On the list of Things We Do Not See Very Often, a scheduled foreclosure auction for a prime Manhattan townhouse falls just below unicorns. But to Murray Hill we go, to the five-floor house (with finished roof deck and garden) at 221 East 31st Street?a five-bedroom, five-and-a-half-bathroom slice of America's housing woe. The house is currently listed through Corcoran with an ask of $4.195 million, but according to PropertyShark, there's a lien of $692,400 on the place and a foreclosure auction was just scheduled for October 7. It's extremely rare for a house not to get bought up before the ugliness gets to this stage. In fact, it's almost unheard of, so PropShark CEO Bill Staniford shot a video of him standing outside the house, talking about... how unheard of this is. This is capital-c Craziness, folks.
If the house makes it to auction, what will bidders be going after? From the brokerbabble:
Enter this breathtaking Murray Hill townhouse and your eyes will light up as a gorgeous English Garden opens before you through the stunning two story unobstructed windows at the rear of an open parlor floor. As you walk to the rear of the home, a beautiful glass and steel railing allows you to look down upon the open dining area with 20 foot ceilings, truly open year round to the natural beauty of the garden.Hummina hummina. Foreclosure never sounded so picturesque!
· Listing: 221 East 31st Street [Corcoran]
· PropertyShark TV: Manhattan single family townhome in foreclosure [PropertyShark]