When Broker is Seller: Double Standard?

Last Spring, I attempted to convince my wife that we should sell our 3BR condo on the Upper West Side, bank a nice profit, and move to a rental.  She couldn’t be persuaded and pointed out that we didn’t need to sell and that moving with our then 7 and 4 year old would be more hassle than it was worth.  You see, we love our neighborhood and our building.  Our kids are phenomenal swimmers because of the pool in the building and the children’s playroom, basketball court, and yoga studio are better than having a suburban basement.  So we ultrimately decided that we would stay until the kids go to college in about 10 years. 

In September, the week before the Lehman Brothers collapse, I convinced my wife that cashing out might be a good idea regardless of the inconvenience of moving.  She "bought" my logic and agreed to list our home.  Since we weren’t very motivated (she not at all), we listed the apartment at an aggressively high price thinking that maybe someone would want to live in the building so much that they would "overpay."  I even told my neighbor who was interested that she and her husband would be overpaying but we would be willing to sell if they were OK with that.  They are still in their 2BR on our floor but decided against the purchase of our place…no surprise.

Well Lehman went under, the Manhattan real estate market came to a stand still in the 4th quarter of 2008 and we again decided that we would stay in our very comfortable home for another 10 years or so.  Which brings me to the present.  Just yesterday a colleague reached out to me to ask if I would consider selling to his clients who are determined to live in my building.  I told him that for the asking price from last Fall, we would sell.  His clients declined our generous offer for them to overpay for our home…go figure. 

Today, I struggle with putting our apartment back on the market with the thought that someone may indeed come along and pay our asking price just to be in the building.  I’m delusional I know but I’m wondering what the harm is in marketing the apartment at a non-negotiable price and only showing to those who understand that.

The harm comes in that I would NEVER advise a client/seller of mine to do this in today’s market as it is a pure waste of time.  Testing the waters today is silly as buyers are anxious and more savvy now than any time in the past.   So why the double-standard?  Why do I feel like it is OK to market my place at a ridiculous asking price when I would never accept the same from one of my sellers?  I don’t!  There is no double-standard and we’re not selling our apartment.

That said, if you or a friend/client wants a 3BR/2BTH condo in the Bromley on 83rd and Broadway and has money to burn, drop me a line 🙂