Help pricing a 1br, west 70s

best advice I've seen is to price LOW to generate traffic, hope for a bidding war, and maybe you'll get the price you want...Good Luck!

"The apartment is 500 sq ft (listed, closer to 430-440 actual)"

Since you are looking to sell by owner, perhaps it would be of good practice to honelist your apartment at the actual square footage while perhaps highlighting that a broker would list it at 500/sf.

"I don't want to go below $410K as I'd rather rent it out at that point. Should I price it at $450K and then go down 10% to make the buyer feel better?"

Doing some basic mental mathematics, 10% off $450k would be $405k, therefore bringing you $5k lower than your lowest acceptable price of $410k. I suggest if your approach is FSBO, you might want to purchase a calculator before you begin negotiations.

All the best.

If your minimum selling price is really just 15-20% below peak, I would suggest that you focus your energy on finding a new tenant.

If you do decide to sell, good luck with a FSBO in this environment. I think uwsmom is right about pricing low. If your price is $410K firm, just say it's $410K firm.

If you are close to indifferent between holding on or selling, then I would recommend listing at your best price and hope for the best. I am slowly coming around to the idea that the lurking buyers out there understand the market pretty well. They have images in mind of what they want, specifics on what they will pay, and are ready to pull the trigger when those criteria have been met without much negotiation. I have personal (not carnal) knowledge of 2 such deals....btw, if you have any knowledge of 3-4 bds, view of CP and 3,000+sq ft with plenty of light, similarly minded owner, send me a note. Good Luck...peace

Use the search feature here to generate a list of all the apartments near your's that you would consider comparable -- that's your competition. If you want to sell your's, just underprice them enough to make your place the one to sell.

But I suspect the answer is already in your post -- with a floor of $410,000, you will probably be renting the place out for at least the next 5 years -- you wont sell for less than $900psf but the market for non-doorman space right now is probably trading in the low $700s. And it might be in the $500s or lower soon.

Thanks for the advice! Very good suggestions.

I did check current asking prices for similar places in my location and they certainly don't look like they are down 30%. Maybe less expensive places are down less than apartments that sold for over $1M? Or most likely sold prices are much less than the asking price.

I actually hired an appraiser a few weeks ago and he came back with $410K. Not sure if his opinion is worth anything.

what are monthly charges? what is feasible monthly rental?

West70s, why hire an appraiser when you can free appraisals on SE, including forecasts.

If you are leaning towards buying a 2br, better to have cash in hand now instead of waiting for 410k. Be brutal in your pricing (knowing that you can be just as brutal in your bids in the next couple of years). If you are brave, price at 349k FSBO. Have contracts drawn up by lawyer ready to go. If you get more than one acceptable offer, do a highest and best, have them submit a certified check with the signed contract & their most recent bank statement.

but nyc10023 shouldn't you have an idea of monthly charges before estimating a price?...

Sure, but I know the buildings in the area pretty well - none of the buildings around 72nd & Columbus have outrageously high maintenance. They're all smaller buildings. A sig. number are rentals so I have a feel for where West 70s unit is.

My current thinking is that asking price is kind of irrelevant in this market, especially for something like a 1-bedroom/studio because buyers know the market. Ask $1, ask $100k - whatever, as long as you're not overpriced, the market will bring you the real price soon enough.

Not meaning to be negative, but I just can't see someone paying 350K right now for 430sf, given what might shortly be available for that price, especially downtown (yeah, I know it ain't the UWS, but it's a quick hop from UWS on the express and I think the collapse of the "fringes" is relevant to a little place like this, at least it would be to me). It still sounds kind of bubbly-ish to me. That's still 800psf.

I should have said, for example downtown..because further up uws also might also look like way more space for 350k than this in the not too distant future.

Eh, then ask 199k. If he doesn't HAVE to sell, let the market settle where it may.

A cursory search of streeteasy reveals the lack of 1brs (large or small) in the 350-399k range in West 70s location. So 349k right off the bat should garner some interest.

nyc 10023 what is sort of rule-of-thumb total monthly charges persf that seems reasonable, what would be a range of reasonable/normal...Someone once told me 1$ psf but it seems like I hardly ever see a building that low, but I have little experience in this.

I posted on this extensively. Add up what it would cost for hot water & heat for your apt, add up the minimal costs for a super, handyman. And taxes. That gets you to $500+ even for the tiniest studio unless you're talking a self-managed brownstone with no staff. So add a few doormen, management fees, insurance, etc. Gets you to $1.20/ft easily without even assuming that the building has a mortgage. All buildings need maintenance, and unless tenants are okay with an assessment each time, that means a LOC/mtge.

And West 70s: if you're going FSBO, I recommend cleaning the apt thoroughly, including windows. Rent some furniture, paint the walls. And if you're not the most charming or beauteous person IRL, hire a couple of good-looking, well-spoken women to show the apt for $25/hr.

Thanks nyc10023. By the way, I have suggested to SE that they create a kind of wikipedia page on selected topics like "monthly charges,-- definitions, factors, etc; coop board approvals/rules, etc. The idea would stop everyone having to repeat the same info all the time on these recurring topics. Maybe there is already a site that examines these issues thoroughly (I dont know), or if SE wont do this then maybe directly in wiki it could be done. I didn't do a good job of defining the example topics but i guess people will get my idea.

Right, completely forgot, monthly maintenance is $700.

As nyc100023 mentioned above, there are not many 1br apartments available in the 70s.

I don't really have to sell as I have a couple of friends who want to rent the apartment and in general it has been pretty easy to rent. But I also don't want to keep holding it until its worth $250K either (hope that doesn't happen!)

Still, I think I can get more for it than you guys are suggesting. Well, there is only one way to find out. I will be putting it for sale shortly and then we'll see. My guess is that I will probably have an offer between $380K and 400K. Not sure if I will sell, but I will consider.

Thanks for all of your advice. I will post an update in a few weeks.

Thanks west70s..Your reasonableness, and calm, is a radical sentiment on this site where the universe has been more or less divided between truthtellers (read:doomsayers) and evil, delusional, truth-denying sellers. Go forth and show the world that there is ambiguity.