More about fabulous Bond Street, where Will Smith paid $85,000 a month to live.

(Yet another in a series on what it costs to live in Noho and what you get for the money.  Plus When I Met Will and Jada.)

Now that Men in Black III has wrapped, Will is moving out of the fourth floor at 25 Bond.  It's back on the market for sale at $19,500,000. 

Okay, let's see:  cheaper to rent or to buy?  Well, people with that kind of money generally pay cash, especially as only the interest on the first million is tax deductible.  

So figure the loss of income on $19,500,000, plus closing costs, plus the $9,265 monthly common charges for this unit, plus whatever the real estate taxes are (listing information and city records are sketchy on this).

Sounds to me like Will got a deal. 

Here's the link to the Curbed article: http://ny.curbed.com/archives/2011/09/23/will_smiths_25_bond_pad_on_market_for_equivalent_of_blockbuster_film_salary.php

I met Will Smith and his wife Jada Pinkett Smith as well as various members of their entourage years ago when they came to look at an apartment I was representing.  They were lovely. 

They wanted to come at 10 am on a Sunday morning.  At the time, I was singing in a church choir, and rehearsal started at 9:15, followed immediately by the service at 11.  If it had to be Sunday morning, I could only do it at 8:15. 

The Smiths et al very graciously arrived promptly at 8:15.  They didn't buy the apartment, but they couldn't have been more pleasant. 

Jada was wearing absolutely stunning leopard print fur booties with what had to be six inch stiletto heels (she was still about a foot shorter than Will, who towers over everybody).

I apologized for the early hour, necessary because of my other appointment.  I told them if the other appointment had been with anybody but God I would have changed it for them. 

And I would have.

Manhattan is no longer a buyer's market. No kidding, really.

The current Vanderbilt Absorption report says that for properties priced under $3,000,000, the Manhattan residential real estate market is balanced.  It's not yet a sellers' market, but it's not a buyers' market either.

The way the report works is this:  the Vanderbilt Appraisal Company divides the number of available properties (they include those under contract) by the average number of sales for each of the last six months.  The result is the number of months it should take to sell what's currently on the market.

Less than six months of inventory means a sellers' market.  Six to nine months is a market in equilibrium, that is, it favors neither sellers nor buyers.  More than nine months means it's a buyers' market.

Historically, the Manhattan norm is about nine months of inventory.

Overall, in Manhattan, there are 9.8 months.  But if you exclude properties priced at more than $2,000,000, that figure ranges from 8.2 to 8.9--comfortably into balanced territory.

For sellers, the upper west side and downtown are tied for rosiest picture, with 8.1 months of inventory each.   In the $1,000,000 to $1,500,000 segment of the market there are only 6 months on the upper west and 6.5 months downtown--just barely in balance, tending to favor sellers. 

Midtown and the upper east side are still a good bet for buyers with an overall 13.2 months of inventory each, as is upper Manhattan with 13.5 months.  

Here's the link: http://www.vanderbiltappraisal.com/#!__june-2011