25 condos in Long Island City tower set for auction

Unit in East River Tower (via Sheldon Good & Co.)

An auction (with undisclosed) reserve prices of 25 units in Long Island City’s poorly situated East River Tower is scheduled to take place in Manhattan on Feb. 13.

Originally priced from $385,000 to $870,000, the one- and two-bedroom condos have balconies, washer/dryers, high ceiling, oak floors, granite countertops in the kitchen with glass-tile backsplashes and, of course, stainless-steel appliances, and marble-tiled baths with whirlpool tubs.

At 11-24 31st Ave., the doorman building itself offers a fitness room, parking garage and 15-year tax abatement.

Minimum bids of 60-67 percent less than the original prices of 15 of the units range from

The High Road: Buyers, sellers should ‘fire’ bad agent

When a broker fails you, cut your losses. (Flickr photo by cooling)

There isn’t a seller who doesn’t begin to wonder what his or her broker is doing wrong as the weeks and months pass without an offer.

Yet the silence may have nothing to do with the quality or performance of the broker.

For example, the seller may have rebuffed the broker’s strong suggestion to clear out clutter, paint a wall, lower the asking price, take the dog for a walk during appointments and open houses, organize the contents or closets, or mitigate innumerable other distractions that may inhibit buyers.

It is a broker’s first priority to market a property to bring the maximum number of potential buyers for the quickest and smoothest sale at the highest possible price.  But no broker can readily change a buyer’s reaction to a property and thus his or her willingness to make an offer.

One broker I know has managed to attract more than 70 buyers to an Upper West Side co-op that is knowingly overpriced, and the seller is demanding to know why the place hasn’t sold.  It just isn’t the broker’s fault.

But there comes a time when a seller or a buyer should “fire” a broker