Office condos

While the U.S. real estate market in general continues to remain soft, office condos represent one niche that is still doing well, according to Realtors in New York and other cities who have reported increased sales in that area, particularly to foreign business owners who want to take advantage of dropping property values.

Newspaper reports in New York and elsewhere have included anecdotes from Realtors® asserting that sales of office condos has remained steady or even increased, while other areas have slumped. Also, they report getting a lot of business from international clients, especially from China and other Asian countries with booming economies. The company owners want to buy condos

 in commercial buildings rather than just rent the office space, especially considering the reduced real estate prices, which are said to have dropped as much as 40 percent over the past year in Manhattan, for instance.

Some companies just like the added control and security that comes with owning office condos rather than renting an office. They point to benefits such as being able to budget for the mortgage, and knowing what the property will eventually increase in value, and turn a profit when it is sold.  

Realtors® have also noted some unusual requests made by clients. But in this type of market, condo sellers are willing to be flexible in many ways. For instance, some Chinese business owners and others follow the guidelines of feng shui, an ancient Chinese system of aesthetics that takes astronomy and geography into consideration when designing work space or living space in order to promote positive energy, or ch’i.

Feng shui is widely used to orient buildings of all kinds, including residential and commercial condos in a certain pattern, taking into consideration local features such as bodies of water or stars. The practice has gained in popularity, particularly in the United States, and followers decide where to place beds, desks, mirrors and other elements of existing offices and homes depending on where the windows and doors are, and following feng shui principles.

 Numbers often come into play too. Some buyers who focus on feng shui or numerology want their businesses to be on certain floors, and avoid others, depending on the floor number. Therefore, companies might want to buy office space on widely separated floors, rather than nearby ones, if the numbers are not right.

People selling condos will work with the serious buyers as much as possible too, sometimes literally “working the numbers” to ensure that the sale goes through. For instance, one Realtor® recalled having a buyer who was interested in buying two office condos, but only if the price was knocked down from $550 per square foot, to $548, because he did not like the other number combination. He said he would make up the difference in another transaction.