lowball offer result

People still in denial and also most people are jumping in the market now because they see price reduction.

Either the broker is bluffing to get you to up your offer (would not put anthing past paniced RE brokers these days), or the seller is getting taken for a long ride that will result in no close. Tell them to call you when they are ready to sell and watch this apt remain on the market - guarantee it!

That's exactly what I told the broker to tell them!

Let the other buyer have it, if they actually exist.

My (uneducated) guess is that the offer for "9% below ask" magically falls through and the sellers are hoping you've fallen in love with the apartment and will feel you are getting a good deal & agree to pay 10% below ask...

"Then their broker said that they were considering another offer for 9% less than the asking."

Let them take it, come back in 3 months with an offer for $1.3 million.

Steve, your way of thinking and analyzing the current conditions while shedding light on the past trends by providing solid facts and links so that we can read and follow your way of thinking is amazingly informative and educational.Thank you.
I, too, have given an offer, 30% below ask and was turned down and was told not to come back with an offer of more than 9% lower than ask. The sellers seem not to realize that we have an overabundance of apartments for sale in Manhattan.

Steve -- 1.3 -- LOL! Nice.

eobrien: You are wrong. It won't remain on the market. They'll take it off when they realize it won't sell. Then they'll stew over it for a while, then a new broker will put it back on in a few months with a new description and new photos. Same net result. What a joke.

sanba: I'm curious to know how long the apartment has been on the market and whether it has had any previous chops (and when)

Yeah, no one is also budging at 18% below ask...We tried and they said no, so we said keep in touch. LOL!

Just move on, plenty of apartments out there.

Dmeisterg
47 days on the market. So far, no cuts.
Happyrenter
I'm moving on but to tell you the truth, there's not that many 3BR available in the UES, west off Third

sanba: Send a shill to the open house on Sunday. See if Bahar tells them the same story.

Forget '05 numbers. The market's not there (yet). Your lowball offer was too low. Did you honestly expect them to bite at 30% off ask? Greedy buyers are no better than greedy sellers.

No way I'd accept your $1.8 if I were the seller of this apartment.

They're having the open house tomorrow from 11-12.30
Want to volunteer?
Make an offer $1.3M!!
LOL

sanba--seriously, I'd be concerned about the high maintenance. Hard to tell what's what without knowing anything about size, etc (is this a classic 6? 8?) but a disproportionately high CC can indicate possible problems with the building's finances, and believe me, if that's the case, you do not want to go there, even at a 'good' price.

Oh--I see your post calling it a 3-br. What roughly is the sq footage? Is it a combo (these often show higher-than-average CCs).

sanba: The pool of buyers for post-war 50%-down UES 3BRs is severely depleted. Stick to your guns. There was nothing greedy about your offer, and I think there's a decent chance they'll come down pretty close to your number. If they're serious about selling, they might have to.

As usual, I agree with West81. Your offer was fine, especially for this uncertain market. I wouldn't budge.

We went to an open house for a 3 BR on the UES back in July. The first words out of the brokers mouth was, we have a serious offer that was $50K below the asking price. We shrugged and looked at the apartment anyway. Guess what, that apartment is still on the market. I'd consider making an offer but I've already had enough fun in the stock market, I don't need to catch any more falling knives. For the forseeable future, the real estate market looks tough. Sellers will have to realize this. A lot of jobs have disappeared, taxes will be going up to fund the city and state budget deficits, maintenance on NYC apartments are daunting and never go down. Therefore, don't move on your offer, the odds are they'll come back to you.
BTW, we did look at another apartment on the UES and the broker said, they want to sell and will entertain any offers. We appreciated his honesty but have come to the conclusion, this just isn't the right time to buy. We'll still look around to see if anything becomes available that is just too good to pass up but like a lot of people I think, we're pretty much on the sidelines.

Squid:
The apartment has 2000 sf and it's a large classic 6.I'm concerned about the maintenance. Haven't checked their financials yet. It's a small full service doorman building with only 20 apartments. Maybe that's one of the reason. I think it's 38% tax deductible.
I'm not moving my offer. I'll wait a few months for them to come back. If not, something else will come.
Under these market conditions getting worse by the minute, I would only buy if I feel I'm paying the right price. Otherwise I'll also be on the sidelines...

sanba
like your style, only caveat, be careful what you bid, you may own it. seems like a pretty aggressive bid to me, you must really like the place.

Sanba,

One strategy that may help if you have several friends you trust alot is to have them put in bids even much much lower than yours over a period of weeks

Prices are always relative to something, this may help to make your bid to start looking attractive to the seller

samba,

What about this one?
http://www.streeteasy.com/nyc/sale/345572-coop-160-east-65th-street-lenox-hill-new-york

They look like they may be ready to negotiate.

That one looks nice but I'd rather be in the 70's or low 80's.
Thanks!

bugelrex: I like that about sending friends to the open houses and then having them bid lower
We should make a group among us and start doing this for one another. It would be fun to share the results!

sanba: In case you feel any moral qualms, I can assure you that the friendly folks at Fox would do the same to you.

Sanba--yeah, maintenance does sound high--impossible to know exactly why until financials are checked out. It sounds like you're in a very good position, though, since you're willing to wait or walk away. It is entirely possible the apartment will languish (especially given the undesirably high CC) and you'll get another crack in a few months.

I do, though, still believe your initial offer was too low, especially for a newish listing where the seller likely wants to test the waters a bit more. If you wanted/needed to make the deal happen now, you'd have done better with something not lower than 20% or 25% max; 30% off ask is a psychological deal-breaker for many sellers. But, as you've said, you're willing to wait or lose the place altogether if necessary.

Let it sit for a while and the sellers may start singing a different tune.

interesting, i wonder if these are the same folks who are always whining about broker tactics.

There's a difference between savvy buying strategies and the underhanded and borderline illegal 'tactics' used by certain brokers.