333 East 43rd Street #404 -- interested; please advise on price

The owner paid $500K in 2005 and may not be ready yet to bite the bullet.

Per his hometown paper he's getting married in May, which may or may not be a factor. This place looks tight for two people.

ukrguy, here's what you do:

Get that mortgage pre-approval letter today. TODAY. Find out how much mortgage they will give you. Your credit score is nice but not stellar. You do not know what you can get til you do that.

Get yourself a real estate attorney. TODAY.

If you don't have those two things, then you're not seriously looking in my book, and I rather don't want to deal with you until you get serious. If you have those things, you could get the apartment at a lower bid than someone who is still fumbling trying to get their ducks in a row.

Plan on two years of monthly payments in the bank post-closing to impress the board. I don't know of any stiff boards in Tudor City (somebody correct me if I'm wrong).

Then, if that all checks out, make an appointment to see the place.

Offer $475,000 in an email with a brief summary of your finances/job and your attorney's name/contact info, and see what happens.

Your problem is this baby has only been on the market 26 days. The owner paid a lot for whatever reason, so you may have to wait awhile til they get realistic. But get in early and if you're really interested, send an email once a week to the broker until the thing is sold--to someone else, or to you.

Best o' luck.

{Manhattan real estate agent.}

Thanks, Fluter. You basically confirmed my thoughts. My actual credit score is 742. I have 29 months' worth of payments in the bank (post closing). I already have a real estate attorney. Your point on 26 days on the mkt is probably spot on.

NWT: thanks for the info on $500k purchase price and the getting married in May part.

I am in no hurry/under no pressur to buy. I know the area very well (lived there for 8 years) and wuld not mind living again, but given my financials and ability to wait will consider a place ony at a price that I view as attractive.

Thanks for you feedback. Any others insights welcome.

ukguy, you have received some good advice.

Here is another thing: From what I have seen w/ those Tudor City apartments, their sqft figures are consistently overestimated (in their defense, they themselves don't seem to know, so they are giving you their best estimates--but usually in their favor). If I were you, I'd go for another viewing--this time w/ a tape measure. Just measure some of the dimensions and compare them to the figures in the floor plan. If you call them on the overestimation, that might give you an additional bargaining chip (e.g., you could offer the PF price x the new squarefootage). Psychologically, even if the seller paid $500k in 2007, if s/he realizes that the price was based on the inflated sqftage. Then, s/he might feel less compelled to stick w/ that figure. Good luck.

from the pictures, it looks like this unit, at least the living room, will be dark. one of the shots show that you are less that 15 feet away from another unit's windows. if you have not seen this unit yet, go and see it and then decide.

when i was looking at a rental recently, i saw 2 apts 1/2 hour apart. one was a wreck, but was very bright, the other was OK, but was dark like a basement.