"The biggest impact for us has been a lot of negative pressputting a chill on the buyers," says Sidney Whelan, a broker withHalstead Property in Manhattan. "That's nothing new for us."

Currently, Whelan is pre-selling units at the Bridges, atwo-building condominium at 2279-2283 Third Ave. near 124th Streetthat's scheduled to open in 2008. "It's certainly a challengebringing a condo on right now because buyers are a little spooked,"he says. "That's something we have to address with every customerthat comes in, but we are getting a lot of traffic. Regardless offears, many view purchasing in Harlem as a wise investment."

Brendan Aguayo, head of business development at Aguayo &Huebener Realty Group, agrees. "I think in general that the presshas done more damage than what actually happened" in the creditmarkets, he says. "A lot of people got scared. If a buyer getsscared, it creates a domino effect."