Testimonial of the Month
"Dear Donna,
The work that you did on my customer's apartment was nothing short of amazing. The sellers followed your lead and the apartment turned into an extremely salable home that in fact sold extremely quickly and at top dollar.
They and I appreciate the talent you brought to the table and I thank you."
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Sold in Less than One Month After Staging
During our Home Staging Consultation, the homeowners of this month's featured apartment wanted to use most of their existing furniture when staging their apartment for sale, despite our advice that it was too traditional for the target market of buyers.
When they originally came to New York City, they brought with them furniture from Washington, D.C. While this traditional furniture may have worked in DC., it doesn't work here in New York.
They finally agreed to remove all of their furniture and decorative items since they were moving anyway to retire out of state. So we were given a clean slate to work with to present the apartment in its most favorable light.
The unit is comprised of two apartments remodeled into one and features a stunning view of the 59th St. Bridge and tram. We focused our design to highlight the great view, and maximize the appeal of each room.
And it sold in less than one month at full asking price!
Here are some photos showing what it looked like with the owners' furniture and what it looked like after we were done staging it:
Den Before
Den After
Den Before
Den After
Living Room Before
Living Room After
Living Room Before
Living Room After
Master Bedroom Before
Master Bedroom After Guest Bedroom Before Guest Bedroom After
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Market Overview: New York, NY
According to Corcoran's May 2012 report: "May's contract activity was the strongest month since the downturn. Sales have been strong all Spring but May surpassed April by 15% and March by 13%. Both condos and co-ops are benefiting from the surge in contract activity." Market Wide: - There are 8,233 units currently listed on the market.
- New listings in May represent 23% of the total number of listings.
The following is a comparison of May 2012 vs. May 2011: Condos:
- The median sale price of $1,280,000 decreased 4%.
- The average price per square foot of $1,403 is a 17% increase
- Discount from last ask to sale at 4.1% represents a 17% increase
- Days on the market decreased 35% to 156
- Listed inventory decreased 18% to 3,405
Co-ops:
- The median sale price of $740,000 increased 9%
- The average price per square foot of $956 is up 8%
- Discount from last ask to sale is down 31% to 2.4%
- Days on the market decreased 6% to 139
- Listed Inventory decreased by 10% to 4,229
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Tips and Tricks of the Trade:
Finding Great Decorating Resources
Stumped on ideas for decorating your daughter's bedroom? Love looking at decorating magazines to dream and wonder?
Well, there's a site made just for you with thousands of beautiful photos of each typical room in a house, as well as the exterior.
It's called www.houzz.com.
And you can also do the following:
- Save your favorite photos to individually create Ideabooks e.g., "ideas for Kayla's room".
- If public, you can view other people's Ideabooks.
- Sign up for regular emails from the site for gorgeous photos on specific topics such as "Make the Most of your Entryway":
http://www.houzz.com/ideabooks/2768629/list/Make-the-Most-of-Your-Entryway
- Ask questions of the Design Community
- Find a professional
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Did You Know...
Central Park Views Command Twice the Price?
"Co-op buyers who covet direct views of Central Park pay three times as much for their apartment than a similar buyer without such requirements."
- Co-ops around the park's border had a median price of $2.4 million last year
- Apartments in surrounding neighborhoods not on the park only drew an average of $795,000 last year.
- New York differs from other largely populated cities by having higher premiums for views of Central Park rather than waterfront properties.
- Some brokers do suspect that improved waterfront parks may start to change buyer's preferences from park views to water views.
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Market Overview: The East End
The following is a comparison of results through May 2012, annualized, vs. all of 2011, by town:
East Hampton Town:
- The median sales price increased 8% to $945,000
- The number of sales increased 12% to 557
- The dollar volume of sales increased 33% to $953 million
Southampton Town:
- The median sales price decreased nearly 15% to $735,000
- The number of sales increased by 3.6% to 1,015
- The dollar volume of sales decreased 5.2% to $1.7 billion
Southold Town:
- The median sales price decreased 5% to $415,000
- The number of sales decreased 4% to 281
- The dollar volume of sales decreased 12% to $158 million
Source: Suffolk Research Services
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