I’ve been out all morning with friends/buyers (some people are just so much fun to hang out with) showing them prospective properties to call home in the $4,000,000 price range. Now those of you who are saying, "WOW, that must buy you an incredible apartment!" Think again. "Incredible" is relative and for every price point, buyers have their specific list of priorities. We saw properties this morning from a 2100sf Prewar co-op for $3.2M to a 2350sf Penthouse in a new development project for $3.75M. I heard things from listing agents like "there is a theme of textured living throughout" and "you can rip out the ceilings to gain 3-4" more height." And of course my buyers biggest concern (and he knows I love ’em), is whether or not his California King bed will fit in the bedroom. Is it hilarious (and a bit disconcerting) or what to think that someone can pay close to $4,000,000 and be concerned that their bedroom is too small?
By national housing standards (hard to talk about a "national" marketplace but will here for sake of comparison), the New York City real estate market is skewed. A harsh reality indeed.
- A 650sf ONE ROOM apartment (they will call it 2 because it has a kitchen the size a the large boxes most of us played with as children) asking $800,000.
- A 1500sf 3BR/2BTH with barely 8 foot ceilings for $2,000,000.
- Or how about the $3.95M fixer upper with 4/5BR’s and 3BTHS where the building common areas are circa 1979.
- Perhaps you would prefer the 5400sf Penthouse with 2000sf of terrace for $16,000,000?
- Or you can have the top three floors of The Pierre Hotel for a cool $70,000,000.
A few times today I actually found myself irritated that we didn’t stumble upon the perfect home for $4,000,000. I need to take a step back sometimes and not be so quick to spend other people’s money, particularly when it’s millions of dollars for a 12′ X 14′ master bedroom…get rid of that bed dude! That’s just insane!
My Point: In Manhattan, the "perfect" home doesn’t exist at $500,000 or $70,000,000. And sometimes I’m still shocked that this is the market in which I live and work. I’m one lucky SOB!!!
