There are sellers who can’t handle the pressure

(flickr photo by massdistraction)

The pressure on buyers making an offer or waiting for a seller’s response often can cause them to lose sleep.

What they may well forget is how intense the pressure can be on a seller as well, whether hoping for a good offer or deciding on accepting one that already has been made.

A recent experience underscored the point, which centered on

Condo in luxe high-rise heads to city’s auction, other properties have much lower minimums

This unit at 401 E. 60th St. is a floor below one to be auctioned and may be slightly smaller.

A condo in the Lenox Hill neighborhood will be offered with a minimum bid of $1.2 million at the first city auction of Manhattan properties since June.

Public Administrator Ethel J. Griffin scheduled the sale of 13 properties from the Lower East Side to Inwood for March 21.  Minimum bids range from $45,000 for an income-limited studio in Harlem to the East Side condo’s $1.2 million.

The estate of one Ronald Cohen, the four-room unit 24C in Bridge Tower Place, a full-service 1999 building at 401 E. 60th St., is advertised as having 1,130 square feet with common charges of $1,400 monthly and annual taxes of $21,000.  Active listings in the building average

The High Road: Brokers should blame themselves

When brokers act like the two I recently encountered and no one complains, we who sell real estate should expect our collective reputation to persist at a low level.

So do I occasionally write about certain unnamed brokers under the “High Road” heading (as well other questionable behavior).

Blogging about the incidents always has been enough at least to stem my anger and mitigate my contempt of bad brokers, even though I undoubtedly delude myself into thinking that my writing could lead to improvement.

Consequently, I don’t report bad behavior to the ethics committee of the Real Estate Board of New York (REBNY) , the Department of State (which regulates licensees) or executives of the firms that supervise sales personnel.  As I draft this post, however, I have yet to make a decision whether writing about a recent situation is sufficient.

It begins with an e-mail from my client,

Bankruptcy auction set for a brownstone in limbo

14 Queens co-ops, houses also go on the block in March

The bankruptcy saga of the Upper West Side brownstone, right, finally seems to be coming to an end.

The 11-unit townhouse at 313 W. 77th St. went on the market in September of 2011 at an asking price of $3.995 million.  It has languished since then.

Still, the 5,898-sf brownstone between West End Avenue and Riverside Drive is bound to fetch more than that at a bankruptcy auction.

Bankruptcy trustee Albert Togut of the Togut, Segal & Segal law firm previously entered into a contract to sell the building for $3.75 million with a tenant who has agreed to move out if an offer of at least $4.5 million is made to purchase the place vacant.

Consequently, any successful bidder below $4.5 million would have a doozy of a time

$15 million lawsuit against the Dakota lives on

Part 2 of 2

The co-operative building is legend.

Former home of John Lennon, Lauren Bacall and Leonard Bernstein, location of Rosemary’s Baby, the hulking Dakota on a corner of Central Park West at 72nd St. continues under the cloud of a $15 million lawsuit lodged by an African-American resident who served two terms as president of the board.

Alphonse Fletcher Jr., who moved into the building in 1992 claims racial discrimination in the board’s rejection of his application to purchase an adjoining apartment.  His complaint adds that he wasn’t alone, naming

Fair Housing Act can trip up unwary co-op boards

Part 1 of 2

Grossman, 210 E. 36th St., and Thandrayen. (Source: The Real Deal)

It is up to the courts to decide whether a prospective buyer’s claim of discrimination is valid in a $1 million lawsuit.

But the case brought by an African whose application to a seven-member co-op board was rejected highlights the treacherous terrain of anti-discrimination laws.

According to the Real Deal last week, Goldwyn Thandrayen, a native of Mauritius, contended in a complaint amended two weeks ago that the board of 210 E. 36th St. in the Murray Hill neighborhood discriminated against him on the basis of national origin.

Have you seen those folks sorting cans in trash?

There certainly are more degrading enterprises than picking through trash bags to extract bottles and cans from them.  But the effort is way down there, you must agree.

Perhaps you read the New York Times story on New Year’s Day about such “canners.”  The column by Francis X. Clines is what has motivated me to write this post and e-mail City Council members Christine Quinn and Gail Brewer, who represents my district along with State Assemblywoman Linda Rosenthal, with the suggestion below.

Weekly Roundup: New. . . rent data, celebrity moves, U.S. market reports, interest rates, generation of investors, forecasts and more

November rents in Manhattan ease slightly as Sandy contributes to drop in inventory

Almost burned, one tenant unscathed after renting out apartment via Airbnb

Mayor calls for immediate redrawing of FEMA flood maps

Sunlight in apartments comes at a cost

NY Fed’s interactive tool provides housing market data

Insurance won’t cover loss in event of apartment misuse

Many of the city’s newest transplants favor Manhattan

His new home is, strangely, no fixer-upper

London house of singer who died tragically young sold at auction below original asking price

Retired Yankee’s condo sale long way from home run

Chef’s purchase

Foreigners: apartment buyers with special needs

Part 1 of 2

(Flickr photo by allie_caulfield)

The foreign buyers you read about who are purchasing super-luxury apartments that are sky-high not only in location don’t concern themselves with financing their purchases.

Nor do those whose chief interest is to park their funds in a safe place seek out lenders.  (Of course, foreign buyers may have in mind a safe haven for their funds as well as a desire to increase their investment with financing assistance.)

But for foreigners who want a modest pied-à-terre or perhaps housing for their children attending school in the U.S., a mortgage can be important.

They may be able

Sellers must keep their priorities in mind

Buyers don’t need a professional inspection to cite defects. (Flickr photo by Landahlauts)

There’s more than one way to lose a buyer, and today’s post centers on a common one — that pesky “as is” clause.

Contracts for the sale of condos and co-ops in Manhattan and elsewhere in New York City generally include the clause, which stipulates that the buyer accepts the apartment “as is.”  If the clause is not included, contingency language allows the buyer to cancel the contract in the event that the seller doesn’t agree to remediation.

Including an “as is” clause, especially for units in new buildings, shifts risk from the owner to the buyer.  And the risks — e.g. shortcomings in workmanship or code issues — are manifold in new developments.  So be it: caveat emptor.