Sale at 35 Bethune Street #PHB

$1595psf and you sound as if you found a great priced apartment...you're nuts or else the money you have must have fallen from the trees....that apartment should be priced at $500psq and that is high...

so...prices--are you arlene blitz or just a relative? by the way--based on interior sq ft, its actually $1725 per sq ft. maybe tim geithner would be interested when he sells his place?

Lol at both of your comments. I already own and don't plan on moving anytime soon. I just wanted to hear what others thought. I get the message. Loud and clear.

I actually didn't see the part where it says 1500 sq foot.

sorry if i was rude...

click on the link you posted and have a look on the right hand side, it is 1564 square foot.

I have it on my list to look at. There are a growing number of penthouse apartments downtown in the 2m to 3m range just sitting. Some exceeding 2000 square foot with external space which is similar in size. Good news if you are a buyer but bad news for a serious seller. Something will eventually give if people are serious about selling. I thought 2.5 was pretty aggressive just from the pictures and layout. I will let you know once I have seen it in person. But even if i did make an offer there are larger places out there in a better location for much less per square foot.

Good to know. Thanks for the feedback. :)

I've seen this apartment. It's fine, nice outdoor space on upper terrace and good wv location, but overall layout is not ideal & quite small, especially for the price.

pricesNYC...where have I read that banter B4?
850sq/ft= wishful thinking...you should see the inventory out there that eats these little over priced orphans for lunch. There is no bad RE just bad pricing.

"that apartment should be priced at $500psq and that is high..."

this is just ludicrous.

I think it's a high ask today.
Outdoor space isn't free, depending on the condition of it, you have to assign it a value of 1/3 to a 1/2 of the value your giving to interior space for that same property.
Very generally, 1/3 for unfinished and 1/2 for finished.
So on this one for example (and if the floorplan and dimensions are accurate) you have 1564 sq ft interior and 340 + 74 = 414 finished exterior sq ft.

1564
plus
212 (half a foot of interior)

1776 total sq feet.

With closings today at around 900/1000 per sq ft...... 950 times 1776sq ft = 1,687,200.

Too far an asking price of 2,495K to compete with todays market.
And in 3/4 months when closings average 800/900 per sq ft, they will prob reduce ask to 2,399K chasing the market down at the wrong speed.

The West Village is different. Prices never drop there.

truthskr10. This is in the range and pricing methodology of what I was thinking. 1.6 I think is realistic for a sale now. End of the year another story.

I saw this apartment the second weekend it was on the market. The agent made a big show of noting how many people had attended the first two open houses and said they already had three offers, including one at a price that was close to being in the ballpark, or something like that. The layout is terrible. It has an almost unfinished bedroom right inside the door, a mezzanine bedroom with a 6' ceiling that has been closed off but overlooks the living room, and the rooftop terrace on the third floor, which admittedly is very, very nice, is off the master bedroom, which makes it more difficult for entertaining. When I asked about the square footage, the agent said it was impossible to know because the offering plan undervalued the space. When I asked again, she said she estimated it at close to 1500. When I noted how much that was per square foot, she snapped back dismissively that this apartment is not going to sell based on a psf calculus. Still no price drops after 2 1/2 months.

This apartment comes with a built in stairmaster that you're not accounting for. That amenity alone makes up the million dollar gap on asking price.

yep Lupus...looks like our radar is on the same inventory. I am patient.

:) skinnyNsweet.... and don't forget the vitamix blender

West34
The west village is different, adopting a bit too much hope, yet not enough change.
Change is a comin'.
'til then I've put west village inventories on my last to see list.

I saw this apt -- it is all about the deck. As wvresident notes, the apt itself has several flaws (incl dated kitchen; small living room; practically useless mezz BR). Without that deck, I doubt they'd get more than $1.5 mm for it.

It's easy to sit on the sidelines and criticize. Bottom line is this property and any property is worth what a buyer will pay.

RE: Bottom line is this property and any property is worth what a buyer will pay.

You heard it here folks. Turn off the StreetEasy board. We now have the answer we've all been searching for.

LOL sure I agree with a small change from what a buyer "will" pay to what a buyer "can" pay.

In other words: If only someone would buy this apartment (please), then we'd all know how much it is worth.

"I saw this apt -- it is all about the deck. As wvresident notes, the apt itself has several flaws (incl dated kitchen; small living room; practically useless mezz BR). Without that deck, I doubt they'd get more than $1.5 mm for it."

Just as an exercise, if the apartment is "all about the deck" and they might get 1.5 million without the deck, can $2.5 million with the deck be THAT far off (I mean > 25%).

30yrs,

1m for a deck does seem extreme. Saying that 1.5 without the deck also seems optimistic given the descriptions above.

How much would you ask and expect it to sell for in the next few months?

your out of your minds.....even if you wanted to pay 1000 per sq ft to match interior square foot the deck is 340 sq ft! that's 340K!!
Any shmuck who wants to pay 1mil more can by another top floor apt with 1000 Sq ft more and remove part of the roof.

lupus: apartments like this are REALLY hard to price because they are - to me - white elephants. Great location, good building, penthouse with really good outdoor space. the first thing I try and think of is - find me the other one at under $2 million (literally, that's how I go about my though process when evaluating deals). But then I go to step 2, which is "who is the likely pool of buyers for this unit?" (again, literally the next thing I do when evaluating deals - note how neither of the first 2 big steps I take is "look at how many $/sf the unit is?). I'm not sure who that group is. People who really like entertaining? Not sure the living space is suitable for that type. Family apartment? Not sure about that, either.

I guess the closest stuff I can think of is the penthouse sales at 121 West 20th St. That has a very inferior location to this, and one less bedroom - that's a pretty big difference - but they were summer 08 closings. There's also the non-penthouse sale at 89 Washington (126 Waverly) at $1.5 million and the non-sale of the PH unit there at $2,350,000 ask.

So as I said, it's hard to say. I can not say i would be totally shocked if it traded over $2 million (although I wouldn't tell anyone to go do that) and I wouldn't be shocked if it traded under $2 million. I would be shocked the closer it got to the asking price and $1.5 million, though. Sorry for the weakness of that answer, but as I said, white elephants are very difficult to price.

30 yrs, thanks for the response.

Update

Shows went into contract on 8/11/09.
According to acris, last known paper is a mortgage for 1,299,960 on 5/11/07. That's around peak, no?
And it looks like a refi and some refinancing was down throughout the years.
At this point, I'll concede that the contract will be at least over 1,300,000.(i think someone would go chapter 11 before cutting a check for selling their house) :)
As far as this listing ending up either "closed" or "no longer available" or "relisted" in the next 60 days, any odds maker thoughts?

Given how short a time it was one the market, I would be surprised if it went under $2 million (not SHOCKED, but surprised).

Update

From in contract to No longer available. Nothing on Acris.

Let's also see where this comp goes, a much nicer apartment
126 waverly PHP
http://www.streeteasy.com/nyc/sale/443865-condo-126-waverly-place-greenwich-village-new-york

Either at 2M is an amazing deal for the seller.
All RE value is relative to the moment. It's the zeitgeist of the moment that determins it's dollar value. That's really what we are all about here on SE. Is there another active group of people here in NYC as obsessed with these very details. It is our analysis that ultimatly determins the zeitgeist. That' why the debate can go on and on and on because THE ONLY CONSTANT IS CHANGE.
I don't care what they were worth yesterday, only right now. That place sold fast with a fat ask...can't wait to see the close...even at 2M it's an amazing sale.

Looks like she closed.

09/10/2009 #PHB $2,250,000 -9.8% $2,495,000 Sold 3 beds 2 baths 1,564 ft²

"My, what a lovely baby" ;)