I May Be Buying AGAIN

Just a quick note that my phones are ringing considerably more than last week and there seem to be more buyers coming to the table ready to buy property, me included (see below).  Inventory remains low however and we still aren’t seeing many "deals" hit the market.  That said, occasionally an apartment comes on the market that is drastically under priced.  Call it a sales tactic, call it agent incompetence, call it whatever you want.  I choose to call it an opportunity and yes one such opportunity has presented itself to 3 of my clients.  Fortunately for me, none of these 3 buyers are interested in this particular property so today at 5PM, my wife and I are going to take a look totally prepared to jump at this opportunity.

This isn’t the first time in my 16 years that such an opportunity has presented itself.  Twice in the last 7 years, my wife and I purchased apartments that I stumbled upon while searching for my clients.  On both occasions, I notified my clients that if they weren’t interested in the properties, that I was and that I intended to bid on them if they didn’t. The first was a 2BR/1.5BTH Co-op that had been on the market for 5 months in an incredibly hot market.  The listing had become "stale" with very few agents showing and many thinking that something was wrong with the apartment.  There was nothing wrong with it and thus my wife and I made it our home for 3 years having our son there.  We had no intention of leaving that apartment even after we discovered that our daughter was on the way.  Fate had other plans.  Again, I had the fortune of showing a 3BR/2BTH condo to yet another client of mine who decided that the space wasn’t for them.  It was DEFINITELY for US!  I quickly called my wife who darted up from her job in Midtown to immediately agree with me that this would be the perfect home for our soon to be family of four.  We bid and after a heated bidding war (they actually did a two full page spread story in the NY Post about this) we "won" the privilege of purchasing our current home (I had buyer’s remorse for 2 months!).

So fast forward to this morning.  In my relentless search for my current buyers, I stumbled upon an incredible condo with stunning views that is priced at only $1100/sf!  Today at 5PM I will see the space with my wife and I suspect we may be moving in the next few months unless I lose this bidding war.  I will keep you posted. 

My point to this story is that I’m not afraid to sell and buy in this market based on the idea that my family will likely call this place home for a long time (maybe not based on how frequently this type of scenario happens to us).  Mortgage rates are incredibly low right now and I firmly believe that owning a bigger piece of Manhattan real estate is never a bad idea (unless you are forced to sell in a bad market…if that may happen to you, then don’t buy).