Upper East Side
901 Lexington Avenue
4-bed, 3.5-bath, 2,482-square-foot condo. Ask: $2.695 million. Sell: $2.1 million. Charges and taxes: $2,849. Nine months on market.

Should Central Park start looking suspiciously stumpy this winter, someone might want to sniff out this investment-banking couple: They bought this "old-world-style" co-op largely because of its four wood-burning fireplaces, all of which they plan to use. "They came from a little one-bedroom where they had one fireplace and used it all the time," says their broker, Anderson Realty's Barbara Anderson Terry. And they do have a legitimate need for extra heat -- Mrs. Banker has a bun in the oven.
MONICA KHEMSUROV

Upper West Side
2373 Broadway
3-bed, 3-bath, 2,200-square-foot co-op. Ask: $1.9 million. Sell: $1.95 million. Maintenance: $3,195. Two weeks on market.

This buyer must have been tired of the usual complaints from his mother -- you never call, you never visit -- especially since she lived in his building, just an elevator ride away. So he finally just bought her a place on his floor, according to Douglas Elliman's Douglas Heddings. In fact, he was so eager to have his mother living steps away that he offered $50,000 more than the asking price, in cash, outbidding three other shoppers. Of course, he may not have been acting purely out of filial duty: His mom now has two extra bedrooms, so she can take his two kids for the night anytime.
EMILY GITTER

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• Archive: “Real Estate”
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