Out and About: There’s something about wavy

The bay in Provincetown near sunset.

Gazing at water, an ocean, a lake, a river has its manifold virtues.

Views of water may suggest variations of  tranquility, power, beauty, faith and myriad other shades of human emotion.  Even rain, whether an evening shower or a threatening thunderstorm, has the same potential as a trickling stream or a roaring ocean.

I get it: There is nothing like walking on a sandy beach, negotiating the banks of a canal or sitting comfortably in the arms of a chair or a loved one and contemplating the currents nearby.

Being enveloped by a watery vision is one thing.  

Out and About: Studios built not only for sleeping

Central Park Studios, at 15 W. 67th St., is one building of several originally designed for artists on that block.

Rare is the individual who can resist the ineffable charm, halo of history and peerless patina of apartments created as studios for visual artists and musicians.  They exist predominantly, though not exclusively, on the Upper West Side.

Buildings created with artists in mind often feature some combination of soaring ceilings, leaded-glass windows, British overtones, ornamental woodwork and, naturally, great northern light.

I can think of such buildings on Central Park South, above Carnegie Hall and in the Lincoln Square area.

There is almost nothing like them, and that undoubtedly explains the premiums they normally command.

Weekly Roundup: Rents up, prices down, more!

Here’s your chance to catch up with news included to inform, enlighten and perhaps even entertain you. To read about The Big Apple, check out the other of today’s posts and look for Out and About early next week.

Designing man nails duplex on the Village’s ‘Gold Coast’

Star in the city and hubby succeed in buying a townhouse with after really trying

Actress looks forward to selling the condo she vacated three years ago after her drug arrest

Former homes of the rich, famous or both can be yours

Listed at $33 million in 2009, his New Mexico ranch has found a buyer after price cut to $18.5 million

With house under contract, a TV doctor is moving up in Beverly Hills to one twice as expensive (2nd item)

Obama administration’s March scorecard inevitably concedes weak housing nationwide

Market tightens for rental housing

While showing stability, February prices are below

Weekly Roundup: The Big Apple and Beyond

This holiday-weekend combined post is your chance to catch up with news included to inform, enlighten and perhaps even entertain you.  You’ll find Out and About early next week and additional posts every day except President’s Day as usual.

COMMON DISPUTE ABOUT SQUARE FOOTAGE MAKES RARE COURT APPEARANCE

Four years ago, Rishi Bhandari and his fiancée put down a deposit on a condo in Downtown Brooklyn. The price was $795,000, for a two-bedroom two-bathroom apartment, reports the New York Times.

But just before they were to close,

Weekly Roundup: Luxury homes sell on 2 coasts. More!

Here’s your chance to catch up with news included to inform, enlighten and perhaps even entertain you. To read about The Big Apple, check out the other of today’s posts and look for Out and About early next week.

HIS HOPES ARE NOW IN A MUCH LOWER RANGE

AT ITS ASKING PRICE, CO-OP WILL NEED TO BE AS POPULAR AS LATE WOMAN’S RESTAURANT

WIDOW OF LATE MEDIA BILLIONAIRE FACES FORECLOSURE OF 23,500-SF MANSION

CHOREOGRAPHER STEPS UP TO 1,826-SF DUPLEX

SERIAL KILLER’S LONG ISLAND HOME MAY SOON BE SOLD

CASE-SHILLER’S LATEST NUMBERS SUGGEST THAT THE GLASS IS HALF FULL–OR NOT

BIG SPENDERS OPEN WALLETS IN

Sealed-bid auction set for two luxury penthouses

43 West

Two duplex penthouses with terraces and views of the Hudson River from an eight-unit building are to be auctioned via sealed bids that are due Dec. 8. The reserve prices were not disclosed.

In the a former 1920 rental building now called West 43, at 552 W. 43rd St., between 10th and 11th avenues, the condos are being marketed as a closeout auction

Out and About: Get outta there!

THAT'S what counts as outdoor space. (Flickr photo by Kansas Explorer 3128)

Who doesn’t yearn for a home with outdoor space?

 

Here in a Manhattan of cement sidewalks and limestone canyons, it is those folks who fit into one or more of the following categories:

1.  Pragmatists, who know they’ll be spending most of their time at home indoors and want the biggest bang for their purchase dollars;

2.  Floraphobics, who detest gardening;

3.  Realists, who abhor street noise, nosy neighbors and immoderate heat, cold, rain or wind;

4.  Anal retentives, who deplore the use of a balcony as a “bonus” storage room.

I’m sure you can think of other types as well, but the fact is that even they may tend to salivate at the possibilities offered by outdoor space, which I believe is excessively sought and insufficiently used.

Notwithstanding, appraisal executive Jonathan Miller has told me that the correct valuation of outdoor space ranges between one-third and one-half the price attributed to a property’s interior on a per-square-foot basis.  Most sellers and their listing brokers tend to price an apartment accordingly, but others think of such places as heaven on earth.

Consider two duplexes separated by six blocks just west of Columbus Avenue in the 70s.