Just last year, actress Mariska Hargitay bought a 3-bedroom, 3.5 bath place in the O’Neill building on New York’s Sixth Avenue. But then her little boy got into a preschool located on the Upper East Side.

With long work hours and a long commute, that just wasn’t going to work. So Hargitay and her husband Peter Hermann put the condo back on the market for $8.25 million (purchase price was $7 million). And it seemed like it might be on the market for a while, with sales slowing all over, and people like Tom Brady and Gisele Bundchen lowering and re-listing their places.

But no, it wasn’t too long for the Law & Order: SVU star. The NY Observer reports that she sold the Flatiron penthouse for $8.15 million. That’s fairly quick. And pretty darn close to her $8.25 million asking price, too.

And with that quick of a flip, we wondered if she’d break even. Instead, she made a little bit of profit out of it. Buyers were reportedly a big NYC landlord.

When Bob Costas bought his condo at 15 Central Park West, speculation abounded about whether or not he’d sell his 61st-floor Time Warner Center condo. Well, we can wonder no more, as the NY Observer reports that Costas and his wife have indeed sold the 1,819-square-foot Time Warner condo for $8.5 million.

They bought the unit in 2005 for a mere $4.95 million (or just over $5 million, depending on the source). Now that’s a nice return on their investment, wouldn’t you say, darlings?

This sale makes way for the Costas family to move on over to Central Park West, where he purchased a unit for approximately $11 million. And they’ll have a lot more space in their 3,444-square-foot abode.

Image: p_a_h (cc)

Amy Sedaris has decided to buy, rather than rent, in New York’s West Village, according to the Observer. She reportedly paid $1,300,000 for a one-bedroom, one-bath co-op.

The 9,000 square-foot apartment (according to the Observer) is in a brownstone on West 9th. The listing touts original detail and prewar charm. It has two fireplaces and a den that could serve as a second bedroom. It also boasts original floors, doors, and hardware. If it was well-made, that can be a bonus. If not, well, Amy will probably be hiring a contractor very soon.

The beamed ceilings certainly sound nice, but with these limited pictures it’s a bit hard to tell. The kitchen still looks prewar as well (although the listing says “updated”) and we certainly hope Ms. Sedaris will spend some money and make it somewhat useable.

If this place really is 9,000 square-feet, then the pictures don’t do it justice at all. It looks tiny from what we could see. Maybe they meant 900? That would be more in line with a $1,250,000 listing price, we think. The floor plan seems to confirm that more reasonable number as well.

Sedaris is probably best known for — besides being David Sedaris’ sister — her role in Strangers with Candy. Apparently she’s crafty, too, making homemade baked goods like cheese balls and cupcakes.

We mentioned last month that David Duchovny and Téa Leoni put their home on the market and then dropped the listing a couple of weeks later. There were conflicting stories about whether they were rethinking the sale or wanting to return to New York, and their agent wouldn’t confirm whether the house had an offer.

The LA Times is now confirming that the couple does indeed have an offer on the house, although there’s not any information on the buyer at this time, including the price paid. The home was listed for $12 million.

As mentioned before, the home is 6,578 square-feet, has five bedrooms, four bathrooms, two pools, a gym, and a guest house. The home was sold quite quickly, considering the real estate market (and the economy).

Duchovny is best known for his role as Fox Mulder on the tv series X-Files. As seems to be the trend right now, the characters in the series return in a movie (now in theaters). While we watched the series at the beginning, it eventually got too weird for us to continue. We probably stopped watching sometime after the episode “Home” — which is just too creepy for words. Remember the three brothers from Pennsylvania, and the woman under the bed? Yeah, that one. *shudder*

Anywho, in addition to the X-Files movie, Mulder has been in the series Californication. Anyone else start hearing the Red Hot Chile Peppers when they see the series name? Our favorite Duchovny film would probably be the sleeper Return to Me. Why, yes, we do like sappy movies once in a while.

Leoni, on the other hand… well, sorry but we’re just not a fan of the work she’s been doing. Although, in spite of the reviews, we kinda liked Spanglish, but that was more in spite of Leoni than because of her.

We’ll keep watching for news of who bought the home and let you know when we see something.

The NY Observer is reporting that Peter Jackson has possibly bought a duplex in TriBeCa. While Jackson’s name doesn’t appear on the records, several of his people do.

Records indicate an anonymous buyer paid a total of $17.35 million dollars in two separate transactions for the two penthouse units at 54 Franklin Street. And that, according to the Observer, is one of the area’s most expensive apartment deals to-date.

Jackson’s executive assistant and his New Zealand and Hollywood lawyers appear on the records, so it’s assumed that Jackson is the anonymous buyer.

The units were purchased from the developer, Chris Clark. He had only listed the first unit, but got an offer he couldn’t refuse on both. Total square footage hovers around 8,000 square feet, reportedly. Mr. Clark kindly noted the penthouse has a wraparound terrace with views of the New York skyline.

The bigger of the two units has a massive 2,300-square foot living room. Well, darlings, sounds like you could have a regular roller-rink in the living room, with a few bowling lanes thrown in just for fun. If you’re into that sort of thing.

Peter Jackson is, of course, best known for producing mega-hits such as the Lord of the Rings Trilogy and King Kong. He’s not without controversy, having some disagreements with New Line Cinema over filming of The Hobbit, the prequel to Lord of the Rings. It does appear that those issues have been resolved, however, because Jackson is listed as the producer for the film on IMDB.

Image: noodlepuss (cc)

Looks like Carly Simon is getting out of her West Village co-op. She listed the two-bedroom duplex with her sister, Joanna Simon for $3.8 million.

The NY Post reports that she’s mostly living in Martha’s Vineyard anyway, so what’s the point? Of course, they also report that Carly used her “unique style and taste” on the place. Oh, really? Shall we take a look at the few pics we could find?

First, what the heck is that under the TV? Not the fireplace, but… is that seating? Why would anyone put seating there? I hope we’re just seeing things and it’s not a couple of bench seats (built in, no less). I don’t know if it’s the brick color or what, but something about that living room just seems off. Maybe it’s because we hate that style of curtain?

The kitchen is a little better. Clever use of the space under the stairs. And while open shelving may be great for some people, I don’t like it. Too much to clean if you cook something messy (like bacon… mmmm, bacon). But it’s certainly a functional kitchen.

This bedroom certainly is cozy. But what is the deal with the bed? And the material draped all over one side only? Just odd and slightly irritating. If you want a funny draped material story, make sure you check out the Real Estalker’s take on it. Anyway, we’re really not fans of the whole “let’s drape some material around the room to add color and texture.”

Oh, but we saved the best for last. What. The. Hell. There is a tub in the middle of the room. And it doesn’t just look like it’s there for decoration. Now we don’t know about you all, but that’s just a little bit “too” intimate for our tastes.

While we’re not big fans of Ms. Simon’s decorating sensibilities (we’re sure someone out there will love it), we certainly can’t say the same about her music. Who isn’t a fan of at least some of her music?