Sale at 250 East 87th Street #3C

But they have to get the money back that they put into it, right?

evnyc it looks like it never sold. Fell out of contract. Not uncommon these days. Financing still prohibitively difficult. Give the market correction some time. Prices climbed steeply for six years. You can't expect correction in six months.

It's pretty strange. The OLP was pretty attractive and the unit went in contract within a month. I have no clue who they're trying to kid with the increase. A property that falls out of contract is already "tainted" to a certain extant because it didn't have a second offer to fall back to when the buyer failed to close, and that was at its OLP.

my bet is board turndown

Oh, I don't expect the correction to happen in six months, AR. I sometimes worry that it will pass me by. If it was a board turndown, maybe it was because the sale price was "too low" and that is the reasoning behind the raise in price?

Five weeks seems short to know the board outcome, but I guess the process would vary quite a bit from building to building. Of course if the board just sent a message to the parties along the lines of "don't even bother submitting a package at a price like that", you could get to an outcome pretty quickly.

Recall that UD, whose bet is board turndown, has an in-contract listing in this building that has been discussed on this board, so he may be in the flow of the right rumor mill.

yes but why the increase in price --they get a minor uptick in traffic for a few months and they think the parties back on! -- dont' think it will sell at 650K.

the increase in price is when buyers offer $565k the sellers will get what they originally wanted and not have to negotiate from a starting point of $565k. I'm in sales (not real estate) and I always start at a high point knowing it will be negotiated down.

Would a board really turn down a sale in this market because the price is too "low"? Seems short-sighted on the board's part to leave inventory outstanding in the building given the undeniable downturn.

Pette - I agree with you, but people who (claim to) know something about the process have discussed the "price too low" question a few times on SE in recent months and quite a few seem to think that boards have both the latitude (legally) and in some cases the inclination to "protect value" through turndowns. That said, I do not recall anyone citing a specific example of it happening, which may tell you something about how real the issue is or isn't. Also, I didn't mean to suggest that low price was the only possible reason for a board turndown. Buyer financials or some other issue could also explain it, if indeed UD is correct in the first place. I just used the hypothetical of a low price as an example of how you might get an answer in an unusually brief time.

On price, who knows? This is asking 32% off the last sale comp in the line (up from -40% previously), so it isn't crazy to think that there could be interest. Trompilico's point about taint seems right and should cap the price at or around the previous ask/contract level, but it only takes one buyer. Previous discussion from April is here:

"250 East 87th, Apt. 3C. Just listed at $575K, or $523 per alleged sf.
http://www.streeteasy.com/nyc/sale/403849-coop-250-east-87th-street-yorkville-new-york

7C closed for $957,500 last June, so the listing price on 3C is a full 40% lower. A couple of qualifications, though. The apartment (at least the LR end) is above a busy intersection on 86th Street, so 4 floors of elevation probably counts for a lot here. Also, 7C has a small balcony while 3C does not, although this may not be a very valuable attribute on a low-ish floor above this intersection. Condition could also be a significant factor, with the listing for 7C claiming mint renovation and 3C described on the broker's sheet as "functional condition", whatever that means. Clearly not a clean comp, but -40% does get ones attention as a starting point."
http://www.streeteasy.com/nyc/talk/discussion/7617-if-you-can-demonstrate-market-movement-with-comps-upper-east-side-edition?page=4