Where oh where to begin. From the Times today:
Here’s one mistake that stressed out financial workers may want to avoid right now: Don’t get so drunk over the bear market that you dial up your broker and buy a luxury Manhattan condo on a boozy whim.
But Kipton Davis, a Prudential Douglas Elliman broker from Virginia, thinks a little bourbon could be good for sales.
Just as a few drinks may coax timid traders onto a dance floor, it could help them muster the courage to buy multimillion-dollar apartments.
That’s why on Wednesday night, Ms. Davis lured a half-dozen bankers, traders and friends on a condo tour of four TriBeCa buildings by offering wine and whiskey at every stop.
“Alcohol brings everyone together,” said Ms. Davis, after showing the group a $9.9 million penthouse at 16 Warren Street with an eight-seat hot tub. As the crowd debated whether they valued the hot tub over the layout of the $2.25 million unit downstairs, they sipped Chardonnay and a Chinon.
But they did not deliberate for long. There was tippling to be done. The pack headed to a $3.3 million bachelor loft at 132 Duane Street, where they were greeted by another Elliman broker, Francine Hunter McGivern, and a small spread.
“Have some food. Don’t be shy,” Ms. McGivern said.
They helped themselves to chicken satay and samosas and washed the snacks down with Sancerre wine, and Lagavulin ($77 a bottle) and Talisker ($60 a bottle) whiskeys. They sipped and listened while Ms. McGivern stressed that her client, a banker, did not need to sell. He will hold out for a buyer willing to pay for his meticulous renovation featuring Miele fixtures and wood floors imported from Austria. The crowd seemed pleased.
“The thing I dig is the bar across from the powder room,” said Patrick Nichols. Twenty-seven and newly married, Mr. Nichols, a trader with Jane Street Capital, scribbled in a leather-bound notebook and snapped photos. He is looking to spend $2 million to $3 million on a two- or three-bedroom apartment. He said he did not know many people hurt by the slowdown, and he was not worried about losing his job.
