HGTV's Selling New York rides along with brokerages CORE, Kleier Residential, and Warburg as they try to sell fabulous properties fabulously. Here's our recap of how the NYC real estate industry is portrayed to the world, penned by Angela Bunt. Episode air date: 1/31/2013.
It's a real estate sausage-fest on this episode of Selling New York, which features the brokerage stylings of Richard Steinberg, executive managing director of Warburg, and Udi Eliasi, VP associate broker at Citi Habitats. Although Richard has sold over $4M of property at 39 East 29th Street already, he's still working furiously to get the exclusive on an apartment in the building. Meanwhile, Udi is trying to sell a unique townhouse in the East Village (OK, Alphabet City) that could use a bit of renovation. Will developers see the potential in the property? Will Richard get his exclusive? Will Punxsutawney Phil see his shadow? So many questions.
The episode kicks off with Richard Steinberg at Penthouse 4B in 39 East 29th Street.
The $4.35M, 3BR, 3BA has the. sickest. views. It faces the Williamsburg Bridge, the Brooklyn Bridge, and the Verrazano Bridge (eh, who cares). Not to mention the Empire State Building is basically slapping you in the face. Based on his past performances, Richard assumes he'll be a shoe-in for the exclusive. But the property developer, Espais NY General Manager Andres Hogg, isn't impressed. He wants Richard to first focus on selling unit #22C before giving him another exclusive.
That view is absurd.
Richard needs to beat out his competition by figuring out a strong marketing plan for the penthouse, while simultaneously selling 22C. So, first thing's first: get 22C sold. Should be easy, right?
OK, I have TOTALLY partied in this apartment. I knew it looked familiar! It was somebody's birthday, and I kept ooo-ing and ahh-ing about the views and shoving my face with cheese and crackers. There was also some vodka involved.
Not only does Richard effortlessly sell the unit, but he sells apartment 21C, also. So in the past two minutes of the show he has made more money than I'll probably ever see in my life. But before he can get the exclusive, he must still figure out a strong marketing plan that puts him ahead of his competition (which is obvi nipping at his heels). He consults with his marketing team at Warburg who suggest two cutting edge ideas: Twitter and Facebook. #IsThisWhatThey'rePayingYouFor?
Besides the social media aspect, Richard teams up with Avenue Magazine to throw a party at the penthouse. The magazine will use it as a venue to promote their "100 Best Dressed New Yorkers" issue, and it'll also be the perfect way to showcase the apartment to a more affluent crowd.
The swanky party is filled with fashionistas, live music, and most importantly: alcohol. Richard is shmoozing so hard his lips are turning purple and chatting up a fashion blogger in an effort to get some free publicity.
"Yeah, I get 2 million UVs per month. What have you done lately?"
After paying a post-party visit to Andres, he learns that all of his hard work has paid off and he is given the exclusive. Two weeks later, Richard sells the penthouse for $4.1M. And THAT'S how it's done.
That was exhilarating! Let's see if Citi Habitats VP Udi Eliasi can bring us the same excitement. He's working with Ron Tarablous to sell a townhouse at 356 East 8th Street in the East Village (or, Alphabet City if we're being honest). The neighborhood, once considered unsafe and a bit?ahem?trashy, is now a hotbed of activity and full of youth. After 20 years, it's time for Ron to cash in on his investment and sell the property. It's an 8BR, 4BA listed at $3.295M.
Each apartment in the four-story townhouse takes up the entire floor, and each floor is flooded with natural light. While the apartments aren't as glamorous as what we're used to seeing on the show, they're super cute and actually have some personality. I mean, I'd totes live there. What makes the building even more desirable is that it's not restricted by landmark regulations, which means a developer can build an additional 4,000 square feet. Udi knows that any smart developer would see the potential in the property. Oh, not to mention Ron's outdoor space, home to his "beautiful garden."
Somebody get this man a watering can.
Udi heads to Gotham Photo Company, who will use photos of the apartment's current interior to do some virtual renderings. Rather than pay to re-stage an entire townhouse, they can just do it digitally to give potential buyers an idea of what the space could look like. Yes, this man has a Superman sticker on his laptop. Yes, he looks just like Uncle Kracker.
After Uncle Kracker disbanded, the vocalist found success in digital renderings!
Fellow Citi Habitat colleagues Ildiki Gugan and Scotty Elyanow head over to the townhouse with Udi to size it up and figure out how they can market it to their clients. Most of the walls are able to be knocked down, so the apartment's layout is completely changeable. The trio then heads over to a $6.25M, 5BR, 5BA comp at 123 East 10th Street to get an idea of what Ron could do with his townhouse after renovations.
Shortly after their outing, Scotty gets a call from a real estate developer who is interested in the property. Ron is asking for $3.295M and the developer is offering $2.8M?all cash. After "sleeping on it," Ron turns down the deal and partners with another developer.
While this episode of SNY didn't feature the usual myriad of expensive properties and quirky clients, I enjoyed the bluntness of both the real estate agents and their clients. Also, I seriously did party in that apartment. I swear. This episode gets 4 out of 5 cackling Kleiers.
· Selling New York [HGTV]
· Selling New York coverage [Curbed]
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