putting townhouse on market - lower manhattan

Jas,

I have several very good brokers that can handle your needs. I would also be interested in purchasing your townhouse if it makes sense. Where is it? and if you email me at primerenovations@mac.com I would be happy to share their info with you

Jeff

Questions: Can you interview me?! Danielle.Nazinitsky@Corcoran.com

Here is what I would ask:
1. Who will be showing it - many larger agents have their assistants show
2. How will you be marketing it and how will you hold yourself accountable?
3. How will you be communicating and how will you hold yourself accountable?
4. If your property isn't renovated, how the agent will be ensuring buyers feel comfortable with the extent of renovations
5. Ideas the agents have to increase the re-sale value

For valuation, I think you should hire an appraiser and then determine from there if you want to go up higher to start.

Many townhouses sit on the market for an extended period of time. They don't sell the first, second, or third time on the market...you should know pretty quickly if you will get offers.

There are very few comps for townhouses downtown - Greenwich Village is very different from the East Village which is very different from the West and Far West Village. Renovated vs. unrenovated.

You should look for an agent who will work and try everything possible to maximize exposure and bring in as many buyers as possible. Someone that looks at it as a full time job vs. putting it on the MLS and waiting.

Anyone who you are interviewing you should be looking at their profile pages and looking at their marketing - photos, floorplans, virtual staging, copy editing, etc. Someone that can also provide guidance as to the tax implications of specific offers.

Have a great night!
Danielle

jas, If you want to consider direct deal, please post appx location, sq footage, and price range.

Also, is it all free market of rent stabilized?

I sell prime Manhattan but I don't sell townhouses -- maybe talk to 30yrs?

I would absolutely get an appraisal -- even if the range of broker valuations differs from it, and you decide to trust the brokers, you'll have the peace of mind that you checked, and it just doesn't cost that much.

I would ask prospective brokesr about their direct marketing plans, but also about their connections to other brokers that specialize in townhouses, because this may be a broker-to-broker deal.

I would look for someone who can represent the history of the block(s), talk about allowable development, and compare and contrast the development and renovations that have been done in recent sales (past five years or so) in the immediate area. Townhouse brokers typicallly don't stop at "for $250K this would be a really nice kitchen;" they tend to go to the next step of , "see that house three houses down, party A bought it, decided to do renovations X and Y, ran into a problem with the city with X, but, having done Y, the property is now worth Z$."

GL!

ali r.
{downtown broker}

I would have recommended both Ali and Danielle as both are great people and brokers and wouldn't hesitate to use them.

Awe thanks Primer05!! I love running into you virtually and thank you for the beautiful renovation :)

I would read this thread and look at TeamM's current experiences from a Buyer's POV:
http://streeteasy.com/talk/discussion/42174-uesuws-townhouse-market-trends-time-to-buy

I would be very careful about having Brokers come in and try to "buy the listing" by giving you you a promise of a high sales price, which seems to be happening a lot in the current townhouse market.

I would carefully examine any comps used to make sure that they are truly comparable because it is extremely easy to use properties that may in some ways seem comparable, but actually are not in the townhouse market to come up with either an intentionally high price or an intentionally low price.

I'm curious if this is on 12th St between University Pl and 5th Ave?

To 30's point, I've been looking for a townhouse for a while, albeit in a different neighborhood. Jas - if you want to post an e-mail, I'd be happy to take this offline and give you some perspectives as a potential buyer in different neighborhoods (looking for a single family townhouse). I've been watching the market for a while, and I think it's a complete mismatch between buyers and sellers (run a bunch of searches on Streeteasy for how long houses have been on the market, and then look at properties pulled off the market). Not sure whether it will be helpful, but since a lot of folks have offered helpful thoughts to me on here, I'll pay that kindness forward with my time.

Thanks Primer! I'm not interested in this one (a duplex in a townhouse would be another story) but I appreciate the kind words. Danielle, I don't know you, but we can fix that -- sometime in the next month I'll ping about an offline coffee.

Thank you everyone, this is really helpful.

And thank you to everyone who offered to connect offline. In truth, we are a bit overwhelmed by the interest (and persistence) of the brokers we have already contacted.

And for those who are curious about the mindset of a townhouse owner, the decision to sell is not an easy one. On the one hand, it is a wonderful asset, fully paid for, and one that produces income to cover costs. There’s a possibility that it will continue to appreciate vs. the overall Manhattan market, as it has since 07. (Of course, one needs to be convinced that the townhouse market is a distinct sub-market, a view over which reasonable minds can disagree.) On the other hand, owning an older home has its challenges, and overall, we’re weary of the daily assault of Manhattan living. In the end, we’re interested sellers, but not highly motivated.

I truly don't know the right price for the building. And we could get a valuation done, but in the end, it may be too illiquid of a market to ever have any confidence. But I guess it could be useful in establishing a floor.

My remaining question is, what is the correct pre-screening process for a broker to employ on our behalf? I’d prefer to show it to serious, pre-qualified buyers, and not have a cattle call. I really don’t think casting a wide net and having huge numbers of people trundle through the property is the right way to go about it. But open to persuasion.

Thanks to everyone reading along. I promise updates!

PS- Someone asked – the building is free market

https://www.wsj.com/articles/manhattan-townhouse-prices-slip-1486011600

Ali - yes I would love to meet you as well - I've been reading your posts for a while now but don't post too often!

That WSJ article is a bit sparse on details, and I think it's awfully hard in such a thinly traded market (with products that are terribly tough to compare) to draw trends. My sense is that townhouses became a hot item for a while, and people projected further increases (and therefore a lot of people bought up townhouses to renovate and resell) which are probably not coming to fruition - I think that there's now a major mismatch between Sellers and Buyers, particularly for the heavily renovated townhouses. A search of the listings (and removed listings) tells this story pretty clearly. In terms of actual value declines, it's tough to say.

Jas - I wouldn't be discouraged, but I would make sure to look at the actual transactions consummated, rather than the listings (which are generally languishing on the market) for a more realistic view of the value of the asset. And from that perspective I would determine whether to sell.

well, you're waving $150K in front of brokers, so I wouldn't be surprised if they were persistent. Maybe asking them what they would do to prequalify could be a screening question.

But, to give away the answer, when I've repped townhouse buyers they've usually been in entertainment, so I've said "my client is X and you know him from TV show Y." If I'm repping a less famous client, the listing brokers usually ask for full name and bio, or ask leading questions that point to the property ("are they planning to convert this to a single-family?") and then get into the bio questions to make sure that the money is there.

ali r.

Since it is an income producing property one thing you might want to consider is seeing at least one or 2 brokers who sell commercial as well as residential properties since your best marked might be as a commercial property as opposed to someone looking at it to live in themselves.

jas, I would think you want to talk to Cushman Wakefield if you want honest appraisal of the value for a townhouse. I do not any one there personally but I am sure they have some one specialize in the area you own. I always find that their set-up sheets for townhouses are closer to the truth that other brokers' set up sheets, if any provided.

Thank you 30 and 300, my thinking has evolved to that point as well...that bringing in some commercial RE firms might makes sense. The townhouse buyers are out there, and they'll find us no matter what, I imagine. The two main town house firms I've spoken with seem to have more buyers than sellers, and that dynamic makes me uneasy - I don't want one firm on both sides of the transaction. But if there's someone in the commercial world who can bring in a unique set of buyers, that's the value add. And echo everyone's point, on this thread, and the other, that it is a very difficult asset to price and comp. Thank you, all.

If you just want someone to take a look and give you an opinion without trying to pitch you to list with them, i would be happy to do that for you.