Wanted: A perfect family for my townhouse

By A. Ready | November 2, 2010 - 11:08AM

Yesterday New York Times reporter Christine Haughney profiled a Greenwich Village couple with a rather unusual set of requirements for a buyer. In addition to asking $8.35 million for the townhouse they bought for $985,000 in 1986, the couple want "the buyers to be artistic, spend time with their children and make this a home for many years." A few commenters applauded below a companion post on the Times' Cityroom blog: "A good way to keep out the people with too much money and not enough soul. I wish people had started doing this in that area (and others) a long time ago. Maybe Greenwich Village wouldn’t have become so overrun by tools." But most characterized it as arrogant, narcissistic, possibly illegal--and unrealistic: "[G]ood luck finding some hard-working bohemians w/ $8.35M to spare," says one. Another offers: "I’m thinking of moving on from my rent-stabilized studio in East New York, but I’m holding out for a new tenant who will cherish the place as much as I have." (NY Times)

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