GRAMERCY

145 E. 15 th St.
One-bedroom cooperative
Asking price: $379,000
Selling price: $415,000
Monthly cost: $552
Time on the market: Five weeks

BIDDING WAR With amenities like a 24-hour doorman, a roof deck, laundry and bicycle rooms, and a garage, this 45-unit postwar building would be desirable in any Manhattan neighborhood. But in Gramercy, where prices are soaring with fewer and fewer properties coming on the market, a junior one bedroom co-op in this building sparked a major bidding war and sold for more than $36,000 above its asking price.

“There was a bidding war of which 12 bids were above ask, and there were a total of 26 offers altogether,” said Patrick Lilly of Coldwell Banker Hunt Kennedy, who represented the seller in the transaction. “There’s not a lot of property in the neighborhood that’s on the market.”

The owner, a young woman who works in financial services, had been living in the apartment for three or four years, but wanted to buy a larger place, said Mr. Lilly.

At 550 square feet, the apartment is large for a junior one-bedroom, which is an alcove studio where one wall is added to set off the sleeping area. It was in “move-in ready condition,” said Citi Habitats’ Tracie Hamersley, who represented the buyer in the sale. “The buyer can upgrade things as she likes,” though she may just keep the older kitchen “with some neat blue countertops that have some character.” The building itself has a “cool little funky entryway” and is located on a beautiful, quiet street, Ms. Hamersley said.

The broker said the buyer, who’s in her mid-30s and works at a global financial-services company, was actually the seller’s first backup offer, but then the first accepted offer fell through. The buyer is planning to live in the co-op with her boyfriend.

FORT GREENE

147 S. Oxford St.
Two-bedroom, one-bath cooperative
Asking price: $525,000
Selling price: $500,000
Monthly cost: $527
Time on the market: Three weeks

MARKET TEST The owner of this light filled, 968-square-foot co-op put it up for sale to get a feel for the market, and it fetched $500,000, the highest sale price in its building in the last couple of years, said Renee Hunter of the Corcoran Group, who represented the seller. “He owns a few properties around Brooklyn, [including] a house in Bed-Stuy, and he bought this co-op when it actually converted to co-ops in the 80s,” Ms. Hunter said. “He owns a beautiful brownstone in Prospect Heights as well. He was just selling [the co-op] to test the market – they may be thinking about relocating so they wanted to sell their smallest property.”

Located on a quiet block with a mix of brownstones and newer buildings, the property is in the southern, more undiscovered end of up-and-coming Fort Greene, said Ms. Hunter. “People tend to concentrate on the northern end.”

The 50-year-old building, with storage and laundry facilities and a live-in super, has just 24 units in total, and “everyone knows everyone else,” the broker said.

The buyer, a recent graduate of NYU, wanted space for roommates and will convert the dining room into a third bedroom, said Tracie Hamersley of Citi Habitats, who represented the buyer in the sale. “She liked the area and the spacious feel to the layout,” said Ms. Hamersley. A first-time property-owner, the buyer got some financial help from her mother to purchase the co-op, which has hardwood floors, nine windows, and high ceilings, and needs little else apart from a coat of paint, Ms. Hamersley said.

After signing the papers on the property, the buyer took a job at the Brooklyn Academy of Music a few blocks away.