OPEN BOOK: Sale at 425 East 79th Street #11K

Sniper, congratulations on your closing and many warm wishes. I'm really looking forward to hearing the details.

I hope your closing price is exactly the one you wanted...good luck in your new home.

Congratulations!

Congrats! Hope that picture-hosting helped. =)

the closing is complete, so here's how it went down (i know this is long but i will give as much detail as I can - hope it doesn't bore you):

i decided i was going to sell back in November 2008 but figured I should wait until January to list. With the holidays it just didn't make sense to do it then. I had 3 or 4 brokers come by and give me evaluations on where they would price it. My intention was always to try to FSBO first and then evaluate my next step if it didn't work out. the highest price was $930K (corcoran) - i knew that was insane. although the same unit in worse shape on a lower floor sold for $950K in dec. 2007 i just knew my place was not worth that much (that seller scored big time) and it would be a mistake to list it there. two others told me to list at $850K (halstead and elliman) while another said $800K. I thought that gave me a pretty good idea that $850K was roughly where it should list.

i was in the lobby for my building's holiday party in early december - i usually wouldn't attend these things (summer and holiday parties) but i figured it was a great way to get down there and get the word out to my neighbors. while speaking to some lifers from the building one woman told me "you should go on streeteasy.com." i never even heard of it but i checked it out that night and a great relationship was born. i started scouring the posting boards and loading up on advice from all of you guys. i started to understand the majority attitude very quickly: brokers suck, sellers are insane and bears ruled the day. i wanted as much as advice as i could get about selling my apartment by myself. every bit of advice and opinions (even the negative ones) were taken on board and all helped in the end. you all helped me come up with my pricing which i set at $875,000. i new this would give me some leeway as everyone was in the early stages of starting to feel as if the deserved major discounts. also, as mentioned earlier i hooked up with tom at www.nbpny.com on these boards and since then have literally exchanged hundreds, if not a thousand, emails - with advice on helping me get this done.

I put the place on the market around the second week of january. i posted something in the lobby so everyone in my building could get a look at it first in case they were interested or if they knew someone who was. i posted about the first open house all over this site, on www.nbpny.co and on craigslist. i didn't make it onto the NYT website in time for that first open house so i was kinda unsure what the response would be. i got roughly 9 people including some from the building (i had 5 people from my office fill-in the sign in sheet so it was never blank when the first people came). 1 guy that lives 2 doors down from me came by and said he had a friend who might be interested. i gave him my details and told him to call me. he called and i told him to come by the next sunday for the next open house. he said "no. i want to come before that. can i come tomorrow?" i said "ok."

he came by, did a quick run through the place, motioned me into the kitchen and made me an offer of $800K right there. he was a bit aggressive (but not in a bad way, more of an entertaining way) and literally wanted the contracts the next day. i told him that i was having an open house that sunday and was only taking offers right now but would get back to him after the open house. i had a good showing with open house. i knew i staged the place really well: light jazz playing in all rooms, warm cookies, my pottery-barn catalog looking rooms, a candle in the bathroom, etc. i think roughly 16 people came by (now had NYT online advertising) with a few from the building. later that day i got another offer via email. it was for $800K as well. i responded to the email with a counteroffer of $865K and told them my reasoning and that i also had another offer for more than what they had offered. they basically responded "thanks but that is the most we can do."

i spoke to the original bidder that week and explained that i had another offer. he came back with $825K and explained that he would have to redo the bathroom and the kitchen (so much for the new granite kitchen counter and bathroom tile floor and refinished tub, painting of bathroom, etc. that i put in in December! cost = $3000). i countered with $865K. let me be clear - negotiating with this guy was incredibly fun and entertaining. i don't want to give many details about him but he is probably in his early 50's and is from italy. every bargain with a real italian? pure fun if you let it be. he told me &825K was the best he could do. i told him i had to check with my wife or something like that and i would be back to him in a day or two. i got back to him and told him that i thought we were close but i was having another open house the following weekend and it was already listed in the Times so i was gonna go through with it and get back to him.

at that time i decided to open my listing up to brokers offering them a fee of 2.5%. i figured that i already had an offer at $825K from a guy who had a close friend living down the hallway (a premium) so i would see if i could get something better by having brokers bring in more buyers. i had received hundreds of emails from brokers who saw my listing on craigslist or in the times and all of them had 'a qualified buyer ready to buy in my neighborhood/building." you can understand why i found it interesting when NO BROKERS SHOWED UP with anyone and i had my worst open house - 3 people. so much for all those "buyers ready to go." i ate a lot of warm cookies that day.

the original bidder called me and we went back and forth quite a bit. i told him that we were very close and i knew we would get it done but we just weren't where i needed us to be. i told him that i felt we would be sharing a bottle of wine when this was all said and done. he said that he would buy me a case of wine as part of the offer. i said i would take it but i needed to be closer to $840K. after a bunch of back and forth i said "look, my asking was $875K, you offered $800K, let's meet in the middle at $837,500." he was at $830K. we ended up settling at $835,700 (he said "i like the number 7." i said "so let's do it at $837,500 and you will get your 7").

i realize that i got lucky finding a buyer in this market but i found the perfect guy: i got a good sale price, he gets to be down the hall from his friend and he was willing to go into contract in february with a closing date of june so my kid could finish school. also, we worked out a deal for a post closing occupancy agreement where i am paying him $2000 to stay in the place until the first weekend in july. the closing today went very smooth except for my wife breaking down and crying on a few occasions and the bank payoff check being an hour late. so that is pretty much it.

i bought the place in 2004 for $685K, sold it today for $835,700.

what else can i tell you?

thanks to everyone who helped out - too many posters to name, tom at nbpny.com, mdasch who hooked me up with a nifty photo script for my website and a bunch others.

where are you going to live now?

that is the funny part...I DON'T KNOW!!!!!!

we have been looking in bergen county, NJ. we decided that we would rent for a year and then look to buy in a year or two. we saw a rental in tenafly that i really liked but it had 3 applications on it when we were ready to go. we are still looking. for july and likely august we will be staying at a friend's 2nd home in Nyack, NY - about 45 drive from city. it is a great 5000 sq. ft. house that is less than 5 years old, has a gym and steam room, 70 inch HD TV, a huge yard, jungle gym, pool, hot tub, several decks and a finished basement that is larger than all the apartments i have ever lived in in NYC combined. we spend most of our summer weekends there with them and even have our own room and clothing that we keep there. they have offered us the run of the place for the summer.

Sniper, that's a lovely story. As to negotiating with Italians - never done it myself, but a friend in the art gallery world has quite some funny stories about them coming in, negotiating the price of artworks down to the nth percentage profit, and then never following through with the purchase. Negotiating for fun. I'd never stand a chance, but I'm so glad you had a good selling experience.

thanks. it was fun. one thing i should say is that from the start i was determined to sell on my own and i just had this feeling that it would get done and it wouldn't be a problem. even though a lot of people told me it would be tough and brokers told me that i would need them because they have all the clients, i just had a knowing that it would get done.

sniper, to get 25% over a 2004 price, in this market, is really lucky. Congrats.

So it was luck, wasn't it. A guy from your building who had a friend... the rest is history. FSBO or no FSBO.
Congratulations!

how fortunate you were to find that one person from a neighbor...what i truly find amazing are your friends that are giving you their home for the summer...you and your family must be terrific people. good luck in your house search.

thanks for the good wishes.

as far as luck...some believe in luck, other believe that you just need to announce your intentions to the universe and the universe will come and meet you. a little too "new agey," i know but this wouldn't be the first time something like this has work out when my intention was strong enough.

the friends with the house are very close to us - we are closer to them then we are with our own families, and they are the most incredibly generous friends that two people could have. i consider having them more luck than i consider the sale luck.

Congrats - great story. Years ago I sold my studio to my next door neighbors - they saw some people come and see the apartment and got worried so I sold it at the time for 35% more than any studio ever went for in the building - just my lucky I sold in 2000 and prices almost doubled from then in the West Village. Still - always great to sell to someone you know or a friend of a friend. Good luck finding a new place.

Congratulations Sniper!

Sniper, CONGRATULATIONS !!!!! You created a wonderful situation for yourself with this sale & with your tremendous friends. Speak your word & it will not come back to you void; it will come back to you fulfilled. Thanx for sharing your experience with us & in such detail.

no problem. let me know if there is anything that I left out that you guys want to know.

can anyone recommend a mover? i just got one estimate but i am looking to get one or two more.

Congrats, Sniper - I've used Flatrate 5 times and I've been happy with them.

Did you make this website for FSBO listings or some service did you use and how much did it cost?

I wish brokers use these kinds of tools on their website. I guess presentation is every thing. Your building must be in great financial shape as co-op dues are rather on low side.

Used Flat-Rate 3 times and they were great each time.

sam - i made the site myself. i would offer my services for hire.

i will give flat-rate a call.

i ditto flat-rate, never had a problem with them..always neat, nothing broken

sniper...how did you get in touch with tom, just in case I buy an apartment I would need help with the board package.

you can just email him at the contact on www.nbpny.com

i think he charged my buyer $400 to do the whole thing (package, collecting info, priming him for interview, etc.) tell him Sniper from SE sent you.

how is Oz? they gave me a pretty good quote compared to the first company I had here. Flat rate is coming on Saturday.

Sniper, if you're willing to share a little more, I'm curious to get an insight into seller psychology - how low would you have been willing to go?

BTW, as you know, I'm bone-lazy when it comes to housework. When it's time to unpack, get a HS student for $10/hr to do less personal things like books. I let them unpack china/glasses/kitchen stuff as well because I'm not particular. We have 8 bookcases of books, and that's what we do every move.

John Doe - that is a fair question but I am not sure I can answer it. When I priced it at $875,000 I figured the lowest I would go would be $825,000 and I could live with it. I pondered my listing price in late November and through December. Things were drastically changing in the market on a weekly basis though and reading these boards made it seem like it was just starting. I don't know how low I would have gone if I continued to stay on the market for several months. I never had to endure price cuts but I think the longer it went on the lower my $825,000 number would have had to go. I hope that kind of answers your question.

10023 - I have my books all separated by subject (spiritual, travel, rock and roll, beat, etc.) so I don't know if i could count on a high school kid to know his Kerouac from Kabat-Zinn.

Congratulations Sniper and thank you for sharing this at Street Easy. YOur post is one of the most helpful and informative post I have read here.

Never used Oz, but I have used Flat Rate and had no problems with them. We went with Flat Rate even though they were a little more expensive because the other places we contacted wanted us to "tip" - a lot. Minimum 20%, I was told in one case - "it's a service profession, so you tip like anything else." I was quite annoyed by that, since I (over)tip according to quality of service, and I didn't want to be strongarmed if I wasn't happy with the service. When I added a 20% tip to the rate quoted, it was on par with Flat Rate, so I went with them.

sniper congrats. perhaps your movers should show up at 407 PAS on their way uptown? just for a spot of fun?

Did 407 PAS ever sell??

looks like 407PAS is still on market and has been at the same price for the last month or so:
http://web.me.com/mac.hive/407PAS/18B.html

evnyc - i have two moving/storage estimates already. believe it or not, but they came in with almost a $2000 differential - that is pre-tip. I have Flat Rate coming tomorrow for an estimate. do they not expect you to tip?

Sniper, you still ought to tip - I was very pleased with the movers, they were very efficient and hard-working, so we gave them about 20% (on about a $900 job). I just didn't like the idea of being strongarmed into it if I didn't think the service warranted the tip. I think companies should pay their employees and not force them to depend upon tips, but that is just my $.02. However, I'm kind of a chronic over-tipper. I once tipped 10% because I was really mad at the waiter, and I still feel like a cheap jerk about it. So my examples of tips aren't very good ones. I worked in service industries for a long while so I have a painfully high tolerance for bad service.

I just used flat rate - things are bad. So I got my quote and didn't call back. They called me a few weeks later and I got a few hundred off.

i have a quote from OZ (in writing) - should i tell Flat Rate today up front so they don't waste my time or spring it on them after they give me their estimate (if it is higher)?

Congrats!!!
So now your a prespective buyer!
Welcome to the Bear Clan.

sniper...i negotiated a price with flat rate moving from florida to new york..they did talk about a tip as soon as they walked into the apartment but I was going to tip anyway and told them...

Sniper:

Thanks for your response. How much did it cost to from list to sale by going FSBO route? Like either $$ amount or % of sale price. I just want to compare to 6%.

I have a follow up question which has been asked above. If you had to list now or were not able to sell your apartment earlier this year. How low would have been the lowest for you? I know it is difficult for you to answer as you have already sold your apartment but just want to know seller's point of view what they think of their property value.

"How much did it cost to from list to sale by going FSBO route?"

I am not sure I am clear on what you are asking. These are the costs I can think of:

$3,000 -A few upgrades to my place before I listed (granite, counter, bathroom floor, painting, etc.).
$ 250 - membership with www.nbpny.com (incl. month-long NYT online listing, nbpny listing, endless consultation on everything)
$ 15 - pillsbury cookies for open houses
X amount of hours working on website, marketing materials, sponging up knowledge (hours and hours) on this website, cleaning and clearing stuff out for open house.

If you want to count the 3K in upgrades then the % of the sale comes to .39%.

Otherwise, it didn't really cost me anything. I guess the broker's fee - depending on the type of listing - could have been anywhere from $25,000 - $50,000. Obviously not worth it for me. As I mentioned above another guy in my building followed pretty much the same thing i did and he is close to, or may even be in contract. I don't think he found the guy through a neighbor so it is possible to get it done other ways. If you have the passion to do it - meaning the time, effort and desire to get it done - it can be done.

Af far as the the lowest price I just can't fairly say what it would be. I have kept my eye on things throughout this whole process and I definitely have seen plenty of 2bed/2baths listed and closing in the low-to-mid $700's. I am a 2bed/ONE bath, so if I had to keep hanging around the market for 6 months or so I think I would have had to drop quite a bit or decided not to sell. That is the best I can tell you.

if you have any more specific questions I am glad to answer them. If you are thinking about going FSBO then I say do it, but just soak up as much knowledge as you can first, have a lot of perseverance, be open to constructive criticism but don't start scrapping with haters (there is nothing to gain by defending your price/property to those who want to scrap with you - see: 407PAS) and have a game plan before you hit the field.

Sniper, you are THE M-A-N !!!

Thanks again sniper:

I was asking sales associated costs in case of FSBO vs realtor. You have done very cheaply and got a good price as well.

I have been told most sellers, in general, don't respond to offers below 15% of asking price whether asking price is realistic (reflecting market price) or still dreaming about peak price. As a seller at which threshold (like how much % below asking price) you would not have responded to offer (regardless how good is offer in terms of financing, credit and referral to be an attractive candidate for board etc)? Basically I am trying to ask is how much low is a low ball offer in your case?

Is new owner of your apartment is happy with the purchase or having a buyer's remorse like paid too much or jumped in too early?

I work in sales and was always taught that the sale doesn't start "until he says no." what i mean is that i went into this believing that no one would meet me at my offer price and in all likelihood i would not take them at their first offer. i expected them (i think i only mentioned 2 offers above but there were actually 3 first offers - all came in at $800K) to give me an offer that i would respond to with a counter-offer. as it turns out only 1 of the 3 was willing to negotiate from there. i guess the other 2 just threw out those offers to see if they would stick but couldn't or wouldn't go higher. really, less than 10% off my ask isn't that bad an offer these days...in fact, it is a great offer now. $800K would be 15% of the peak sale comp for my unit ($950K - which was way high even during peak times). so, to answer your question i would have (and did) respond to all offers. that is part of the game. i don't understand how you don't respond to an offer. what? you're insulted? give me a f*ing break. let the games begin. if you tell your wife you wanna go to vegas for a week to meet your college buddies you know you'll be happy when you get the go ahead for thursday night to sunday...but you start at a week. i would have responded to any offer just to get things started.

the new owner is pumped. one of his best buddies lives two doors down. he loved the negotiation. there was back-and-forth when he was throwing out all kinds of crazy numbers like $832,750 or $827,300. he said he liked the numbers 3 and 7. that is why we ended at $835,700 and a case of Italian wine. i can't really know if he has buyer's remorse. i don't think he does.

Thanks sniper for sharing your insights.

no problem. i don't want to explain the whole situation but the last 2 Bed/1bath that sold before mine (they are rare to sell in my bldg) was kind of an interesting situation. i met the current owners during one of my open houses and i have been down to their apartment. that $950K is waaaay off what it shoulda/coulda sold for (on the high end obviously). they are two elderly sisters and i don't want to say they got taken advantage of but....

Great thread. Congrats, Sniper. How was the wine?

i just got the wine today. i guess he dropped it with doorman last night. Italian wine called Kiron - Poggio de Bortolone. haven't tried it yet.

Hey, sniper, are you sure you wouldn't like to be a RE broker? You talked the only serious offeror up about 4% on his price - not bad. I find your story very illuminating. First, people who come to OHs don't often pan out. The friend of someone down the hall who likes the building might have been just curious, but by making an offer on the spot proved he was serious. I can't get over how you talked him up on price, though. You should be happy!

Congrats - great story. Tip the movers

i am very happy. i do not kid myself - i know that i found a needle in a haystack in this market. i didn't really think of it as talking him up on the price. i was only 1 or 2 weeks into being on the market and although i thought "hey, maybe this apartment is in demand," i quickly talked myself back into reality. we compromised - we came just shy of dead center from my asking and his initial offer. that is kind of how i figured it should be. when we negotiated he kept referring to how much he had come up from his initial offer, like:

"look-a, i make-a you da offa anda now i offa you $25,000 more. dat'sa as far as i can go!"

i had to keep reminding him that adding more to his initial offer wasn't as meaningful to me because it wasn't my asking, it was just some arbitrary starting point that he created and was working up from. if he offered me $700K and then upped it to $750K, in his mind he was adding a whopping $50,000 to his initial offer but it was just from some starting point he made up. follow me?

Sniper, don't underestimate yourself. You are a great salesperson.

grassy ass!

just thought i would throw this into the mix:

a friends parents just got their offer accepted on an UES 1150 sq ft 2 bed/2 bath (great views) that isn't in great shape but they planned on gut reno anyway....$680K! it is as far east as my place and a little higher up but that is a good price even if you plan on putting in $100K worth of work.

I got 3 moving estimates that include all funriture, lamps, electronics, computers, etc. and packing the kitchen up, plus 2 months of storage, then moving out of storage to next place (and reassembling wall unit, beds, etc.):

(all pre-tip and only minimal included insurance)

OZ - $3730.00
Flat Rate - $3583.00
Eagle - $5652.00

huge disparity, right? crazy. i guess based on everyone's experiences with Flat Rate it seems like a no brainer

Just a tip, don't be afraid to go back to FR and the others and ask them if it is their best offer. We had good luck negotiating with FR. Good luck.

good call. will do that today and report back. i am sure OZ could do better too if i told them about my flat rate offer.

Star- did you simply ask them "is this your best offer?" and the came back with something better or did you use another tactic? did you do over phone or email? please share.

I just asked nicely and they got back to me with a better price the next day. We had used another mover several times and had a price from them, and I told them that when I asked. I have a feeling they were flexible because we were moving in the middle of a month when there are fewer moving jobs to be had, but it worked anyway. I will say though that your price is barely above what we paid for a 2 BR and we did not have the 2 month storage component - that means they have to load and unload the truck twice for you (a lot more work than a straight move), so you may not have as much room to negotiate (although they did a full pack and unpack for us).

Counting myself and other members of my family, we've used OZ 6 times, and they've been great. Extremely efficient, but careful with the stuff. And they've never deviated from the originally quoted price - actually one time it came in lower than their estimate.

Sniper, so you spent .39% plus a considerable amount of time and it sounds like you nailed it.

Meaning if you were able to negotiate a 5% commission, your total savings is 4.61%.

So in exchange for your time you saved about $38,000 of presumably tax free money.

I think it is fair to say that this is FAR FAR better than the average FSBO. Good Job.

thanks. keep in mind, broker or not, I would have likely put in the $3000 or so in upgrades to create a little more value in my place...so let's say i used THE BEST broker out there and they could have gotten me $850,000 (they all told me I would get more with them, hoping I wouldn't understand that I would net less, i guess) at 5% that would have cost me $42,500 in fee, I would have net $807,500 and I would be losing many nights sleep torturing over the fact that I just paid someone $40K+ to sell my place. Even if they got me my asking of $875K, I would have net $4,450 less.

Now I am working on the moving rate. I will let you know where I get.

Update...

I emailed this to my OZ Moving rep:

I now have 3 estimates from different movers. Your rate is very competitive
and to be honest I thought that you personally provided the most attentive
customer service up until this point. The one difference is that your
competitors are willing to offer me the first month of storage for free. If
you were able to do this as well I would likely be ready to book the job
with you. Please let me know if this is possible. I hope to hear from you
soon. Reach me via email or phone.

Response:
I would be glad to do that.

They got my business. That's $495 of the original quote (which will now go towards the tip and some extra insurance).

sniper, awesome job. i would never have the fortitude to take on a FSBO, but thanks for showing how it can be done.

Well done again, Sniper. I'm still wondering about the wine, hoping for something along the lines of "No wine has ever tasted so good..." but I can handle the truth if not.

i cracked open the vino with dinner. it is okay. it is an italian red wine. i prefer pinot noir.
my favorite wine is Flowers ('04) from Sonoma. great stuff.

sniper, can't believe I missed this thread before. Great job on the sell, and best of luck finding a new home.

thanks. it was a fun process.

i decided to stop posting and reading the site this week because there is too much noise andsubstance has been lacking lately, but i JUST HAD TO POST THIS:

"The median price fell 18.5 percent from a year earlier to $835,700, New York appraiser Miller Samuel Inc. and broker Prudential Douglas Elliman Real Estate said today."

if you read this thread or followed my sale you would know that MY EXACT SALES PRICES WAS $835,700...totally by chance of my somewhat strange negotiations with my buyer. i just thought it was uncanny that we landed on that exact price quoted by Miller Samuel.

Sniper,this post is fascinating. Thank you for telling the whole story--I'm glad I caught it this time around. I have a question for you, if you don't mind: did you evaluate your buyer's finances before proceeding to contract? Or did you let the Board do that during their approval process? If you did evaluate his ability to actually get a mortage and pay $835,7000 for your apartment, how did you figure out what to look for?

thanks.

i did evaluate his finances. As I mentioned above, Tom from www.nbpny.com consulted me all the way through and he made sure that I got a good picture of his finances before taking it to the lawyers. this was not that easy because my buyer was very "looka, i hava da money. i tella you it won't be a problem." i had to explain to him several times that i trusted him but he needed to document all these things for the board and they wouldn't just take his word for it. it took a while but he finally filled out a financial statement for me. also, he was putting down about 40% so he didn't need to get a huge mortgage. when Tom did his board package he was a bit difficult to work with as well but he got it done.

if you are in a position where you are looking to evaluate buyers and need help i strongly recommend signing up for www.nbpny.com just for the consulting that is included with the sign up. it was well worth it for me.

how do I get in touch with Tom of nybits.com...i went on the website but i don't know what to do to find him. does he work for nybits..please help...i think i found a place and need help with the package. thanks.

it is not nybits. it is nbpny.com it stands for "no brokers please new york"

julia - email me apt11k4sale@me.com and i will give you his email

I found it...thanks

Sniper- excellent post and thread. Thanks for all the info. Looking to offer 650K on an overpriced 799K apartment. Brokers will not deal with anybody who is represented and although I am an attorney, I hate having myself for a client. The last time I tried to offer 20% below ask, I was told that I knew nothing about NY Real Estate, that I was arrogant, etc. I yess'd the RE Broker to death, but I'm over that kind of abuse. Just want to make the offer and be done with it. The place needs a good deal of work too.

Sniper's in today's (10/11) RE-section story about owners becoming renters.

NWT...give that man/woman a cigar!!!!!!

How did you know?

Shout out to Keith Burkhardt (The Burkhardt Group) - he thought of me when the Times writer asked him for people for the article.
and Tom of www.nbpny.com who helped me get to the point of being "Owners No More."

http://www.nytimes.com/2009/10/11/realestate/11cov.html

This was a good thread, so I'd looked you up back then, and remembered the name.

And you all did get a great photo out of it!

Tenafly did well in today's paper....

Flmao. Notice that it's all the 'brokers' who sold is now renting all the while continuing to scream at their clients to buy buy buy ?!!!!!!?????!!!!!!! Flmao. That bitch who is complaining about not having the clout of being a board member, makes me wanna puke. That boyfriend of hers better be in it for the sex cause there is no way you wanna be hitched with that ego for life, uggggggggggggg. Run dude run!!!!

sniper,
loved the thread and nice to see you in the paper.

w67, noticed that also...
Makes you wonder what the heck her trick could be.
I'm thinking.........75 feet of garden hose and a golf ball.

Sniper =? Little dense today. How goeth the penthouse hunt? Told ya, it's gonna be a nice faceoff for a few months. The window of selling is shutting quickly with Halloween, thksgiving, Xmas, kwanzaa, etc. Coming up and then the adult movie shindig in las Vegas. The god of cash flow takes no holidays and doesn't discriminate. Happy impending Kwanzaa all u sellers!!!!! Hahahahaha

as another little addendum to the story, there is another apartment for sale in my old building - same size as mine, 3 floors higher - that is asking significantly less than I did

http://www.streeteasy.com/nyc/sale/462834-coop-425-east-79th-street-yorkville-new-york

I contacted the broker and they said that they "are a motivated seller that wanted to get attention with their price and they already have quite a few offers with a contract out." we will see. it is listed at 20% off of my original asking price and 16% off my sale price.

So sniper you are saying you got an italian lemming. Como si dice 'italian lemming'?????

Wow $100k loss in 9 months! Pop open the persecco!! Ciao

That woman spent $11,000 to break her lease - was that the Apthorp, do you think?

drdrd, not the Apthorp. No new leases there since the current owners bought a couple of years ago. $4.6K would've been a steal there.

"That woman spent $11,000 to break her lease - was that the Apthorp, do you think?"

drdrd: All roads lead to streeteasy, it seems. I think the building is 98 RSD, and Suzanne Lane of the NYT article is the OP of this thread:

http://www.streeteasy.com/nyc/talk/discussion/14059-98-riverside-drive

Great catch!