A sampling of last week’s press coverage of CORE and CORE properties.

“The Market That Never Sleeps”
New American Luxury
CORE founder and CEO Shaun Osher was interviewed about trends in the New York City real estate market and how CORE stays ahead of them. Here’s Osher on what people want right now: “Clients are looking for quality—something they’ve become so used to seeing a lack of in this market. New Yorkers want turnkey, well-conceived, perfectly finished apartments and homes.”

“So You’re Priced Out. Now What?”
New York Times
The historic Ladies’ Mile section of Chelsea is offered up as a more affordable version of SoHo in an interesting Times story that looks at five pairs of neighborhoods, one expensive, one cheaper. Part of what gives the Ladies’ Mile its SoHo feel is the conversion of old department stores into lofts, like the Cammeyer, where the Times highlighted Kirk Rundhaug’s $2.8 million listing in the building (right).

“Watts up”
New York Post
Liev Schreiber and Naomi Watts checked out three of Vickey Barron’s townhouse listings in the Village, but in the end the celebrity couple decided to buy a loft in TriBeCa.

Where: 28 East 10th Street Apt 9-C
Size: 1 bedroom/1 bathroom
Asking: $2,195,000
Listed by: Kirk Rundhaug and Paige Neuhauser

When Greenwich Village’s Devonshire House hit the market in 2009, with the real estate market in turmoil, it was an immediate hit (even with a celebrity here and there). Despite the uncertain global economy, buyers couldn’t pass up what the century-old building offered: A pre-war stunner with architectural pedigree, given a top-to-bottom upgrade by celebrated designer Victoria Hagan and converted to full-service condominiums. It’s a rare product, especially in downtown Manhattan. Now a charming ninth-floor apartment in the Emery Roth-designed building is on the market, showing off the best of this old-meets-new development: custom moldings and millwork, 4-inch white oak hardwood floors, custom Pella windows, E.R. Butler polished nickel hardware and kitchen appliances by Sub-Zero, Wolf and Bosch. The perfect pied-à-terre? It just might be. Below, a look at the Devonshire House’s classic lobby entrance:

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HGTV’s “Selling New York” follows CORE agents as they navigate the country’s most competitive—and compelling—real estate market. Here’s our behind-the-scenes look at Episode #412, which first aired on January 12, 2012. For more SNY recaps, click here.

In CORE’s first “SNY” episode of 2012, called “Satisfaction Guaranteed,” agent Kirk Rundhaug devoted his time to finding the next one-of-a-kind investment property for his big-fish client, Gloria Naftali. With the clock ticking on finding the perfect apartment, Gloria enlisted the help of her personal friend and real estate broker, Julie, to tour several properties with Kirk.

The search began in Brooklyn, where Kirk showed Julie a massive 5,100-square-foot penthouse listed by fellow CORE agent Michael Graves. Despite its floor-to-ceiling windows, double spiral staircase and nine terraces, Kirk and Julie knew that Gloria had her heart set on downtown Manhattan. The next stop was a a penthouse in CORE’s The Cammeyer at 650 Sixth Avenue in the Flatiron District, but the property wasn’t Gloria’s perfect match, either. Next up was another penthouse with “wow” factor, in The Excelsior on 57th Street in Midtown. Gloria was not disappointed — who would be with stunning views, a 4,800-square-foot wraparound terrace and a private indoor swimming pool? — but in the end it was too much penthouse for one woman to handle.

Keep on reading for some exclusive behind-the-scenes information about what didn’t make it into last night’s episode of “Selling New York” and what happened after the cameras stopped rolling!

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When is a stager not necessary? When an apartment is already a work of art. That’s the case at the massive Flatiron District loft at 32 West 20th Street just listed by CORE’s John Harrison and Kirk Rundhaug. The 4,000-square-foot space was the home and studio of Lenore Tawney, who turned weaving into fine art and helped create the fiber art genre before passing away in 2007 at the age of 100. The Wall Street Journal reports today on Tawney’s live/work studio hitting the market, pointing out that the $3.95 million co-op is an artist’s loft in the truest sense of the term. Who says the best art in the world is only hanging in museums?

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Kirk proved to be quite the leader as he played “Captain Kirk” to his very own “Team Enterprise”. Continue reading for some exclusive information on last night’s episode of “Selling New York”!
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Continuing a theme from my previous appearance on Selling New York, in the April 22nd episode I had a chance to focus on identifying and addressing the inherent “energy” of the apartment that I was tasked to sell. An apartment, house or any kind of home acquires its energy not only from its own history, but from the histories—the experiences, goals, aspirations, obstacles and anxieties—of the people who live in it,  as well as of their guests, their neighbors and, dare I say, their brokers. I was educated in the existence and power of this type of energy by my friend and colleague Reginald Arthur, who for years has studied the energies of individuals, their homes and their environments. Almost as soon as I took over the listing of an apartment at 50 Gramercy Park North, I brought Reggie in to help promote the residence’s positive energies. Similar to the penthouse (at 350 West 23rd Street) featured in my previous episode, the one at 50 Gramercy is a relatively new construction and its current occupants have lived there for less than three years. Reggie and I have come to understand that new developments often attract and absorb negative forces that accompany the building process: the stresses of financing, the convulsions of construction, the uncertainties of the marketplace in which the apartments are sold. Furthermore, the 50 Gramercy project incorporates an old New York hotel that has hosted many unusual guests over the years, each of whom contributes his or her own energy to the bones of the building. All of these factors, if sufficiently negative, can create a pall that, on a certain level, deters buyers. Reggie identified this immediately and took measures to reverse its effects. He tries to help homes release negative energies from dark periods in their histories by assisting their owners and brokers in doing the same. In other words, if the people who live and pass through an apartment are able to expel their negative energies, so too will those energies be expelled from the apartment itself, resulting in a space that is brighter and more attractive to prospective buyers. Whether or not they believe in the veracity of Reggie’s methods, my sellers (and I) are always filled with confidence by his presence and charisma. And, after all, isn’t confidence  just another form of positive energy?

One of the challenges of showing an unfurnished unit in a new construction is that prospective buyers have a hard time visualizing what the apartment might look like when they are living in it. It has never been occupied and therefore doesn’t have the character or energy of a space that has been called “home,” so buyers are skeptical. As the date approached for the filming of Penthouse A at 350 West 23^rd Street for HGTV’s new series “Selling New York,” I faced this exact challenge—and, after conferring with CORE’s CEO, Shaun Osher, I decided that the best way to handle it was to stage the apartment. Staging is a delicate task: If done in a careless way, the design can look contrived and can misrepresent the space. Not only must the furnishings chosen for staging fit the space in terms of size; they must also complement the angles, materials and textures of the apartment as well as draw in the natural landscape beyond the unit’s windows and terraces. The latter point is especially important in a space such as Penthouse A, with its broad floor-to-ceiling windows, expansive terraces and park views. I chose my pieces the way buyers choose their furniture and artwork when preparing to settle in to a home for many years or generations. I followed an aesthetic that reflected the unique vibe of Chelsea—modern and sophisticated yet warm and approachable. I owe a great debt to Laurie Messman and her team at Ligne Roset, who provided pieces that perfectly captured the look and feel I was going for. One of Laurie’s brilliant ideas was to borrow artwork and music memorabilia from the Sony Archives. The fact that she was able to secure historic platinum records, limited-edition photographs of famous musicians and entertainers such as Jimi Hendrix and Ertha Kitt, and classic guitars was an enormous feat. I recall thinking that the buyer I was searching for “could hang his own guitar in its place,” and while the buyer from the episode did not have a guitar herself, I imagined that perhaps one day her son would hang his there. In upcoming episodes of “Selling New York” I deal with other aspects of this “home energy,” of which staging is just one part. Tune in and enjoy!