and on Barrow Street, where he and Hudson Advisory Team co-founder Clayton Orrigo will be handling sales later this year.
A recent pipeline report from Corcoran shows that Downtown Manhattan, which includes the West Village, has the tightest supply in the city, with only 4,000 new units slated to come online in the next three years, despite high demand.
Ferrara wasn’t the only one who thought the Perry Street unit was underpriced. Despite his high initial bid, he had to win a bidding war.
“The advice I give to our clients, I was listening to the same advice and I acted on it,” Ferrara said of the process. “It was not for the faint of heart.”
Ferrara said his team has over $500 million in signed contracts and closed deals already this year, with much of that in the West Village. Last year, he was involved in the sale of a penthouse at 443 Greenwich Street for $34 million, according to property records.