The Beautiful Wreck: SOLD!!

Talk about rollercoaster rides. The last 3 months with this apartment sale have had MANY ups and downs, and no shortage of drama either.

The happy ending is that I finally got a legit offer and signed contract, not quite at full asking price, but pretty darn close. All in all, I'm very pleased...and thankful it's over. 

Well, at least the selling part. There is still the closing and move, but I'll get to those things in future posts. This is the story of the sale, and like many long stories, it's best to start at the beginning...

Even before the listing for the apartment went 'live', as per the building's rules, I had to alert my fellow tenants in the building of the sale, perhaps with the notion that someone might want to purchase it. I drew up a simple letter about the upcoming sale, had it copied at the UPS store, and had the doormen place one in each of the mailboxes of each tenant in the mailroom. A few days later I got my one and only response via email from a tenant who lives in the building, let's call her "Barbara" (names have been changed to protect the innocent). Barbara also happens to be a realtor. She said she might have some out-of-town clients who lived in Hawaii and who the place would be right for. Now, my first instinct was the she was just being nosy, my very own Gladys Kravits. I knew her from my initial Board interview years ago and have seen her in the building a few times since. She's very nice, a Southern belle from the Carolinas if I remember correctly, with a soft lilting accent. Mid 60's and fashionably preppy in that Talbot's/Connecticut kinda way. 

"Barbara", my fellow tenant 

I met her one afternoon to show her the place and she ooh-ed and ahh-ed in the requisite way. She wasted no time and asked right off, "Are you negotiable on the price?" I politely said, "Gee, Barbara, it hasn't even gone on the market yet, it's just too early to even think about it." That sorta shut down the conversation. She left and I forgot all about her and her clients. 

Cut to weeks and weeks go by with merely a slight trickle of showings. Remember, the backdrop here is that it's the worst housing market in Manhattan since the Crash of 2008. It's bad. 

I'm selling in the worst market in years, ugh.

To complicate things, my apartment is one-of-a-kind. There's nothing else like it in my neighborhood. A studio apartment that's a pretty good size with lots of bells and whistles like tons of storage, full sized kitchen, topline appliances, washer & dryer, etc, etc, etc. AND it's premium priced. When I did an online search for studios in my area nothing else came even close in price. I stuck out there like a sore thumb. So I decided I would just have to be patient, this could take some time. It was the right apartment for the right buyer, but who knew when that would happen?

Finally, one day in late October, a couple of days before Halloween, David my realtor called to tell me he had a showing after work. It was a single man who was a 'fashion executive' who actually lived in the neighborhood, love it there, and wanted to downsize from his current apartment, a 2BR/2B. Let's call him "Dom". 

"Dom", the fashion executive

He lived a couple of avenues over on East 57th and 2nd Avenue and his place was currently on the market and in contract. He shows up and according to David started off a little bitchy but by the end of the showing had warmed up considerably because he apparently loved the apartment. The quote was "Well, there's nothing wrong with this apartment." He was quite the one for details too because he stayed almost an hour asking all sorts of questions. All good we thought. David heard later that Dom liked it enough to want a second viewing in the daytime to see how it looked in the daylight. Ok, fine. So another week goes by. Nada. Not a peep. I texted David and said "I guess we can assume the Dom thing is off?". He said, "No, I spoke to his realtor, he's been super busy at work and he still wants to see it again". A few days later Dom came to see the apartment around 11am. This time he brings an older gentleman, a friend, presumedly for a second opinion. The older guy was very stylish and bespoke and he walked with a cane. 

Dom's friend, the bespoke older gentleman

David said that most of the time the older guy sat in my Eames chair ("My what a comfortable chair!" he said), while Dom measured the walls and asked more questions. LOTS of questions. Poor David was grilled up and down about every possible minutiae about the apartment and the building. He called me later and said "I'm worn out!" At one point the old guy used the restroom and came out saying, "Don't look at me, I didn't break it!" I later noticed that the toilet seat was out of place on the commode seat. So it looks like the geezer somehow screwed it up. Was he just lifting it to pee? Or was he sitting on it doing something else? Who knows and I'll never find out.

A couple of days go by, it's November 18th at this point (nothing from Dom btw), and David texts me one morning, "Can I show the apartment today around 4:15?" I was in town and couldn't swing it, I'd be getting ready for the theatre, I was seeing a play that night with my friend Jim. David understood, it was Barbara the realtor calling him, she wanted to come by and take a video of the place for her Hawaiian couple who had "renewed interest". I said to David, "Why don't I take a video and send it to you, that way it's shot during the daytime with daylight and will show off the apartment better. If Barbara doesn't like it she can come another day and take her own video." He said great idea. So I did. And the video turned out quite nice. Both David and Barbara loved it. "You should come to work for me taking videos of all my listings!" he said, LOL. Listen, you don't work shooting commercials for 35 years and not know how to shoot a sell piece. Anyway, I took one more video showing all the closet storage and sent that one off too just for grins. If they didn't bite then David could use the videos for some future prospective clients. Done and done. 

The next day I texted "Nada?" and he said he wanted to call me. Uh oh. Something was up. 

So when it rains it pours. We had gotten not one, but TWO offers in the same day. One from Dom and one from Barbara's clients from Hawaii, the ones I started to affectionately call "Thurston and Lovey" because it was clear they had money. 

Barbara's clients, "Thurston & Lovey"

David found out their back story: they were former New Yorkers, now retirees, who actually used to live IN MY BUILDING in a bigger apartment. They missed New York and wanted a pied-a-terre to come to in the Spring and Fall. How nice (smirks). The husband was recently in town and had looked at one bedrooms in my building but they were all considerably more expensive (in the $800K-1M range while mine was priced at $699K), AND they all needed a lot of work. I can attest to this. I looked at those listings. There were some nice layouts but the kitchens and baths all looked dated and old, from the 70's and 80's at best. Thurston & Lovey wanted modern and turnkey, they weren't finding it. And there was nothing in the neighborhood to boot. Same story, PLUS none of those places had the pedigreed address of actually being ON Sutton Place South! 

Now we come to the bids. Thurston and Lovey bid $600K, all cash. And Dom came in slightly higher at $619K, half cash, half financed. Now, David said if he was either of their realtors that he would have come in similarly given the state of the market. But I have to say I was a little insulted by those low bids. Really? A HUNDRED THOUSAND DOLLARS less on a 700K asking price? No way. And Dom's bid was not much better. I thought a lot about it and decided a good counter off would be $669K. That was coming down $30K, a LOT of money in my opinion. And it showed good faith that I was 'in the game' and not pulling anyone's leg (like I thought both bidders were doing with those low-ass bids!). 

Right away Thurston & Lovely offered $650K all cash but they wanted ME to pay the flip tax. Don't pee on my leg and tell me it's raining. That's really a bid of $634K! And to add insult to injury, Barbara kept hocking David for an answer, texting and phoning him all day. He had to explain that I was traveling back to Sag Harbor and that the night before I was at the theatre (I was seeing "The Inheritance Part 1"). The next day she finally said "This is only a 24 hour deal on the table!" Really, lady?? Dom's initial bid via his realtor, a guy named Scott, was $640K. David didn't even tell me that bid. He told Scott "I can tell you that number is not gonna fly with my client. If you don't come back with a number that has a 5 in it, don't even bother." Good for David looking out for me. So Scott comes back with a bid of $655K with a few caveats: the sale is contingent on the sale of his apartment, it would be half cash and half finance like before, and he wanted two pieces of furniture, the kitchen island, the platform bed, and--wait for it--my Eames chair and ottoman! The one the little old man was sitting in! Was he throwing that in just to give to his friend because he liked it so much?? I saw his taste online and it would NOT work with his style which was more fussy and Bedermeier. What gives? Anway, I  pondered and pondered his offer and after a lot of soul-searching I decided to take it...BUT I would not include my Eames chair. Even thought it is almost 20 years old, I love that chair. And new, those things go for over $5000.00! 

NOT included in the sale!

I figured the offer was pretty good and the market is so bad that I should cut my losses. And when I say 'losses' I'm exaggerating. The apartment cost me $350K, the renovation was another $200, and if you add up all the maintenance I've paid the last 5 years tack on another %50K...so all in all, anything above $600 is gravy. 

David told Barbara that we were taking a higher bid and they bowed out quickly. Thank you, next. So with that verbal agreement with Dom and his lawyer David started the conversation with the spec sheet for the contract, putting all the agreements down on paper so that the lawyers could draw up the papers. That's when we hit a snag. A big snag. 

Scott looked at the specs and said, "What's this about the Buyer paying the flip taxes?" Flip taxes are a fee that co-ops attach to sales in Manhattan apartments that are basically just a way for them to line their coffers with a little more cash, paid by the SELLER. It's annoying but a reality. 

David told me he decided to list the apartment with the stipulation that the BUYER pay the tax. I didn't even know he did that but I'm so glad he did. I certainly didn't want to pay what amounted to $16,400.00! He told Scott, "I don't know what to tell you, Scott, that was in the listing from Day One. I can tell you my client is not going to pay it." It was Scott's screw-up and he was going to have to tell his client such. Ouch. I predicted Dom would say 'forget it'. A day later I was proved wrong. He decided to cough up the 16 grand. On a side note, David saw Dom's financials. The man makes $700K A YEAR at his fancy job as head of merchandising for a big national retailer. Sixteen grand amounts to just HALF of one of his normal paychecks. It's really pocket change for somebody like him. I did not feel bad that he had to pay the extra money. One more thing, if you choose to look at it a certain way (and I DID), the base offer of 655K plus the $16K flip tax equals $671K which is over my initial counter offer of $669K! I calmed down, glad that I had the deal. 

So there we were. The lawyers were drawing up the contract. I got a new attorney suggested by David. A young guy I really like so far, Greg. 

The following week was Thanksgiving. Then that first Monday after the holiday David called me. 

This goes under the heading of "Anything can happen and it usually does" when you're dealing with New York real estate. It seems Barbara called David and said that Thurston & Lovey had buyer's remorse that they didn't get the apartment and they wanted to make another offer. David told them the ship has sailed. She was persistent: they wanted to offer $675K, all cash, and THEY would pay the flip tax and wanted to include all the furniture in the apartment in the sale. 

A bidding war?

UGH. What to do now?? We had a verbal agreement with Dom...but $20K is a lot of money to me. David told me it's not unheard of to back out of these verbal agreements, it had happened to him on the buyer's side several times. And it made me think of something I heard a wizened old lady say once: "Until it's ink on paper, it's all just TALK." Meaning, until there's a signed contract it's all moot. Should we tell Dom about a possible counter offer? He might get totally pissed off and back out altogether. We could conceivably lose BOTH deals. I also started to worry about the karmic repercussions of it all but then thought about Dom's salary. He could definitely have afforded a higher offer, why didn't he make one in the first place? After a lot of discussion with David we decided to go back to Barbara and say "Ok, if you hustle and get us a signed contract before the other bidder you have a deal." Remember, Thurston & Lovey had been kinda screwy through this whole process. Would they really come thru? They had never seen the apartment, they were buying it sight unseen! They were only going by Barbara's viewing way back in September and my little video! They were so crazy we said "We'll believe when we see it". 

Sure enough they got us a contract the next day. There were several crazy things in the rider which Greg promptly crossed out. It was Tuesday. They said the 10 percent deposit of $70K would be wired to Greg's account the next day. Again, let's see what happens. The next morning Greg told David he received the money. Boom. They came thru in 36 hours. So before I sent back the signed contract on my end David and I had to decide what we were going to tell Dom and Scott. Should we let him counter? It was dicey. David made the call to Scott. It did not go well at all. Scott said it was a very bad time for this news, Dom's dad had just passed away and he was out of town in Florida. He'd call him and let him know. David then called me and we had to decide how to handle if from here. What if Dom wanted to counter yet again? Could we go back to Barbara and the Howells with a bidding war scenario? Would that piss THEM off? I came to the decision that I should walk away from the table with the Thurston and Lovey deal. Best not to poke the tiger. "Quit while you're ahead" I said to myself. It was a very good deal. 

David spoke to Scott and told him we decided not entertain a counter offer from them. Another very difficult call, the worst yet. He accused David of being unprofessional and underhanded by putting two contracts out at the same time. David tried to talk him in off the ledge as best he could but it was a done deal, sorry. 

So with that I immediately emailed my signed contract to Greg who forwarded to everybody and just like that it was all over. 

Thinking it over the next day I thought about how badly Dom mishandled the whole thing. He had seen the apartment almost SIX WEEKS prior. He should have jumped on it then and not dicked around for days on end, booking viewings and making lowball offers with all those stipulations. The two things that really pushed me into going with the Howell's offer was that it was all cash. Dom's offer still had the contingency of the sale of his apartment. Not good. Also, if we DID go with a higher offer from him it would royally piss off Barbara. She's really "in" at my building. She knows the Board members. Thurston and Lovey had already let us know that they knew the Board President and were supposed friends with her. Would this poison Dom's chances when he came before the Board with his package? Again, anything is possible. I chose not to take that chance. 

Lastly, if you think about their offer of $675K plus the $16K flip tax that's $691K, just shy of the very original asking price of $699K!! So the whole thing came full circle. Whew. I'm so glad this saga is over. At least for now...stay tuned for more adventures as I make my exit from The Beautiful Wreck...

UPDATE: Here's the Instagram post announcing the apartment being "in contract"  from David, my realtor...

The Beautiful Wreck: FOR SALE!

After much thought, I have decided to sell my apartment. I'm very torn about it. This is a GREAT APARTMENT that I LOVE. But given my financial situation (laid off, sporadic freelance jobs), it's simply a luxury that I can no longer afford. Also, I find that when I'm in the city I cannot partake of all the things that make it enjoyable, i.e. dining out, shopping, frequent theatre going, because that costs money, lots of money that I don't have currently. I find that I go into the city, go to the gym, stay in and make dinner, read, watch TV, and go to bed. Exciting, right? Why do I need to pay $1100 a month (my pricey maintenance fee) to do that? When I think of all the things I could do with an extra $1100 a month it's no contest. The apartment has to go. So I contacted my friend and realtor, David, who sold my last apartment and found this one, and I decided now was a good time to put the place on the market. Now, my turntable is that I can't close before February 25, 2020 to avoid paying capital gains taxes, but real estate in New York City takes so long to process that I should be okay. The closing date is going to have to be an upfront stipulation for the sale. So: last week David and his photographer came to shoot the apartment for the listing. For as long as it's 'live', here's the official listing here.

It describes the apartment like this:

"This perfect jewel of a home has been gut renovated, reimagined and designed to perfection from head to toe. With approximately 600 square feet of living space, this expansive and truly unique studio has it all and more!

Entry through a gracious foyer leads to a large and dreamy windowed kitchen with fully tiled white walls, dove grey and white marble counters, custom cabinetry and top of the line appliances; Wolf stove and hood, Sub-Zero refrigeration, Miele dishwasher and a highly coveted Bosch washer/dryer in its own concealed, dedicated zone.

With hardwood floors throughout, the brilliant gallery space is lined with abundant customized storage, closet space with elegant millwork and built-ins with floor to ceiling walnut wood grain walls. A sweet dining nook is cleverly positioned to enjoy a simple breakfast or an elaborate and intimate dinner for two.

Take a few steps down into this glamorous, oversized, sunken living room with a wall of new, cold-rolled steel casement windows facing north and west and enjoy the quiet peace of being home. The authentic, vintage marble mantle, custom built bookshelves, beamed ceilings, through wall A/C and built-in captain's bed round out this dream apartment.

The spectacular windowed bathroom is fully wrapped in curved marble, creating a cocoon of luxury. Features include a generously sized rainfall shower with glass enclosure, brass hardware, Duravit toilet and two interior closets for linens and supplies.

FAS/Fritz Architecture Studio meticulously designed and oversaw every detail of this luxe renovation with incredible attention to detail, allowing timeless years of enjoyment.

Designed by renowned architect Emery Roth circa 1938, Two Sutton Place South is a full-service, white glove cooperative with a pink hued, limestone porte-cochere within the exclusive enclave of Sutton Place. Enjoy the East River, the remodeled and expanded Sutton Place Park just across the street, fine shops, restaurants and several forms of transportation. Amenities include full-time doorman, live-in superintendent, landscaped rooftop terrace, state-of-the-art gym, bicycle room. Financing up to 50% and a 2.5% flip tax is payable by purchaser. Pieds-a-terre and pets are allowed.

This home can be purchased fully furnished, if desired. Please inquire."

Pretty good, right?

Here are the photos:

Of course, I will be posting updates on the progress of sale...stay tuned!

The new neighbors

So the apartment next to mine finally sold. The new owners are an older couple named Ron and Mariska.  I think they're empty nesters who are using it as a pied-a-terre. I had heard movers bringing in their things a few weeks back but hadn't had a chance to meet them yet. The other morning there was a knock on my door and it was Ron. He was looking for Gus our neighbor at the other end of the hall, he thought my door was his. In any event we chatted for a few minutes and then I met his wife. They seemed quite lovely. Sometimes I can hear them playing classical music which, thank God, is a blessing. I play the same thing all the time, WQXR is always on as background music when I'm home. They're a very handsome couple, I'd say late 60's/early 70's maybe. This isn't them but it's pretty close. I'm just thanking my lucky stars that it wasn't a young couple with a kid!

Re-arranging

I LOVE the look of my sofa. I wrote a whole post on how I found it, you can read it here.
There's a catch though. It's one of the most uncomfortable things you'd ever want to sit on. I didn't really discover this unfortunate circumstance until I bought it and got it home. That was 5 or 6 years ago, I've lived with beauty (and horror) of the thing ever since. But just recently I said, "enough is enough" and I put it up for sale on Craigslist, hoping that I could buy a new, more comfortable couch with the money I make. So far, no bites tho. I may have to lower the price. Until then I decided I had to re-arrange the living room so that I could watch TV for more than a half hour before my back went out. I put the sofa against the back wall in front of the large window and floated my super cushy Eames chair and ottoman in the middle of the room. Now I can relax and watch TV for hours if I want to....and no back pain! What's great is that I never have to sit on that sofa again but when you walk into the apartment it's the first thing you see and it looks great! So problem solved for now. Let's see if I get any bites on the sale, stay tuned.
Here are a couple of pictures of the new layout:

Bouquet from a friend

My old friend Liz lives in Boston. She has a daughter who lives here in Manhattan not far from my apartment. Occasionally she comes into town to visit her and we get together for a coffee or lunch. She was here this weekend and asked to see The Beautiful Wreck since she's never been here. I of course said sure. She showed up with a lovely bouquet of flowers. So sweet and thoughtful of her, and a welcome bit of Spring in this too chilly sub-zero weather we've been having right now.

Emergency

Another sad day at the building.
I had gone out this afternoon for a dentist appointment. When I was walking up to the building there were several ambulances with flashing red lights going. As I got closer I could see a firetruck on the side street also. I thought "Uh oh, someone's in trouble."

When I went up to the door it was blocked by a lot of activity in the lobby. One of the porters motioned me to enter through the side door on Sutton Place. The scene was tense. Several EMT folks were working around an elderly man on a gurney. They were doing emergency CPR, pounding on his chest. It was very disturbing to watch. Poor thing, I hope he's alright. I didn't recognize him but the building is so large there are many people I don't know.

UPDATE: I heard from one of the porters that the gentleman did not make it. Sadly, he passed away.

"I've fallen and I can't get up!"

I had a disturbing morning the other day.
I was sound asleep and woke to the faint sound of someone crying for help. "Hello? HELLO?? Help! HELP! Is anybody there? Can anybody hear me?? Mr. Minihan? Mr. Minihan!! Is there anybody in this building??!!"

Not my neighbor, but the scene was exactly like this.

I stumbled out of bed, half conscience, and went into the hall. The elderly lady who lives on my floor (there are only 4 units per floor), was lying prone in her doorway. She was banging her house slipper on the doorframe and her walker was tipped over behind her. She had gone into the hallway to retrieve her newspaper and had slipped and fallen, unable to get back up. "Thank you, thank you," she said, "do you live on this floor?" Even though we've exchanged pleasantries many times in the past, I suppose the drama of the moment caused her to not recognize me. "Can you please call Mr. Minihan or one of the porters to help me?" (Mr. Minihan is the building's super). Still in my pajamas and slippers I quickly went down to the lobby and found Eli, one the young porters to come up and help get her on her feet. I hindsight I probably should have helped her myself but since she was asking for a porter I followed her request. If something was broken, a hip or a leg, best that I not make it worse too.
A couple of days later I came home to find an envelope in front of my door. It was a thank you note from her.

It read, "Dear Neighbor, Apt 5H, Thank you so much for notifying the Doormen when I tried to get the newspaper. Your help is greatly appreciated. Sincerely, _____________, Apt _____." 

I later found out from another doorman that all was fine, she had no major injuries. It was just simple fall. Whew. Very scary. Thank goodness I was home. The couple that live across the hall leave very early for work in the morning. And the apartment next to mine is empty and for sale. Oftentimes I leave for the house for two or three weeks at a time. There might have been no one to hear her for hours. The crises was averted but it could have been much worse. I'm not patting myself on the back, anyone would have done what I did. She was lucky and I'm glad I was able to help.