What are they thinking?

They are thinking that they will get your attention with price changes... and they're right!

That's why I have not been able to find a one bedroom apt

that's a 2 br in lower east east side. not a bad price but location is too far from the trains.

West81st - not really, the attention whores brokers just change the price by $5k up and down. It looks almost like the broker was driving the price off some index, changing it about once a month to reflect where the market was trading.

But it's on freakin' FDR drive, so I think they should just be big boys and cut the price to $450k if they really want to sell it.

Sure, this "top floor" unit of 650-ish sqft didn't sell for $780k, $770k, $760k... but I'm telling ya, it'll surely go for $730k.

http://www.streeteasy.com/nyc/sale/318341-coop-87-east-2nd-street-east-village-new-york

Why would you pay over $1000 to live in East River (I used to live in Seward) which is still a pretty lame hood. $625k will bring out buyers.

"so I think they should just be big boys and cut the price to $450k if they really want to sell it."

Well call up the broker, I'm sure she'll be interested in what you think.

zizizi and kgg, I agree. The area is too questionable for the $1,000/sf price tag and, to me, it doesn't seem to have much room for improvement because the area is so heavily focused on "public service." I can see people living there happily, but not at that price.

I'm sorry, but when you can buy on the Upper East Side in the 80s for under $800 psf, $1k for this apartment in this market is just INSANE.

look at this one:

http://www.streeteasy.com/nyc/sale/91240-coop-610-east-5th-street-east-village-new-york

06/08/2007
Listed with Brown Harris Stevens at $575,000
08/14/2007
Price increased to $595,000
08/16/2007
Price decreased to $575,000
12/06/2007
Price decreased to $550,000
12/28/2007
Price decreased to $535,000
01/10/2008
Price decreased to $500,000
02/19/2008
Price decreased to $475,000
03/07/2008
Price decreased to $435,000
04/02/2008
Price increased to $475,000
05/11/2008
Price decreased to $425,000
05/22/2008
Price decreased to $399,000
09/25/2008
Price decreased to $359,000

Looking at the East Village apt zizizi linked, it's real easy to calculate square footage from the floorplan. It's a box, with a total interior of less than 550 sf. Even if you give them 1 foot for each of the 2 ext walls and 6 in. for each of the two interior walls (a pretty big give) it's less than 620 sf. So they're actually asking in the ballpark of $1200/sf. No. Fucking. Way.

nyc212, there seems to be a little confusion here as to whether we're talking about the East River Co-op or 3rd Ave and East 2nd St. What did you mean by "the area is so heavily focused on "public service."

By the way, the original East River 2br unit that zizizi was commenting on was price-chopped again down to $535k.

zizizi: Note the pandering to foreign buyers by calling the apartment a "flat". The term "flat" does have a place in New York real estate parlance, but historically, I think it has usually been applied to tenement hellholes.

For all we know, that might be an appropriate description. What do you think it'll end up selling for? $300k?

I'm wondering how the folks who purchased at such marvelous development as the "A" building must be feeling about their decision at this point.

Whoa, I didn't hit refresh before I posted earlier and didn't see zizizi's post about 610 East 5th. The inflated square footage and $1200/sf I wrote about referred to 87 E 2nd St.

610 East 5th is at the end of a cul-de-sac between Aves B & C. A school on Ave B make direct passage impossible; 5th is completely blocked off. You have to walk to Avenue C and then head west again, so the distance to the train is the equivalent of a building on Ave D. It's also a block of almost entirely projects. Not to get Rufus all fired up, but a literal dead-end of mostly projects does not feel safe. The one small positive note is a cute, small community park with a grill across the street.

Had they listed in 07 in the low-400s, they might have found a buyer caught up in the hype and willing to believe that every block in the 'hood would be thoroughly gentrified in 5 years. Now it looks like a scary place to both live and invest. There's a 2br there on Craigslist asking $399k. $300k for the 1br wouldn't surprise me.

tenemental asked me:
nyc212, there seems to be a little confusion here as to whether we're talking about the East River Co-op or 3rd Ave and East 2nd St. What did you mean by "the area is so heavily focused on "public service."
--
I was referring to the prior post on E 2nd...

Before I address your 2nd question, let me say that I am all for housing diversity, as I hope I have demonstrated so far through my posts. However, at the same time, I am realistic about how pricing is affected by the surrounding areas.

East 2nd, where I do spend a lot of time with my friends, is a fun and lovely area. Fun and lovely, partly because there is a good mix of people from all backgrounds, some of whom are on public assistance. Also, East Village attracts a lot of younger people of all backgrounds who like to "party" and consume alcohol. Incidentally, there are publicly-funded substance-abuse programs and facilities housed in the proximity that primarily serve such communities. So... Would I live there? Yes. Would I pay $1,000/sf to live there? No.

That's not an apartment - it's a hallway. $159,900. That's my best and final offer.

nyc212: "let me say that I am all for housing diversity, as I hope I have demonstrated so far through my posts. However, at the same time, I am realistic about how pricing is affected by the surrounding areas."

Well said. I'm an East Villager, too. I know exactly what you mean about the area, just wasn't sure if you were talking about this apt or the Co-op Village unit.

More ridiculous, still, is that East 2nd is actually asking $1200/sf once you look past the broker's bogus square footage.