UPPER WEST SIDE

155 W. 68th St.
Three-bedroom condo
Asking price: $1.99 million
Selling price: $2 million
Time on market: 4 months

MANHATTANITES ARE GOOD AT PRACTICING AN OLD ADAGE: If one apartment isn’t big enough, knock down the walls and burrow into the place next door. A case in point is a humungous 19th-floor luxury apartment at 155 W. 68th St. With three bedrooms and bathrooms, the 2000-square-foot space sports a granite-finished kitchen, stainless steel appliances, a living room and a study, along with full concierge service downstairs.

It certainly accommodates the large family that recently bought the Upper West Side condominium.

According to the real estate agent who sold the apartment, Judy Oston of Halstead Property, the apartment remained on the market unsold for almost four months because the sellers wouldn’t take realtors’ advice: Keep the price reasonable and employ a “stager” to spruce up the apartment.

(A stager, Mrs. Oston said, is the latest trend in real estate. In order to give a property a certain je ne sais quoi to seduce buyers, a consultant is brought in to make gentle suggestions about how to redecorate.)

Finally, Mrs. Oston said, the sellers lowered the price and agreed to retain a stager, and voilà, there were multiple offers. “There was a little bit of a bidding situation going,” Mrs. Oston said. “It’s a classic case of ‘we told you so,'” she said.

TURTLE BAY

300 E. 40th St.
Two-bedroom condo
Asking price: $1.35 million
Selling price: $1.35 million
Time on market: 3 months

A MARRIED COUPLE FROM THE MIDWEST saw this extravagant Turtle Bay condominium and they were so impressed that they bought it. The property was kept up excellently. “It was in triple mint condition,” a realtor in the transaction, Garee Furman of Halstead Property, said. “They like modern and very minimal and streamline, and that’s what this was.” In addition to being well maintained, the East Side condo has a health club and swimming pool. Despite the amenities and convenience to the world-class nightlife Manhattan offers, the sellers had decided that city life just wasn’t for their children as they matured. “I guess they needed more space,” Ms. Furman said.

UNION SQUARE

111 Fourth Ave.
One-bedroom co-op
Asking price: $750.000
Selling price: $750.000
Time on market: 3 weeks

REALTOR MIRIAM SIROTA OF THE CORCORAN GROUP has her own nickname for the real-estate hypnosis that happens when prospective buyers see 111 Fourth Ave.: “The 111 Fourth Avenue Effect.” So maybe there are no awards for creativity there, but the co-op is a fullservice loft building near Grace Church. The brand-new floors, European bath, and kitchen amenities fit for a chef exhibit a certain elegance unseen in many traditional buildings elsewhere in the city. And the buyers — Michael Passalaqua and Heather Belz — are owners of Tia Pol and frequent bold names in New York Magazine. With views of the sunset, a chef’s kitchen, and 14-foot ceilings, this apartment at 111 Fourth Ave. proved to be almost a kismet transaction.