Price Hike At The 14 Townhouses
On the heels of the yesterday’s Adelphi Street price hike comes news of a price increase at the 14 Townhouses on State Street. Despite the fact that sales have been on the slow side, the developer has decided to boost the asking price on the larger model from $2,750,000 to $2,900,000. This is a surprising…
On the heels of the yesterday’s Adelphi Street price hike comes news of a price increase at the 14 Townhouses on State Street. Despite the fact that sales have been on the slow side, the developer has decided to boost the asking price on the larger model from $2,750,000 to $2,900,000. This is a surprising turn of events but the folks behind this development are seasoned real estate pros so we can only imagine they have good reason for the move. Unless it’s purely a Corcoran pricing ploy.
269 State Street [Corcoran] GMAP
14 Townhouses Update: Slow Going, At Best [Brownstoner]
Anon 2:56 – besides being bitter (“Could be because the developer is one of these rich families . . .”) you are a little behind the curve.
http://www.curbed.com/archives/2007/01/25/three_cents_worth_discount_compression_obsession.php
Also, I think you have the Broker and FSBO negotiability strategy wrong. Brokers just want to move the product, time is money, and FSBO are typically very informed sellers who are not just looking to save on the broker fee.
And I hate to be the one to break the news to you but “finding out what the property is actually worth to you” isn’t going to make you an owner.
anon at 2:56. You haven’t been paying attention. Softening up? The 100 Decatur house featured here last week had 80 sign-ins during a two-hour open house…in Bed Stuy! Went to best and final 4 days later.
http://bstoner.wpengine.com/brownstoner/archives/2007/01/whisper_whisper.html?comments=10#comments
As an agent, I can tell you, open houses have been out of control since the beginning of the year…
I agree, you can do better for $3M. These have been on the market for over 18 months for a reason. I like what the developer tried to do, but they were not realistic about the pricing. (Could be because the developer is one of these rich families for whom money is an afterthought. But the target market looking to buy that kind of property in that neighborhood, usually has their money as a forethought.)
On the pricing issue. One theory is that because the market is softening up, buyers feel that there is more room to negotiate. There was a time, just a year ago, that if you tried to offer 10% less, the real estate agent would just laugh in you face (literally). Now, sellers and their agents will listen to lower offers. But, being used to exponentially increasing offers, sellers hesitate to pull the trigger on any bid lower than the asking. Therefore, one strategy is to increase the price, and let the buyers negotiate from there. Generally, the norm says that you can offer 10% less for a property priced by an agent, and up to 20% less for properties FSBO.
It’s similar to the common strategy in a sellers market, to price a property slightly below market, in order to spur a bidding war.
The point is not to let the marketing ploy fool you. Do your research and find out what the property is actually worth, not only in the market, but to you.
TO: Anonymous at 11:51 AM
Point well taken about the need for larger units. The problem is they cost so much and they are harder to unload (ie. 14 townhouses) It is much easier to sell smaller units even if they are not in what you call “hot” neighborhoods. The point is they are $200/sf less than Manhattan, that is one resaon you move to Brooklyn. It is very hard to find reasonable 3-bed apt. in brownstone brooklyn. You always get some messed up compromise. The other option is to buy a brownstone but the probelem there is the $2 million needed.
These units miss all of the marks. they may be nice to look at but they cost too much for a young family and they do not have elevators for retired downsizers.
Although the houses themselves look very nice, the exposure in the back is a big negative. Typically, the only ones who can see inside your house are your neighbors behind you, but here, unless you have your shades totally closed, anyone on schermerhorn street can look into these houses. Plus, who wants gaze out your back window onto a parking lot. I think one could do much better for 3 million.
i’d sure feel good if i bought these at their original price point of $2.6 18 months ago
yup. we were referring to the developers being seasoned pros.
west, usually i disagree with ya, but i must admit i kinda felt like you got wrongfully bitch-slapped by that agent yesterday too.
i think i agree with you that it’s a marketing trick…
for that money i want a nicer stoop. these don’t look comfortable to sit on.