Sale at 247 West 46th Street #1502

I notice the sponsors sales office has unit 2102 priced at $1,580,000. It appears there are no more "02" lines left with the amazing west river views when I visited. I was informed they are above 85% sold which is a great considering they are a big building at 220 units, the quality of the finishes are superb.. I noticed unit 1702 sold for $1,385,000 in 10/17/2008, this must be the units true potential, prior to the market crash of September 2008 these units sold at high numbers... impressive how they are at 85% sold... I hear Wells Fargo is helping with the loans for buyers... I notice the better deals were at pre-construction/presale as I see some low numbers, I guess those units had to close or the buyers would lose their deposit, it makes sense why those numbers are low, who would want to lose a huge deposit...

Still with being 85% percent sold in this market is fantastic for the buyer to get financing...and the 421-a tax abatement, there will be no more tax abatements in the future and this building has a 10 year tax abatement, at resale these units will be competing with other resales that will have higher taxes and no abatements, perfect for investors who are looking to hold and sell at a profit in the coming years and enjoy paying low taxes and be insulated from NYC increase in property taxes... if any new buildings do come up in the future most likely they will be 80-20 where a small percent will go towards low income housing and not too many people would want to invest in those buildings...

I currently live in the building. The building looked nice at first glance but if you look deeper, it makes no sense to buy here and it is a diaster waiting to happen financially. The 85% sold number the sales office is giving you doesn't include a lot of the units the Sponsor rented out. They've been doing 20%+ discount to unload some of their units before the crush of resell come onto the market.

Some key issues:

- There is a one year prohibition period where owners who bought from sponsor can not sell in the first year. This period is just beginning to expire for the first batch that closed in late 2008. A lot of these owners are currently renting their units out for significant negative cash flow. As more owners pass this 1 year prohibition period, more supply will come onto market.

- Go to the historical rental page, see how many units are for rent. I count more than 60!! 60 out of 220 units is almost 30%. That number is making it awefully close to becoming non-comforming. Once that happens, it will make the building extremely difficult to sell in the future. Also do you really want to live next to so many renters?

- You talk about tax abatement. Do you know how much taxes are for #1502 after tax abatement? $1475 per month! That is a lot of taxes every month! What do you think is going to happen to the value of this building when abatement is over?

- Just see how much your #1502 paid back in 2008: $1,095,000. Do you really want to pay more than the guy paid back in 2008 at the high of the market? Especially when most of the city real estate is trading at 2005 levels?

I assume you're the owner of #1502 and came here to pump your sales. A unit that was rented out I might add. You bought your unit at a good price. Too bad the 1 year prohibition prevented you from flipping immediately. You better hit a bid soon because there are a lot of owners like you just waiting for the spring selling season to unload their unit in the building. Just talk to some of the other owners in the unit and you'll see for youself.

#2202 just sold last month for $1.184m. This unit is seven floors high. If you get an offer for $1.1-1.15, you should hit the bid before it is too late.

Possibly true, however; if you put a bigger down-payment say 60% as opposed to the 20%, a downpayment of $840K and a 30 year fixed at a present 5.25%, the total monthly payment is $4129 (use mortgage calculator) the buyer can carry this purchase with a bigger downpayment, since the loan borrowed will be less..... this is not for an investor looking to put down 20% and have the rent pay the mortgage and main/taxes.... it makes sense put down more and borrow less .....