115 E 90th St. - Temporarily off market

It means they aren't willing to sell at the price it would take to get a bid today, so they are taking it off the market to wait until the market gets better and they can get a bid that reflects what the apartment is "worth". To save myself the trouble of posting again in order to respond to your next question, I'll respond in advance: yes, they are delusional.

Another way to answer is the following:

What does the seller think it means? A: See above re: waiting for the market to turn

What does it really mean? A: that they will sell it later this year or next year at a big discount to the current ask.

sidelinesitter, I thought the $995 was a pretty realistic price and I was thinking about checking in out. Surprised they would pull it off.

Sometimes they take apartments off for a couple of weeks and then try again so it can become a "new" listing all over again.

Or they felt the season was becoming slower again, and it wasn't worth it to keep it up now, and will put it back on in September.

Or they may be very optimistic about the upward potential of this market.

Or they had to pay next year's tuition and decided to stay until the next school year was over.

Or they may not need to sell (although the rather large chops would seem to indicate otherwise).

I have no relative value view on the price. I do know that as recently as 6 months ago, and a full month after the Lehman blow up, the sellers' heads were still in a $1.3mm zip code, so maybe their view of value is anchored at a level where a further discount to $995 just doesn't work for them. There is also this concept that listings than linger too long are tainted and should be taken off the market for a decent interval to be "refreshed" before being relisted. I don't know either way whether that makes sense, but it is a prevalent notion.

My point is that on current trends they are unlikely to do better than today's bid for some time, so whether it's a 'refreshing the listing' strategy, a 'waiting for the market to turn' strategy or a 'we don't really need to sell' strategy, denial can turn out to be costly. See the 'our favorite price choppers' thread for many examples where holding out and hoping is not working too well.

sidelinesitter, i totally agree with you. i don't think there's any upside in waiting to sell, unless your wait time is more than seven or eight years. just listing what might be going through their mind, realistic or not.

ar- Yes, we are in violent agreement. As you note in the last point in your list, the large chops don't indicate a lack of desire to sell. The tactics of firing the broker, posting a 'refreshed' listing with a new broker a month later, delisting again over the Christmas holidays when the market is slow and posting a re-refreshed (is that even a word?) listing in January also indicate an interest in getting something done, although it's too cute by half and they missed the most important part, which is being willing to take an offer that clears the market. Watch for the re-re-refreshed listing either mid-May or after Labor Day.

carnegie - juat one more thought while i'm pontificating on (lack of) sales strategy. In a market where traffic is slow and buyers are taking their sweet time making decisions - and why not, since they are getting paid (in the form of lower prices) to wait - another risk of the on the market, off the market strategy is that the seller will be off when a buyer (a.k.a., you) who may see good value vs. his/her specific needs comes along, notices that the listing has been pulled and moves on to the next one. No lack of alternatives for a buyer these days.

Or they are switching brokers in the hope that will help.

I thought it was good value. Last apt in same line sold for $1.445 in 07. So with negotiations this is between 30-40% off. Not too shabby. Oh well, maybe I just wait and it pops back up.

Drunken party : the girls are getting prettier and drunker by the minute... and the bar just opened an hour ago and gotz... oh wait a minute... this is a 24hr bar :)

So, w67, what is your prediction? Are you looking to buy?

*warning - random non sequitur follows* - hey, w67, fyi, I dropped a shout out to you in one of my posts on the ues comp threads the other day. take care. *end of non sequitur*

carnegie.... I have never been a "market" timer. I did the numbers in 2006-7 versus rent and said I'd take the rent trade all day long. The one caveat is that there are people who irrationally look to buy b/c they saw their favorite unit go past $1000psf (2004), then $1250 psf and now $2,000psf in 2008 and said I'm gonna trade at $1000psf no matter what happens. Funny enough a bunch of my "favs" are getting "papered" at just below $1,000psf (it's all psycological). These people will look back in 16 months and kick themselves... if "money" represents "real" time/value in their careers i.e. not NFL player, Brit Spears.

I just signed a 16 month extension w/ LL till 7-2010, but would not hesitate to do the rent trade again based on my family, market and how much more equity we could build. FWIW, I think the 50% down Co-Op is primed for picking in the next 2 yrs and depending on my comfort and how much discount off the then "market," I may be enticed to catch the falling knife. And there is no law that doesn't allow you pay off the lease and do a buy in during the 16 months. $6K * 16 = $196K versus getting a 20% discount off market on a $3MM Co-op = or $600K.

sidelinesitter... my bad.... I'll look it up.