Upper East Side Co-op’s Sale Price Plunges From Original Listing

by Co-op Board

What happened to one shareholder who tried to sell his 2100 sq. ft. co-op apartment for $2.5 million? He got his “ask” knocked down 20% for a selling price of $2 million. That’s a huge plunge! What happened to this apartment on the 40th floor of the Excelsior at 303 East 57th Street?

According to New York City public records, seller Neil Capone bought the apartment in December 2004 for $1.4 million. His attempt to flip it for a 79% return on his investment in a little over three years failed. That would have been roughly a 25% annual rate of return. Instead, he got a 42.8% return over three year, or roughly 14% a year. That’s a nice chunk of change too, but what led Capone and his broker to set the original price?

Whatever the reasons were, they may not have mattered. At $3,501 per month, the maintenance on this apartment was already astronomical. Ouch!

The buyers are a couple from Laguna Beach, California: Roy Irving Frazer and Diane Patricia Frzer.

The apartment was listed by Coldwell Banker broker Elayne Reimer whose slogan is “Make Them Happy and Never Give Up!” She has extensive contacts at the Excelsior that A year and a half ago, the New York Sun quoted Reimer saying that “Once people realize the [housing] bubble talk is a lot of nonsense, they come back and buy.”

Capone’s 2 bedroom 3 bathroom apartment was on the market for 33 weeks before it was in contract. That’s a long time!