It’s Not Listed. But It’s Definitely for Sale.

Of course pocket listings aren't on streeteasy. You miss the entire point. It is mostly rich people who don't want to be bothered by nonsense and can afford not to sell if they don't get top dollar. I have a friend for instance with a $6MM place in Tribeca. Ideally he would like to find a different apartment with another type of configuration and in a building without some drawbacks of the present one. But none of it is pressing. So a realtor he knows is aware that he'd be willing to sell for his price. Only a serious buyer will be shown the apartment since privacy is a big concern and lack of disruption to their lives is also important. So word gets spread among the broker community in the area. Several prospects emerged (all well known names who also valued their privacy) but the apartment wasn't the right fit for one of the prospects yet. That's a pocket listing.

Not sure what you mean about "coop boards". What coop boards have apartments to sell?

the NYT mostly outlined the high-end case -- but there are pocket listings at the low end too, sometimes listings that were once offered for sale where no one met the seller's price, so the local brokers are given to know that the price is "$XX," sometimes from attorneys who want the brokerage fee for themselves, and so don't want to pay a listing broker, but would be happy to pay a fee to a broker for bringing in a buyer.

Happening more too because of computerization, I think. Ten years ago if you listed for sale, you didn't have people all over the Internet criticizing your living room color.

ali r.
DG Neary Realty

I guess it's not much of a "pocket" listing, now that it's been featured in the NYT with it's selling price ;)

"Pocket listings" don't exist solely in New York, either.

Plus they've been around since the dawn of time.

Likely to eventually see an increase of pocket listings as;
a) a streeteasy(or internet) recorded attempted sale history can be disadvantageous to a seller
and
b)give some value to having a broker of which technology has damaged this profession more than most.

Also, many high-profile or "of means" folks who prize their privacy are getting weary of all this "transparency" the internet forces on them by publicly listing their properties.

I don't really think it's a scalable approach.

Rich people don't sell. They buy. Poor people who think they are rich do pocket listings.

'pocket listings' -> foreclosures for the retarded buyer.

'the new elliman'. Bc the old one sucked.