354 W. 23rd St.

I think the big drawback here is that all windows face 23rd St., which is very noisy/busy. There's a lot of ground floor retail that's open late. Granted, with the Park across the street, this is the best 23rd St. view you're going to have, but it's still a net negative for most buyers. You'll never be able to open the windows.

You enter the building on the ground floor - is that "B" or "1"? In other words, are you walking up two flights of stairs, or three? Three will have more of a negative impact on sales, but it's not unreasonable.

Looks like the sellers started out with insane pricing on this one and it has gotten stale as it has lingered. I'd want to ask around to figure out what happened when it went into and fell out of contract in May.

On the plus side, the layout on this is good and more functional than most pre-wars - great-sized kitchen for the price range, room for a good sized dining table, decent bedroom. Price is ok, but $900 per square foot is not a steal by any means.

I would disagree with lad that facing 23rd street "[is] still a net negative for most buyers". When we were looking at apartments, the windows *HAD TO* face the street, or we were not interested at all.

The fact that there's a lot of ground floor retail that's open late means you're living in Chelsea. No surprise there, and makes for a lively and safe neighborhood. What the neighborhood does not have, however, is loud thumpa-thumpa discos that will rattle your apartment all night. For that, you need to go to Lower East Side or Meatpacking district.

I do agree with lad that the layout looks nice, and it's a very pretty building from the outside. To me, the biggest drawback is the stairs, but it means you'll never have to worry about the elevator being out of order (and you don't have to pay for one with your maintenance).

Good luck with your search. :)

"I would disagree with lad that facing 23rd street "[is] still a net negative for most buyers". When we were looking at apartments, the windows *HAD TO* face the street, or we were not interested at all."

Lucy, I think the drawback is not that the windows face *a* street, but 23rd Street in particular.

I actually visited this property twice (first when it was listed at $695k, which was crazy, and then again when the price was $599k). I ended up not making an offer because:

1) It faces 23rd, which is very noisy, as lad said. To make it worse, there is a bus stop right below the bedroom window.

2) All windows face north, so not much light. I think I would've tolerated its facing 23rd if the unit were south-facing.

3) The bedroom is tiny. Actually the whole place is quite small, and there is no entry foyer or any "intervening" space, which I know some people hate because it's waste of space; but personally I don't like the fact that you open the front door right into the living room and the bedroom door also opens directly into the living room.

4) The building is electric-only, meaning no gas stove. Not a huge deal, but certainly a drawback.

5) That it's a walk-up doesn't bother me at all (to answer lad's question, you only walk up two flights of stairs), but I'm afraid it may limit the pool of potential buyers in a future resale.

That all said, the unit also has many positive qualities. The kitchen and bathroom are nicely renovated, and the whole place is in move-in condition. It being on and facing 23rd notwithstanding, the location is fantastic, and maintenance is very reasonable. I also liked the fireplace and the exposed brick. I see that now the price has lowered to $550k, so the sellers should be fairly motivated. I agree with lad that you should try to find out why it fell out of contract back in May.

Good luck!

Just checked it out online.

I'll give a "pass" to the lack of a foyer, given the really nice kitchen renovation. I hate open kitchens, but this space is so small an enclosed kitchen would have made both the living room and kitchen look absurdly small.

The fireplace absolutely makes this apartment.

I'd price it at $425K. Definitely not worth half a million.

I was thinking $450k might be a fair price given it's a walkup & the bedroom window faces 23rd St., but I may even try to go lower than that. Also, I definitely want to know why it fell out of contract -- my first thought was that the buyer's financing fell through, but if they walked away because they discovered some major red flag during due diligence, I don't know if I even want to put in a bid for it.

Thank you all for your input!