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

Queens auction tops minimum by 28 percent

The winning bid for this East Elmhurst house went way over the upset price of $488,000. (Source: Queens public administrator)

Winning bids at Wednesday’s estate auction of eight houses and three co-ops totaled $4.135 million, 28 percent more than the $3.201 million sum of the minimum prices set by Queens Public Administrator Lois Rosenblatt.

The East Elmhurst property shown above was the standout: It reached $740,000 vs. the upset price of $488,000.

Minimum (upset) prices are set by Rosenblatt at 25 percent below the appraised value.

Included in the auction were properties in Brooklyn, Bellerose and Flushing.

Below are the properties that were offered with winning bids in boldface following the upset prices:

Low-priced apartments, houses dominate Queens public administrator’s auction to be held Sept. 12

Minimum bid for this East Elmhurst house is $488,000. (Source: Queens public administrator)

Queens Public Administrator Lois Rosenblatt has scheduled the estate auction of eight houses and three co-operative apartments on Sept. 12.

Included in the auction are properties in Brooklyn, Bellerose and Flushing.

Minimum (upset) prices, which are set by Rosenblatt at 25 percent below the appraised value, range from $74,000 for an apartment in Jackson Heights to $488,000 for the house shown above in East Elmhurst.

Below are the properties to be offered next week:

Bidding tops minimum for Queens homes by 36%

Single-family home at 23-31 37th St., Long Island City, fetches highest price in public administrator’s auction, going way over its minimum.

The auction Wednesday of 15 apartments and single-family homes in an estate sale by Queens Public Administrator Lois Rosenblatt will add $6.012 million to the city’s coffers.

All of the properties remaining after three apartments were routinely withdrawn before the event, which was held in the State Supreme Court building in Jamaica, found buyers.

Proceeds exceeded by $1.6 million the total of $4.412 minimum prices set by the public administrator, or 36 percent.

Although a Long Island City house that had been withdrawn from previous sales twice received the highest winning bid, $935,000, a Woodside house that went for $315,000 registered the biggest percentage gain over the minimum.

The Long Island City property went for

Queens administrator to auction off 18 properties

2 South Country Rd., Westhampton

Queens Public Administrator Lois Rosenblatt has scheduled the estate auction of 13 houses and five co-operative apartments for June 13.

Included in the auction are properties in Little Neck, Westhampton and Monticello.

Minimum (upset) prices, which are set by Rosenblatt at 25 percent below the appraised value, range from $64,000 for an apartment in Jackson Heights to $675,000 for a house in Long Island City that was withdrawn prior to the administrator’s sales in December and March.

Below are the properties to be offered next month:

True bidding war erupts at auction in Brooklyn

State Supreme Court Building in Brooklyn, where auction was held.

At an estate auction in Brooklyn that raised $7.225 million for New York City, a mixed-use Bay Ridge building went 76 percent over its minimum price of $1.6 million in a heated bidding war on Tuesday.

Not only was the competition for the property marked by the drama of late entrants bidding well into the final rounds, apparent handshake deals among the hopefuls and rare bursts of applause, but the auctioneer for Kings County Public Administrator Bruce Stein mistakenly called out the wrong paddle number when declaring the building sold at $2.82 million.  He then started to re-open bidding.

“You said it was sold!” many who attended the auction shouted as the actual winner strode in consternation from where he was seated in the back row toward the front of the courtroom in State Supreme Court, Brooklyn, where the auction was held.

City plans to sell Brooklyn properties at auction

Brooklyhn Borough Hall

King’s County Public Administrator Bruce Stein has scheduled the auction of 16 Brooklyn properties on May 22.  It is the first such estate auction  by the city in that borough since last June.

The properties, which were owned by individuals who died without wills, have minimum bids ranging from $275,000 to $1.6 million.

The following properties are scheduled to be auctioned:

Queens administrator auction reaps $4.9 million

Note: I’ll be taking a little time off, so there will be fewer posts next week.

The city’s estate auction of 15 Queens properties by owners who died without leaving a will garnered $4.854 million in winning bids for an even dozen apartments and single-family homes on Wednesday.

Three of the properties were withdrawn before the sale, and none of the remaining ones failed to find a buyer.

So. Ozone Park house sold for way more than the minimum.

According to results from Queens Public Administrator Lois Rosenblatt, the highest amount went for a Bayside house with a minimum bid of $536,000; the winning number was $735,000.  The lowest was for a Corona apartment that sold for the minimum of $79,000.

A house, on 135th Pl. in So. Ozone Park, fetched $485,000, an impressive 73 percent more than the upset price of $281,000.

Withdrawn from the auction were

15 Queens properties head to city auction

Single-family home in Middle Village with minimum bid of $412,000

Three co-ops and 12 single family homes are to be offered at an estate auction conducted on March 14 by Queens Public Administrator Lois Rosenblatt.

Minimum (upset) prices, which are set by Rosenblatt at 25 percent below the appraised value, range from $79,000 for an apartment in Corona to $675,000 for a house in Long Island City.

The house was one of two properties withdrawn prior to the city’s previous auction, in December.  Also returning to the auction block is a house on 63rd Avenue in Middle Village.

Below are the properties to be offered next month:

Co-ops in Manhattan auction draw limp bidding

The impossibly ornate Surrogate's Courthouse, where the auction was held.

Public Administrator Ethel J. Griffin’s poorly attended estate auction of nine apartments Tuesday produced sales totaling only $2.374 million.

Five of the properties ranging in location from Chinatown to Washington Heights failed to attract even one bidder.  A co-op on West End Avenue in Lincoln Towers sold to a sole bidder for its minimum of $300,000.

There were just two bidders for