Buying on FDB below 125th Street

It's much better to look at very recent actual closed sales, rather than asking prices, but anyway compare ask and features:
http://streeteasy.com/nyc/sale/496681-condo-371-w-117-st-central-harlem-new-york (it's actually a 49-unit 2-building condo, on a quiet, serene street and facing Morningside Park)

The problem Alan is that there aren't many closed sales around. Everything in these new buildings is still "in contract"

Personally, I think its difficult to say what these new condos are worth bc there's so many of them right now and not many good comps. Maybe you should look at the Kalahari, which is further east but relatively new. If the offering plan has not been declared effective then you'll likely get a much better deal. But you have to understand that you may not be able to move into the building for years if they cannot sell enough.

It sounds like you're new buyers - if you make a lowball offer, make sure you hold firm and don't let them know that you'll go higher. It sounds like the bank may be talking to the broker, so the broker may know how much $$ you have available. There's a lot of tactics that go into these negotiations, so don't be too eager and show your cards bc the selling broker will take advantage of that. I would offer 25% less and let them know that you're capable and ready to go if you really like the place.

I meant 25% off the original price - I don't know if they've already dropped the price a lot.

Thank you! We are new buyers and this apartment has not yet dropped its price at all, in fact the building doesn't even technically have this apartment for sale yet. Went in to talk to the guy and seems while they have 30% of listings in contract 80% of those contracts have not yet been signed and turned in so anything could happen. Also, broker is trying to tell me that all accepted offers have been within 5% of asking price. That sounds crazy to me with all thats going on right now.

I guess we will draft a 25% under bid and see what happens. Main concerns now are that the apt is right above a church and on a lower floor so significantly less sunlight coming through the windows.

Also, can the bank tell the broker how much they pre-approved me for? Doesn't seem very ethical.

It's above a church and you're on a lower floor? Have you been in the apt when there's a church service? I live in central Harlem, and the music I hear from the street is great--but I can also hear it from the street.

church in Harlem = triple-parking, and resultant horn honking, and people "congregating" outside before and after services.

Pass.

You need to learn quickly that as nice as the seller's broker may be, their main motivation is to get you to buy the apartment at the highest price possible. And they get a percentage of that price. Don't forget that.
Some brokers can be unethical, or stretch their ethics or whatever. Unfortunately, you will never know what price things are in contract for unless you're able to contact the buyers somehow. A contract that is out doesn't mean squat, because deals fall through all of the time. And you never will really know how many units are actually in contract because it is not publicly reported as far as I know.

The pre-approval really doesn't mean anything other than you are interested enough to contact a bank to get one. So if the bank is working with the building, it is certainly possible they told the broker that you had gotten a pre-approval.

Since the building is not yet completed there is no opportunity to hear the noise in that apt. until AFTER the church moves in. Alan you brought up points I hadn't thought about at all. We will probably pass for now and keep looking. Plenty of time to see what's going to happen around here.

Is this the Livmor condos you talking about? I went in there 2 weeks back and the broker showed us a few apartments, almost all the prices he quoted for the units were around 600 psf, which I thought was too high considering the new inventory that will hit this n'hood in a few months.

Anyways for now I have decided not to make any offer and have a wait and watch stance, no hurry to buy. I believe the prices need to come around 500 psf before they can have buyers en masse, until then this unit is not selling out.

Good luck with your search.

The Livmor is priced a bit high right now. They need to come down, as pretzel said, to around 500sf. The lower floors facing FDB are very loud.

So do you all think that $550psf is too high for any of the buildings in this area. We are looking at a resale not new construction.

That would seem pretty good to me, but it's pretty tough to look at psf in a vacuum. If you were buying on the 10th floor of the Soha118, $550 psf may be a bargain, but if you are instead looking at an apartment on the 2nd floor in an old building where the unit needs significant renovations, it may be an awful price.

Each floor you go up/down could maybe add/subtract about $10 psf depending on how it impacts noise, light and views. Also, if there is a tax abatement in place for a long time, that could add about another $75-100/sf, although since many of those buildings do have the tax abatements, for comps in that area it may be more accurate to say that if it doesn't have a tax abatement that should reduce the price by maybe $75-100/sf.

You ouggt to REALLy read this. Yes, overpriced by the most in Manhattan...perhaps.

"We looked at single-family homes, condo and coop units that sold in Manhattan during Q1 2010 and compared them with the current for sale inventory. From the chart it can be seen that the highest absorption rate is on the Upper West Side (48%), followed by Chelsea & Flatiron (34%) and by the Upper East Side (31%). Harlem, with 13%, has the lowest rate."

http://www.propertyshark.com/Real-Estate-Reports/2010/04/20/manhattan-absorption-rate-in-q1-2010/