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The New York Times

Big Ticket | Sold for $7,750,000

By: Marc Santora
Published: 5/13/2012Source: The New York Times

A penthouse owned by Oprah Winfrey at 207 East 57th Street [listed by Corcoran agent Mark Schoenfeld] that sold for $7.75 million was the biggest sale of the week, according to city records.

The three-bedroom condominium, which has a 750-square-foot terrace, was bought by a hedge fund manager from London.

The sale was also a stroke of fortune for Nesrin Anjollie Feradov, a broker for the boutique firm SKNY Realty who represented the buyer. Ms. Feradov’s story of how she completed the deal for the apartment would have fit right in on Ms. Winfrey’s former television show.

Ms. Feradov left a career in finance for the real estate world two years ago. But she hit a rough patch, she said: “I personally had like $5 in my bank account.”

Then, a client from her old job put her in touch with a financier from London who was looking for a home in Manhattan.

When the financier, Mark Hillery, came to town with his wife to view apartments, Ms. Feradov decided she couldn’t let him see that she was struggling. She hired a big S.U.V. from a car service, wore her finest Gucci shoes and whisked him to a $22 million penthouse in a Chelsea building designed by Jean Nouvel.

Mr. Hillery wanted the penthouse, but by the time he reached a decision it had been bought by someone else. “I was devastated,” Ms. Feradov said.

Come Monday, her head cleared, she asked Mr. Hillery if she could show him more apartments.

Once he saw Ms. Winfrey’s penthouse at Place 57, as the 38-story building is called, he was sold. Ms. Feradov’s 2.5 percent commission worked out to a net payday of nearly $200,000.

“If Oprah only knew that because of her apartment a single mom who has always struggled to make ends meet can not only pay her rent but her child’s tuition,” Ms. Feradov said. “She, and my client, created a miracle in my life.”

Big Ticket includes closed sales from the previous week, ending Wednesday.

Copyright © 2012 The New York Times Company. Reprinted with Permission.

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