broker recommendation?

by the way, it's a coop and is probably somewhere in the high 2M/very low 3M range.

Estate-condition apartments are somewhat out-of-favor in the current market -- buyers for more expensive apartments tend to be dual-income, and generally don't have the capacity (or at least the will) to step away from one of their jobs to manage the renovation.

Still, I've sold a couple of guts and I'd like to have the opportunity to pitch it. Please check out my firm, Upstairs Realty.

ali r.

Hi elkiegirl, there are a lot of factors that go into pricing an apartment in need of a gut renovation, but there are definitely a subset of buyers out there who want the opportunity to create something of their own, especially if the space is sizable and they could stay there for a while. The worst thing to do however is to overprice it. If you look up the listing for 34 west 13th street 4th floor, you will see an example of insane overpricing, they started with one agent at 5,250m I believe and then now it is all the way down to 3,125m with a different agent, It is a full floor loft that needs a gut. I have done a lot of business in the village, and would love the opportunity to brainstorm with you. I have been in the industry for 17 years now and have never once had a board rejection on a coop (knock on wood this continues!). I previously worked at Corcoran for many years, and moved to Compass two years ago. Here is a link to my Compass webpage. Feel free to email me at dmargolies@compass.com if you would like to set up a time to meet to discuss. Thank you. https://www.compass.com/agents/nyc/david-margolies/

David, What do you think 34 West 13th 4th floor will sell for? I have not seen a gut like this (bathroom not in place etc) for a long time. Roughly 3000 sq ft including walls, stairs and elevator. Maintenance a little expensive.

I believe the key to selling homes that need work are twofold - being able to a) demonstrate the potential of the units via reconstructed floor plans and visuals if necessary and b) breaking down the cost of getting the units into the condition that has been visualized. Then buyers can imagine themselves in the apartment and not be overwhelmed by the work involved.

My team has sold homes that need complete renovations many times - and I gut renovated my own home - so we know how to sell these apartments. Additionally, my firm will do it at a commission rate that is different, and can potentially save you money. Feel free to check out RealDirect's Agent Managed program at www.realdirect.com.

Doug Perlson
www.realdirect.com

At around a $3mm price point, I would assume every broker is going to create materials to "sell the dream" by creating potential floorplans, supplying contractor estimates and timelines, making renderings of what the renovated space might look like, etc. The issue of mispricing that David brings up is potentially a greater one; sounds like the seller knows what the space is worth, but her neighbors might not know. The hand-selling that might have to be done here is not to potential buyers, it's to the board so that they don't reject an otherwise qualified candidate on the basis of a perceived low price.

ali r.

Selling most homes in the West village is usually not very difficult, especially in the current market. Just make sure to get the right valuation, not an inflated one by an agent desperate for a listing. Remember it's the buyer's agent that does 95% of the selling. Nothing is more important than getting the price right. Have three or four homes in contract now that will require a gut renovation and in one case a combination as well. The listing agents did not provide architectural drawings or suggestions for future use. After viewing our clients decided the properties have potential and brought alone their own architect and contractors, most of that using folks referred by us.

Best of luck,

Keith Burkhardt
www.theburkhardtgroup.com

Apologies for all the typos Etc. Getting lazy and using talk to text on my pixel.

@300Mercer, sadly, if the listing had been priced correctly at 34 west 13 at the date originally listed the owner would have netted significantly more money, the market has changed. I think the second broker is doing his best in a difficult situation, it is hard when an owner or original broker has vastly over valued a property. It is actually a great building and I have seen units in there when renovated that are gorgeous, but renovations cost money, and this one needs it down to the bones. I am hazarding a guess of 2.7 to a buyer who will stay there very long term and jumps on it because they want to make their own space in a prime neighborhood.

Thanks. I think at 2.7 it will be a very good deal and fully adjust for a difficult layout and gut Reno. I am guessing a little higher but certainly below 3mm.

@david, FWIW at 34 West 13 the second agent and the first agent are both from the same brokerage.

Agree with the guys here, a $2-3mm apartment in the West Village sells itself as long as it's priced right. Have you considered just doing it yourself? All you'd need besides good photos is access to the RLS, and you can get the latter these days through companies like Hauseit for 0%.

You can also do a fully agent managed listing these days if you're too busy to show yourself. I believe companies like Hauseit also offer a 1% sell side service. The way I've heard it described is discreet / private label access to premium, top rated brokerages in the city that don't normally discount.

Is it a condo or co-op? What street is it on may we ask?

Let me do a data dive for a minute: Looking at apartments in the $2.5 mm - $3.5 mm range in Greenwich and the West Village, using the past 90 days as a cachement, there are 35 actives, 12 in the contract pipeline, 9 Off-Markets, 1 expired listing, and 10 solds. (FWIW, I'm using OLR to read the RLS here).

Take that to co-ops only, and you have 17 actives, 4 in the contract pipeline, 3 Off-Markets, and 4 solds. Let’s say the Off-Markets are sellers who were testing the market at aggressive prices who changed their minds. (A left-field assumption, but not an unreasonable one). Scrub out really new listings (because it’s not fair to brokers who have just listed, of whom Doug is one, to expect things to sell in less than a month), and you have 12 actives.

If you guys are thinking that a ratio of 4 in the contract pipeline and 4 solds to 12 actives is Village co-ops “selling themselves,” then you define success differently than I do.

ali r.

Hausit has apparently set up a sort of shell brokerage to act as the listing agents on transactions. I don't believe they have aligned themselves with any independent New York City real estate brokers at any of the major firms. They do keep it discreet we did a deal where they were acting as the listing agent. I discovered it was hausit through a seller that contacted me. The two agents were nice guys, but the process was a bit clumsy and disorganized. At least that was my experience on this one transaction.

In this case I don't think you can just look at the data , as each listing is certainly an island. I'll still go with my gut that tells me most listings in the West Village sell fairly quickly if priced correctly. That's a big if.

Thanks, everyone. I am definitely wanting to price appropriately and will keep this at the front of my mind when speaking to potential brokers. I might be in touch with one or more of you soon. thanks.

If a listing that's priced correctly will sell itself, perhaps you should just consider selling FSBO to save all that commission? You can easily take care of the marketing itself, namely syndicating the listing, by using a flat-fee RLS company like Hauseit.

The only challenge will be the board package since you are selling a co-op, but at the end of the day this is not an impossible task if you do your homework and read some online resources so you can get a feel for how it's done!

That 34 west 13th St might have to be an all cash deal due to condition - that would narrow the market.

30y, Is it because the bank will not finance a property in that condition? In my experience, most private banking relationships (First Republic as an example) do not have any problem in financing a property needing gut reno as long as appraisal is ok and the borrower has enough money to pay for reno. First Republic will even finance reno if they think you are credit worthy.

If there is not "functioning" kitchen and bathroom most banks have issues. I have had deals where owners have had to buy new new low end refrigerators because the appraiser noted "no functioning kitchen" or something similar because the estate threw the old refrigerator out because it was rotting.