Alan Dershowitz, Fabulosity, Law Professors, Law Schools, Lawyerly Lairs, Real Estate

Lawyerly Lairs: Alan Dershowitz Takes Manhattan

Alan Dershowitz, the prominent criminal defense lawyer and Harvard Law School professor, just purchased a Manhattan apartment. How fabulous is it? And how much did he pay for it?

onOctober 5, 2012 at 5:48 PMOctober 9, 2012 at 10:27 AM

Once again, here’s info from the New York Observer, which shares our real estate obsession (although with several other sites, such as Curbed):

The celebrity lawyer paid just $1.68 million for the sunlit, 16th-floor spread, apparently using his prodigious verbal talents to talk sellers Alan and Danna Polikoff down from the $1.89 million they were asking most recently. But then, the couple, who originally listed the apartment for $2.29 million in January 2011, were eager to sell. The listing, held by Prudential Douglas Elliman broker Lawrence Rich comes right out of the gate in the manner of discount warehouse banner: “Major Price Reduction!”

Making an offer so far below the asking price — did that take some Chutzpah (affiliate link)? But then again, considering how long the place had been on the market, the Polikoffs were probably prepared for such an offer. If the price point fits, you must sell to Dershowitz.

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From Pilot and Above The Law

Professor Dershowitz may have gotten a good deal in terms of the purchase price, but note this little Reversal of Fortune: any mortgage will be far from his only expense. According to the listing on the Prudential Douglas Elliman website, the monthly maintenance and common charges come to a whopping $4,239. It’s a co-op, so some of that is tax-deductible, but still — four grand is a lot of wampum.

Furthermore, note that the co-op requires a 50 percent minimum down payment. So for a $1.7 million apartment, you’re looking at $850,000 in cash. That shouldn’t be hard for Professor Dershowitz to rustle up — he’s a longtime Harvard law professor, an incredibly successful criminal defense lawyer, and the author of 29 books, several of them bestsellers — but it’s interesting to note.

What else do we know about the Dersh’s digs? From the listing:

The listing doesn’t lie. That’s definitely a sunlight-flooded corner unit: