Tea at Trianon: Why NYC’s Most Prestigious Homes Won’t Sell

John Wilson Croker on Marie-Antoinette

"We have followed the history of Marie Antoinette with the greatest diligence and scrupulosity. We have lived in those times. We have talked with some of her friends and some of her enemies; we have read, certainly not all, but hundreds of the libels written against her; and we have, in short, examined her life with– if we may be allowed to say so of ourselves– something of the accuracy of contemporaries, the diligence of inquirers, and the impartiality of historians, all combined; and we feel it our duty to declare, in as a solemn a manner as literature admits of, our well-matured opinion that every reproach against the morals of the queen was a gross calumny– that she was, as we have said, one of the purest of human beings."

~from History of the Guillotine by John Wilson Croker, 1844

Edmund Burke on Marie-Antoinette

"It is now sixteen or seventeen years since I saw the queen of France, then dauphiness, at Versailles; and surely there never lighted on this orb, which she hardly seemed to touch, a more delightful vision. I saw her just above the horizon, decorating and cheering the elevated sphere she had just begun to move in, glittering like a morning star full of life and splendor and joy. Oh, what a revolution....Little did I dream that I should have lived to see such disasters fall upon her, in a nation of gallant men, in a nation of men of honor and of cavaliers! I thought ten thousand swords must have leaped from their scabbards, to avenge even a look which threatened her with insult. But the age of chivalry is gone; that of sophisters, economists, and calculators has succeeded...."

~Edmund Burke, October 1790

Friday, February 9, 2024

Why NYC’s Most Prestigious Homes Won’t Sell

From The New York Post:

First listed for $39.5 million, it was reduced to $35.5 million, then $32.5 million and $32.25 million, $31.25 million, $29.95 million, $29.8 million, $28.75 million, $28.55 million, $27.95 million, $27.75 million, $27.5 million…and finally where it rests today: $27.4 million, after almost 1,500 days on the market. Monthly maintenance here is $22,120, which means that the owner has spent about $1.1 million in carrying costs since listing the place.

“Although this extraordinary property has not sold yet, the listing has generated extraordinary interest and we have received multiple strong offers,” said Louise Beit of Sotheby’s International Realty in a statement to The Post. “I am confident that we will find the right buyer who will cherish this property,”
Brokers told The Post that there’s all kinds of dope bubbling under the surface that could keep a good apartment with a top address in a coma. Vexing renovation rules and approval costs may make makeovers unappealing. Construction next door could make buyers cautious. High-interest rates can keep money from moving. Sometimes a building can even trip over its own shoelaces.

“Trying to get a co-op board to tell you what they are looking for is a challenge,” said broker Vickey Barron. “You run the buyer’s financials by the board president. They make $4 million a year and have $10 million in liquidity. But then the board says, ‘That isn’t enough.’ Well, how much liquidity does someone need for a $6 million apartment? Now, the buyer is insulted and everyone feels defeated.“

Even an ostensibly perfect poodle can kill a deal.

“The board won’t say that pets are not allowed, but when the applicant has a pet, suddenly they want to weigh the pet; they want blood samples,” Barron says. “All of a sudden you get a rejection and it’s because someone on the board didn’t want that particular pet.”

But broker Donna Oslan, president of Olshan Realty, says putting a listless listing out of its misery is simple: Just shoot it in the head. (Read more.)