207 East 74th Street
Two-bedroom, two-bath cooperative
Asking price: $899,000
Selling price: $870,000
Time on the market: three months

SOMETIMES LESS IS MORE

The woman who sold this 1,300-square-foot duplex bought the apartment last year for about $700,000, and did $200,000 worth of renovations to the unit. A year later she sold the apartment, incurring a big loss.

“She took a perfectly fine apartment and re-did it in a Ian Schrager-hotel style, very modern and very specific,” said the exclusive broker on the deal, Gina Serman of the Corcoran Group, referring to the developer of the Royalton and the Hudson hotels.

“A lot of people don’t want to pay for someone else’s distinct taste – if it had been more traditional it would have sold better.”

The unit was also expensive for a one-bedroom, and had originally been listed at $995,000. “That is an expensive one-bedroom,” Ms. Serman said, noting that a “normal” one-bedroom in the building goes for about $500,000 to $600,000.

The unit, between Second and Third avenues, was a loft-like duplex with an open kitchen, a full city view, a master bedroom with an exercise area, a custom built-in dressing room, and a bath with Italian glass tile.

The seller married and moved to a larger space downtown. The buyer was a single man in the insurance business who moved in with his girlfriend.