Sure, it seems like the Spring selling season is upon us, but we've still got several kinds of looks back at 2023 to attend to.
For instance, we still need to cover high sales for East Manhattan. You can also see our rundowns of the highest Tree Section sales, the Sand Section's biggest numbers and the Hill Section's high sales for '23 at each of those respective links.
It was actually really busy in East Manhattan, and there's a lot to cover here, folks. It includes one of Dave's clients being part of a high sale within a "division" of sales by category here.
Onward, East of Sepulveda, HO!
New Construction Division
1534 Curtis (5br/7ba, 4700 sqft.) is new construction on a good block that sold early in the season last year. It may not have gained much notice because the sale was arranged pre-completion. But it's our winner for top sale among new homes last year.
Sold for $5.600M in April 2023.
(Listed by Gary Elminoufi of Beach City Brokers.)
1436 21st (5br/5ba, 4542 sqft.) is over on the Meadows side of MBB, and one can at least say they came to market and gave people a chance. It sold quickly for asking price, and places a close second.
Sold for $5.400M in May 2023.
(Listed by Brent Chipeska of RE/MAX Estate Properties.)
1447 21st (6br/7ba, 4512 sqft.) ain't too far down the block from the 2nd-place finisher, and once again was a new construction sale arranged pre-completion.
Sold for $5.200M in December 2023.
1515 6th (6br/5ba, 4588 sqft.) sold – you're not going to believe this – pre-completion in an off-market sale. (Well, maybe you'll believe it.)
Sold for $5.000M in June 2023.
(Listed by David Keller of Re/Max Estate Properties.)
Liberty Village Division
1204 Faymont Avenue (4br/4ba, 3598 sqft.) is new construction as well, although with its smaller (typical) Liberty Village lot, it wasn't going to rank among the top sales for all of East MB.
All things considered, including location, time on market (6 weeks) and the need for a price cut before the home sold $1K over the start price, they did very very well. (Oh, yeah, and they broke Dave's record for highest Liberty Village sale – which came on a resale.)
Sold for $3.801M in December 2023.
(Listed by Edward Kaminsky of eXp Realty of California Inc.)
1500 Faymont Avenue (3br/3ba, 1835 sqft.) was absolutely the Belle of the Ball for all of Liberty Village and perhaps East Manhattan for 2023.
So many Liberty Village homes are remodeled/extended versions of the original postwar bungalows. This one kept intact the 1-car garage but otherwise dug deep into a total re-imagining of the house with modern style and design principles. What an achievement of a house!
Sold for $2.575M in July 2023.
(Listed by Rob McGarry of Vista Sotheby's International Realty.)
Other Leaders
1416 18th (5br/5ba, 3701 sqft.) is a resale of a 2016 build that was – hey wait, guys, another off-market?
Sold for $4.425M in June 2023.
1833 8th Street(3br/5ba, 3668 sqft.) is a super custom deep-east-Manhattan playland of a house, with outstanding, huge, open common areas downstairs – including an ample outdoor living room and glass sliders that disappear to create a true indoor/outdoor feel.
There's a great pool featuring a shallow water feature with many names, but we're stricken by the term "Shamu shelf" and gonna stick with that.
If you ever ask your realtor, "Should we go ahead and build only 3 bedrooms, because that's all we need?" they're going to say NO DON'T! because they're worried about resale. This one lasted a whole weekend and sold $100K over asking.
Sold for $3.900M in May 2023.
(Listed by Christopher Plank of Pacifica Properties Group Inc.)
1605 Magnolia Avenue (5br/4ba, 3383 sqft.) is just pretty, pretty, pretty.
In fact, we kinda raved when it finally went under contract:
Can we have more of those?
They got it right in 2006!
We're not advocating for tract homes or city-imposed style rules or anything like that, but, maybe, could people just study the really pretty homes and, like... do that?
Sold for $3.900M in November 2023.
(Listed by Audrey Judson of Pacifica Properties Group Inc.)
Lot Sales Division
1320 Voorhees Avenue (3br/2ba, 1459 sqft.) commanded the top price for land value because it contained the highest amount of land square footage: 9158 sqft., thanks to a quasi secondary lot attached in back. Most of the regular lots in the same sub-neighborhood are closer to 5000 sqft.
Sold for $2.400M in April 2023.
(Listed by Robb Stroyke of Bayside.)
1642 Curtis Avenue (7502 sqft. lot) boasted both dirt and plans. As is sometimes the case, a buyer finally gets through the process of getting the lot and mapping out the dream home, then changes direction.
Sold for $2.295M in May 2023.
1612 11th Street (3br/2ba, 1407 sqft.) is a second example kinda like the one just above.
Someone paid $2.200M for this lot in Nov. 2022.
Second thoughts? By July 2023, they were asking $2.300M. They didn't get that.
Sold for $2.200M in November 2023.
Manhattan Village Division
10 Cambridge (4br/3ba, 3058 sqft.) took the crown among dated or upgradeable Manhattan Village SFRs, but by just $10K. As you'll see, two others with significantly smaller lots sold for $3.0.
This purchase was by Dave's client, who had been looking for something this size in the Village for a while, but could never quite go with the ones that were offered.
Two distinguishing factors on this one: The home sports a 10,748 sqft. corner lot at the end of the cul-de-sac, consisting partly of hillside. Also, the outgoing owner had added a 4th bedroom upstairs over the garage – and, as we learned, had added non-required, but beneficial, seismic reinforcements around the same time.
This one started at $3.200M and sold for $3.010M in November 2023.
Our clients are deep into a completely modern update of the house.
(Listed by Kevin Pratt of Strand Hill Properties; buyer represented by Dave Fratello, Edge.)
23 Village Circle (4br/4ba, 3184 sqft.) is a partly upgraded SFR among the Estate Homes.
It began at $3.400M in Nov. 2022, but sold for $3.000M in June 2023.
See the story around the next sale, below, for more on that outcome.
(Listed by Damira Bacic of Damira Bacic.)
24 Westport (4br/4ba, 3256 sqft.) bears an interesting relationship to all the $3M-ish sales in the Village this year.
This home, with some 2000-ish upgrades, originally sold for $3.100M in July 2021.
It was offered back starting in Oct. 2022 at $3.499M.
But that markup was not to be.
It finally sold for $3.000M in March 2023. Not only was that less than acquisition (!), the closing occurred while 23 Village Circle (above) was in escrow. That property soon fell out. Coincidence? Doesn't seem like it. (See "How One Village Sale Slammed Another.")
To put it plainly, the closing at 24 Westport seemed to put a cap on values among the Estate Homes, at least those not featuring more modern or middle-of-the-road upgrades.
That's a premise now being tested by an active listing at 5 Cambridge (4br/3ba, 3118 sqft.), asking $3.495M. Where does that end up?
(24 Westport was listed by Cindy Shearin of Strand Hill Properties.)
