Is there such a thing as a bargain at the lower-end of the Manhattan real estate market? Yesterday, we posted a reader rave regarding a $315,000 studio on East 10th Street. Curbed readers weigh in on our correspondent's claim that the place is an "ridiculous steal":
1) "I saw this unit last week, so I'd thought I'd add some input. The place is no more than 400 square feet. So, at $315,000, that's about $787 per square foot. It's slightly below market price for that area, but not $75,000 less! This unit was on the market a couple of months back and was in contract but the would-be buyers did not get board approval so that's why it's back the market. Original listing price was the same, I believe."
2) "Aren't you even a LITTLE suspicious that the broker sent you that email? It sounds/looks a little fishy." [Ed?Curbed believes in the better angels of our nature. Plus, brokers don't know how to use email.]
More after the jump, including an Inwood plug and an email from a real, live real estate broker!
3) "How the hell could that person consider E. 10th St. 'the best neighborhood' when a freakin' STUDIO costs $315M? Hell, for less than $300M you can get a 750 sqft 1-bedroom in the nicest complex in Inwood, complete with windowed eat-in kitchen, exposed beams, sunken living room, and free high-speed internet, not to mention more parks than you can shake a stick at *and* peace and quiet when you want it. An added bonus is that Starbucks hasn't shown its ugly face here yet."
4) We stand corrected. A genuine real estate broker emails, "Whenever an apartment comes on the market at something that is perceived to be less than market value, people swarm to it like, well, so many things. It is then bid up by the frenzy only to have someone pay the market price or slightly more due to the euphoric process of the bidding and an individual's sense of needing to be a winner. And so I write to tell you that finding a so-called bargain in this market is only done when someone can see beneath the grime, whether it be years of paint (both latex and lead-based), or pre-formica cabinets, cracking tiles, water stains, drafty windows, etc. In other words, if you're not Bob Vila, you're going to wind up paying what everyone else is - market."
· On the Market: "Ridiculous Steal" Studio [Curbed]