$1 to $1.5 million one bedroom

damn, that's a lot of money for a one bedroom. Crazy, really.

You should be able to get a really nice one bedroom with view and a building with the amenities for no more than $1200 per square foot.

I sympathize with you. Tribeca and Soho one bedrooms that are small enough to fit that price range are very small in number.

Unless you are looking in a very high end building, you should have no trouble. Even if you figure 850 square feet (a good size one bedroom), you could pay $1750/square foot and stay under $1.5MM. At that price, you are able to get into buildings like SoHo Mews and the Caledonia. To be honest, the vast majority of one bedrooms are under 1 million. For example, the Trump and/or Extell buildings on the Upper West side are generally less than $1MM for a one bedroom (and they are really nice).

You were looking in one of the most expensive areas of the city with the fewest one bedrooms. If you are willing to spend that kind of money for a one bedroom, then even the more expensive 1-bdrms in prime Greenwich Village are available to you. On the upper east side, if you avoid new construction, the world is your oyster at that price range since the UES is one of the more affordable Manh areas. Before we just start listing areas, perhaps you could tell us more about what you are looking for: coop/condo, light, size, view, outdoor space, style, what you want from a neighborhood, why you chose tribeca/soho to start. Manhattan is a big place.

I've got a similar problem. I'm looking for $999k to $1.4999k studio.

With rates going up, you'd think the studio market would crash. I give up. Buy now or be priced out forever!

I am looking for a loft space. Flatiron is also an option. But I don't like the Financial District.

most loft spaces are larger at least 1300-1500 sq ft. Typical size being 25*85 gross around 1800 s

q ft net excluding stairs and exterior walls due to lot size. These places are mostly $2mm and above and two bed-rooms. You can look at 250 mercer, 77 bleecker for smaller places but they both have very high maintenance. Also 21 astor.

There's just NO inventory right now. I specialize in downtown (work for a boutique brokerage in Chelsea) and have nothing to show my buyer clients who are looking for something bigger at a higher price point.

The tank should refill after Super Bowl Sunday, it always does.

That said, realize that you are looking for something a little bit unusual. A newly renovated loft in those areas is going to be renovated to maximize bedrooms, and generally the seller will have squeezed two bedrooms out of it. In the rare case where a big loft has been renovated as a 1-BR -- let's take the case of 77 White, #3, which closed recently at $1.76mm -- the pricing will be above your range to reflect its potential as a 2.

(This is another way of agreeing with 300_mercer -- if you find that 1500 square foot space, it will generally be above $1.5MM)

You can watch buildings where there are smaller loft spaces (like 476 Broadway) like a hawk, but you'll be competing with all the models in the world for those spaces, and they're generally going to be unrenovated. If you're looking for a turnkey really really tricked-out 1, you'd have better luck in Chelsea, frankly.

ali r.
DG Neary Realty
ali [at] dgneary [dot] com

Thanks guys; good points.

Ali, even if i release the constraint around the space being renovated, I have had no luck. Are there raw spaces in Soho/Tribeca in my price range? I cant find any in streeteasy, unless there is a word-of-mouth network that I cant access?

With Soho, there is the AIR issue, but that is a different story altogether. But Tribeca has just been barren ... I have been on the lookout!

What size, esteban?

About 1,200 sqft ...

Another suggestion. Buy a 2 b/r appx 1200-1300 sq ft with more than 9 foot ceilings and knock down the second bedroom to have a loft like space. This will be certainly be below $1.5mm and will not impact resale.

http://streeteasy.com/nyc/sale/554504-coop-335-greenwich-street-tribeca-new-york

This place is around 1300 sq ft. Try negotiating. Saw the place. There is not way it will move at the current price.

Thanks 300 ... I hear those sellers are not interested in negotiating (much). Maybe it is best to wait for the post-game magic that Ali is predicting!

Hey ali:

OK - so general question for you, should you see this.

There is another unit (#4) at 77 White just now available - literally, EXACTLY the same (a carbon copy) of the one that you mentioned above which just closed. I would also buy (#4) at $1.76MM.

So tell me - as we're looking at an EXACT comp one floor below (not that it really matters in this case, as it's only a six story building anyway) literally JUST closed as $1.76, what is the logic of the brokers and/or owner of #4 in asking $2.379MM?!?

I mean, do you think that these brokers and/or owners think that everyone else doesn't know that #3 JUST closed, and at what price?

matsonjones, the answer is LIGHT. I've seen all of the above and some other lofts, and the problem I saw was lack of light. It's nice if you spend your time close to the windows but generally it's darkish. Unless, of course, you're on a high floor, and high floors are almost non-existent in the area.
So esteban I think you might want to look at the UWS pre-wars, penthouses mostly. You get views, light, sft-age and high ceilings.

esteban,

http://www.corcoran.com/property/listing.aspx?Region=NYC&listingid=2072350

no?

stakan - there is NO light difference!!! One is third floor, one is firth floor. There are no impediments to light that the third floor has which do not exist for the forth floor. I am telling you - these two lofts, one third floor, one forth floor, are carbon copies in every way.

matsonjones, you're right. Could it be the perceived the rule of thumb "higher floor=higher price"? It just might be the same rule of thumb that dictates higher prices for that mildly unlivable (noise, few services, walk-ups) area, with the monthly cost of close to $3K?

matsonjones, actually noise might be it: higher floor=less noise. In that area, it's very important.

stakan, 850 sq ft? A little small no?

esteban, that's what I meant. It's either the size or the light. I personally would take the light any time. Size you can work with while the light/view you can't change.

Mj, wow, I really don't want to comment on the pricing strategy of a very well-respected specific broker, I'm just not going to win on that.

Esteban, I've got nothing specific in mind for you, but I'll ask my colleagues (30_yrs, as his name suggests, has been in the biz for a long time and can sometimes pull things out of hats.)

Ping me off-board and let me know who you're working with .. please put "streeteasy" in the subject line or I won't find it.

ali r.
ali [at] dgneary [dot] com

what about Chelsea?

http://streeteasy.com/nyc/sale/493889-coop-148-west-23rd-street-chelsea-new-york?email=true

hey stakan:

I also totally understand the higher floor thing too, but one floor higher (assuming exact same layout) usually garners 5K extra - maybe. The monthly costs I kinda understand, as there's only five units to split the costs for the entire building. As to noise, again, the noise factor is exactly the same, whether on the third floor, or on the forth floor....

matsonjones, then the sellers are just sunny optimists... That said, they just might get thier price.

tru dat!

#4 might want to be (over)compensated for:

1. the extra 1.5 baths they put in,
2. all the cabinetwork to cover the radiators,
3. either removing or not adding the sheetrock on the ceilings. In spaces like these, you might say the exposed joists in #4 go better.

On the other hand, #3 has one more window, that's bricked up in #4.

So if the 4th floor is worth 35% more than the 3rd floor, then the 5th floor should ask for $3.22M and the 6th floor should be going for $4.35M.... so following this logic the 6th floor should cost 2.5x the 3rd floor?

Thank god this building doesn't have 20 floors...

memito, if the 6th floor is also the top floor — then crazy but yes, it's twice as much as the 3rd floor. Crazy, I know. Some brokers now even call the top floor a penthouse. Can you imagine what a real penthouse will go for?

Thank you Ali. I was working with someone last year, but not anymore. I shall write to you after I am back in New York.

You can take a look at this unit and building: http://streeteasy.com/nyc/sale/571810-coop-10-bleecker-street-noho-new-york

Estaban, you should check to see if anything is left at 456 West 19th - they had $1.5M 1-bedrooms around 1,100 square feet. Double height living room, casement windows, lofted bedroom. It's unique and not for everyone. I also heard the construction quality was mediocre (thin walls - hear people in the halls), but it might work.