why do these sellers even bother?

a few weeks ago i saw apartment 9B in 39 5th Avenue. it is a truly lovely one bedroom with nice views, a high-end but low-key renovation (Great kitchen, bathroom, closets, etc.). just a charming apartment. the owners have chopped it to 999k--a very nice discount to comps in the building, but it still hasn't sold. ... [more]

a few weeks ago i saw apartment 9B in 39 5th Avenue. it is a truly lovely one bedroom with nice views, a high-end but low-key renovation (Great kitchen, bathroom, closets, etc.). just a charming apartment. the owners have chopped it to 999k--a very nice discount to comps in the building, but it still hasn't sold. http://www.streeteasy.com/nyc/sale/355594-coop-39-fifth-avenue-greenwich-village-new-york 39 5th has four apartment lines and each line is a large one bedroom. the layouts are almost identical and they are almost exactly the same size. All the lines trade for around the same price, with the exception of the back apartments on low floors which have closed-in views and trade for less. So I have to wonder what possible thought process led the owners of 9C to put their unit on the market for $1.25 million today: http://www.streeteasy.com/nyc/sale/385629-coop-39-fifth-avenue-greenwich-village-new-york there is nothing discernable in the listing to set it apart from 9B, but even if someone had a very slight preference for the unit, 25%? i don't think so. just because they paid $1.15 for it in 2005 doesn't mean they can simply ignore the nearly identical apartment for sale right across. [less]