Two suburban houses attract winning bids, barely

Rear view of house on Long Island that received highest bid of just over $1 million at an auction on Sunday.   (Source: Sheldon Good & Co.)

Despite strong early interest, two distinctive suburban properties in separate auctions suffered little competition among bidders on Sunday.

Only two of four registered bidders raised their hands in the auction of a 3,988-sf residence designed by architect Norman Jaffe in the Laurel Hollow village of Oyster Bay on Long Island’s North Shore

At the Mark Hotel on the Upper East Side, the house was gaveled down after receiving a mere three bids — a $1 million minimum opener, then $1.010 million and finally

The Big Apple: Rents up, condo owners sinking

Luxury markets pulls up Q2 average price, though volume declines

Overall sales volume of condominiums and cooperative apartments in Manhattan has been off about 11 percent so far in the second quarter compared with same period last year, according to a Wall Street Journal analysis of the city’s data.

A year ago, the market was bouncing back strongly from the after-effects of the financial crisis.

Prices have remained flat. Data on closings show that median prices in the second quarter were 1.2 percent below prices during the year-earlier period, while average prices rose by 1.5 percent.

The average price for a Manhattan apartment was about $1.39 million in the latest period. The figures are based on closings filed with the city as of 15 days before the end of each quarter.

Russians are invading

CEO reveals secrets of auctions’ pace and prices

John J. Cuticelli Jr.

If you have ever attended an auction, you know that the event takes on a rhythm of its own.

The question uppermost in every bidder’s mind is when to raise a paddle and how high an offer should go.  Is early in the event better than later?  Is waiting until just before the hammer strikes a good strategy?  Who is bluffing and who is serious?

John J. Cuticelli Jr., who purchased the Sheldon Good auction firm in a bankruptcy sale last year, spent some time on the telephone with me explaining his business model and letting me know a bit about sale strategy during an event such as the disposal his company orchestrated of numerous units in Astoria’s East River Tower last month.

“Every auction has a downward slope,” Cuticelli observed.  “The question is,