I just wanted to post a warning to anyone looking at apartment 7B at 246 West End Avenue. Last fall, the last time this apartment was on the market by the same owner, my wife and I went to see it and fell in love. It is a beautiful building and a really great apartment (very high ceilings, beautiful floors, etc). Even thought the asking price was slightly higher than we had wanted to pay, we put... [more]
I just wanted to post a warning to anyone looking at apartment 7B at 246 West End Avenue. Last fall, the last time this apartment was on the market by the same owner, my wife and I went to see it and fell in love. It is a beautiful building and a really great apartment (very high ceilings, beautiful floors, etc). Even thought the asking price was slightly higher than we had wanted to pay, we put in an offer for just slightly under asking.
We quickly heard back from the seller's broker that he would only accept a full price offer, and we had to pay the flip tax. Given how much we loved the apartment we eventually gave in and our full price offer (plus us paying the flip tax) was accepted by the seller, but with the condition that all drapery and lighting fixtures would not stay with the apartment. As ridiculous as this sounded, we realized that the seller just was not going to budge on any issues and it was not worth fighting over, so we gave into that demand too and began preparing to go into contract.
We hired a lawyer and he conducted his due diligence on the building. Then, the day before we were supposed to go into contract we get a call from our lawyer saying that the seller had changed his mind and decided to completely take the apartment off the market and not sell at all.
My wife and I were devastated. The seller's broker was furious, as she had brought him a full price offer he then refused to accept. We later found out that right before we had made our offer, the seller had another full price offer which he had accepted and done the same thing, pull out at the last minute.
We then had our broker contact another broker who had listed the same apartment the year before (when it had been on the market and yet again been taken off without a sale). I will not repeat what that broker said about the owner of this apartment, but needless to say it was not very nice.
In the end, my wife and I ended up finding another apartment we love even more (in the same neighborhood but at a lower price and with a better view), and everything ended up great for us in the end. I tell this story only to warn anyone looking at this apartment (and it is a very nice apartment) to BE WARY OF THIS SELLER and know that you might have to deal with a lot of stress and disappointment if you do make an offer. Just look at the sales history of this place to see what I mean.
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Response by Bill7284
about 15 years ago
Posts: 631
Member since: Feb 2009
"Once you see it, you’ll have to have it".
So reads the current copy for this listing. DTC, you didn't need this nor did the others who were hocked around. It's a shame and glad that you found something better after all of that angst.
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Response by birdier
about 15 years ago
Posts: 50
Member since: Nov 2008
Aren't brokers entitled to their commission once they bring a qualified buyer's offer to the seller at the asking price, whether or not the buyer accepts the offer? Something about this affair seems more complicated than pure serial "seller's remorse"...
I stopped by the OH a few weeks ago on my way to see 10DE. 7B has a sort of schizo affect. Lots of decor and HGTV-style striped-paint effects, layered on top of great bones and condition, with some lack of attention to detail that was odd in an architect-owner. E.g., the kitchen upper cabinets not all the right size, wrong-size hinge to kitchen door. Weirdest of all was the $7.99 all-plastic toilet seat. It was the short size, not the long the toilet needed, but the extra dollar for the right size must've been the deciding factor.
Not that any of that matters in an $800K one-bedroom, but strange that when trying to appeal to a fuss-pot market the seller made such eye-catching goofs.
Anyway, the broker said the seller's now bought a house somewhere, so maybe he's serious now.
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Response by Squid
about 15 years ago
Posts: 1399
Member since: Sep 2008
"but with the condition that all drapery and lighting fixtures would not stay with the apartment."
This is not "ridiculous" at all. Seller wants to keep specialty lighting and drapes. Big deal. Of course seller would have to replace fixtures so everything is in working condition. Can be cheap stuff from Home Depot.
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Response by romary
about 15 years ago
Posts: 443
Member since: Aug 2008
10 de looks great in pics/floorplan. 7b needs a major haircut.
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Response by dtc1804
about 15 years ago
Posts: 10
Member since: Jul 2010
The seller is an architect / interior designer and this apartment actual appeared several years ago in Elle Decor magazine. It looked a lot better in the magazine pictures than in reality. The furniture was very nice in the living room and bedroom, but the bathroom was very dated and the kitchen was nothing special and was not at all well constructed, as NWT noted. Even the living room and bedroom seemed like they weren't maintained very well.
As far as the seller wanting to keep the drapes and lighting fixtures, what seemed ridiculous was not the request itself, but the fact that we weren't told this until we had already made an offer and it was accepted with that condition. It seemed very much like a bate and switch (come see the apartment and think you're getting very nice drapes and lights, and then after you make your offer I'm going to replace these nice things with cheap home depot fixtures). We honestly didn't even care that much, but it was just indicative of the type of drama we had to go through with this seller.
Honestly, I felt even more sorry for the seller's broker than for us. She had worked very hard to bring the seller not one, but two very good offers and he pulled out of both for no real reason. Technically, I think she could have sued the seller for breach of contract, but I figure the broker's company would consider that bad PR to sue your own client, and probably more trouble than it's worth.
In any event, even if the seller has bought another house and is more serious now, I would caution any buyer to be aware of what you might be getting into with this seller.
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Response by nyc10023
about 15 years ago
Posts: 7614
Member since: Nov 2008
Interesting. I'm always on the lookout for a potential combo in this building. 7DE is already combined...
12 CDE (condition unknown) sold for 3.8m in '05.
"Once you see it, you’ll have to have it".
So reads the current copy for this listing. DTC, you didn't need this nor did the others who were hocked around. It's a shame and glad that you found something better after all of that angst.
Aren't brokers entitled to their commission once they bring a qualified buyer's offer to the seller at the asking price, whether or not the buyer accepts the offer? Something about this affair seems more complicated than pure serial "seller's remorse"...
Thanks, dtc1804. 18 months ago I was wondering why the seller didn't crap or get off the pot (http://streeteasy.com/nyc/talk/discussion/18142-sale-at-246-west-end-avenue-7b) so appreciate the background.
I stopped by the OH a few weeks ago on my way to see 10DE. 7B has a sort of schizo affect. Lots of decor and HGTV-style striped-paint effects, layered on top of great bones and condition, with some lack of attention to detail that was odd in an architect-owner. E.g., the kitchen upper cabinets not all the right size, wrong-size hinge to kitchen door. Weirdest of all was the $7.99 all-plastic toilet seat. It was the short size, not the long the toilet needed, but the extra dollar for the right size must've been the deciding factor.
Not that any of that matters in an $800K one-bedroom, but strange that when trying to appeal to a fuss-pot market the seller made such eye-catching goofs.
Anyway, the broker said the seller's now bought a house somewhere, so maybe he's serious now.
"but with the condition that all drapery and lighting fixtures would not stay with the apartment."
This is not "ridiculous" at all. Seller wants to keep specialty lighting and drapes. Big deal. Of course seller would have to replace fixtures so everything is in working condition. Can be cheap stuff from Home Depot.
10 de looks great in pics/floorplan. 7b needs a major haircut.
The seller is an architect / interior designer and this apartment actual appeared several years ago in Elle Decor magazine. It looked a lot better in the magazine pictures than in reality. The furniture was very nice in the living room and bedroom, but the bathroom was very dated and the kitchen was nothing special and was not at all well constructed, as NWT noted. Even the living room and bedroom seemed like they weren't maintained very well.
As far as the seller wanting to keep the drapes and lighting fixtures, what seemed ridiculous was not the request itself, but the fact that we weren't told this until we had already made an offer and it was accepted with that condition. It seemed very much like a bate and switch (come see the apartment and think you're getting very nice drapes and lights, and then after you make your offer I'm going to replace these nice things with cheap home depot fixtures). We honestly didn't even care that much, but it was just indicative of the type of drama we had to go through with this seller.
Honestly, I felt even more sorry for the seller's broker than for us. She had worked very hard to bring the seller not one, but two very good offers and he pulled out of both for no real reason. Technically, I think she could have sued the seller for breach of contract, but I figure the broker's company would consider that bad PR to sue your own client, and probably more trouble than it's worth.
In any event, even if the seller has bought another house and is more serious now, I would caution any buyer to be aware of what you might be getting into with this seller.
Interesting. I'm always on the lookout for a potential combo in this building. 7DE is already combined...
12 CDE (condition unknown) sold for 3.8m in '05.
http://realestate.nytimes.com/sales/detail/478-N7290086B/246-West-End-Avenue-NEW-YORK-NY-10023
This is why I like SE better. The Times is clearly not for the people.