Auction of two Harlem buildings nets $6 million

Auctioneer Chuck Scheifer swivels and spots a bidder in packed room.

In a highly successful auction Wednesday of two Manhattan buildings that the state has declared surplus, taxpayers benefited with winning bids totaling $5.97 million.

An estimated 300 individuals jammed into the auction room on the eighth floor of the Adam Clayton Powell State Office Building on 125th Street to witness or participate in the sale.  There were 107 registered bidders, according to one official.

“Our goal is to get property on the tax rolls,” said the official, James P. Sproat, director of Real Estate Planning & Development in the Office of General Services.  “We’re satisfied that we’ve done the best for the taxpayers.”

Auctioneer Chuck Scheifer was less restrained: “I’m incredibly pleased and thrilled,” he allowed. “Fantastic.”

Immediately after bidding successfully on 364 W. 119 St., the buyer (in blue shirt) and auctioneer converse.

First on the block was

Auction set for vacation place with great security

Two houses in Manhattan also are available to bidders

If security is paramount, the happiness will be hard to contain of whoever is the winning bidder at the auction of a property in Northern Adirondack Park this summer.

On 27.3 acres in the hamlet of Lyon Mountain in Dannemora, the property includes several acres of undeveloped land and 23 buildings totaling 90,676 square feet.

New York State is selling the former minimum-security correctional facility as surplus property on July 10, and the minimum bid is a mere $140,000.

(If a second prison might prove to be of interest, the former Arthur Kill Correctional Facility on the southern tip of Staten Island is for sale as well, but not at auction.)

Why isn’t a bevy of buyers biting the bullet?

 

The yellow line represents the 30-year fixed-rate mortgage from October 1970 until now. (Reproduced with the permission of Mortgage-X.com)

As almost everyone knows, there was a time that mortgage rates soared into the high teens.  I remember it well.

With interest rates as low as they are, I’ve been wondering why buyers in Manhattan aren’t eager to snap up properties with funds borrowed at record lows.  Taking into account government subsidies in the form of tax deductions, how could this fourth quarter’s activity be so relatively sluggish?  (It is, though the Q3 reports may lead you to believe otherwise.)

A poll in yesterday’s New York Times and an account of Ben Bernanke’s big speech last Friday provided me with some insight.