"In 2017, Jessica Levy Buchman, a real-estate agent in Brooklyn, got a call from a couple looking to sell a three-bedroom apartment at 120 Prospect Park West. The location, in the heart of Park Slope, was unbeatable: steps from a host of restaurants, two subway lines, and a high-performing public elementary school, with a primary bedroom that boasted clear views of the park's lush foliage."
"The kitchen was minuscule and outfitted with ancient appliances. The living room, encased in dark mahogany panelling, looked onto a drab alleyway filled with trash bins, and the apartment's two floors were connected by a narrow spiral staircase that risked putting parents in mind of a broken neck. To attract buyers, Buchman wanted the couple to invest in sprucing up their home's presentation. They hired a different broker. "I understand," Buchman told them. "I'm sure you'll sell in a minute.""
"But the apartment didn't sell in a minute, or a month, or a year. According to the real-estate search engine StreetEasy, a property in Park Slope spends a median of seventy-eight days on the market. At 120 Prospect Park West, however, 2018 went by, and so did 2019, 2020, 2021, 2022, 2023, and 2024. New York apartments are like fish: the longer one sits, the worse it stinks. 120 Prospect Park West stank."
Jason Saft reveals the new life and value that challenging city properties can offer to buyers. In 2017, a three-bedroom duplex at 120 Prospect Park West presented prime location but crippling flaws: a minuscule kitchen, dark mahogany-paneled living room facing a trash-filled alley, and a narrow spiral staircase. The owners hired other brokers and the apartment failed to sell for years. Despite Park Slope's median market time of seventy-eight days, the unit lingered through 2018–2024, with repeated price changes, removals and relistings. Seven brokers cycled through in seven years before the owners returned to Buchman.
Read at The New Yorker
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