Sale at 273 Water Street #2

We went to visit this place which was listed for sale as well as rental at the same time. My wife and I loved it, we made an offer to rent a little below the 5.5k price listed (actually 5.2k which was also the listed price earlier this year in June). The broker mentioned the landlord was hesitant between selling vs renting and wanted a bit more for a rent. We increased our offer accordingly,... [more]

We went to visit this place which was listed for sale as well as rental at the same time. My wife and I loved it, we made an offer to rent a little below the 5.5k price listed (actually 5.2k which was also the listed price earlier this year in June). The broker mentioned the landlord was hesitant between selling vs renting and wanted a bit more for a rent. We increased our offer accordingly, negotiated the starting date, matched the 2y lease duration which was apparently important and sent the paperwork and were told our offer was accepted by the owner. So basically no pb in sight... After a few days and being told that the owner was busy with work and slow to sign her part of the agreement (sending the lease + rider), we decided to reach out to the broker to get a signed lease and payment processed. She mentioned that the owner is a journalist and was covering the presidential campaign and taking time to revert. I told her I was fine with waiting and could totally understand that business had to come first. Still ... I made very clear that I wanted to confirm our verbal agreement that nobody would walk back on their word as I already let go 2 good places for this one and didn't to wait another week to be told that the owner no longer wanted to sell... We were even more clear given the fact that we just had a 7 weeks old daughter and not ready to be used as a free hedge while it could cross her mind to try to sell it at the same time... The broker assured me she was not showing the apartment that the place was off market (despite remaining listed everywhere …). So basically as one can guess this is exactly what happened.... this apparently French journalist (confirmed on Acris) owning the place waited to see what the results of the presidential elections would be and supposedly flipped her mind based on the assumption that the country will crater if Trumps gets elected... The only thing is that more than just changing her mind after our agreement she also she meanwhile kept receiving offers slightly below her 1.5m mark… So basically - not the only one in NY I'm sure - someone between the broker/owner is not trustworthy. I let you decide if you decide not to simply run away... To summarize; - 1- If you intend to buy: it might be worth knowing that the owner might be in a hurry to sell and that her water mark is 1.5m - 2- that she might play you by trying to rent it at the same time trying to sell and vice versa - 3- just don't waste time as we did - owner/broker might just not be motivated neither to sell nor reliable (this place has been on and off for sell and rental so many times). [less]