Tim Geithner, Unable to Sell House and Just a Smidge Colorblind Too

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Most of us know by now that Treasury Secretary Tim Geithner is famously having trouble selling his own damn house out in Westchester County, which he bought for $1.6 million in 2004 and is trying to unload for a slightly higher price now. The Daily Show picked up on this in the hilarious clip above, which features Case-Shiller's Robert Shiller helping the Timster pick out new bathroom tiles among other wonders.

Is it Better to Buy a $425,000 Battery Park One Bedroom or to Rent the Same Apartment for $2200 per month?

We found ourselves pondering this question as we reviewed yet another newly listed Battery Park 1BR in the $400k range zzzzzz of which there are probably 10-15 more exactly like it on the market, none of which have sold in months like we said, zzzzz. Here are the stats:

Address: 2 South End Avenue (aka the Cove Club, one of our favorites) #4E
The digs: 623 sq ft 1BR, northern exposure. There are no pictures, but we can already see it's boxy layout and parquet floors.
The monthlies: given that it's Battery Park, we didn't even blink at the monthly carrying costs of over $1700 blecch for such a tiny apartment. We can almost hear the more seasoned brokers squawk "but that's built into the price!" and the less seasoned brokers squawk "who really cares who you write the check out to, sweetheart, it's either the bank or the condo" all we can say here is that if this sounds reasonable to you, you need a quick lesson in equity. Anywho, of these carrying costs, $1021 per month are non-deductible common charges and the rest ($740 per month) are deductible taxes.

Based on our knowledge of the rental market in the area, we believe that we can rent an equivalent unit for $2200 per month. So, does it make sense to buy?

We started to try to answer this question by popping on over to Streeteasy, which as many people know, has a very cool feature for each listing showing a total monthly cost if you buy the apartment at a variety of prices. When we looked at #4E, with a 20% downpayment and a 5.8% mortgage rate, we were confronted with a total monthly payment of $3,756 or 71% more than what we would be paying if we simply rented the apartment. "But wait!" you say. "Isn't there a tax deduction in there somewhere?" Actually there are two. The first is the deduction on the mortgage interest. Using this handy-dandy calculator, we determined that for our loan amount of $340,000 (we put down $85,000) at a 5.8% interest rate over a 30 year term, we would be able to deduct $19,606 in the first year or $1634 per month sweet. Assuming we have an all-in tax rate of 33% (let's pretend), that leaves us with an extra $540 per month, which brings our monthly payment down to $3216. We can also deduct the taxes (but not the common charges) of $740 (giving us a monthly benefit of $244), bringing our total monthly payment in year 1 to $2972, which is still about 35% more costly than renting. So we said, how much would this apartment have to cost in order for us to basically (see below) break-even right from the beginning? Even we were surprised that when we did all of these calculations again at various price points, the actual break-even price of this apartment is drum roll please $200,000, or about 53% lower than the current asking price of $425,000. At that price, we would be paying just $2700 per month ($2200 if you include the tax benefit), which would be the same as renting the equivalent unit.

Of course, this analysis is unbelievably simplistic. It ignores important things such as what happens in later years (fewer deductions, more equity), transaction costs for buying and selling the property, renovation costs, the opportunity cost for the downpayment and appreciation in both rental and housing prices. Probably, we think, our all-in tax benefit is also a touch high. If you'd like to factor in these variables (and more), check out this very cool calculator courtesy of the New York Times, which lets you run scenarios galore based on probably every single variable that you could ever imagine impacting your decision, ever. Unlike our analysis, which focuses on Year 1 break-even, the NYT model looks at a 30-year horizon and tells you in which year you will first break-even based on the cumulative cost/benefit of renting vs. buying. When we typed in the stats for #4E (using the model's base assumptions for things like price appreciation), we learned (kind of surprisingly, even for us) that at the $425,000 price point, it's actually NEVER better to buy. Even after 30 years, you still don't break even. So what about our $200,000 price point? If you buy at that level, the NYT model tells us that you'll hit the break-even point after 5 years, which seems reasonable given the mantra that if you do not plan to stay in your home for 3-5 years, than buying will likely be more expensive than renting.

So what does all of this mean? Well, if you're a buyer and rent vs. buy is an analysis that makes sense to you, any way you look at it (unless you are anticipating another housing bubble), prices are still way too high. Of course, if we all made decisions based on economic models, we wouldn't have had a housing bubble, a dot-com boom or any of the countless psychology-driven economic events that we can all point to. This analysis should also serve to remind us of the unique economic variables impacting Battery Park (those darn common charges) which for whatever reason owners are willing to stomach but can't pass them on to renters, who just don't see as much value in the area.

Is That Your 20 Pine Rental Unit on a Postcard?

We read with some interest today in The Real Deal that a Goldman Sachs exec is renting one of the 20 Pine penthouses for $10,500 per month zzzzzz. When we looked at the specs of the penthouse however (our old friend Elliman appears to be representing both the owner and the renter.....draw your own conclusions), we're pretty sure that this 3BR, 2BA is none other than PH50, which has been sitting on the market for as long as we can remember and was advertised to area residents a couple of months ago using the pictured postcard that came with a sushi menu under the door.

At the time, we thought that this unit was bought by the sponsor, however it now appears that the real buyer is radio personality Dr. Joy Browne, who has been trying to sell this apartment basically since the day she closed good luck.

Dosvidanya! Gary Shteyngart's LES 1BR Finally Goes Into Contract

After sitting on the market for more than three months and seeing just a single 6% price decline, The Russian Debutante's Handbook author Gary Shteyngart's LES 1 BR fell into contract today. The apartment (#E607 at 575 Grand Street), which we visited and reviewed back in April was most recently priced at $425,000 and was called a 'good deal' by the New York Times last month.

Ah, well - spasiba Gary, nam ochen panravilas vasha kvartira (good luck dude, we liked your digs).

If At First You Don't Succeed...Another 15 Broad St Unit Set to Give it a Go on BidOnTheCity.com

When we last left off with BidOntheCity.com, the newish website described as an "eBay" for New York City apartments, we noted that #2220 at 15 Broad Street, a 2,256 sq ft 3BR, 3BA, had failed to sell at auction despite a relatively low starting bid of $1.75 million.

And now, taking that failure to sell completely in stride, is neighboring unit #3220 (is there something in the water with those apartment numbers?), which goes up for auction on September 29, 2009 at a minimum bid of $1.8 million. Although on a higher floor, this 2,020 sq ft 2BR, 2.5BA is a different layout from the similarly numbered #2220. #3220 most recently sold in September of 2006 for a touch under $1.9 million, so that minimum bid represents early 2006 pricing.

As if the Meatpacking District Wasn't Gross Enough...Mickey Rourke Moves In To 400 West 14th Street

The neighborhood that brought you touristy Gansevoort Hotel, overpriced Pastis and too cool for you Kiss 'N Fly is now adding another legend to its repertoire...the venerable Mickey Rourke.

Although his exact address is not revealed in this WSJ article, we did a little poking around and figured out that the Wrestler will be residing at 400 West 14th Street, which is an all-rental building (we think) on the corner of 8th and 14th.

Check out the pics of the pad above from the Elliman listing - pretty sweeeeet - although what? No outdoor space? Guess he'll just have to go to Gansevoort...

Where to go online if you're looking for a no-fee NYC rental apartment.

So, ok - mostly this blog is about downtown sales, but we get a bunch of email everyday from people asking for help with rentals. Since rentals are major, major drivers of sales prices (hello price/rent ratio analysis!) we thought we'd give some tips on how to actually find a rental in NYC, complete with some rental market price discovery tips for all of you buyers enthusiastically trying to calculate some kind of breakeven point for a given unit.

Traditionally, craigslist has been the largest (and for a long time, the only) source of no fee rental information in NYC. Everyone by now has gone to the apartments section and clicked on the "by owner" link, which allows you to view only apartments that are rented by their owners. These apartments are de facto considered "no fee". However, as anyone who has tried to find a no-fee apartment on craigslist in the past year or so can attest to, the site has become a virtual magnet for every scam artist and bait-and-switch operator on the planet. The New York Times even ran a great article back in June on the topic highlighting the prevalence of online scammers and the susceptibility of would-be renters looking for great deals, to their tricks. In order to find an apartment on craigslist these days (which relies on users "flagging" inappropriate posts as a QA measure ha ha), you literally have to spend hours on the site, learning how to spot outright fakes and the more popular (and equally annoying) bait-and-switch units.

In order to fill the growing market desire for accurate, scam-free no-fee information, several sites have sprung up (or gained popularity) over the past year. In no particular order, here are the three most useful:

- nybits.com - this is how we found our first professionally managed rental apartment in Manhattan and we still love 'em. This website provides a catalogue of all professionally managed buildings in New York City, as well as current vacancies at each building. Although this site is not going to win any graphics awards (or user interface awards for that matter), it's got a ton of info and is organized by building, which is highly useful. Drawbacks include a lack of unit numbers (see Urban Sherpa comments below) and listings only for professionally managed all-rental buildings. You will not see individual units in condo buildings for example, as a result, which unfortunately eliminates those apartments that are being rented legitimately by owners.

- Streeteasy.com - if you've ever read this blog (or any other NYC real estate blog), you have come to know and deeply love the beautiful, easy-to-use, chock full of information Streeteasy.com. Unfortunately, whereas Streeteasy absolutely excels in the sales market, it really falls flat with rentals. Unlike the sales interface, there are no unit numbers for many rentals, which typically feature a building location, a price, square footage (sometimes) and some grainy porn-like photos of units which may or may not be the actual unit for rent. Although Streeteasy is difficult to use for rental comps, if you're actually looking to rent an apartment, it's not a bad bet and wins hands down for comprehensiveness, listing both professionally managed units as well as owner rentals - both brokered and direct (no-fee) listings.

- Urban Sherpa - so we have to admit, we hadn't really been over to Urban Sherpa until those guys started following us on Twitter (thanks for reading!), but once we got over there, we LOVED what we saw. Here's the beauty of Urban Sherpa: every listing that we looked at had a unit number. Although the site is not as comprehensive as Streeteasy for by owner rentals, Urban Sherpa is an unbelievable value-add if you are looking in a managed building (listen up "I'm waiting out the market and renewing my lease" buyers). If you are renegotiating your lease, pop on over there and check out how much a similar apartment in your own darn building is listed for. This is something that you cannot do on craigslist, your building's website, Streeteasy (usually), nybits or any other rental-focused website that we've seen. If you're a new renter, use Urban Sherpa to make sure that you are paying market prices for your particular unit.

And now, a question for our readers - is there a site here that we've neglected to mention? Let us know! We will check it out and provide updates.

BPCA says Kiss My Grits to The Visionaire, The Riverhouse and 225 Rector: No Ground Rent Relief for You!

We weren't that surprised today when the Battery Park City Broadsheet reported that tony Battery Park buildings The Riverhouse and The Visionaire we can smell the money from here won't be getting any of their requested relief from Battery Park's famously high ground rents. We were a touch surprised however that 225 Rector, the bankrupt, unfinished Yair Levy development that somehow got a TCO and actually has residents, is also not being granted ground rent relief, which is a major bummer for the 50 or so condo owners that are still saddled with basically unsellable apartments PLUS large monthly carrying costs.

Although the ground rent thing is the headline from the story, there are also some other interesting bits of information, including the following:

- The Riverhouse is only 66% sold, which is a touch less than the 75% that we had heard previously. Once they hit 70%, a "participation payment" will kick in which we can only assume will raise monthlies.
- The Visionaire is only 50% sold.
- Millstein was "seriously considering moth-balling" North Battery Park development Liberty Luxe (really? we thought that was just a goofy rumor) but the project is now back on track and even looking to open a Sales Office. Perhaps the allure of Goldman Sachs, which had strong Q2 results and will be moving right next door to ol' Liberty Luxe sometime next year, is providing the figurative kick in the pants to Millstein.

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Doorman, Residents Stand Idly By as Two Guys Kick the Sh*t Out of Each Other In FiDi Lobby

If you thought that the William Beaver House was the Financial District's biggest problem, think again. The Streeteasy threads are all abuzz with talk of the video above which comes from Angry Asian Man, showing a Korean-American lawyer entering the lobby of 63 Wall Street (aka all-rental building The Crest) followed by a drunk idiot resident of the building who proceeds to attack the lawyer (who is presumably not a building resident).

For some unknown reason, the doorman spends the entire attack (in which the two roll around on the floor of the lobby) on the telephone, which is only slightly worse than the several groups of residents who simply walk by the jostling pair, sometimes stepping around the fighting.

Never fear however, as the lawyer (who broke a tooth in the battle) comes out victorious:

"[I] subdued him using Brazilian Jiujutsu and MMA. I held him in a chokehold and told him I'd kill him before the police arrive if he didn't stop struggling and clawing at my eyes."

Eek.

We Are Tickled Pink that Someone Besides Our Relatives is Reading These Reviews: A Reader Responds to our Thoughts on Truffles Tribeca

Like OMG, we received a beautifully written response by a charming reader today (let's call you...Chace) who likes to think of us as "Brittney" (kewl) and has his own thoughts on the addictively weird Truffles Tribeca, which we visited and reviewed a few weeks ago. Chace is a Truffles Tribeca resident who probably just can't wait to start alternating between Turks and Frogs and the bar at the Dylan Prime and (just a guess here) enjoys Dave Matthews Band concerts, South American wine, and thinks that Panko bread crumbs are so 2006. Because Chace's comment was so well-written, we've decided to post it in it's entirety. Please see our additional thoughts in bold. Chace writes:
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"Just for a little balance here, I thought I would comment on your post, Brittney. (I’ll call you Brittney because that's sort of how I think of you) (Yeah, us too sometimes - we're kind of brunette though and gave up the short skirts in the 90s).
I moved to Truffles Tribeca over a month ago (sweeeeet) so I might have a better feel for the place than you do although you seem to come by quite often, including night time visits! (Might want to work on the root of your strange fixation with the building, Brittney!) (We're telling you, it's the mannequins)
Yes, parts of the place are still under construction so you do walk through a temporary “ugly” path to access the lobby. Sorry if the retaining walls were not up to your standards but really, since when do construction sites need to be pretty? From my standpoint, it is a small (huge) price to pay for being able to live in a brand new apartment. Remember, we did not buy, we are renting!
Not sure what unit you visited, but one of the cool things about the building is that they are many different lay-outs. I looked at over 10 different units before opting for my one bedroom. On a higher floor, mine does have a foyer, an island in the kitchen and a huge walk-in closet in the large bedroom. In addition to a large closet in the foyer area. (We bet you are paying through the nose for this, do tell) Now you are right, the living room is not huge but if you know of any comparable rentals in the neighborhood that offer the same views, the same amenities plus a massive living room, do move in right away! (There are none. Tribeca is famously bereft of affordable new construction rental buildings, hence the popularity (even if you exclude the mannequins) of the ol' Truffster)
The building does face West Street. That’s actually how I can wake up in the morning with the most amazing views on the (super tiny from over there)Statue of Liberty and enjoy amazing sunsets through my living room bay windows! That’s the point! If it wasn’t on West St, I would face… well buildings, duh! (totally)
A 5 mn walk to the Canal St subway stop doesn’t seem so unmanageable for me. And the neighborhood is so enjoyable that on mornings when I just want to take my time, I walk the extra 5 minutes to the Franklin station.
The lounge IS quite impressive (but would you pay $850 for it?). Certainly the nicest I’ve seen in any NY rentals. And it is pretty cool to be able to book the private movie theatre to watch live TV or a DVD with your friends. Imagine Brittney, a private screening of “Real housewives of New Jersey” or “The Biggest loser” (actually, we're more Top Chef and Gossip Girl but whatevs) just for you and you best girlfriends!
I could go on about the awesome gym and yoga studio, the roof terrace with showers, bbq and private cabanas just about ready to open (do send pics) , the amazingly friendly and helpful staff but I might actually convince you to give the building another try, when really, Truffles and you weren’t meant to be, Brittney. C’mon, don’t be bitter and just let it go, it’s gonna be ok!

Best,
A (very happy) Truffles resident

PS: the first tagline was a quote by Edward Albee but obviousely, that was lost on you Brittney…"(Edward Albee: cool; "You Gotta Have Swine to Show You Where the Truffles Are" as an ad campaign: not cool).
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You Gotta Know When to Hold 'Em: Asking Prices Staying Stable at District After Broker Change

When we last looked in on FiDi's District, they were in the process of replacing short-lived Brown Harris Stevens with so new, the paint is still wet Urban Marketing, a division of Urban Sanctuary. As of last Wednesday, that transition appears to be complete. Sales at District are now repopulated (for lack of a better term) and can be found both on Streeteasy and on Urban Marketing's website.

We're not sure what Urban Marketing's strategy is going to be with District, but we're pretty sure that it's NOT going to be lowering the asking prices. Most of the units that were listed with BHS are right back on the market at the same price as where they were before. The biggest difference (from what we can tell) is that in addition to describing the apartments (which BHS also did), Urban Marketing has very smartly included front and center on each ad that District is "Now 100% completed and over 70% sold and occupied with Immediate Occupancy." (we like!).

We think it's also cute that District appears to be the only client of Urban Marketing (talk about focus, which they're going to need to sell condos at those prices), although we imagine other stuff is in the works.

20 Pine: The Amenities

A reader pointed us today to some (gasp!) real photos of the ever mysterious (yet actually complete!) stunning amenities at FiDi new development 20 Pine. The photos come from an outfit called Complete Body, a "private wellness" company that looks to be a professional management agency of sorts for amenities at high-end properties.

Check out the shots above of the actual pool, the Hammam, the gym and the Club Lounge. We have to say that for the most part, these amenities are spot on to the renderings, with the exception of the Hammam, which looks a touch smaller than we had expected [Note: A commenter has already expressed that our photo may be deceiving and that the Hammam is actually a good size - touche, touche]. Complete Body also does not seem to have photos of the uber-sweet Golf Simulation room so if anyone has them, shoot them our way.

We have to say that although the bank vault pool is a touch Lex Luthor-ish for our tastes (if you catch our drift), 20 Pine is looking darn good to us these days (batting our eyelashes).

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Downtowny to Sales Agents: You Never Know Who Is At the Next Table

Ok, so we debated and debated about whether to actually blog about the story that we heard over the weekend with 50 Franklin, the claims to be Tribeca Civic Center new development that we reviewed back in May and is currently offering quite a unique 10% down deal on many condos. One of our most reliable tipsters had the unusual good fortune to be seated at a Tribeca cafe right next to a couple of sales agents for 50 Franklin, who were having a "loud conversation, sometimes on their cell phones" regarding the current state of sales at the building.

Our tipster overheard that 50 Franklin is "just trying to get some cash in the door" by "closing the all cash buyers first" and as many of the financing buyers after that (well...duh, so is everyone). Now here comes the fun part - our tipster reports that he "almost choked" on his (we imagine) very expensive lunch after he heard one sales agent mention that the building would "try to close 20-25%" of the condos and then...go rental.

At first, we were quite surprised by this somewhat seedy revelation from 50 Franklin, which is fairly new to market and has yet to close a single sale in it's 72 unit inventory. However, after giving it some thought, it occurred to us that probably EVERY undersold building is either thinking about or outright adopting the rental strategy. Essentially, by selling just a few units, the sponsor is able to pay down some debt before getting on with a much slower investment recovery strategy (e.g. renting). Is 50 Franklin definitely going rental? I mean, really who knows. If the market happens to pick up we guess it's possible , they'd probably rather sell, so our guess is that they will constantly re-evaluate their situation. 75 Wall, another high profile building that sold a bunch of units and then went rental initiated a "rent-to-own" program to try and sell the rest, has been somewhat of a success story, with (we hear) potential buyers finding the rent-to-own alternative attractive.

We thought long and hard about whether we should blog about an overheard conversation, which we think is a tad "spy"-ish and also pretty darn shady. However, our tipster tells us that the conversation between the sales agents was so loud as to be outright disruptive and even prompted a nearby table to ask the Elliman agents what they thought of the real estate market these days.

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Battery Park's Ritzy Millenium Tower Sees It's Lowest Sale Price....Ever.

Although we ran through a couple of units at Battery Park City new construction beauty 30 West Street (aka "Millenium Tower") back in May, we never wrote about our visit since it was a) brief and b) boring. Today, we decided to check back in with 30 West Street, a 100% sold Millenium Partners development (which also brought you the BPC Ritz-Carlton) that welcomed it's first residents back in 2006.

The unit that we decided to look back on is #32D, an 875 sq ft 1 bedroom, 1.5 bath that sold for just $699,000 about a month ago. Considering that the apartment was most recently listed for $775,000 and was purchased at the height of the market in May, 2007 for $900,000, we thought that $699k was a pretty good price. When we looked at other sales in the building however (which started closing in December 2006), we were even more surprised that not only is $699k a great price, it's also the lowest sales price that this building has ever seen on ANY UNIT .

The prior record holder was also a "D" line apartment on a much lower floor - #5D - that sold in 2006 for $710,000. So did we like this building when we saw it? Actually, yeah - it has nice common areas and the apartments that we saw (which both happened to be high-floor "D" lines) were very well laid-out, with attractive finishes, well-appointed large open kitchens, and a W/D in the unit. Oh, in case you're wondering about those seemingly low common charges (remember, this building is still in Battery Park), the common charges at 30 West St are sponsor-abated (good idea, good idea) for about 5 years. Currently the abatement is on Year 2, so the common charges on the apartment are actually just 40% of what they would be in Year 5 (they increment 20% per year).
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Maybe This is Why We Live In Manhattan

On a recent trip to Rehoboth Beach, Delaware, we drove by the billboard pictured above advertising that at Hooters, each and every Tuesday, kids eat free! Although we just can't stop coming back for those wings, we didn't know that Hooters was suddenly a family restaurant, but then again, we never asked. Maybe if Scores started offering a kids menu and a play room of a different sort, we'd see the emergence of a whole new business model.

Going Once! Going Twice! Not Going: 15 Broad on BidOnTheCity.com

We haven't been over to Manhattan auction site BidOnTheCity in quite awhile, since the first time we poked on over there, they had maybe five apartments listed for auction in all of Manhattan.

Well, fast-forward to yesterday, where a reader tipped us off that not only does BidOnTheCity seem to be picking up but that a unit in the Financial District was up for auction yesterday. That unit is #2220 at Phillipe Starcktastic (we're tired of "Starchitecture") 15 Broad St., a building that we we visited in the spring and have really never liked. Our tipster reports that the auction was a real snoozer, closing with no sale and without even a single bid.

#2220 is a 2,256 sq ft 3BR, 3BA also listed on Streeteasy by BidOnTheCity at $1.75 million. The apartment most recently changed hands in July of 2006 (can you say "bought at the peak" any louder?) for around $1.9 million, although the owners are only mortgaged to the tune of $1.2 million. So even though they're losing money on this puppy, it's not a short sale and probably isn't even bank-owned.

It's quite heartening to see an apartment with a reserve price below the 2006 sales price (listen up all you 15 Broad buyers purchasing smaller properties at premiums to 2007), although quite informative that this property got no bids even at the sub-2006 price. A very bad sign we think for the several other 3BRs currently listed at 15 Broad St that are all priced at $2 million or more.
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Urban Sanctuary to Take Over Sales at FiDi's District

In kind of an unexpected twist, a tipster tells us today that a group of guys from Urban Sanctuary will be taking over Sales and Marketing at sexy FiDi new development District. The brokerage may be creating a separate division called "Urban Marketing" to handle District and potentially other clients.

As we reported yesterday, District has ditched Brown Harris Stevens, with whom they've been working for just 5 short months after the Spring selling season brought just 6 sales. Stay tuned for the listings from Urban Marketing, due to appear on Streeteasy shortly.

20 Pine - The Discounts Just Keep Coming

20 Pine, our second favorite troubled development (sorry, nothing is more fun to write about than the furry Beave) is apparently racing to a very exciting finish on those unsold units.

After months of rumored (and confirmed) discounts leading to the building's #3 position on a recent Real Deal article about Manhattan condos that are discounting their way to sponsor freedom, we now report that 20 Pine has closed an additional three units at phenomenal discounts to the original ask:

#1219, an 826 sq ft 1 BR listed at $1 million sold for $650k, or 35% off of the most recent ask.

#802 (also mentioned in in Curbed), a 1277 sq ft 2 BR listed at $1.46 million sold for just $999,000, or 32% off of the ask.

and #PH11, a 3BR, 1872 sq ft unit listed at $3.65 million and sold for $2.225 million or 38% off of the ask (say hi to a very distressed price range if you haven't already).

Check out all of these sales and more on Streeteasy. With around 60 active listings plus a large rumored "shadow" inventory, we doubt 20 Pine is done with those discounts but we are looking forward to the once troubled development setting a happy example for all of those other condos "stuck" between buyer and seller price points in FiDi.

Is District Ditching Brown Harris Stevens?

We were tipped off by a reader that District, the sexily marketed FiDi building on Fulton Street seems to have pulled all Streeteasy listings on Friday. Are they going to pull a 45 John we wondered, complete with sponsor foreclosure and an elimination of their web presence?

Nah. It just looks like the only thing they're pulling is their relationship with Brown Harris Stevens, the most recent broker attempting to sell anything at the new development. We're not certain that District is changing brokers yet again, however BHS no longer has listings for the building either, which is a major clue. Are we surprised at the outcome? No, not really. Even though BHS gave it the ol' college try, District has sold only 6 units this Spring, not even close to the nearby and significantly more overpriced William Beaver House, which sold 26 units between March and May.

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Bank Owned In Battery Park

Are you tempted to think that the real estate blip downturn in Manhattan is over? Well, we'd like to tempt you to think again.

We saw this Streeteasy listing today, advertising a "bank-owned" condo at 200 Rector Place , one of the classic Millstein Battery Park buildings. Bank owned in Battery Park? Really? After seeing this, we had to jump on over to RealtyTrac, which lists foreclosure properties all over the US, including Manhattan, to check out for ourselves exactly what's happening these days over in BPC. We were amazed to find that just this month, there are two scheduled auctions of Battery Park condos (we can't recall anything having ever passed the "pre-foreclosure" stage before) and an additional 8 BPC apartments in the foreclosure pipeline.

The particular bank-owned condo - #25L - is a super cool corner 1 bedroom listed for $490k, which is about $140k or so lower than other apartments listed in the same line. In fact, according to ACRIS records, #25L sold for $550,000 back in Q1 of 2006 (the owner is apparently mortgaged to the hilt) and the condo filed a lien for unpaid common charges last year.

Is the supposed downturn over? We're thinking no...but stay tuned.

The Busy Little Beaver

We enjoyed reading this rather simplistic but quite interesting analysis in The Real Deal yesterday, which highlighted the Manhattan condo buildings that saw the most In Contract units from March to May of this year as well as the most Closed units.

Curbed was all over the not surprising news that FiDi's 20 Pine is third on the list of ALL condo buildings in Manhattan with the most In Contract units, a general trend that we noted a couple of weeks ago. Although it's informative to look at In Contract units, these listings don't always end up in sales, particularly for new construction buildings where sponsors can easily fudge Streeteasy data (the source for the article) and undersold buildings far below the 70% threshold will not actually see any closings for one year or more. For example, on that same Real Deal list in 9th place is Battery Park favorite One Rector Park, a great but badly-timed building that needs to sell around 80 units just to get to the 50% mark and is itself anticipating that closing won't happen until Q1 of 2010 even though the building is finished and move-in ready. Given this information, do you really care that the building claims that 5 units went into contract in the Spring? We don't either...

A much more illuminating view of the condo market is the other piece of this story, which profiles the Manhattan condo buildings with the most closings in the Spring. Expecting to see a Harlem or Chelsea project on top of the list, we were instead truly surprised to see our old furry friend, FiDi's The William Beaver House topping the list for all of Manhattan with a tail-pounding 26 sales between March and May. What the heck, we wondered as we looked through the sales prices which were all exhorbitant (we'd say around $1200 per sq foot) with prices all over the place. For example, during those three months, the Beave sold 5 "G" line 1 BRs, nice units which we saw when we visited and reviewed the building back in May. Similarly located "G" line 1BRs sold for anywhere between $960,000 and a whopping $1.3 million in the same three month period. What does this tell us? Well, we're certainly tempted to conclude that these are closings from another era, full of investors that have been in contract for over a year and are finally just now being dragged to the closing table. Or...perhaps those buyers really, really want a room-sized bathtub.

Don't Mess With Taxes: An Open Letter to Our Neighborhood Cafe, Pan Latin

Dear Pan Latin:

You are our neighborhood cafe in Battery Park City. You help the residents of North Battery Park buildings such as The Riverhouse stay mostly full and vaguely intoxicated by serving 15 flavors of empanadas and big glasses of chilled white wine. You are located on a cute corner of Chambers and River Terrace, where we can peacefully sit outside and smoke when you aren't looking, watching our neighbors pass by and looking at the Hudson River across the street. You are on "our side" of the West Side Highway, allowing us to come to you coatless in the winter and in our least comfortable shoes in the summer. You are an invaluable alternative to the only other eating establishment in our area: Terry's Deli, a friendly place where we can have a lunch of 20 year old lemon loaf and a pack of Marlboro's for only $20.

Yesterday therefore, we wrung our hands with worry as we read in the Battery Park City Broadsheet that you are having trouble paying your taxes and that you were recently padlocked over the fourth of July weekend. Why aren't you able to drum up enough business Pan Latin? After all, you have a virtual monopoly in this area, unless of course Terry's steps it up with some more Baked Lay's flavors and replaces those "salad bar" veggies from 1995. Luckily for you Pan Latin, we have some thoughts here at Downtowny and are proud to bring you our Top 5 Ideas For How You Can Improve, Muy Bien:

5. Have a Happy Hour for fuck's sake. We love the charming outside atmosphere (even inside isn't too bad) and would love to waste every evening casually sipping on wine and chatting with neighbors. What prevents us from doing that? Oh let's see...how about wine at $9 per glass. Ouch. For a neighborhood joint (which should be relying on boozy residents too lazy to cross the West Side Highway for a fix), you need to lower your prices on alcohol. At least in the evenings. Maybe just for area residents. You decide.

4. Retrain the space cadet waiters. Why do we have to wave our arms vigorously and make faces everytime we need some service? Why is the wait staff always crowded around the cash register inside or perpetually servicing the ice cold drinks machine?

3. Stay open later. At least until, oh we don't know, 10PM?

2. Bring back the little white sauce that comes with the chicken platter.

1. Help us navigate your menu! Let's see some specials, a little sidewalk sandwich board, or anything else that will help us figure out exactly what you serve here and why it's special. Give us a "soup and empanada" for $5.99 or something that will go oh so well at that Happy Hour...

More BS from the NYT on Supposed Residential "Sales" in Tribeca

Last week, we took a hard look for the first time at the New York Times' "Residential Sales Around the Region" weekly column, which profiles "sales" in the New York City area. We'd always assumed they were actual sales (with accurate stats) until we actually recognized one of the units last week, the uber-new Tribeca condo building at 60 Beach Street which so far shows zero closed units (still true today, folks) yet somehow popped up in the NYT column last week as having "sold" a $3.75 million unit (a seriously troubled price range, as any reader of any New York real estate blog knows) right at the asking price (whatever).

Yesterday therefore, we also had to raise another eyebrow at the Sunday Times reported sale for $6.44 million (also right at the asking price, whatever) at 101 Warren Street, a building with which we are very familiar and cannot recall anything listed at that price. Of course, if you check out ACRIS or Streeteasy, nothing has sold at 101 Warren in this price range since 2008 and the 3BR, 2.5BA listing is nowhere to be found on Corcoran's site (at least, not for $6.44 million).

In fact, in all of Tribeca, there have only been three real sales in the past month, all at substantial discounts off of the ask. At 50 Warren St, the 3rd floor unit sold for $3 million, 20% lower than the ask. At 73 Worth, #4B sold for $2.69 million, 16% lower than the ask. And finally, at 155 Franklin Street, #3S brings us home for $2.575 million, 14% lower than the ask. Any one of these real sales are a much better view of the Tribeca high-end market (duh) than the misleading nonsense that the NYT has now published for the second week in a row.