Quality of finishes in new construction condos

The Real Deal has an interesting article this month about the quality of finishes in new condominiums.

As the articles says, developers usually reverse-engineer their process. First they look at the location of the condo and the level of the market. They then decide the pricing. At that point, since they already know their targeted return on investment, they then choose the finishes and the amenities.

To use the Washington as an example, the developer, conservatively, saw this space in 2002, purchased it, knew that Prospect Heights was still a long-shot. Since he probably paid a mere pittance for the lot, decided to price low. The offering plan states that the purchase price of all units would be $22MM. Since it's safe to assume that the develper purchased the lot for less than $5MM, we know that he factored in a fairly high return. This is probably how it came to be that he outfitted the Washington with Danze brushed nickel fixtures, GE Profile appliances and cherrywood cabinets (though some would argue that this is a corner-cutting expense).

The article goes on to state that some ways of cutting corners include reducing the amount of sheetrock in the walls. In addition, caveat emptor on the stainless steel appliances, the author says. Use of the prerequisite stainless steel may date the apartment-- "If you look at buildings from the year 2000, you see a lot of black granite countertops with maple cabinetry, and it looks like the year 2000, because everyone was doing the same thing."