Aspirational pricing

Great property to watch to determine the value of a clean non specific renovation.
Intentional or not, I do think the presentation has added significant value. Too bad we don't know the costs of the reno so that we my consider the financial outcome of the sale.

having done no research except reading the descriptions of current and previous listings for this, it sounds like the place was updated and "mint" in 08, and the current owners sound like flippers. can't there be a law that you have to actually live in the house you buy for a certain amount of time? we wouldn't be a very free society then, but how free are we now, really? this is just wrong!

The open, windowed kitchen features stainless appliances, cherry wood cabinetry, granite counters and a gray slate floor.

Something happened in the kitchen and maybe the baths. Maybe a reno followed by...'we got to get out out of this place so let's cash in on our fab reno'.

Again...great bell weather.

Nice reno, nice terrace, but for aprox 1,000 SF on 57th St off 3rd Ave, I think the pricing is ass-pirational.

also, the only two two-bedroom sales in the building have been combo units. it looks as though the building is predominantly studios and one bedrooms, meaning that you'd be the one setting the record for purchase price paid in the building. not a good record to be setting.

as dwell pointed out, this area hasn't been exactly hopping in terms of price, particularly for smaller coops.

falco, the prior listing in 2008 indicates "mint" condition.

How's about this one:

http://www.msnbc.msn.com/id/43127316

$2.175 million in 2010, $4.3 million in 2011.

HAHAHAHAHA!

I don't know who are worse, real estate brokers or investment bankers.

Falco, I think you're right about the bathrooms (and possibly the kitchen) being renovated by this current seller. It's telling that no pictures of the interior were posted for the prior sale.

Definitely aspirational - love the 9 X !2 second bedroom.

I would think having to walk out onto the terrace to get to the master bedroom would get annoying after a while.

steve, being the skinniest is priceless!

Losing weight ain't easy, dwell. Unless you move to Long Island City, where there's a famine.

Another classic in the ass-pirational hall of fame:

http://streeteasy.com/nyc/sale/567459-townhouse-16-chittenden-avenue-hudson-heights-new-york

Purchased for $1.1 in '00, put on the market a few years ago at somewhere around $3.4, then pulled off... came back in late '10 for the ridiculous, crack-smoking ask of $3.9 and after a couple cuts is still sitting on the market like a turd--at $3.1.

The place is a dump (albeit with great views) in need of a complete update and major repairs. Sorry, but no one's gonna bite until that ask comes closer to reality. How about trying $2.3M on for size. At least that might start a dialogue.

First, it's as ugly as the real estate agents on Selling New York. Second, it's ugly. Third, besides being ugly, it's in Themiddleofnowhere, Southern Bronx.

saw this on TV. Seller thinks he's sittin on gold. Dee-lusionally ass-pirational

The Pumpkin House is in a safe neighborhood (that little area of Washington Heights is an enclave of white people), and it's the only single-family house in the entire borough with unobstructed views of the Hudson River.

I'd buy it if I had the money.

Bob--I'm not knocking the Pumpkin House in theory. It's unique and the views are amazing. I am simply saying the asking price, considering the questionable condition of the house, the out-of-the-way location (it may be 'white' but the infrastructure stinks and the commute to midtown is a bear), is out of line.

That Selling New York was a good example of its defects. With Pumpkin House and the PH at 820 Park, e.g., the camera should linger on the interesting details. Instead it's all those fraction-of-a-second shots, only to focus for endless seconds at a time on hideous buyer/seller faces that make the brokers look like beauties.

Major water damage in Pumpkin House. Should've given more air time to the inspector. I liked him.

The kind of people who can afford $3 million for a house don't take the subway (although the A train ride to midtown is better than the commute from Park Slope).

You would have your driver drive you down the Henry Hudson Parkway to midtown.

Bob: I think you do not know many people who own $3mm properties. You don't by any means necessarily have a driver just because you have a home in that price range. You would be able to possibly afford one, but you aren't talking about an uber wealthy monied class at just $3MM in NYC.

surely bob_d is referring to car service

The Pumpkin House has a two-car garage; it makes sense that a person owning such a house would have his own driver, not car service.

But maybe, this kind of person would only consider 5th Avenue an appropriate place to live, which is why no one wants to buy the unloved Pumpkin House.

or maybe it's the water damage.

3milhouse+garage+car=full time driver?

nah. full time driver is a state of mind. not one of someone who is buying a house up there, 3mill or not.

If white people makes a good neighborhood, I have some segregated trailer parks in Florida that you might be interested in.

Steve, do a Google search for "wrong kind of white people" and include the quotation marks.

C'mon, Bob. A $3m house in NYC = private driver? What era are you living in? The '40s?? These days the car-n-driver types are the folk who buy $18m apartments on Park Ave and also own $6m "weekend" homes in the Hamptons.

OK, I admit that maybe I was wrong about the private driver.

I love the place!
Little out the way but, not insane.
Price not with standing, what a great place from the inside looking out.
For the right price it would be amazing. What's the taxes?
Are we talking gut reno?

From seeing it in person when it was last on the market (around 2005 or so--same owner) it needed a pretty extensive redo. A full gut? Very possible--the bathrooms and kitchen all appeared original, as did the rest of the house. Nothing seemed ever to have been updated. I also recall a basement that had an ominously sloping earthen floor.

I imagine a full inspection would be necessary to bring to light any hidden problems--the structure is, after all, partly supported by a 200+ ft piling and located very near the site of the Castle Village wall collapse of a few years back. I'd want that house and the support structure checked from tip to toe before ever considering taking it on.

Re the private drivers, I think they're mostly a corporate perk that's gone by the wayside. I know those Real Housewives ladies are always talking about 'my driver', but they hire those guys by the hour from Carey (or they're unpaid interns, if you're Sonia).

Here's an aspirational listing that looks completely reasonable until you dig into the details:

http://streeteasy.com/nyc/sale/616496-coop-255-west-84th-street-upper-west-side-new-york

#11E, in estate condition, closed in February for $1.5MM. So what could be wrong with #8E - also in estate condition, and with the advantage of no board approval - opening at the same price?

What could be wrong is that #8E is missing a room, and it's not just any room. The big, bright, east-facing master bedroom of #8E long ago became the library/guestroom of #8A. In its current, truncated form, #8E could best be described as an Edwardian Six, if such a thing existed: LR, DR, BR, K, and two servants' rooms. One maid's room acts as a small DR, and the big original dining room acts as an awkwardly positioned bedroom. But the bones are what they are, and they are quite a step down from the full "E" footprint represented by #11E.

Purchase price: $1,500,000

Down Payment (20%): $300,000
Mortgage Amount: $1,200,000
Mortgage Payment: $6,442
Total Monthly Payment: $9,274

Monthly post-tax income needed to budget 30% to housing: $27,822
Yearly income: $333,864
Taxes (40%: city, state, fed): $133,545.60

Total income to afford this place: $467,409.60

So whoever buys it has to earn five hundred thousand dollars for the next thirty years in order to be able to afford a two and a half bedroom apartment. So a married couple with a kid, each need to earn a quarter of a million dollars for the next 30 years. Probably more if that nanny room is going to be used.

Question: Who are these people and can I be their child?

These people are living off the government's teat via TARP, QE1, QE2, QEn....

That is who they are... and they don't even know it...

West81st: I noticed when I saw this earlier, in the picture of the living room, you can see the wall accross from the fireplace used to have double doors. I thought that looked strange, but you are right, it is indeed missing a room. Very odd looking floorplan.

The room it's missing is on the SE side, not the NE side. That blocked doorway is to close off the current NE room to create a bedroom. The whole place is a mess from the look of things.

Nice catch, West81st. I wonder what the tenant was using as a bathroom for the second BR that used to be the DR. Either the maid's-room bath, or schlepping through the other BR to get to its bath. Maybe they used it as DR, and the sponsor filled in the doorway just recently.

222 RSD apt. 5A bought for 1.8m last spring; now on for 2.29m-nothing seems changed but updated pictures (not even a paint change since the previous pix were outdated)