Are you bored yet? If so (or if not) say so in the comments. It’s lonely over here! I see that you’re reading but no one leaves me notes…

Moving right along, I gave moderate consideration to this apartment in a cond-op building. Of every Manhattan (not Brooklyn) apartment I viewed during my hunt, this unit featured the nicest fixtures of all. At that time, I was considering increasing my upper rent limit to $2800 so the broker wisely showed me the rental she called a unicorn.

As you can tell from the pics, she was right. The building was lovely and so was the apartment. But I think the owner made a mistake, closing off the alcove into a semi-functional Jr. 1 Br. The nook isn’t pictured, probably because it housed a bed and nothing more. Changing the sheets would be painful. I felt a hint of claustrophobia just thinking about sleeping in there.

Ultimately the nook wasn’t the deciding factor, though. Nor was the monthly rent. Nor was the slight “fudge” on the neighborhood – calling 25th Street Gramercy is a stretch, but not a huge one.

I liked the building, the apartment, the block and the washer-dryer, but the brokers’ fee. OMG, the fee.

Because the listing was exclusive to Sotheby’s, the Citi-Habitats broker who showed me the place wouldn’t have leeway with the fee amount. Her personal goal would be to share the 15% of the annual rent brokers’ fee with Sotheby’s, my wallet be damned.

Calculations

Brokers’ fee: ($2800 x 12 months = $33,600) x 15% = $5040 brokers’ fee

Upfront cost to yours truly: $2800 (first) + $2800 (last) + $2800 (security) + $5040 = $13,440 

Also known as an impossible amount of money.

Also known as I might as well buy a freakin’ condo.

Verdict: I didn’t even submit an application. No regrets on this one

Related posts:

• The hunt part 3
• The hunt part 2