"That's pretty near a record," said one broker.

Mr. Kehler told The Observer , "I will not comment on personal information." But brokers insist he will be meeting the 1115 Fifth Avenue co-op board, presided over by Bruno Quinson, within a few weeks.

Mr. Kehler participated in a series of lucrative deals in the 1980's with Drexel Burnham, but his fortune soared in 1997 when, at C.I.B.C., he invested in Global Crossing Ltd., a Bermuda-based firm founded by Gary Winnick that in a venture with Microsoft Corporation and Softbank Corporation was laying undersea cable for high-speed voice and data transmission. (Mr. Winnick failed to buy his own Upper East Side co-op when he was rejected by the co-op board of 810 Fifth Avenue on Jan. 4.)

More recently, in early January, a private equity fund that Mr. Kehler partially manages, Trimaran Fund II L.L.C., took over The Village Voice and six other alternative newspapers from Stern Publishing Inc. for an estimated $150 million.

According to a source, Mr. Kehler and his wife, Elizabeth, currently live at 1192 Park Avenue and have been looking for a bigger apartment. This one, at 1115 Fifth Avenue, whose entrance is on 93rd Street, is next door to the Jewish Museum. The 6,000-square-foot duplex features Central Park and reservoir views, a wrap-around terrace over Fifth Avenue, two living rooms, a paneled library, and five master bedrooms–a total of 14 rooms. The seller is Louis Marx Jr., a venture capitalist whose $77 million private fund is called Marx's Victory Ventures. He was also the heir to his father's toy company, Louis Marx & Company, which produced Rock 'Em Sock 'Em Robots in the 60's. The toy company was sold to Quaker Oats Company in 1972 for $52 million.

Like many of the grand residences that go on the market, this one, according to brokers, is also going to cost dearly in renovations. "It needs everything from soup to nuts," said one broker.

"It hasn't been touched in 30 years," reported another broker. "The few brokers who showed it agreed that the apartment needs a great deal of work."

The apartment was first rumored to be going on the market in April 1997. The same situation arose in March 1998, until the seller announced that the home was "permanently off the market." That decision was reversed when it was given an asking price of $15 million at the beginning of the year. Mr. Marx and Neil Gallagher, the broker from Brown Harris Stevens who sold the apartment to Mr. Kehler, would not comment.

The asking price didn't seem to surprise real estate insiders, given the booming economy and the allure of living in Carnegie Hill. "What people are willing to pay–and how quickly–for outdoor space on Fifth Avenue is unbelievable," said a broker familiar with the deal. "People seem to be willing to pay really incredible numbers for apartments in high apartment buildings."

And this building in particular has a bit of a pedigree. Iphigene Ochs Sulzberger, daughter of Adolph S. Ochs, the founder of The New York Times , lived at 1115 Fifth Avenue after the death of her husband, former Times publisher Arthur Hays Sulzberger.

AMAGANSETT, L.I.

AU REVOIR, HAMPTONS: PETER MAYLE SKIPS TOWN Peter Mayle, the British expatriate and author, fled the French countryside after his books about Provence became best sellers, seeking privacy in the most unlikely of places: the Hamptons. But, after this past summer season, Mr. Mayle has fled the East End, too.

In September, Mr. Mayle sold his two-story house in Amagansett for $2.2 million to his friend, Murray L. Smith, who told The Observer that he was "in the communications business." The deal was done directly between the two gentleman and no brokers were involved.

Like Mr. Mayle's images of Provence, his former Cape Cod-style home at 115 Water's Edge Road is "rustic but elegant," said Neil Hausig, a broker at Cook Pony Farm in East Hampton. The five-bedroom place was designed by architect Alfred Scheffer in 1967. It has a shingled roof and a Great Room with a cathedral ceiling made of oak beams and a brick fireplace. With a touch of French country style, there's another fireplace in the kitchen.

But the best thing about the house is its perch. Ruth Burell-Brown, an associate broker at Cook Pony Farm Real Estate, who sold the house to Mr. Mayle four years ago, said the house is high on a bluff, with "99 steps down to [Gardiner's Bay]." She remembers that Mr. Mayle and his wife, Jennie, were looking for waterfront property, but also flat land for their two dogs. "The views were incredible, and the house itself was one of Mr. Scheffer's best," she said. "The style was one of elegant simplicity."

Mr. Smith, who moved into Mr. Mayle's old house from another on Meeting House Lane, which he sold for $1.6 million, said, "It's got the best views in the Hamptons."

The vacant lot next to the house, which Mr. Mayle also owned, was sold to another of his friends, Richard LaPlante, a science fiction writer. Mr. Mayle and Mr. LaPlante would not comment on the deal.

UPPER EAST SIDE

16 East 98th Street

Two-bed, two-bath, 1,200-square-foot prewar co-op.

Asking: $750,000. Selling: $730,000.

Charges: $ 1,391; 50 percent tax-deductible.

Time on the market: one month.

GARDENER ON THE ROOF This penthouse in swanky Carnegie Hill didn't require brokers to attract a buyer: It's on the 10th floor, completely renovated, with a wood-burning fireplace and an 800-square-foot terrace that wraps part of the way around the apartment. The views–which include Central Park and the onion domes of the Russian Orthodox Church–are said to be spectacular. There's a maid's room off the windowed kitchen, but no wall between the living and dining areas, creating a bright, open space. The seller, who has retired and moved to Sarasota, Fla., is an avid gardener and had installed a computerized irrigation system for her terrace, where she grew herbs, flowers and a couple of trees. The buyers found this listing on the Web, came to see the place on a gloomy winter afternoon and made an offer soon after. A food stylist and a doctor, they were living in a rental. The building has no doorman, but it does offer a common garden, a library and a laundry room. Broker: Halstead Property Company (Roberta Kaye).

530 East 76th Street (Promenade)

One-bed, one-bath, 780-square-foot condo.

Asking: $360,000. Selling: $373,000.

Charges: $695. Taxes: $409.

Time on the market: one week.

HE WANTS WHAT HE CANNOT SEE It might seem rather odd to buy an apartment without having seen it first. But that's what the buyer of this apartment did. The place went on the market at $360,000 and immediately got an offer of $350,000 (from someone who, by the way, had seen the apartment a year ago when it was priced at $325,000). Then a second buyer came along and offered the asking price, which made things interesting. A bidding war ensued and a third buyer, a businessman–apparently more than a little eager–entered the fray at $373,000, having never set foot in the place. It wasn't until just before signing the contract that he came by to check the place out. He already knew that the building, the Promenade, offers a pool, health club, conference room, doorman and concierge. It turns out, his new apartment has a marble bathroom with separate steam shower stall; herringbone oak floors; custom lighting; and custom-built closets. In the living room, a mirrored wall reflects the East River. The sellers are renting an apartment in the building until something larger comes on the market. That's blind love. Broker: William B. May (Eric Ozada).

UPPER WEST SIDE

323 West 83rd Street

Two-bed, one-bath, 1,000-square-foot prewar co-op.

Asking: $445,000. Selling: $435,000.

Charges: $662.68; 67 percent tax-deductible.

Time on the market: one month.

WHAT THEY TEACH YOU AT HARVARD: AIM SMALLER! The sellers lived on this tree-lined block for a few years, but fled the city for Long Island, in search of more space after the birth of their second child. For a second-floor apartment, this place has abundant sunlight. It was renovated by the sellers, but the prewar details have remained, including the original hardwood floors and French doors leading to the master bedroom. The building has no doorman, but its location–between West End Avenue and Riverside Drive–makes it highly desirable. The buyer, a single woman, had been living in Paris before returning to America to attend Harvard Business School. Then she moved to Manhattan to seek her fortune, renting an apartment while searching for a place to buy. She was hoping to land in the west 70's, and even bid on an apartment on West 75th Street, but lost it. This apartment cost less and was smaller than the previous apartment, but she liked its location, spacious closets and the fact that all it needs is a paint job. Broker: Bellmarc Realty (Ray Abend, Bunny Ferrer).

GREENWICH VILLAGE

357 West 12th Street

One-bed, one-bath, 850-square-foot condo.

Asking: $479,000. Selling: $450,000.

Charges: $369. Taxes: $400.

Time on the market: three days.

A SHAGGY DOG STORY, TIMES TWO When the broker got this listing, there was a renter in the apartment–an ad executive with two big shaggy dogs. The broker was eager to hold an open house, so she cleverly hired a dog walker for the occasion. She also placed scented candles in the apartment and put on some groovy music. Nearly 40 people showed up, and one woman–who works for an accessories manufacturer–liked the apartment an awful lot. She'd been renting in the far less hip Murray Hill, and knew this was not an apartment to pass up. She sent an e-mail to the broker the following day, asking to see the place one more time. She brought her brother along, then made an offer. If it weren't so frigid out, she could let it air out while she enjoyed the planted terrace with a small picket fence. Broker: Corcoran Group (Katie Brown).

77 Bleecker Street (Bleecker Court)

Two-bed, three-bath, 1,800 square-feet prewar co-op.

Asking: $695,000. Selling: $683,000.

Charges: $1,955; 56 percent tax-deductible.

Time on the market: three months.

MERCER. BROADWAY. MAN. WOMAN. It's a triplex. It's a block from SoHo, between Mercer Street and Broadway. It has exposed brick walls, floor-to-ceiling windows, lots of closets, a Jacuzzi in the master bathroom. Seventeen-foot-high ceilings. Hardwood floors. The building is a prewar co-op, with a full-time doorman and concierge, and a common roof deck. The sellers–a woman who works in commercial real estate management and her banker husband–have moved to San Francisco. Broker: Corcoran Group (Shelly Russell, Nina Phillips).

Correction

In the Jan. 24 issue, an item about Betsey Johnson's new home in East Hampton misidentified contractor Joel Bass of Rincon Construction. Mr. Bass is the husband of Lisa Kenny Bass, a broker on Ms. Johnson's deal, not the boyfriend of Susan Green, the other broker involved, who is also married.

Now it's Tom Freston's turn. The Warhol mansion was purchased by the chairman of MTV for around $6.5 million in early January. Mr. Freston confirmed that he purchased the house, but did not wish to comment.

The 8,000-square-foot house is a hefty piece of memorabilia. Warhol bought it for $310,000 and hired decorator Jed Johnson. Together they merged their tastes in art deco with primitive contemporary paintings (none of his own) and religious emblems. Soon after Warhol's death, someone stole the street number–57–from the facade. (That prompted the Spanish family who purchased the house from Warhol's estate to erect a gate out front, which has since been removed.) On Aug. 6, 1998, in celebration of Mr. Warhol's 70th birthday, Barbaralee Diamonstein-Spielvogel's Historic Landmark Preservation Center dedicated a plaque to the town house to honor the artist–the first memorial to Warhol in the city. There was, of course, a large gathering in front of the residence for the occasion.

One broker considers $6.5 million a fair price. "It's a great old house," the broker said. "Andy never did a major rehab of it. He left a lot of detail that people appreciate like trade moldings and fireplaces." The Spanish family paid the estate $3 million, but never moved in, and the last owner, who purchased the house in 1993 for $3.35 million, did some upgrading but kept the architecture intact.

The five-and-a-half-story neoclassical house has four bedrooms, a library with Juliet balconies, six fireplaces, central air-conditioning and an elevator.

Vincent Fremont, a friend of Warhol's, remembers house-sitting for the artist while he was in Japan for two weeks in 1974. "Very few people ever got into the house. It was a private hideaway," he said. "It had a nice parlor, a staircase and a formal dining room, which Andy never used after the late 70's because he liked to eat in the downstairs kitchen."

Mr. Freston and Warhol met over Warhol's television show Fifteen Minutes , said Mr. Fremont, who produced the show. Fifteen Minutes ran on MTV from 1986 to 1987. "It's kind of interesting that after all these years he bought it," said Mr. Fremont. "It's kind of terrific."

The fate of Mr. Freston's TriBeCa condominium on the top floor of 39 North Moore Street, which he bought in 1994, is unknown.

EAST HAMPTON

Betsey Johnson in the Hamptons: "I Have to Be Able to Go Topless"

Fashion designer Betsey Johnson was appalled when her 24-year-old daughter, Lulu, suggested they rent a house in the Hamptons last summer. "I did not want to know about the Hamptons," insisted the designer about the chichi summer spot.

Ms. Johnson got down on the Hamptons way back in the 60's when she went for a visit with her former husband, John Cale of the Velvet Underground. "I don't know whose mansion it was," she said. "It was the old guard; there was no new guard. We felt like freaks."

But, about a year ago, Lulu began videotaping potential rentals on her trips with Mary Kay, a broker at Alan M. Schneider & Associates, and Betsey succumbed. Last summer, she rented a house in East Hampton. Now she's buying one.

One rainy morning last fall, Ms. Johnson discovered a modest house with a large swimming pool, three bedrooms and three-and-a-half baths, on Grape Arbor Lane, a woodsy dead-end street in East Hampton–just minutes from the place where she spent the previous summer. The master bedroom has an outdoor porch enclosed by a picket fence. She calls the house's cabin feel with exposed beams "Cape Coddy," and she paid $695,000.

"It was on the market longer than it should have been," said Sotheby's International broker Susan Green, who, with broker Lisa Kenny Bass, sold the house and the 1.65 acres it sits on to Ms. Johnson. The house sat priced at $895,000 for six months. When the owner, who was already building another home elsewhere, reduced the price to $695,000, Ms. Johnson quickly offered that amount. According to Ms. Green, the taxes are around $5,000 per year.

Ms. Green's boyfriend, Joel Bass, a contractor, is currently working on fairly major renovations to the place, which include laying new floors and wallpapering. Ms. Johnson is importing furniture from her former country house in Hudson, N.Y., which she just sold.

"What I love about going to the Hamptons instead of Hudson is that there's no transition from Manhattan," said the designer. "It's the same vibe, the same energy. The people don't laugh at me. They like me and support who I am."

"It's good for my fashion head," she continued. "A lot of my customers are girls out there, and it keeps me aware of what they're wearing."

Ms. Johnson is not expecting many guests, except for her extended family on the Fourth of July weekend, but she thinks she can comfortably sleep 15 people on the couches and bedroom lofts. Recently, a new neighbor has moved in, prompting her to arrange for the planting of a chunk of trees to insure her privacy.

"It needs to be completely private," she said. "I have to be able to go topless."

UPPER EAST SIDE

14 East 96th Street

Two-bedroom, two-bathroom, 1,303-square-foot condo.

Asking: $595,000. Selling: $580,000.

Charges: $653. Taxes: $620.

Time on the market: three months.

VIVE LES PRICES! Unlike many of their neighbors, the couple who sold this apartment are not Francophiles. They're French! After renting this apartment out for a few years, hoping they might return to the city full-time, they faced facts and put it on the market. The building is just 15 years old and offers no amenities except a part-time doorman. The apartment, which takes up the entire sixth floor, hasn't been renovated. But it's steps from Central Park. The loftlike place has north and south exposures, a balcony, marble baths, a washer and dryer, central air conditioning and plenty of privacy. Broker: Corcoran Group (Dorothy Greiner, Jacky Teplitzky-Dobens).

1 East 62nd Street

Three bedroom, three-bath, 2,600-square-foot condo.

Asking: $2.9 million. Selling: $2.3 million

Charges: $2,414; Taxes: $1,168.

Time on the market: one month.

JOAN RIVERS IS IN THE BALLROOM The single female investment banker who bought a second- and third-floor apartment in this 45-foot-wide limestone mansion probably doesn't have a lot of time to spare decorating. That might explain why she took the place completely furnished–even the art on the walls and the oriental carpets on the floors. "All she had to do was hang her clothes up and move in," said broker Patricia Burnham, who had taped a segment for 20/20 inside the apartment in November. On air, Ms. Burnham characterized the furnished pad as the perfect answer for successful, busy Wall Streeters whose Christmas bonuses would soon burn holes in their silk-lined pockets. In case the banker is wary of WASP's milling about the Knickerbocker Club across the street or neighbor Joan Rivers attracting hecklers, there's a full-time concierge. Ms. Rivers' living room is the old ballroom of the mansion, which was built in the late 19th century for J.P. Morgan's partner, Anthony Drexel. It has long been divided into several residences: This apartment has 19-foot-high ceilings and floor-to-ceiling French doors overlooking the rear garden, a wood-burning fireplace and a sweeping staircase leading to the three bedrooms. An American corporation sold the place, which had been vacant for some time. Broker: P. S. Burnham Inc. (Patricia S. Burnham); Corcoran Group (Eva Marie Bozsik).

HAMILTON HEIGHTS

325 Convent Avenue

Five-story brownstone.

Asking: $650,000. Selling: $585,000.

Time on the market: 12 weeks.

ROMANESQUING THE STOVE This Romanesque-Revival brownstone, circa 1887, is in the Hamilton Heights Historic District near 143rd Street. The house has a front and back yard and sits on a tree-lined street among a row of Flemish-, Tudor- and Romanesque Revival-style homes. It was fully restored by the seller, a former city Housing Preservation and Development administrator, who lived there for about 20 years. Now that she's retired, she has moved to North Carolina. Inside the house are decorative moldings, hardwood floors and six fireplaces. Although she used one level as a floor-through rental apartment, the buyers, an investment banker, his wife and their two children, will not. They will renovate the kitchen, though. Broker: Sherman Edmiston (Sherman K. Edmiston Real Estate).

UPPER WEST SIDE

325 West End Avenue

Three-bed, two-bath, 2,426-square-foot co-op.

Asking: $1.395 million. Selling: $1.35 million.

Charges: $1,650; 40 percent tax-deductible.

Time on the market: one week.

PAYING FOR LA VIDA LOCA This prewar building, built in 1915, boasts one of the grandest lobbies on West End Avenue–white marble with crystal chandeliers. But does that make this first-floor apartment worth $1 million? Apparently. The sellers bought this place three years ago for just over $500,000. They refinished the floors, renovated the kitchen and bathrooms, and restored some prewar details. But a job offer has caused them to abandon the place. The couple, who both work in advertising, and their two children have moved to Miami. Within a week of putting their apartment on the market, they found their buyers: an ABC-TV producer, his doctor wife and their three children. By doubling their money, the sellers should be able to live la vida loca in Miami. The buyers can console themselves with their new proximity to Fairway. Broker: Corcoran Group (Dan Leone).

MIDTOWN

150 West 56th Street (City Spire)

One-bed, 1.5-bath, 865-square-foot condominium.

Asking: $510,000. Selling: $485,000.

Charges: $645. Taxes: $494.

Time on the market: two months.

PICTURES WORTH $485,000 City Spire, a dizzying 76 floors high, was built by developer Bruce Eichner in 1987, bordering the Carnegie Hall neighborhood. Why leave these heights? The seller, who bought the apartment for $463,500 in 1988, decided to go while the going was good. The buyers are an American living in Barcelona and her German husband; she is a philanthropist, he is a businessman. They were looking for a pied-à-terre and saw some photographs–taken by a broker with a digital camera and then e-mailed–of this 48th-floor apartment. It looked good enough to buy, so they did. (The wife had seen another apartment in the building a year ago, and figured this one was just as nice.) The living room has six tall windows onto Central Park. There is a jacuzzi in the master bathroom, and the kitchen is marble and tile. The building offers residents a pool, a health club, a conference room, a parking garage, a children's play room and no fewer than 10 full-time staff members in the lobby. Broker: Douglas Elliman (Marie Bianco).

SOHO

60 Greene Street

Two-bed, two-and-a-half-bath, 3,900-square-foot condo.

Asking: $1.9 million. Selling: $1.875 million.

Charges: $1,100; Taxes: $1,700.

Time on the market: one month.

THE NOTTING HILL DOZEN A divorced advertising executive and his girlfriend flew in from Notting Hill, England, and checked out 12 Gotham pads in one spree. By happy hour, they had chosen this third-floor apartment in an original cast iron SoHo building, above the furniture store Nuovo Melodrom. "It's all open space with columns down the middle, 12-foot-high ceilings, a fireplace, a private elevator and gorgeous maple floors," said the broker, Linda Gertler. "It's one of those really beautiful open spaces that you can do whatever you want in." Hmmmm. At 11 P.M., the three were toasting themselves at the nearby SoHo Grand on West Broadway. They were scheduled to fly right back to England. "They were completely blitzed out," said Ms. Gertler. Broker: Corcoran Group (Linda Gertler).

Two months ago, Mr. Winnick, the chairman of a Beverly Hills-based cable conglomerate known as Global Crossing Ltd., made a $16 million deal to purchase the former apartment of Nelson A. Rockefeller-a duplex penthouse on the 13th and 14th floors of the B-list co-op. But fresh from their New Year's vacations, the members of the co-op board voted not to accept Mr. Winnick as a neighbor, according to sources, because they didn't want to endure a lengthy and noisy renovation of the 17-room apartment-an inevitability, according to an October article in The Times stating that the place needed "hundreds of thousands of dollars" in improvements.

There have been some reports that Mr. Winnick might have been considered an unacceptable applicant, even though his wealth has been pegged by Forbes magazine at $3.2 billion. One source with knowledge of the screening process said that the executive's purchase application included letters of recommendation from none other than David Rockefeller Sr., Nelson's brother, and former California governor Pete Wilson, now an officer in Pacific Capital Group, a merchant bank of which Mr. Winnick is chief executive. Mr. Rockefeller was traveling out of the country, and his assistant, Peter Johnson, could not confirm that his boss had given a personal reference for Mr. Winnick. "They've met each other a couple of times, and certainly know each other, but I don't know if it would extend that far." Mr. Wilson did not return a call for comment.

But the co-op board's four members-art patron Maureen Cogan; Elizabeth Rohatyn, the wife of the U.S. Ambassador to France, Felix Rohatyn; socialite Jan Cowles; and the board's president, Eric Sheinberg, a former partner of Goldman Sachs & Company-were quite up front about their reasoning, said a source.

"What Gary has been led to believe is that the big issue was that he was proposing to completely renovate," said the source, "and that was something they didn't want to agree to, given the potential disruption.

"[But] Gary made it known that he wasn't going to do the deal if he couldn't do the remodeling." In fact, he had already appointed architect Charles Gwathmey to the job.

According to brokers who have seen the six-bedroom apartment, which was inherited by Mary Tod Rockefeller when she and Nelson Rockefeller divorced in 1962, the views are still unparalleled, but the apartment has significantly faded since its heyday, the rooms are small or have been carved up, and the two floors do not fit together very well.

Some of the building's residents, who were disappointed by the board's decision and felt they weren't properly consulted, might dispute the rejection, said another source. But that would be almost unprecedented. Still, any other buyer is apt to do a total renovation, too.

No. 810 consists of just 12 units: a ground-level maisonette, 10 floor-through units and the penthouse. Dwayne Andreas, the retired chief executive of grain processor Archer Daniels Midland Company, owns one. Mr. Sheinberg could not be reached for comment.

Meanwhile, Mr. Gwathmey, who designed Mr. Winnick's current apartment in the Sherry Netherland Hotel, 781 Fifth Avenue at 59th Street, where the bicoastal businessman lives with his wife and three children when he is in New York, will have to throw out his blueprints. Mr. Winnick will have to resume his property search. And the Rockefellers might have to rethink the pricing of their penthouse, originally set at $19.5 million last October, in light of the co-op board's view.

UPPER WEST SIDE

305 West 98th Street (Schuyler Arms)

Two-bed, one-bath, 1,050-square-foot prewar co-op.

Asking: $475,000. Selling: $475,000.

Charges: $974; 46 percent tax-deductible.

Time on the market: one day.

COUPLE GETS SOME OF THE OLD MAN'S MONEY The Schuyler Arms was built in 1902 and gutted and renovated in the early 1980's. This apartment, on the top floor of the building, caused quite a frenzy among shoppers. At an open house, a Venezuelan man approached the broker and in broken English told her that he would be buying the apartment for himself and his wife-she's a TV producer, he's a composer who teaches at the Juilliard School. Yeah, sure, O.K., whatever. Then came his all-cash offer in the amount of the full asking price, thanks to his father, a wealthy Venezuelan businessman. The couple had been living in a one-bedroom apartment on West 79th Street, near Columbus Avenue, which they plan to keep (it will be used as his studio). They wanted to stay in the same neighborhood, and this was the first apartment in their price range that had a lot of light and open views. In a few months they should be able to move in and, they hope, start a family. First, though, they're enlarging the kitchen, exposing the brick here and there, and maybe even adding a bathroom. Thank you, Daddy! Broker: Corcoran Group (Debbie Isaacs).

UPPER EAST SIDE

200 East 89th Street (Monarch)

One-bed, one-bath, 650-square-foot condo.

Asking: $315,000. Selling: $310,000.

Charges: $456. Taxes: $300.

Time on the market: eight weeks.

TRACK LIGHTING: APHRODISIAC OR WARNING SIGN? One more bachelor has been taken off the market-and now his apartment has been, too. A formerly single guy has owned his sunny 15th-floor apartment since the building went up in 1987. Now that he's engaged, it's time for a bigger home. Enter a very eligible analyst on Wall Street with an M.B.A. who, we hear, is fairly easy on the eyes. This is his ticket out of mom and dad's place. If you're thinking he paid quite a lot for a smallish one-bedroom, well, he did. But don't miss the wraparound terrace that faces west and east; the wall-to-wall carpeting; the marble bathroom; the built-in entertainment center with a wine rack (don't ask!); even a built-in bed and desk in the bedroom; and track lighting. (Hint: Keep 'em dim, you big romantic.) Look out, ladies! Broker: Douglas Elliman (Heidi Berger).

15 East 69th Street

Two-bed, 2.5-bath, 2,476-square-foot condo.

Asking: $2.5 million. Selling: $2.5 million.

Charges: $1,904. Taxes: $1,700.

Time on the market: two months.

YOU CAN EVEN CALL THE GUY IN THE LOBBY JEEVES This fifth-floor apartment is located in the former Westbury Hotel, which was recently converted into condominiums. The buyers, a dermatologist and her urologist husband, are among the first residents of the building, with its concierge, doorman, elevator operator, gym and wine cellar. On the ground floor are a few of the city's finest retail stores, such as Cartier, Mont Blanc and Alfred Dunhill. The buyers had been commuting from the suburbs for quite some time and felt ready to return to the city. Although initially they planned to rent-in order to be absolutely certain that they wanted to be here-their broker took them over to this place, and they had to have it. They made an offer the following day. The apartment has skyline views, a library, a dining room, marble baths, herringbone floors and a kitchen equipped with appliances from General Electric's Monogram line. There are also 10 phone lines, in case the cell phones are out of order. Broker: Douglas Elliman (Carol Staab).

GRAMERCY

142 East 16th Street (Gramercy Spire)

Four-bed, three-bath, 2,600-square-foot co-op.

Asking: $1.495 million. Selling: $1.345 million.

Charges: $3,233. 55 percent tax-deductible.

Time on the market: four weeks.

I CAN'T BELIEVE IT'S NOT A LOFT Well, it's not. It's a penthouse, between Third Avenue and Irving Place that just costs like a loft. The sellers decided there was such a thing as having too many homes, right after they discovered a thing called retiring early. Now they're based in Miami and Fire Island, and a couple of Web surfers have taken their place on East 16th Street. The couple clicked on this 21st-floor apartment and discovered that it had a formal dining room, central air-conditioning, a wood-burning fireplace and a 1,600-square-foot wraparound terrace that can be accessed from every room in the apartment. They'd wanted to tour nothing but lofts but went to see this apartment and submitted an offer the same day. Unlike most loft buildings, this one is equipped with its own parking garage and a full-time doorman. Broker: Corcoran Group (Robert Manzari, Bonnie McCartney).

GREENWICH VILLAGE

29 King Street

One-bed, one-bath, 1,800-square-foot condo.

Asking: $1.35 million. Selling: $1.25 million.

Charges: $662. Taxes: $1,700.

Time on the market: one month.

PEOPLE WHO LIVE IN GLASS HOUSES-OR IS IT SCHOOLHOUSES Did you see Celebrity ? Shot here. Can you say 1,200-square-foot terrace? Open any sliding glass door in this horseshoe-shaped penthouse. There it is-planted, too. Ever want to say you live in a former schoolhouse? This one was converted to condominiums in the early 1980's. The sellers were true pioneers-here since the beginning. To be the buyer, you just had to be the highest bidder, like the couple who signed a contract three days before Christmas. Broker: Douglas Elliman (Judith Medwin, Wendy Gleason, Christopher Poussaint).

CARROLL GARDENS

136 Summit Street

Four-story house.

Asking: $625,000. Selling: $615,000.

Time on the market: one month.

THE SUMMIT STORY He was born and raised here in Brooklyn. He met his wife at the church across the street. Now he's in his 70's, so they're moving to a smaller place in New Jersey. They're passing the house on to a graphic designer, a sales executive and their dog. The buyers will rent out two floors and occupy the other two, but not before raising the ceilings and tearing out the wooden beams he installed. Broker: Corcoran Group's Brooklyn Landmark (Jim Rigney).

Two years ago, the comic inked a $4.35 million deal to buy violinist Isaac Stern's two-story apartment at the Beresford, a three-bedroom apartment that, despite "needing everything," as one broker put it, has "great bones." The sleeping quarters-including two maid's rooms and an adjoining bath-are on the upper story; a library, dining room, eat-in kitchen and laundry room are below. Although picture windows were eventually banned in the building designed by Emery Roth and built in 1929 (cutting into the facade of the landmark structure is forbidden), Mr. Seinfeld's apartment boasts large windows on the second floor that were installed early on and therefore grandfathered in, according to a source.

Brokers familiar with Mr. Seinfeld's plans said he and architect Charles Gwathmey spent much of 1998 poring over designs for the Beresford apartment before filing for Buildings Department construction permits in December of that year. Demolition and construction began in earnest in 1999 and have continued until the present.

"Structurally, it's just filling in some stair openings that were there and putting in a new staircase," said Edward Messina, an engineer who did some work on the property, including moving a staircase. "That's really the gist of it. It's been going on for a few months."

A broker familiar with the apartment added that it may be the architect who is slow. "Gwathmey is very high detail, and that just takes a long time."

Still another broker pointed out that Mr. Seinfeld had been tinkering with his park-facing terrace in an attempt to match it with one next door on the 19th floor.

Julie Andrews And Blake Edwards Cough Up Commission, Get A Very Zen $3.8 Million

After languishing on the market for six months, Julie Andrews' town house at 232 East 62nd Street has finally sold for $3.8 million.

Last spring, Ms. Andrews, 64, and her husband, director Blake Edwards, 77, decided to sell their four-story home near Third Avenue. Initially, they would not pay the standard broker commissions-usually 6 percent of the sales price divided equally between the seller's broker and the buyer's broker. Instead, they hired Diana Tawgin, a broker at William B. May Real Estate, to try to find a buyer for a fee of 3 percent. A few months later, the broker told the couple that she wanted to show the house to the clients of other brokers, which would mean that they would have to pay an additional fee.

According to Ms. Tawgin, by summer Ms. Andrews and her husband had agreed to pay a total of 5 percent in commission and brokers brought buyers forward almost immediately.

"I don't know why Ms. Andrews changed her mind," said Marilyn Hershkovitz, the Douglas Elliman broker who came to the rescue with a retired computer entrepreneur named Bill Hinman, who paid the whole sum in cash. "But it all worked out fine. Everyone was lovely."

Mr. Hinman sold his Chicago-based computer company a few years ago and has now moved to New York. He's living in a hotel during renovations and hopes to move in by the end of March. According to his broker, he plans to use the third floor of his new Manhattan home in order to accommodate his collection of Tibetan and Asian art and a meeting place for a meditation and study group. According to an article in The Chicago Tribune , Mr. Hinman hosted a similar group weekly in his home outside Chicago, using the name the Padmasambhava Buddhist Center.

The bottom two floors will be his formal residence. Mr. Hinman is knocking out some interior walls so that the first floor is open, with a view straight through the solarium-style dining room to the landscaped garden; on the second floor there is a master bedroom. The fourth floor has a master suite with a skylight, which will be reserved for guests. There are fireplaces on every floor. Ms. Andrews had upgraded everything in the house-including installing central air-conditioning and new bathrooms. She refused to comment on the sale, but her broker said the couple plans to stay in hotels when they're in town from now on.

In case his good karma doesn't protect Mr. Hinman, there's a security system with closed-circuit monitors on every floor.

Upper East Side

923 Fifth Avenue

One-bed, two-bath, 1,100-square-foot condo.

Asking: $1.7 million. Selling: $1.75 million.

Charges: $809. Taxes: $514.

Time on the market: three months.

THEY WAITED FOR SOMEONE ELSE TO MAKE THE FIRST MOVE A couple waited for someone else to make the first offer on this apartment-in one of the only condominiums on upper Fifth Avenue-before they snatched it for $50,000 above the asking price. Decorated rather grandly by the sellers, a couple who live primarily in South America, the apartment has park views, a square front hall, a large living room, marble bathrooms, herringbone floors and an enclosed balcony. And at $809 per month, the monthly charges are shockingly low. Broker: Douglas Elliman (Bill Costigan); Sotheby's International Realty.

520 East 76th Street

Two-bed, two-bath, 1,200-square-foot co-op.

Asking: $540,000. Selling: $540,000.

Charges: $1,155; 54 percent deductible.

Time on the market: two months.

NOT QUITE AT GROUND ZERO O.K., it's on the first floor. Not ideal. But this apartment has a landscaped garden and a deck built of redwood. The sellers, who had been here a few years, decided it was time to have a view, so they've bought a penthouse apartment elsewhere in the city. They had renovated the apartment, updating the bathrooms and installing new kitchen counters and cabinets. The buyer-having sold a place in Brooklyn Heights-paid the asking price in cash. Ideal! Broker: Bellmarc Realty (Deanne Esses, Karyl Goland, Randi Good).

Upper West Side

2166 Broadway (The Opera)

Two-bed, two-bath, 1,000-square-foot co-op.

Asking: $408,000. Selling: $402,000.

Charges: $899; 50 percent tax-deductible.

Time on the market: six weeks.

PUT THE BABY TO WORK The sellers have abandoned the Upper West Side for the West Coast. They'd lived in this fifth-floor apartment for almost 20 years, and-how shall we say this?-it needed work. Lots of it. Like new floors, a new kitchen, new bathrooms and a paint job. The folks taking on this Herculean task are a married couple, both bankers, who sold their one-bedroom apartment to buy this larger one because they're expecting a baby. Broker: Douglas Elliman (Adele Brechner).

160 West 66th Street (3 Lincoln Center)

One-bed, two-bath, 1,000-square-foot condo.

Asking: $790,000. Selling: $925,000.

Charges: $625.17. Taxes: $272.35.

Time on the market: one week.

I VANT IT ALL! "I walked in and I wanted it," said Katia Christine van Kranenburg, a Holland-born former model and actress turned businesswoman. She meant everything, right down to the electrically heated towel racks. The negotiations, by telephone, lasted all of 15 minutes, and the price rose $135,000 above the asking price. Still, that was $75,000 less than Ms. Kranenberg had budgeted for something a little larger, but unfurnished. Somehow her broker convinced her to scale down; little did she know that her client would opt for a fully equipped apartment on the 39th floor of this luxury building atop Juilliard. Raised in France, Ms. van Kranenburg began modeling in Paris at 15, then went on to become an actress, making more than 30 films in Europe. After coming to America and working in Hollywood, she went back to school, studied finance and is today a successful businesswoman. She has homes in Paris and on the French Riviera, but especially loves Manhattan. "You cannot fall asleep here," she said in her vaguely Zsa Zsa Gabor-like accent. "It has a rhythm. Whatever you want to do, it can be done." This apartment was completely renovated by the seller, with no expense spared and no detail overlooked. He used the place only as a pied-à-terre , so it was in brand-new condition. And a maid came to clean it each week. The décor was "absolutely how I would have liked it," Ms. van Kranenburg said. "Warm, classic, comfortable, mixed with a modern style." There are Persian carpets, antiques and expensive imports throughout. Designed by Rosa Elena Hurtado of Ritchie-Hurtado Design, the apartment has silk-covered walls and a stereo system with speakers installed throughout the whole apartment. The full-service building is 60 stories tall and has a parking garage, health club and pool. It also has an entrance to the Metropolitan Opera House. Now, Ms. van Kranenburg said, "I can dress up in the apartment and just go downstairs. I don't even need a coat." Broker: Sumitomo Real Estate Sales. (Cecilia Serrano).

Greenwich Village

115 East Ninth Street (St. Marks)

Three-bed, three-bath, 1,500-square-foot co-op.

Asking: $560,000. Selling: $565,000.

Charges: $1,845. 62 percent tax-deductible.

Time on the market: 16 weeks.

THIS TIME IT WAS AN INSIDE DEAL Buying this apartment three years ago convinced Valerie Erde to become a real estate broker. She and her husband had doubled their money when selling their last home; then they bought this place out of foreclosure from an estate for $220,000. It was a two-bedroom apartment and studio that they converted into a three-bedroom place. This time around, she was in the business. She decided to put the place on the market for $600,000-a bit high for a place between Third and Fourth avenues. When there were no takers, the price came down by $40,000. A married couple-she's a freelance writer, he's a restaurant owner-and their daughter submitted the first offer, at $5,000 above the asking price, and they were deemed best qualified. The apartment amazingly has 10 closets and all new appliances. The white-brick building was built in 1964 and has a parking garage and 24-hour doorman. Broker: Corcoran Group (Valerie Erde; Jane Cibener).

Park Slope

585 Fourth Street

Three-story town house.

Asking: $875,000. Selling: $900,000.

Time on the market: one week.

OLD WIRING IS NOT A VIRTUE The virtues of this three-story, 3,264-square-foot row house built in 1899 also proved to be its liabilities. It was virtually untouched structurally and cosmetically: There were stunning built-in oak bookcases, 11-foot-high ceilings, pocket doors, oak wainscoting in the dining room, original mantels, columns in the living room, ornate plasterwork throughout and a lion-clawed bathtub and stained glass in one of the two bathrooms. This old Brooklyn house is "like a portal into a time of more elegance and craftsmanship and attention to detail," said the broker. A little less romantic is the century-old wiring and plumbing in the house, which is on a landmark block just a few hundred feet from Prospect Park. So the buyers-a young couple with two children who had been renting in Park Slope-will be doing a lot of renovating. While they'll salvage most of the home's original details, they will update the eat-in kitchen (removing the second kitchen on the top floor), paint the entire house, refinish the floors and yank out the old wiring. Regarding the English basement, they'll have the option of using it for rental income. Broker: Corcoran Group's Brooklyn Landmark (Ezra Orchard).

On Nov. 9, Mr. Kovner, a Wall Street fund manager, paid $17.5 million for the five-story mansion near East 94th Street that is currently a branch of the International Center of Photography. Under the terms of the deal, he has agreed to give I.C.P. two years to vacate while it expands its main gallery and offices in midtown and searches for a home for its school. After I.C.P. has moved out, Mr. Kovner will renovate the 40-foot-wide home for his family.

The "Museum Mile" mansion, which was built for Willard and Dorothy Whitney Straight by the architectural firm Delano and Aldrich in 1915, was donated to the National Audubon Society in 1952, then passed to I.C.P. in 1974. It houses two floors of gallery space, the museum school, some administrative offices and a basement darkroom that is open to I.C.P. students. Unable to expand or modify the landmark building, I.C.P. put it on the market for $15 million in November 1998. Mr. Kovner signed a contract last August.

"It was a much-sought-after property and the ultimate purchase was negotiated very intelligently," said S. Jean Meisel, who brokered the sale with Elise Hillman Green of Brown Harris Stevens.

It may well have been Mr. Kovner's sensitivity to the arts–plus the extra $2.5 million he tacked onto the price, and his agreeing to a waiting period–that won him his own little museum. More than a decade ago, Mr. Kovner established himself as a serious art benefactor–and one of the seriously rich–when he endowed artist Barry Moser with $2 million to establish Pennyroyal Caxton Press (in honor of William Caxton, the first English-language printer, who set up his press in London in 1476). The company published 50 copies, priced at $30,000, of a Bible illustrated by Mr. Moser's watercolors. In the fall, Viking Press released a less expensive edition, priced at $65. Mr. Moser used Mr. Kovner's likeness for Solomon (see page 30). In real life, Mr. Kovner, who also named his investment company, Caxton Corporation, after the printer, helps run a $13.8 billion proprietary fund of Lord Jacob Rothschild de Botton.

His new home features a grand entrance with a cathedral ceiling, a large library and six large rooms on its first two floors, which currently house the exhibit Propaganda and Dreams: Photographing the 1930's in the U.S.S.R. and the U.S. A wide staircase leads to the second floor of gallery space, and there is also an elevator. In 1968, the house was designated as a New York City landmark.

Mr. Kovner would not comment on the deal, referring The Observer 's questions to his lawyer, Joel Hirschtritt, from the firm Tannenbaum, Helpern, Syracuse and Hirschtritt.

"Mr. Kovner has been very supportive of the institution, and whenever it leaves he will begin a renovation of the interior," said Mr. Hirschtritt.

I.C.P.'s midtown space, at 1133 Avenue of the Americas, is currently being redesigned and expanded by the architects Gwathmey Siegel & Associates and is expected to reopen in September. "We're looking for a [second] space for the school in midtown, to create a kind of campus facility," said Phyllis Levine from I.C.P.'s public information office.

That will all have to happen before November 2001, when Mr. Kovner is supposed to take ownership. "He wants to return it to its original elegance," Mr. Hirschtritt added. That elegance may take some serious renovations since the town house has been in institutional hands for about 50 years.

"Given his current living situation, Mr. Kovner is in a position of planning renovations of the building," Mr. Hirschtritt added. "He has a residence that he's comfortable in, and he can easily wait the two-year period before moving in." Mr. Kovner currently resides with his wife and family at 667 Madison Avenue, near East 61st Street.

THE RETURN OF LADY FAIRFAX: SHE FIXES HER SON UP ON CENTRAL PARK WEST For almost 10 years, Mary Fairfax owned one of the finest residences in Manhattan–a triplex atop the Pierre Hotel at 795 Fifth Avenue, which she purchased for $12 million. With much fanfare, the Australian newspaper empire heiress sold the place to mutual fund magnate Martin Zweig for $21.5 million in January 1998. In mid-December, Ms. Fairfax returned to the bargaining table and signed a $2 million contract for an eight-room apartment at 257 Central Park West, which real estate sources said will be a wedding present to her son.

Ms. Fairfax is buying the apartment for Geoffrey (Garth) Symonds, her son with Cedric Symonds, a lawyer who was her first husband. After they divorced, she married Sir Warwick Fairfax in 1959. Ms. Fairfax did not return a phone call to Fairwater, her mansion on Sydney's harbor.

Garth, 36, is a hedge-fund manager in New York. He received a law degree from the University of New South Wales in Sydney, Australia. Earlier this month, his wedding was postponed due to the death of his father.

No. 257, near West 86th Street, was named the Gotham House when it was erected in 1906 as a luxury apartment building, but was renamed the Peter Stuyvesant when it was transformed into a hotel in the 1920's. In 1968, the hotel was converted back into an apartment building and, when it reopened in 1971, Mr. Haberman christened it Orwell House, after his favorite author, George Orwell.

The apartment Ms. Fairfax is buying her son has eight rooms and no terrace. "It feeds your soul," said Ms. Fairfax's broker, Barbara Cardozo, about the apartment's views of Central Park.

According to Ms. Cardozo, who has worked at Douglas Elliman for 30 years, the apartment sold for just under the asking price. "It was an apartment everyone wanted," said Ms. Cardozo. "There's nothing on Central Park West."

Ms. Fairfax signed a contract for the apartment in mid-December, but Ms. Cardozo had shown it for a few weeks since she got the exclusive in mid-November. "She had to fight for it," she said about Ms. Fairfax's aggressive bidding.

Ms. Fairfax is expected to go before the building's co-op board soon.

UPPER WEST SIDE

100 West 78th Street

Two-bed, 2.5-bath, 1,400-square-foot co-op.

Asking: $679,000. Selling: $701,000.

Charges: $1,107. 45 percent tax-deductible.

Time on the market: one week.

SUPERPOWER PRICES This address was once known as the Superman building, back when actor Christopher Reeve lived here. Located between Columbus and Amsterdam avenues, it underwent a gut renovation in the early 1980's and was transformed from three brownstones into one building with just 10 apartments. This apartment is a triplex, with a fireplace and 20-foot ceilings in the living room; it was purchased for $590,000 by a young couple last spring, after much haggling. Six months and thousands of dollars later–after installing new windows, hardwood floors, renovating the kitchen and making other improvements–the couple was transferred to California. They had to sell their apartment; their only consolation was $100,000 in profit. Broker: Halstead Property Company (Andrew Phillips, Lisa Fountain, Shelly Sklarsh).

101 West 67th Street (Millennium Tower)

One-bed, 1.5-bath, 1,100-square-foot condo.

Asking: $1.95 million. Selling: $2.85 million.

Charges: $1,100. Taxes: $300.

Time on the market: one month.

THE $3 MILLION BEDROOM This sale answers the question, "Can I really pay almost $3 million for a one-bedroom apartment?" Yes, you can! This apartment was dumped by a Swiss couple who own two other apartments on the same floor. They decided that three were simply too many to manage and, besides, why not take advantage of an offer like this? A couple who were also purchasing the apartment next door from someone else offered $2.85 million for this penthouse apartment on the 56th floor, which has 10-foot-high ceilings, a top-of-the-line kitchen with Sub-Zero fridge, a marble bathroom, a walk-in closet and–best of all–a balcony that offers some pretty spectacular views. They plan to combine this place with the 2,800-square-foot, three-bedroom unit next door–which they got for $4.8 million a month earlier–into one grand and massive home. When they move in, they'll have free use, as all residents of the Millennium Tower do, of the luxurious Reebok Sports Club downstairs. Broker: Sumitomo Real Estate Sales Inc. (Sachiko Goodman).

MURRAY HILL

630 First Avenue (Manhattan Place)

Two-bed, two-bath, 1,274-square-foot condo.

Asking: $460,000. Selling: $469,000.

Charges: $554. Taxes: $648.

Time on the market: three weeks.

COUPLE CAN WAIT FOREVER: 'WE'LL BE IN THE HOT TUB!' After living in a one-bedroom apartment in this super-high-rise, right next to F.D.R. Drive between 36th and 37th streets, a couple has waited for a two-bedroom apartment to become available since the spring of 1999. A 27th-floor apartment finally came along, but the sellers accepted a higher offer from someone else. But when the high bidders took too long to wrap up the deal, the sellers came creeping back. Now the couple is waiting again–for renovations to be complete. Their new pad has great views, overlooking the East River. It also has two marble bathrooms, custom-built closets and a renovated kitchen. The building has a concierge, a round-the-clock doorman, a sundeck, an indoor pool and a health club. The waitin' is easy! Broker: Douglas Elliman (Kenny Shusterman); Bellmarc Realty.

GRAMERCY PARK

61 Irving Place

Two-bed, two-bath, 1,800-square-foot prewar co-op.

Asking: $1.295 million. Selling: $1.375 million.

Charges: $2,182; 60 percent tax-deductible.

Time on the market: one week.

HERE COMES THE BROKER A broker woke up on her daughter's wedding day and did what brokers do–got on her cell phone. Just when it looked like she would be negotiating right through the ceremony, she managed to convince her client that it was perfectly O.K. to accept an offer higher than their asking price. Finally, she rested the two phones back in their cradles just in time to get her handkerchief ready. At issue was a Gramercy Park apartment at 18th Street, a sunny eighth-floor penthouse with a wood-burning fireplace, a glass-enclosed eat-in kitchen and a terrace with a garden. The client wanted out of a one-bedroom place, and the sellers had already found a 5,000-square-foot Victorian house in Portland, Me. The seller took the plunge, the broker got to the wedding on time, and the seller got a big, big pile of cash. Broker: A.J. Clarke Real Estate (Emily Tannen); William B. May Real Estate (Sue Marcus).

GREENWICH VILLAGE

2 Fifth Avenue

One-bed, one-bath, 900-square-foot co-op.

Asking: $425,000. Selling: $410,000.

Charges: $912; 18 percent tax-deductible.

Time on the market: three weeks.

WHERE THEY ALLOW HOUSE PETS–LIKE ED KOCH Former Mayor Ed Koch lives in this full-service building with a circular driveway, just north of Washington Square. Now, after buying this second-floor corner apartment, so does a single woman who works for a record company. She's moving from Stuyvesant Town, where they don't allow pets. Her desire to own a dog–and a home–brought her here. Her future pup can roam the apartment's wrap-around terrace while she hits Home Depot and starts attacking the galley kitchen. Broker: Corcoran Group (Jane Cibener).

"I've been looking at several different things, but I have nothing to say about that," said Ms. Duff. "I had to live with security guards for three years. I finally got that overturned, and now I can, you know, try to find a permanent home. I'm looking for something close to my daughter's school."

According to sources, the infamous divorcée, who has been searching for a new residence for about five months, has finally found her way around the co-op board of a top-tier building. Democratic Party fund-raiser Alan Patricof and his wife, Susan Patricof, have lived at 830 Park Avenue for years and are expected to pave the way for Ms. Duff, who has worked in Democratic administrations and campaigns, including campaign liaison to celebrities for Gary Hart, and founded Show Coalition, a West Coast organization that brought the film community and their money into politics in the 80's and 90's.

"She thinks she can live in the building because Alan Patricof lives there," said one high-end broker. Mr. Patricof, the co-chairman of the Manhattan-based Patricof & Company Ventures Inc., did not return a call for comment.

Though Ms. Duff would technically still have to undergo a board interview, other brokers said the issue is probably already settled. "My guess is that she probably would get in because Susan and Alan Patricof have been in the building for a long time, and they probably have a lot to say about who moves in," said one broker. "And they probably would have prescreened her."

The 3,500-square-foot duplex apartment Ms. Duff is poised to buy contains nine rooms altogether, including three bedrooms, a maid's room, a full dining room, a double-size living room, a library and two fireplaces. The apartment went on the market in mid-October for $3.2 million; Ms. Duff's accepted offer was $50,000 more.

The search has been a long one for Ms. Duff, who with her daughter, Caleigh, is currently living in a $30,000-a-month suite at the Waldorf Towers, 100 East 50th Street at Park Avenue (a $12,000 portion of the rent has been paid by Mr. Perelman). She looked at many apartments during the child support trial she entered into with her ex-husband, "most of which would not have board approval attached to them," said one broker. She toured addresses like 52 East 72nd Street and Nos. 521 and 525 Park Avenue–all of which are condominium buildings, which do not have boards that interview potential new residents.

"She's been in the papers for firing 30 lawyers," said another broker, summarizing the way a board might look at her. "Why take a chance? Who's fired 30 lawyers? Even [Mr. Perelman] doesn't do that."

Not only is 830 Park a co-op, it's a fairly tough one to infiltrate. However, sources said, Ms. Duff, who has a history of supporting Democrats like the Clintons, would seek reprieve in Mr. Patricof, a venture capitalist who knows Ms. Duff.

The co-op board president of 830 Park, attorney Earl Nemser, would not comment on Mr. Patricof's influence in the building. "The composition of the board is not a public event," he said. "We require, as most do, adequate financials, and it's a building where we keep very high standards."

Mr. Perelman did not return calls for comment.

The Murdochs of Downtown?

LACHLAN JOINS THE CLAN IN SOHO, WITH A LOFT. Lachlan Murdoch, who spends as much time on transcontinental plane trips as he does on solid ground, has a new Manhattan address, just a few blocks from his dad, News Corporation chief Rupert Murdoch, and his kid brother, James Murdoch. In mid-October, Lachlan finalized a $3.564 million purchase of a spanking-new apartment at 285 Lafayette Street, an address becoming increasingly popular with artists and media types.

Real estate sources describe Mr. Murdoch's new apartment as having four bedrooms, four baths and a gourmet kitchen. Measuring 3,290 square feet inside, the loft-style space–one of 21 new condominiums that have been developed during the last year over a traditional, artist-in-residence rental building between Prince and Houston streets–also boasts a private terrace of 1,855 square feet. David Bowie and Iman occupy the entire floor above Mr. Murdoch's; Patrick McEnroe and Melissa Errico are three floors below. The asking price was $3.5 million.

Mr. Murdoch was traveling in Australia and was not available for comment.

It's been a busy year for the second-eldest child in Mr. Murdoch's brood, who is rapidly emerging as the heir apparent to his father's sprawling media conglomerate. In February, the 28-year-old Mr. Murdoch was named senior executive vice president of News Corporation, placing him in charge of the company's United States print operations, which include the New York Post and Harper Collins Publishers. He also oversees a vast media empire in Australia, comprising 132 newspapers, a film studio and the country's leading pay-television operator. Six weeks after his promotion, Mr. Murdoch married supermodel Sarah O'Hare at his family's Australian estate near Canberra.

When on his native soil, Mr. Murdoch occupies a $5 million house, surrounded by palm trees and outfitted with a swimming pool and a rock-climbing wall, in the Elizabeth Bay neighborhood of Sydney. And in New York, he'll now be within walking distance of his father, who in September spent $6.5 million on a penthouse apartment at 141 Prince Street with his new wife, former News Corporation executive Wendi Deng, and his brother James Murdoch, an executive vice president with the family business, who last year bought a $1.325 million town house at Downing Street, near Houston Street.

UPPER WEST SIDE

342 West 85th Street

One-bed, 1.5-bath, 819-square-foot prewar condo.

Asking: $325,000. Selling: $365,000.

Charges: $660. Taxes: $345.

Time on the market: two days.

819 SQUARE FEET, THE HARD WAY. Brokers stopped returning the calls of the book editor who bought this apartment. Her messages stated that she wanted high ceilings, a working fireplace, a dining room, a powder room and outdoor space–all in a brownstone, of course. Her budget: $400,000! Amazingly, she enjoyed the last laugh. She found this Upper West Side condo, located between Riverside Drive and West End Avenue, which has bay windows, 12-foot-high ceilings, the fireplace and powder room she wanted, and even a small terrace off the bedroom. She did have to get into a bidding war–but at least she won. Broker: Corcoran Group (JoAnne Douglas); Coldwell Banker Hunt Kennedy (David Hickox).

UPPER EAST SIDE

19 East 88th Street

Two-bed, two-bath, 1,500-square-foot prewar co-op.

Asking: $975,000. Selling: $1.025 million.

Charges: $1,260. 52 percent tax-deductible.

Time on the market: 12 weeks.

A LIFE STYLE ON EXHIBIT. In Carnegie Hill, you won't walk past an Old Navy, J. Chuckles or Leather Master–thanks largely to the strict neighborhood association. You'll find only museums, specialty food shops, top schools, expensive restaurants and upscale clothing stores. And Central Park, of course. So no surprise that there were multiple bids on this 12th-floor apartment. The buyers had looked for a year before finding this place, so they weren't about to let it go. The apartment has a park view from both of its bedrooms, a sunken living room and a washer and dryer. It also has custom-designed, Art Deco-style doors, courtesy of the sellers, who moved to a bigger apartment elsewhere in the city. The landmark building, at the corner of East 88th Street and Madison Avenue, was built in 1936 and offers a full-time doorman and rooftop garden. Broker: Corcoran Group (Dorothy Greiner).

370 East 76th Street

Two-bed, two-bath, 1,275-square-foot co-op.

Asking: $495,000. Selling: $485,000.

Charges: $998. 45 percent tax-deductible.

Time on the market: three weeks.

WAKE UP! IT'S TIME TO DECORATE! The weary buyer, moving to the city from Princeton, was exhausted from apartment searching by the time he saw this place. He had seen co-ops and condos all over Manhattan, and was ready to give up. What got him to buy this place was the size and the neighborhood. Though it doesn't offer any views, the apartment is big, has plenty of closets and a renovated kitchen and bathrooms. There are also low maintenance fees and a rooftop pool. At last, he can finally relax. He's home! Broker: Douglas Elliman (Sandra Syms); Bellmarc Realty (Anthony Miller).

116 East 63rd Street

Three-bed, three-bath, 1,825-square-foot prewar co-op.

Asking: $1.195 million. Selling: $1.1 million.

Charges: $1,746; 43 percent tax-deductible.

Time on the market: two months.

WHAT'S IN THE WATER? A couple with a Labrador retriever and two children are lucky enough to be cramming themselves into this pad, in the heart of the Upper East Side's finest town houses. They had been renting an apartment nearby. Lucky for them, this building is pet-friendly. Though they themselves are not in an old house, they'll be putting a lot of renovations into their apartment in a 10-story building, circa 1913. Their new home faces south, overlooking the gardens of nearby town houses, and it has a working fireplace. They'll gut-renovate the kitchen, refinish the floors, scrap the windows and paint the whole place. They hope to move in–and fit in!–by Christmas. Broker: Corcoran Group (Charles Russell); Stribling (Katie Roddie).

GREENWICH VILLAGE

21 East 10th Street (Wordsworth)

One-bed, one-bath, 680-square-foot prewar co-op.

Asking: $335,000. Selling: $325,000.

Charges: $425; 46 percent tax-deductible.

Time on the market: six months.

SINGLE GUY JILTS ANOTHER FOR THIS CUTIE. This is the exact center of the downtown apartment-hunter's universe. Still this one-bedroom apartment sat on the market for six months. It has abundant sunlight, nine-foot-high ceilings, hardwood floors, windows in the kitchen and the bathroom, a decorative fireplace and three closets. The building, built in 1937, is pet friendly, has a live-in super and impeccable finances (no mortgage, low maintenance fees). So what was the problem? Well, there were two. The apartment needed a complete renovation, as everything there was original and unretouched. The kitchen is galley style. And the renter occupying the place had so much stuff–books, piles of paper and furniture–that it looked even smaller than it is. As soon as the tenant vacated, a single guy who'd looked around for quite a long time withdrew an offer elsewhere and bought this place. Broker: Corcoran Group (Dale VanDyke, Julie Owen).

TRIBECA

108 Reade Street

One-bed, 1.5-bath condo loft.

Asking: $1.15 million; Selling: $1.1 million.

Charges: $360. Taxes: $300.

Time on the market: two weeks.

STAIRWAY TO THE HONEYMOON. After the birth of their first child, the owners of this 1,850-square-foot penthouse loft, with 18-foot-high ceilings, a new kitchen, a working fireplace and a 500-square-foot mezzanine bedroom overlooking the living room, decided to leave the city. It may well have been the bedroom–with a staircase leading to the private roof space, which is decked and planted, and offers stunning views–that attracted the new owners, newlyweds. The building, between West Broadway and Church Street, is near the Battery Park esplanade. Broker: Stribling & Associates Ltd. (Confidence Stimpson); Douglas Elliman (Ann Cutbill Lenane).

Real estate sources with knowledge of Ms. Jung's move expressed surprise that she would leave her former building, the prestigious 620 Park Avenue. Some consider her move a step down. "It's not a building on par with 10 Gracie [Square] or 740 Park," said one broker, of 7 Gracie. "It's very low-key, but it's a very nice building. Obviously, she wanted a view."

Although the contract for the new apartment is in Ms. Jung's name only, she is married to Bloomingdale's chief executive Michael Gould. The couple has two children.

The 7 Gracie apartment is a duplex containing eight rooms altogether: three bedrooms and a maid's room, three and a half baths, a library, a formal dining room and an eat-in kitchen. Originally placed on the market in March, the co-op carried an asking price of $2.85 million; it was eventually reduced to $2.6 million in May. The building, which was built in 1929, has just over 40 apartments.

A publicist for Avon said Ms. Jung would not be available for comment.

TOMMY HILFIGER'S SISTER HAS DESIGN OF HER OWN. It's hard, unfortunately, to escape the name Tommy Hilfiger these days–that red, white and blue logo not only appears on a cologne, a makeup line, even pillows and sheets, but also on the chest or seat of many teenage city dwellers. Then he co-chaired the Costume Institute gala at the Metropolitan Museum of Art on Dec. 6. Now his sister, Virginia Hilfiger, who works for her brother's company, has put her own imprint on a big, new apartment..

In December, Ms. Hilfiger and her husband, Chris Mall, moved from one apartment at 425 East 86th Street into another three-bedroom apartment they are designing themselves. The couple purchased a two-bedroom apartment right next door to a one-bedroom for around $600,000 and $300,000, respectively. The combined units will give them almost 2,000 square feet.

Their new 14th-floor home has a private elevator landing, a formal dining room, a wood-burning fireplace and river views. The pet-friendly co-op building, built in 1938, offers nothing fancy in the way of amenities: no doorman; just a laundry room, a bike room and a full-time elevator operator.

The gentleman selling the apartment is a doctor who is buying a place in a brand-new condo building, still under construction. (He's renting an apartment until his new place is ready.) Ms. Hilfiger declined to comment on the sale. "We won't be having anything to do with this," said her assistant. Broker: Corcoran Group (Sarit Shmueli).

UPPER WEST SIDE

100 West 89th Street

Two-bed, two-bath, 1,250-square-foot condo.

Asking: $530,000. Selling: $530,000.

Charges: $604. Taxes: $512.

Time on the market: five weeks.

ALL SHE WANTS FOR CHRISTMAS. This fifth-floor apartment had been owned by an investment company. The buyer is retired, and has sold her Upper West Side town house to downscale to a smaller, more manageable place. She wanted to stay in the neighborhood she'd lived in for so many years, and liked this place for its modern design and its location. Compared to her old house, this place is nice and easy: The contemporary apartment has an open kitchen, a washer and dryer, hardwood floors and brand-new bathrooms. The building has a doorman, a common garden and roof deck. She'll move in just in time for Christmas. Broker: Coldwell Banker Hunt Kennedy (Kevin Kovesci).

UPPER WEST SIDE

102 West 75th Street

One-bed, one-bath, 775-square-foot prewar co-op.

Asking: $340,000. Selling: $335,000.

Charges: $807; 50 percent tax-deductible.

Time on the market: 12 weeks.

MAN LURES HANDY GAL TO BEANTOWN. A woman has given up this apartment, her single status and the Big Apple to move to Beantown and get married. She lived in this loftlike apartment for just a few years and jazzed the place up quite a bit in that time: refinished the floors, installed a security system and did some minor upgrading here and there. Whatever she did was apparently enough to fetch a record price for a one-bedroom apartment in this building. And in a building with no amenities–not even a doorman. You want to do laundry? Go to the laundromat down the street. Besides the condition of the apartment, there's the location just off Columbus Avenue that made it fare better than a comparable apartment in a less desirable neighborhood. A few buyers came and went before this deal happened. A young woman in public relations, renting on the East Side, had been in a roommate situation and was ready to venture out on her own. She made a formal offer within a few days of seeing the apartment. Broker: Corcoran (Patricia Powell).

UPPER EAST SIDE

Two-bed, two-bath, 1,500-square-foot co-op.

Asking: $2 million. Selling: $1.9 million.

Charges: $9,617; 22 percent tax-deductible.

Time on the market: five weeks.

SHE'S NOT ELOISE, BUT THIS ISN'T THE PLAZA. Eloise may have had fun at the Plaza, but imagine what good times the pharmaceutical company owner who just bought this apartment will have living at the Carlyle. All residents get the same amenities as the hotel guests, including maid service, concierge and a fitness center with sauna, massage therapy and personal training. The sellers weren't prepared to give up all these perks; they left this 15th-floor, five-room apartment only to move into a bigger one in the building. The new owner is from Connecticut and will use this place as a pied-à-terre . (She has homes all over the world and travels frequently.) Her apartment faces south and west, giving her views of Central Park. When she isn't gazing at the park from her 20-foot-long terrace, maybe she'll catch Bobby Short crooning downstairs. Broker: Corcoran (Sarit Shmueli).

MURRAY HILL

137 East 36th Street (Carlton Regency)

Two-bed, two-bath, 1,000-square-foot co-op.

Asking: $350,000. Selling: $335,000.

Charges: $1,408; 48 percent tax-deductible.

Time on the market: five months.

THE LATEST PLACE TO BUY (JUST NOT THE PLACE TO BE). Hip? No way. But you can find some good deals in Murray Hill, such as this 23rd-floor apartment, originally with just one bedroom, but now–minus a dining room–there are two. (The current average price for two-bedroom apartments in the city these days is close to $500,000.) The buyers were previously renting and living separately; they bought this place together after getting married. Although the Upper East Side was initially the couple's first choice, they realized that Murray Hill was the best neighborhood for their price range, and they loved this apartment's layout, ample light and views. This building, known to be "white-glove," is reputed to have one of the toughest co-op boards in the area. Broker: Corcoran (Dalia Newman); Ashforth Warburg Associates (Betty Farrell).

FORT GREENE

18 Willoughby Avenue

Four-story town house.

Asking: $625,000. Selling: $630,000.

Time on the market: four days.

PARKING HIS MONEY IN BROOKLYN. An investment banker in Fort Greene? Yeah, but in a 2,600-square-foot Victorian town house he just bought for under a million dollars. The unmarried buyer did plenty of homework before buying this house. He searched for two years in neighborhoods all over the city and concluded this was the best place to be. Not only will he have a duplex with a wood-burning fireplace all to himself, but he'll earn extra income from the folks renting the two-bedroom top-floor apartment and from another tenant on the garden level. The home has been impeccably maintained and has been updated both structurally and cosmetically; the Victorian details have been restored and preserved. The sellers moved to New Hampshire a while back, where they own an inn. Their legacy will be the tenants. Broker: Corcoran's Brooklyn Landmark (Ann Macdonald).

During the week of Nov. 22, much to the surprise of Manhattan's real estate community, word got around that the exclusive right to sell the space had been granted to Sotheby's International Realty, which has opted to market the apartment auction-style: Instead of establishing an official asking price, the firm settled upon an unofficial price floor of $2.5 million, and will entertain offers for an undetermined length of time.

The reaction in the brokerage community was mostly one of shock. "Traditionally, Brown Harris Stevens has handled all the real estate business for that side of the family," said one downtown real estate broker, who recalled that it was Brown Harris that marketed Jacqueline Onassis' apartment after her death in 1995. (Her 14-room co-op at 1040 Fifth Avenue was purchased for $9.5 million by oil magnate David Koch and his wife, Julia Koch.)

Sniped one broker, "My understanding is that the president of the board is affiliated with Sotheby's."

But, in fact, the president of the co-op board at 20-26 N. Moore is Ruth Hardinger, a broker with Douglas Elliman, Manhattan's largest residential real estate firm, and the owner of the building's ground-floor commercial loft. Ms. Hardinger refused to speculate on why Sotheby's received the Kennedy business. "I can't comment on any of this stuff," she said.

Sotheby's officially began marketing the loft on Nov. 29, the very same day that Kennedy's magazine, George , hired a new editor, Frank Lalli. Brokers were already bristling at the draconian rules involved in getting in to see the apartment. "They want somebody real, versus a looker," said one broker with an interested client, "but they turn down everybody who wants to see it."

Ever since the plane carrying Kennedy, his wife Carolyn Bessette Kennedy, and her sister, Lauren Bessette, crashed, broker after broker has attempted to claim ownership of the juicy apartment listing–a status that would guarantee a stream of high-end potential buyers. Around Oct. 11, a Corcoran Group broker posted the apartment on the company's in-house computer system, pricing the penthouse at $2 million through "the estate of John Kennedy Jr.," but offering no further information.

Meanwhile, rumors were swirling around the brokerage community about another of the building's shareholders attempting to buy the ninth-floor unit for themselves, sans real estate agent. Still other brokers, remembering both the 1040 Fifth Avenue sale and the fact that the president of Brown Harris Stevens, Roger Tuckerman, had a sister, Nancy Tuckerman, who was close to Onassis, expected the Kennedy exclusive to be a shoo-in for the uptown real estate firm.

Stephen McRae and Debbie Korb, the Sotheby's agents handling the sale, will be the ones poring over the financial statements of anyone who wants to view the place and granting the peeks.

Regarding the $2.5 million price guideline, Mary DiLandro, a spokesman for Sotheby's, said, "We're sharing that information only with prospective buyers."

As for the financial statements, she said, "as with any routine co-op sale, they have to prove their financial wherewithal."

TRIBECA

THE MAN WHO CUTS ANNA WINTOUR'S HAIR MOVES TO TRIBECA. Laurent Dufourg is no stranger to celebrity. He is, after all, haircutter to stars galore, including Sharon Stone, Uma Thurman, Elizabeth Shue and Gwyneth Paltrow–and therefore quite a celebrity himself.

Recently, Mr. Dufourg–whose primary residence is in Beverly Hills–bought a 1,500-square-foot pied-à-terre for himself and his wife of 20 years, Fabienne Dufourg, at 168 Duane Street for $736,000. Having opened the Privé Salon in the SoHo Grand hotel last December, he has been spending more time in the city–about two weeks of each month.

"I love New York," he said in his delicious French accent. "I would love to move here permanently. It's a different ball game here. Everything is here … I love it better than Paris."

Mr. Dufourg already handles the hair of just about every fashion magazine editor in town, including Vogue 's Anna Wintour and Elle 's Sarah Braun, as well as Tina Brown, but he said he's still building his Manhattan client base.

After searching for a New York address for a whole year, Mr. Dufourg and his wife finally settled on a place near the salon. Price-wise, some might say he got lucky. Very lucky. He wasted no time making an offer on this spacious second-floor, L-shaped loft with 12-foot-high ceilings, columns and giant windows overlooking Duane Park. While renovations are made (as designed by Fabienne Dufourg, who also designed her husband's salon), the couple is staying at (where else) the SoHo Grand. Construction should be completed in a few weeks.

Since they did their West Coast home all in white, Mr. Dufourg said, they decided to go for a darker color scheme here, and to update the kitchen and bathroom. The kitchen will have a long, narrow stainless steel table for 12 with leather chairs all around; the bathroom will have a large oval frosted glass sink and stone floor. Why not add a jacuzzi while they're at it? "I have three jacuzzis and a pool in L.A.," he said. "I don't need that here." His favorite thing about his new home is its proximity to work–a 10-minute walk. And, he added gleefully, he lives right next door to Bouley Bakery. "I have my croissant every day. I feel like I'm in France." Broker: Douglas Elliman (Wilbur Gonzalez).

UPPER WEST SIDE

BENNO SCHMIDT'S OTHER OFFERING: RIVERSIDE DRIVE PENTHOUSE FOR $1.225 MILLION. Benno Schmidt Jr., one of the frontmen of the stillborn Edison Project, raised hackles during his presidency at Yale University in the late 80's for maintaining a primary home in Manhattan. In fact, Mr. Schmidt practically has a doctorate in Manhattan homes. In July, he sold his latest Manhattan address, a 1,700-square-foot apartment in a condominium building at 222 Riverside Drive, near West 94th Street. The penthouse apartment, which was almost new when he bought it in 1995, was sold to a family of four for $1.225 million.

Prior to purchasing the Riverside Drive apartment, for which he spent $764,000, Mr. Schmidt lived at 12 St. Luke's Place, a town house between Hudson and Leroy streets in the West Village, with his wife, a documentary filmmaker named Helen Cutting Whitney, and his daughter, Chrissie. The 5,000-square-foot property, which was newly renovated when Mr. Schmidt bought it, cost about $2.8 million in 1992, according to a source familiar with the deal.

At that time Mr. Schmidt–a native Manhattanite who earned his academic stripes as a professor and later was a dean of Columbia Law School–was poised to leave Yale, over which he had presided since 1985. In his seven years as president of the Ivy League school, he had spent a good deal of time commuting via limousine from New York City to New Haven, gaining something of a reputation for absenteeism. (During demonstrations, students were known to carry posters bearing the words "Where's Benno?") Finally, in 1992, Mr. Schmidt quit his academic job to join the Edison Project, a for-profit schools-management company founded by Chris Whittle, the former communications mogul. Mr. Schmidt is currently chairman of the venture, which had a disappointing I.P.O. launch on Nov. 10.

Mr. Schmidt put his Riverside Drive apartment on the market in October 1998, at an asking price of $1.295 million, and accepted an offer the following March. The 1,715-square-foot property contains three bedrooms and two baths, spread out over two levels on the building's 20th and 21st floors. In addition to a 28-foot-long living room, the property boasts a 200-square-foot terrace with views of the Hudson River.

"He made a wise investment in buying it, and had a beautiful home," said a real estate source with knowledge of the deal, who added that the apartment's buyers were particularly interested in finding outdoor space.

No. 222 Riverside Drive was built in the late 1980's, and, after flirting briefly with the rental business, the building's sponsor began selling off apartments several years later. Jeff Sholeen, a broker who has sold apartments there, said, "What's nice about it is, there's at least four floors of setbacks," he said. "They've got quite a bit of privacy and they're nice terraces." Mr. Schmidt did not return a call for comment.

160 West 66th Street (3 Lincoln Center)

Four-bed, four-bath, 2,557-square-foot condo.

Asking: $2.025 million. Selling: $1.96 million.

Charges: $1,684. Taxes: $708.

Time on the market: five months.

REBUILDING ON THE 45TH FLOOR. If you don't actually make beautiful music in this building, you can probably hear it. This luxury high-rise sits atop the Juilliard School at Lincoln Center. This fall, a couple who are moving back to New York from Los Angeles bought two units–45F and 45G–and combined them into one rockin' eight-room apartment. It was lucky for them that next-door neighbors were both selling their apartments at the same time, a fact they discovered on Corcoran's Web site. They loved the location (nearby restaurants, shopping and theater), marble baths, high-tech kitchen and abundant light on the 45th floor. The building, which houses a number of well-known actors and musicians, was built in 1990 and boasts a full-time doorman and concierge, a parking garage, a fitness center (with a huge pool) and an entertainment room. The sellers of 45G purchased a bigger place in the building earlier this year, while the other sellers (45F) also left for a bigger place, although not in the building. The buyers will totally reconfigure the space, which won't be music to their new neighbors. Broker: Corcoran (Beverly Rouse).

UPPER EAST SIDE

188 East 64th Street (Royale)

One-bed, one-bath, 750-square-foot condo.

Asking: $500,000. Selling: $490,000.

Charges: $502.31. Taxes: $390.21.

Time on the market: two weeks.

THIS IS NOT A CURTAIN CALL! An Italian actress bought this 26th-floor apartment near Third Avenue for herself, but, being a worldwide traveler, she never got to live here; she finally decided to sell. Her apartment features a contemporary design, river (and the 59th Street bridge!) views, a balcony off the living room, an open kitchen and a marble bathroom. The building has a full-time doorman and concierge, an entertainment room, a parking garage and a health club. The buyers are a semi-retired theater-world couple who decided to unload their beautiful town house on the same block, since their primary residence is a country house in Connecticut. But they'll keep one foot on stage, thanks to this pied-à-terre . Broker: P.S. Burnham Inc. (Patricia Burnham); Douglas Elliman (Loren Pavelko).

BROOKLYN HEIGHTS

37 Sidney Place

Two-family, 4.5-story town house.

Asking: $2.4 million. Selling: $2.175 million.

Time on the market: four weeks.

COUPLE FLEES 140-YEAR-OLD HOUSE FOR SHELTER OF PALM TREES. A job opportunity on the West Coast lured a married couple in the financial industry away from this 140-year-old, 4,500-square-foot town house. The buyers owned a co-op, also in Brooklyn Heights, which they sold to buy this massive home. The town house sits on a 135-foot-long lot and has three bedrooms, two and a half baths and an office on the lower levels; the upper duplex has another bedroom and bath, which is where the au pair lived. There's also a landscaped garden, finished basement and three wood-burning fireplaces. Note to self: Envy is futile. Broker: Harbor View Realty (Barry Dulany).

Broker Calls the House 'Mean'; Charlie Rose May Tag Along

Gene Pressman, the man who once dictated downtown style, has probably been a little less comfortable anywhere else, especially since he was ousted as co-chairman of Barneys last year. In mid-September, a month before Vanity Fair appointed him as a contributing editor, Mr. Pressman spent $1.916 million on a newly renovated West Village town house. The Federal-style building, which is located at 237 West 12th Street near Greenwich Avenue, has three bedrooms, three fireplaces, but no back yard.

Mr. Pressman was among a throng of well-known home shoppers in the far West Village during the late summer and fall: On Mr. Pressman's new street alone, actor Oliver Platt has bought a house and talk-show host Charlie Rose is considering buying a penthouse.

According to real estate sources, Mr. Pressman began looking for a new place in earnest in early summer. He had been renting an apartment at 367 Bleecker Street, a five-story building near Charles Street, upstairs from Pierre Deux, the chichi Provençal décor store. Before that he lived with his ex-wife Bonnie Pressman in Larchmont, N.Y.

Perhaps frustrated by the creative process-all those years of trying to make Barneys fabulous and profitable-Mr. Pressman was not interested in a place that needed any attention. "He was looking for done," said Lydia Rosengarten, a broker who represented Mr. Pressman in a failed deal last June, referring to a house that was freshly renovated.

"I showed him a house at Greenwich Mews," she said, "on Greenwich Street in a cluster of newly renovated, newly built houses. He liked it and he made an all-cash offer on it, but it was several hundred thousand dollars below the asking [price]." Mr. Pressman offered $1.7 million, and the property eventually sold for about $1.995 million.

The former fashion exec's $200,000-below-the-asking-price trick worked, however, on the small three-bedroom building he bought, which had been on the market for $2.1 million since May. A broker familiar with the town house, which last sold for $560,000 in 1996, described it as a restored 1880's dwelling, with a planted roof garden, updated kitchen appliances, three fireplaces and central air-conditioning. The first floor contains a marble entryway, library and living room that accesses a patio area through French doors. The second floor contains two bedrooms and a shared bath; the master suite, which is adjoined by a kitchenette and laundry facility, is on the third floor.

"It's a mean house, meaning no outdoor space," said one broker who had seen the West 12th Street property while it was on the market. "It's not a gracious house."

Just as Mr. Pressman was finalizing his town house deal, actor Oliver Platt-who gave a terrific performance as a coke-snorting campaign aide in last year's Bulworth -was making his own town house deal just across the street, on the same block but closer to West Fourth Street. His four-story building, which was priced at $2.675 million, was also investigated by actor couple Heather Graham and Ed Burns. Mr. Platt purchased the home for $2.625 million in late August.

"It had a lot of Old World charm, but needed a lot of renovation," said a broker who saw Mr. Platt's property. Another broker summed the place up as "needing everything. "

According to Mr. Platt's publicist, Simon Halls, the actor has "ever-expanding family," which currently consists of his wife, Camille Platt, and three young children. Before moving to West 12th Street, the 38-year-old Mr. Platt-whom Mr. Halls described as a "dyed-in-the-wool New Yorker"-was living in an East Village apartment he had owned for some years. At the moment, he is shooting Ready to Rumble, with David Arquette in Manhattan.

Meanwhile, Mr. Rose, who has lived for years in a rental apartment way up in 500 Park Avenue near 59th Street, is in discussions to buy a terraced apartment in the Waywest building, 380 west 12th Street near the Hudson River. Real estate sources said Mr. Rose had offered $1.5 million.

"It's not a penthouse," said Mr. Rose. "There's something above it." He said the time frame on a deal has yet to be determined. "I'm having conversations about a contract, but it's less immediate." He added that the figure in question was "lower" than $1.5 million.

Mr. Rose confirmed that he had recently abandoned his Park Avenue rental space in favor of another one on the Upper East Side. But that is probably only temporary. "I like downtown a lot," he said, "I never go down there that I don't feel, wow, you know, the Village. It's a community; there's a lot of energy there … But I'm not anywhere near a decision-it's for the future."

Mr. Pressman did not return calls for comment on his house in the Village.

UPPER WEST SIDE

311 West 97th Street

Two-bed, 1.5-bath, 1,400-square-foot prewar co-op.

Asking: $425,000. Selling: $420,000.

Charges: $965.71; 58 percent tax-deductible.

Time on the market: one year.

THE SPOOKY, UNRENOVATED CO-OP THAT WAS ON THE MARKET FOR 365 DAYS A year ago, the owners of this "classic-six" apartment-a six-room floor plan with two bedrooms-tried to sell it themselves for $475,000. Eventually, they succumbed to hiring a broker, who placed the sixth-floor apartment on the market for $449,000. Still, potential buyers came and went. Why? Because in the 15 or so years the sellers had lived there, they had done no renovations. All the startlingly beautiful prewar details remained, including glazed tile in the bathrooms, a Victorian shaving closet, glass transoms and moldings surrounding the window frames, but it was in desperate need of some updating. The kitchen, for example, had no counters, and the building, between West End Avenue and Riverside Drive, has no doorman, no roof deck, no health club-just a common children's playroom, a tiny elevator and a laundry room. The first people to make an offer backed out; they'd come by again to see the place and were spooked by a drunk outside the building. Then there was a second deal, which was abruptly bumped when a higher bidder surfaced. But that didn't work out, either. Things did finally go to the contract phase, and the buyers were even interviewed by the board, but again (surprise) complications occurred, and they were rejected. In the meantime, three other apartments-all renovated-had sold in this building. This summer, a couple from Portland, Ore., came along-he's a documentary filmmaker, she works in nonprofit- and they bought the apartment . Really. They plan to renovate. Broker: Wohlfarth & Associates (Kinnaird Fox Spector); Manhattan Apartments (Yolanda Chang).

134 West 95th Street

Two-bed, one-bath, 1,000-square-foot condo.

Asking: $450,000. Selling: $400,000.

Charges: $362. Taxes: $395.

Time on the market: 10 weeks.

BROKERS PROFIT, TOO This turn-of-the-century brownstone garden apartment was bought just six months ago by real estate broker Barbara Good, who renovated it and then put it back on the market. She chose a condo because that way there were no questions asked. In the end, she made a tidy profit. She described the apartment when she bought it as a "dump." After the fix-up work was completed in June, she had a deal almost immediately. The single, self-employed woman had been renting, also on the West Side, but couldn't find a place to buy in her price range-not in the 70's or 80's, certainly, which was where she hoped to be. So she ventured slightly farther north and got this place. It's got a wood-burning fireplace, the garden she wanted (with a deck), refinished hardwood floors and an upgraded kitchen with granite counters. Broker: Halstead Property Company (Barbara Good).

WEST VILLAGE

1 Leroy Street

Four-bed, four-bath, 2,762-square-foot condo.

Asking: $ 1,599,000. Selling: $1,544,000.

Charges: $501. Taxes: $868.

Time on the market: 12 weeks.

COUPLE CAN KEEP A WHOLE FLOOR BETWEEN THEM This building, on the corner of Leroy and Bleecker streets, went up only a few months ago, but all of its six units (ranging from about $850,000 to $1.6 million) are sold. The buyers of this triplex, which occupies the fourth, fifth and six floors, are a banker and his wife. Since they have no children, they'll have the whole big space (including a private roof deck) to themselves. Previously, they'd been renting a loft on Beach Street in TriBeCa. They saw about 10 apartments, all downtown, before grabbing this one. The penthouse has wide-plank oak floors, high-speed Internet access, large windows and a skylight on the top floor. The lower level has a bedroom and bathroom, and a master bedroom big enough to fit four king-size beds. The limestone master bathroom has a Jacuzzi, double sink and shower steam room. On the middle level is an eat-in kitchen with fancy appliances, including a $10,000 Garland stove; plus a washer-dryer, a living room with fireplace and a room that can be a study or a dining room. The top floor can be a living room space or another bedroom; there's also another fireplace and access to the private terrace. Broker: Douglas Elliman (Tamir Shemesh); Corcoran Group (Wendy Sarasohn, Katie Johnson).

CARROLL GARDENS

350 President Street

Three-story, single-family town house.

Asking: $1,350,000. Selling: $1.26 million.

Time on the market: four months.

KIDS, THIS GREEN STUFF IS GRASS A decade ago, the sellers bought this wreck of a home on a landmark block in Carroll Gardens, Brooklyn, and essentially rebuilt it, restoring some of its turn-of-the century details. They installed new plumbing, electricity, and floors, and tore down the four-car garage to build a two-car garage with a carriage house above. Although they intended to finish the carriage house, they never did, so they used it for storage. What they sold, finally, was a museum-quality home with front and rear gardens, formal dining room, finished basement, 13-foot-high ceilings on the parlor floor, skylights and five working fireplaces (one per bedroom and one each in the living and dining rooms), plus one just for decoration. Everything had been renovated in a who-cares-how-much-it-costs kind of way, right down to the doorknobs and mahogany-cabineted kitchen with Gagenot stove, Thermidor oven, Sub-Zero fridge, and ultraviolet-ray-protected windows (yes, there is such a thing). There's also-get this-a security system equipped with burglar, motion, fire and carbon monoxide detectors. So why abandon such safety and splendor? The wife wanted to move to Connecticut. She used to work for The Wall Street Journal ; he's a banker. The buyers are a couple with two children who sold their TriBeCa loft for a taste of Brooklyn life. Broker: Corcoran Group's Brooklyn Landmark (Steven Gerber; Ann Doyle).

At the end of the millennium, the New York City real estate market is a seller's playground, where making $3.3 million by flipping a condo in 18 months is not enough profit; where rival brokerages are adding $10 million to asking prices to get exclusive clients; and where a triplex apartment in a B-list Fifth Avenue building is priced at a fat $25 million.

"I think it's a half-joke. I think it's ridiculous," said one high-end Upper East Side broker, whose brokerage firm had vied for the right to sell the triplex, a mansion atop 953 Fifth Avenue, for a paltry $16 million.

The job went to Brown Harris Stevens, the company which is now marketing the two most expensively priced properties in Manhattan: a triplex penthouse at 990 Fifth Avenue near 81st Street, which the company is valuing at $27 million; and the $25 million triplex at 953 Fifth Avenue, a small building near 77th Street with six duplexes, one triplex and one very well-known new tenant, John Kluge, the chairman of Metromedia International Group Inc..

Still, these prices pale in comparison to the stupendous, $37 million deal for the top two floors of the Trump World Tower, the widely criticized development under way on First Avenue at 47th Street. Until that contract was signed in September, the most expensive apartment ever sold in Manhattan was that of Lady Mary Fairfax, an Australian newspaper heiress, who offloaded her triplex in the Pierre Hotel for $21.5 million to securities executive Martin Zweig early this year.

"There's almost no limit–it's just a 'pick a number out of a hat' type of thing," said Michele Kleier, president of the real estate brokerage and management firm Gumley Haft Kleier Inc. "I think truthfully that in this market, if you have a terrace and you have a view of Fifth [Avenue], there is no number that you could put on your apartment that is impossible to obtain."

Take the sale of the penthouse apartment at 838 Fifth Avenue to Charles Bronfman for $18 million. "That's 5,343 square feet," said Brown Harris Stevens co-chairman Arthur Zeckendorf. "That's $3,368 a square foot.… $3,000 a square foot is becoming the norm for a high-end apartment. It happened at 838 [Fifth], it's happening at 515 [Park], it's happening at other high-end Fifth Avenue apartments."

In this market, Mr. Asper made his would-be deal with a Hong Kong-based businessman named Elmer Yuen, who had bought Unit 44A at 1 Central Park West for $4.7 million in December 1997, shortly after the building opened. Real estate sources said the owner, who bought his apartment under a corporate entity known as Safari Development Company Ltd., an offshore venture based in the Bahamas, put the apartment back on the market almost immediately and used it only occasionally.

For the next year and a half, the apartment's price rose and fell, eventually settling at $7 million last spring. Mr. Asper, executive chairman of Canwest Global Communications Corporation, the largest private broadcasting company in Canada with 54 million customers worldwide, toured the apartment in March. "This guy [fell] in love with Trump International," said one broker.

The two men made a "gentleman's agreement," said another broker, for $7 million that month. A month later, Mr. Yuen jacked up his asking price to $8.75 million, forcing Mr. Asper to renegotiate the deal, this time to $8 million.

In a letter dated May 5, Richard Eng, the attorney representing Safari on the deal, outlined the details of the transaction to Mr. Asper's real estate lawyer, Steven Goldman. "This is to confirm our understanding that we have agreed to sell our apartment to you for an all cash purchase price of $8 million," reads the letter, which is signed by the buyer and the seller. "The closing under the contract will be scheduled tentatively for June 8, 1999."

Eleven days later, Mr. Asper received a handwritten note from Mr. Yuen, which was faxed to his office in Winnipeg. "I regret to inform you that I am having problems delivering the above property that you are interested to purchase," it says. "I need to work with some tax consultants to straighten things out."

Another May 16 letter from Mr. Eng to Mr. Goldman claimed that Safari had put the brakes on Mr. Asper's deal because the corporation–otherwise known as Elmer Yuen–had been "unable to complete a specific like-kind exchange," or buy a similar piece of property to replace Unit 44A, thereby deferring income tax on the sale.

Less than a week later, on May 21, Mr. Asper filed suit against Safari at State Supreme Court in Manhattan, demanding that the seller follow through and "specifically perform" its agreement–to sell unit 44A for $8 million–and that Safari pay Mr. Asper damages and expenses.

On Sept. 15, a similar suit was filed in State Supreme Court by the brokerage firms affected by the deal: Brown Harris Stevens, which had been promised 5 percent of the apartment's sales price when broker Elizabeth Sample, who was representing Safari, finalized a purchase deal; Stribling & Associates Ltd., whose broker Kirk Henckels had been shuttling Mr. Asper around town; and the Trump Corporation, which was acting as a co-broker with Stribling.

According to sources, just as the deal with Mr. Asper was being struck, Mr. Yuen was bidding on another International Hotel & Tower apartment, Unit 48A, with 4,400 square feet, better views and an asking price of $8 million. The apartment is being occupied by Johnson & Johnson heiress Elizabeth (Libbett) Johnson, who is renting 48A while her apartment on a higher floor is being renovated. But, brokers said, Mr. Yuen found himself outbid by a large margin–to a buyer who spent $10 million.

"He watched the price upstairs just go up and then got greedy," said a source familiar with the broken deal. "There were two issues here: One, he was trying to get out of the capital gains; and two, he needed another place to go."

According to several sources familiar with the lawsuit, the parties are close to a settlement. Meanwhile, Mr. Asper is flirting heavily with News Corporation chairman Rupert Murdoch's midtown apartment, a penthouse co-op at 150 Central Park South between Sixth and Seventh avenues, which Mr. Murdoch shared with his first wife, Anna Murdoch. A source familiar with Mr. Asper's plans said that Mr. Murdoch, who has been asking $5.5 million for the apartment since it went on the market in May, had accepted an offer of $5.2 million; a contract should be signed in the immediate future. Mr. Asper did not return several calls for comment.

As one broker put it, "Everything else looks like a bargain next to $25 million."

Upper East Side

MILKEN PROTÉGÉ SEIZES ROCKEFELLER HOME FOR $16 MILLION. After a much-ballyhooed six weeks on the market, the former home of Gov. Nelson Rockefeller at 810 Fifth Avenue has been spoken for, according to real estate sources. On Friday, Nov. 12, Gary Winnick–who once held a spot at the X-shaped trading desk of Michael Milken at Drexel Burnham Lambert and now runs a formidable cable business in Los Angeles–signed a deal to purchase the duplex apartment for $16 million.

Mr. Winnick, the 51-year-old father of three, spends most of his time on the East Coast, where he is the co-chairman of Global Crossing Ltd., a telecommunications firm that provides long-distance telephone service to some 2 million customers worldwide. A former junk-bond trader, Mr. Winnick left Drexel in 1985 to start Pacific Asset Holdings, then a fledgling member of the fiber-optic cable industry. This year, Forbes magazine has estimated his worth at $3.2 billion.

His deal on the Rockefeller apartment was the result of some not-so-expert negotiations, sources said, since the $19.5 million has been classified by the real estate community as a definite fixer-upper. Mr. Winnick had been looking for a Manhattan property since summer–for "something great, like a big penthouse," said a broker. The communications magnate owns a small apartment in the Sherry-Netherland Hotel, located on Fifth Avenue between 59th and 60th streets, which was recently featured in a glossy spread in Architectural Digest due to its celebrity designer, architect Charles Gwathmey.

Reached by his assistant while on board a plane, Mr. Winnick said that The Observer had uncovered "bad information." However, due to a spotty connection, he was unable to comment further.

Upper West Side

130 West 67th Street

Two-bed, two-bath, 1,200-square-foot co-op.

Asking: $599,000. Selling: $575,000.

Charges: $1,722. 54 percent tax-deductible.

Time on the market: three weeks.

WNEW DEEJAY BUYS SIX 'SEXY' ROOMS. Nearly 20 years ago, as a single college student at New York University, a woman moved into a one-bedroom, eighth-floor rental apartment in this luxury building, built in 1978 and converted to co-op four years later. After graduation, she decided to buy her apartment; as an insider, she got it for around $30,000. The building, located between Broadway and Amsterdam Avenue, offers a roof deck, renovated lobby, laundry room and a full-time doorman. After she got a husband and a baby, she bought the place next door and combined the two to create one sumptuous apartment–the kind real estate types call "sexy." It has five closets, a pantry and a 9-by-6-foot storage room with a sink. The place is equipped with a fax line, Hunter Douglas window treatments, custom lighting, a renovated kitchen, new doors and new bathrooms. Now she's sold the hot apartment (at a handsome profit, thank you) in favor of a prewar, six-room apartment also on the Upper West Side. The buyer is WNEW deejay Leslie Gold, edgy host of the weekday "Radio Chick" show, who just four years ago still owned a window manufacturing company in New England. Broker: Corcoran Group (Jim Gricar).

GRAMERCY

40 Gramercy Park North

Five-story town house.

Asking: $3.75 million. Selling: $3.375 million.

Time on the market: 6.5 months.

GOD'S WILL: $3.375 MILLION. A Missouri-based Lutheran church used to own this Gramercy Park brownstone, built in 1845. Housed in two of its five stories was a reverend, while the other floors were used for seminars and other activities. Was it voices from above that instructed them to move uptown? Only divine intervention could cause anyone to abandon 6,500 square feet in a building 21 feet wide and 100 feet deep. The building boasts a stoop, an English basement with a private street entrance, and–so thou shalt not covet thy neighbor's stuff–a key to the park. Currently structured as two duplexes, a one-bedroom apartment and another full-floor apartment, the house has soaring ceilings (15 feet and 23 feet high), French windows, central air-conditioning, large skylights and, um, eight fireplaces. There's a stairway reaching skyward (to the roof); a library with a wet bar, a laundry room and front and rear gardens. The house was originally on the market for $4.5 million, but sat unsold; a month after the price was lowered to $3.75 million, they were blessed with a buyer: a banker and his family who are selling their co-op loft, also in Gramercy, because they wanted a "real" house. They plan a gut renovation and will stay in their former home while the construction goes on. Hallelujah! Broker: Douglas Elliman (Julia Ross); DGS Realty (Diana Gordon).

SoHo

77 Mercer Street

Two-bed, 2.5-bed, 1,935-square-foot condo.

Asking: $1.25 million. Selling: $1.175 million.

Charges: $523. Taxes: $625.

Time on the market: eight weeks.

ONE OF THOSE DON'T-HOLD-YOUR-BREATH CONDOS. If you had a few million dollars, maybe you could live in this renovated late-19th-century cast-iron building, home to various art-world types. But there has been only one apartment sold there in 10 years, so don't hold your breath. Ever since the building was converted to condos more than a decade ago, most of the original owners have stayed put. The former owners of this third-floor apartment–an international art dealer and his wife–yearned for even more space, if you can believe it, so they finally sold their loft and moved to the Upper West Side. Their apartment, entered directly from the keyed, wood-paneled elevator, has 13-foot-high ceilings, Corinthian columns, a gigantic kitchen, oversize windows, a wood-burning fireplace, central air-conditioning and a master bathroom big enough for you to swing-dance in. Or you could simply loll around luxuriously in the large tub, admire the separate shower stall, then admire yourself over the double vanity sink. The sellers transformed a corner of the living room into an "office" for one of their young daughters and directly overhead built a sleeping loft. There are black-and-white marble floors in the kitchen, maple wood in the living room and slate in the foyer. The bedrooms are carpeted. The buyers were renting a place just down the street; they came to see this place, mulled it over on their vacation, then returned to promptly snap it up. Broker: Douglas Elliman (Robert Morrison, Abigail Agranat).

Boerum Hill

153 Bergen Street

Three-story, two-family town house.

Asking: $825,000. Selling: $800,000.

Time on the market: eight months.

WORK DRAGS BROOKLYN MAN OUT OF HOME WHERE HE WAS CONCEIVED. In January, when this 19th-century town house showed up on the market–all 3,200 square feet of it–the price seemed a bit high for Boerum Hill, Brooklyn. Sure enough, though there was a bidding war within the first week, the buyers walked away. Fortunately, by summer a couple of TriBeCa escapees with two sons showed up and purchased the beautifully restored brownstone with four bedrooms, three-and-a-half bathrooms and a rental apartment for $25,000 below the asking price. There's a new roof, heating system, plumbing and windows, refinished wide-plank pine floors, and five decorative fireplaces (which the buyers may reopen). In the words of broker Steven Gerber, "Unless you didn't like what they [the sellers] had done to it, there was nothing to do to it." This house had been in the seller's family for 50 years; in fact, he and his wife had known each other since childhood and were even raised on the same block. The couple and their three children have moved to Virginia. Broker: Corcoran's Brooklyn Landmark (Steven Gerber); Harbor View Realty (Kari Zalesak).

Clarification

In the Nov. 1 issue, Richard Steinberg, a broker with Ashforth Warburg, was not listed as a party in the sale of a condominium at 4 East 62nd Street, the Curzon House. Mr. Steinberg represented the seller in the deal.