building at 240 East 79th Street

Is there anyone who knows the answer to dunia97's question?

As somebody selling a co-op unit down the block (whose buyers were just turned down by the board, but they are re-applying with more paperwork...wish us luck)---

First of all, without seeing the units in person etc. etc., all the usual caveats, I say prices are consistent within that micro neighborhood right now. Unless you're an old lady it is NOT a fun neighborhood, it is just not. The only 20-30's up there are those who have no other options, or they're bridge and tunnel crowd. The kids who grew up there get out as fast as they can. The restaurants are mostly either overpriced or boring, often both, and all were affected by the subway construction.

The subway construction is another five years of hell. It's getting better but if you're only going to be there for 7 years, it makes no sense whatsoever to spend 5 of them in a construction zone. Remember this affects taxis and buses and stores as well as walkability. Just the super heavy truck traffic on side streets is annoying enough.

Real estate agents told me it's difficult to get many clients to even go look at apartments anywhere near the subway work. Parking is virtually nonexistent and cabs are difficult. Weekday evenings are your best bet for parking.

Aside--Before the subway happened to us, we didn't really understand that a construction zone is such a negative. Granted the subway is an unusually big project. However, in buying our new place, we avoided anything near a major construction hub, or any obvious potential immediate construction.

This building is classified as guarantors and pieds a terre "considered" which suggests to me a stiff board, even stiffer than the board in our building, which welcomes those kinds of buyers. A marginal buyer is probably not going to make the cut.

I can't prove this but my sense is that boards on the UES are stiffening in response to declining values, which actually contributes to decline because it reduces the competitive buyer pool.

But some board members do live in little UES bubbles and they still think they live in the best nabe in all the land. They are convinced that their apartments are worth more than they are because they are clueless about what's out there in the Big City that they never see.

In short, it's hell to try to sell a co-op apartment with a moderately stiff board on the UES these days.

No exaggeration, a good 75% of the calls our agent got were from people who wanted to know the sublet policy. Ha ha ha, very funny. Basically, anybody who walks into a board interview asking about sublet policy is not going to pass the board in my building.