A one-of-a-kind Dumbo loft drew only lowball interest for months, until the right process turned it into a bidding war.
Four months on the market can make any listing feel stale, and it’s easy to assume the chance for competing offers has passed. My recent sale at 50 Bridge Street in DUMBO proved otherwise. It ended in a bidding war where a full-price cash offer still came in second.
The listing has almost 700 square feet of private outdoor space facing due north. From the terrace, the skyline frames the Empire State Building perfectly, and the Williamsburg Bridge stretches out over the water.
The building is one of the earliest lofts in DUMBO. I’ve known the sellers for more than 10 years. Once, I showed them home after home in Manhattan, and after seeing everything there, they bought this place in Brooklyn.
Before we listed, I suggested they stage the home, and the decluttering it required took some time. We hit the market at $2.35 million, and tons of people came through, yet not a single offer followed.
Unique features can stall early offers. Buyers who came back with feedback all said they wanted to redo the bathrooms and the kitchen. The layout added its own challenges. A spiral staircase climbs about 17 feet on one side of the loft, and a more traditional straight staircase sits on the other.
The bedroom on the second level doesn’t have full windows either, because they stop around the two-and-a-half-foot mark. It’s a very unique property, but it has a stunning outdoor space, and the view is phenomenal the moment you walk in.
"A lot of times we think a listing is stale just because it hasn’t sold yet."
Keep showing through the lowball offers. We showed it again and again and held broker open houses along the way. One offer finally came in about 10% under asking. It wasn’t a bad offer, yet the buyer refused to negotiate once we countered.
People from the building came through as well, and almost everyone wanted to lowball us. Then a buyer who was clearly into the place toured on a Friday. Her broker asked whether she could come back Saturday afternoon instead of heading out of town, and we worked it out.
She stayed another hour, then wanted to return Sunday with a friend. Whenever someone keeps coming back without making an offer, I don’t hold high hopes.
Public open houses still find buyers. During one of those visits, I’d also posted a public open house, and a man walked in whom I’d sold a home to many years earlier. He fell in love with the place and made an offer. We negotiated a little; I let him know another buyer was very interested, and we settled on a number that worked.
The very next day, someone new toured the home and came in with a full-price cash offer.
Give every buyer a fair chance. Getting outbid by a new offer after you’ve agreed on a number is what we call being gazumped, and it had just happened to my past client. There’s an ethical standard in these moments, so we gave him a chance to match. The cash buyer got the same opportunity next, and he stood pat.
Things were moving fast, and we were effectively over the asking price. Just as the ink was almost dry on my past client’s contract at his higher number, the cash buyer came back with an even better offer. One qualifying factor kept him in second place, and my past client won.
Intent and a fast attorney win. The winner was financing, and his deal wasn’t even non-contingent, while the buyer who lost had made a full-price cash offer. I believe intent was the real difference, since the winner acted decisively.
Both buyers chose excellent attorneys I’d worked with before. The winner’s attorney moved at a truly unbelievable pace and got due diligence and the contract done in two days. In a competitive situation, you want an attorney who can get the contract signed, and that speed is one reason he won.
Smart staging pays off big. This was a challenging property, and staging is what made it sellable and helped it look its best. I hired Taylor Spellman because she’s one of my top stagers. Her touches cost thousands of dollars, not an arm and a leg, and they meant everything.
When we were finally in the bottom of the ninth on this offer, the $5,000 to $6,000 these sellers spent on her work ended up getting them $100,000 more.
Unsold doesn’t mean stale. A listing that hasn’t sold yet isn’t automatically stale. Sometimes people are still coming through a property that’s a little unique, and you can still see a glimmer in their eyes. In that case, keep up the energy and work your process until you make the right match. My clients at 50 Bridge Street found theirs after four months on the market.
If your Manhattan or Brooklyn home has sat longer than you hoped, I’d love to help you build a plan to find the right buyer. Call me at 718-938-5406, email me at [email protected], or visit newyorklovestherosenteam.com. I look forward to hearing about your home.
