Townhouses? - Broker or StreetEasy?

Ticky, Have you heard of buyer's broker giving you a rebate? if you do not have a broker, seller's broker keeps the full commission. Try Keith Burkhardt.

I sell in Manhattan, and there are clients to whom I'll eventually sell townhouses, but I am not a house specialist. If I were spending that kind of money, I would without question want a townhouse expert -- and people who know me from this board know I often have no problem with multi-million-dollar buyers who want to skip a buyer's broker.

There are issues here of zoning, and architectural preservation, and condition, and location, that are too important for an ordinary co-op broker or rebate broker. Find someone who has several townhouse sales under their belt, and work with that person.

ali r.
DG Neary Realty

Great thanks for the answers, and recommendations to use one anyway.

My question is though: Do brokers have listings on townhouses for sale, that are not on streeteasy?

any townhouse that is officially on the market (ie. listed by any brokerage) will be on SE. My guess is there are some townhouses brokers know about that seller could be convinced to sell if the right offer comes up. Chances are there are a very few of them.

What JButton said. It's a very small market, but townhouse specialists might know of sellers. Or work very hard to find one on your behalf.

I know of one that is empty, accept for a renter in the garden apartment, that is on the UES.

ticky, I would ask that question of a decades-in-the-business townhouse broker like Jed Garfield or Anne Snee, and see what their answer is.

ali

Many thanks everyone.

I'm always amazed at people who are supposedly in the market for eight-figure homes who have so much time on their hands that they cheap out on hiring a broker, instead opting to just do it themselves.

Well, Matt, speaking as someone who occasionally "mops up" at the end of other people's difficult deals, sometimes the buyers weren't cheaping out, but rather were burned by a lousy broker before, and so assumed all brokers were worthless.

Other times, it's just a buyer wanting to assert control over a very trying process.

That said, the more unusual the submarket, the more I think brokers are advised. And certainly if the OP's goal is to cast a wide net over all possible inventory, I think a specialist is called for.

ticky-very few listing can't be found on SE, and those that arent can quickly be found on the brokers' websites--and that you have a lawyer, mtge broker, surveyor and contractor speaks that you are aware that a broker is the last person you should listen to about basically anything important related to your purchase--negotiate such that your final price accounts for the fact that you will not be using a broker--leave it to the seller to direct his/her broker to commission accordingly--make it clear that your are bidding x +3%=y and that the seller and his/her broker can work out how to split the y value.

If you are interested in whisper listings or listings that are off the market, but not really off the market, then I would consult a neighborhood TH broker.

UWS - Townhouse Experts/Vandenberg Realty www.townhouseexperts.com (Dexter G). Wolf J of Brown Harris Stevens.

In general, Leslie Garfield are TH specialists.

Massey Knakal also get some TH listings.

An expert townhouse broker should be able to give you the back story on any townhouse that you may be interested in, whether or not it's currently on the market. IMO, that's where the value is.

whispers, back stories, broker gossip are worthless--stick to your guns with a good realestate lawyer and a contractor who's done work on townhouises, who has a good expediter

Yikes: you don't know the TH market. And I can tell you that there are many deals done that are not listed on the market.

Yikes: full disclosure I am a broker .

for townhouse you MUST have a broker. how else you will know if you are overpaying? it takes a long time from the closing until the deal has been recorded with the city , so by the time public knows about about it is too late. For this type of specialized and unique market it is very hard to compare properties , so why would someone who has never done it before be able to do it properly ? it is impossible .

it is beyond me why would anyone buy without a broker when it DOESN'T cost you anything . you think you will save 2.5-3% ? you will save much more with professional on your side. That is why 95% of all deals in the city involve a buyers broker... I mean , if you don't care about money , than you definitely don't need a broker

Milen, my point exactly.

When eight figures are at stake here, unless you are an astute real estate investor, it's just insane to *not* have a professional handle things for you.

i disagree completely and bet that i know the TH market for nabes i watch as well or better than any broker--and my architect and contractor/expeditor and lawyer know their worlds way better than I or any broker, period--i have no interest in having a broker filter my negotiations--much better my lawyer and i handle that, thank you--and there are plenty of nice TH's in the 7 figures on the UES which is where the OP is looking

if anything i find brokers pretend to know lots, know little in fact and really just want to get deals done--most are so incompetent that, even if they had my best interest in mind, they'd screw it up--it's too easy to use SE, acris, and the broker websites to research and know a mkt without a buyers' broker

full disclosure: i work in finance, not real estate, but like to advocate for myself where large amts of money are at stake

yikes, I'll grant that you might know inventory in a submarket -- if you live on a street, and constantly walk the four blocks around it, you might well be aware of owners who are willing to sell who don't know the market yet.

But how are you putting together the team you're relying on? You think brokers are only driven to make a deal to earn money, but you think your contractor, who is going to get six figures worth of work out of a reno, is a theologian, who would advise you away from a questionable property even though it takes a job away from him?

You answer is probably, "but I trust him to act in my best interest," and that's the way my clients feel about me, Massey Knakal's clients feel about them, etc.

ali

my contractor, expeditor and architect may not be theologians, but they do understand the townhouse renovation process--they add actual knowledge i dont have to the process--brokers do not and, if anything make more difficult proper negotiation and effecting of best deal for me--and they are a ludicrously expensive strap-on to a deal, given the zero or neg val they add

yikes, how many townhouses do you own?

none, at the moment--been renting since 8/07 when i went to contract to sell--i own a simple weekend/summer house on the CT coast which mostly gathers dust

might buy one soon--like the tax bargain they offer

you were going to describe your RE situation..what about it? what do you own?

"brokers don't understand the townhouse renovation process" ?

Because brokers themselves don't help clients with townhouse renovations, let alone live in or own townhouses themselves?

I was trying hard to empathize with your point of view, but now you're just being categorically silly.

FYI, one of the most thoughtful and sensitive townhouse renovations downtown was done by boutique broker Michael Bolla:

http://www.nydailynews.com/life-style/real-estate/back-life-perfect-restoration-draws-big-name-renters-15k-month-article-1.174454

i am asking as you seemd like you know TH market. i sold 2 months ago and am renting now (neither a TH though). when i am talking about market strength at this point i do speak from own experience. I also decided against buying, hence you can tell what my outlook is.

empathize with my point of view?

you must have been an athlete applicant! i doubt you were a development case.

With townhouses, you need to be especially careful with less than truthful representations. Most Coops and condos have standard line apartments and truth about dimensions are difficult to lie about. But townhouses have a larger dependence upon the integrity of the seller. For example, I walked by a house for sale at 120 east 71st and measured the exterior width. It measured 16.5 feet. I looked at the "plans" on this website and they show the INTERIOR width to be 17 feet. I can't image the interior width can be more than 15 feet given an exterior width of 16.5 feet. Who would spend $18mm for a house which is so much smaller then that represented by bogus floor plans! This seems to be a standard trick in non standard real estate (It is definitely the case in commercial real estate). How many people walk around with measuring tapes? Buyer beware. At least you are doing your homework and searches with architects and contractors. Presumably they would catch this type of crap.

exactly...so work with professionals, like your lawyer, expeditor, architect, contractor, who have real knowledge, and direct fiduciary to you---not promoters

beware of "expert" brokers

clt89, you can get double-ck the width of a house via the buildings dept.