How To Buy An Apartment in a Down Market

Manhattan’s Bidding Wars

Bidding wars are back. More than half of the properties on the Manhattan market are listed over current market value. Those you don’t want. But the rest are priced to sell.  As a result, all of the serious buyers focus their bidding on the same properties- and those properties end up going for at or very close to their listed price.

Photo Credit: Estrella Esteve

Bidding Wars are back in Manhattan

How to Buy an Apartment in a Down Market

You bid, you feel good about it, someone outbids you so you bid again, and suddenly your excitement turns to anxiety or confusion over what do do and how to do it.

Here’s the deal: Know what you are willing to pay when you go in. Consider the impact of interest rates on the true cost of the property. Bidding wars do mean you have to act fast and mean it. What they don’t mean is that you have to throw caution to the wind.

Here’s how I put it to the New York Times last week:

“The way we negotiate a bidding war is different now. You want people to feel comfortable with what they’re paying and you don’t want them to put out a number that’s too big and then have them get buyer’s remorse and back out.”

Some of the buyers profiled in that article were all over the place- Just because there are bidding wars going on doesn’t mean you need to act like you’re on your third martini.

Sit back and nurse your scotch- the deals are there. Find the place you love and then bid like you mean it. Be ready to bid again and again, but start low enough that you end up where you’re comfortable. You can overbid because there’s a good chance the place is listed under market, and that means you still get the deal.

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