Dramatic Enhancement of Two Premier Properties
33 Charlton Street, a charming rowhouse dating from the 1820s, is located at the western edge of SoHo in Manhattan. Aberdeen Townhomes carefully restored and preserved the building's landmarked brick Federalist facade and completely renovated and updated the interior.
They asked Designed to Appeal to stage what was mostly a vacant property. So we used all of the existing furniture and brought in rental furniture and our own decorative accessories to give it a warm and inviting feeling that the right buyer will envision themselves living in.
See the before and after transformation photos.
41 West 74th Street is located just off Central Park West and is one of five contiguous Renaissance Revival townhomes built in 1889. It too was restored and renovated by Aberdeen Townhomes into two residences of three floors each.
Click on the picture to view how we staged this property.
These properties are listed with Dolly Lenz, Raphael DeNiro and Leonard Steinberg of Prudential Douglas Elliman. See what Steinberg as well as Aberdeen Townhomes had to say about our transformation of these two properties under Testimonials of the Month at the bottom of this newsletter. |
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Market Overview:
New York, NY
" This quarter there is reason to be hopeful that the significant devaluation we have tracked since the demise of Lehman Brothers is coming to an end", according to Corcoran's 4th quarter report.
- Buyers have returned to the market in large numbers after waiting on the sidelines for the first half of 2009.
- Closed sales were up 10% from the 3rd quarter and are up 48% from 4th quarter '08.
- Resale activity improved significantly over last year fueled by sales in co-ops.
- Prices in the 4th quarter were relatively unchanged from the 3rd quarter suggesting a market equilibrium, but are still about 16% lower than one year ago.
- Total listed inventory has decreased 36% since its peak in March 2009.
- Median sale price of $1.033 million is 22% lower than its peak in 4th quarter 2008.
- Median sales price and price per square foot are only slightly higher than first quarter 2006.
- Median sale price of $622,250 is 13% lower than its peak in the 3rd quarter 2008.
- Median sales price and price per square foot are back to late 2005 prices.
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Tips and Tricks of the Trade
Creating a comfortable conversation area in the living room is important so that people can face each other and can speak without raising their voices. Also, everyone should be able to comfortably reach the coffee table.
A conversation area can also help to establish a focal point in a room such as a fireplace.
The furniture set up of the conversation area should also eliminate traffic flow through it so that conversation is not interrupted.
Here is a sample layout of a good conversation area:
As you can see above, the simple "ingredients" required are:
1. A sofa (or two loveseats)
2. Two upholstered chairs
3. A coffee table or large ottoman
4. Reading lamps
If you are lucky enough to have a large space:
1. Creating a conversation area frees up space in the room for other functions such as a separate reading area consisting of a club chair, ottoman, table and lamp or a working area consisting of a desk and chair.
2. Two sofas can be placed back-to-back with their own set of chairs and coffee table to create two distinct conversation areas. |
- In 2009, first time home buyers had the highest market share on record (since 1981) according to a survey* by the National Association of Realtors® (NAR).
- The first time home buyer made up 47% of all buyers, up from an average of 40 to 41% over the previous 10 years. The previous high was 44% in 1991, also at the peak of the previous significant downturn in real estate.
- The fact that first time home buyers made up a significant portion of home buyers this time around isn't surprising given these two factors:
- Homes became more affordable as prices dropped across the nation
- The first time home buyer tax credit of up to $8,000 became available
The typical first time home buyer profile:
- Their median age was 30
- Their median income was $61,600
- The homes they purchased cost $156,000
- 55% financed their home with an FHA loan
- 96% chose a fixed rate mortgage
- 61% used their savings for the downpayment; 22% received a gift from a friend or a relative
* The NAR surveys home buyers and sellers across the nation each year, and the results of their survey were released in November 2009 and cover the period from June 2008 through July of 2009. |
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Market Overview: The East End
- East Hampton (excluding Village):
- The median sales price was $685,000 down 14%
- The number of sales was down approximately 16% to 194
- The dollar value of sales was down 21%
- Southampton (excluding Village):
- The median sales price was $670,000, down 16%
- The number of sales was down approximately 55% to 63
- The dollar value of sales was down 71%
- The median sales price was $435,000 down 12%
- The number of sales was down approximately 21% to 85
- The dollar value of sales was down 24% |
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 Testimonials of the Month
"Just wanted to say how great I think the staging looks!!! It looks wonderful and you did an incredible job. It really makes a huge difference!
Furniture helps scale a room, and all of a sudden the real size of the rooms is clearly evident. No words can achieve that. Just good staging."
Leonard Steinberg
Managing Director
Prudential Douglas Elliman
New York, New York
"Donna Dazzo did a wonderful job staging three high end townhome locations for Aberdeen Townhomes, LLC. We have gotten nothing but impressive comments from the various brokers who have been showing the properties. Her design skills are well matched with her ability to coordinate problem-free delivery and setup as well, on time and within budget too! Great job!"
Doug Shaeffer
Chief Financial Officer
Aberdeen Properties
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