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August 27, 2007
Complaints Rise Along With New Condos
Yesterday’s cover story in the real estate section of The Times zooms in on the growing number of condo owners who say they’re being given short shrift by developers. More and more buyers are claiming that though developers have promised them the sun, moon and stars, they’re not even meeting the most pedestrian of expectations. Per the article:
Anger toward developers is coming to a head as a record number of units are nearing completion. Manhattan will have 6,444 new condominiums completed this year, compared with 1,614 in 2005, according to Halstead Development Marketing. In Brooklyn, 3,768 units should be finished this year, compared with 480 in 2005.
Some of those thousands of newbie owners are griping about issues like buildings still being under construction after they move in; developers not speedily fixing problems such as electrical or plumbing snafus; obfuscation in terms of concrete move-in dates; and, well before they’ve moved in, lack of communication when it comes to particular details regarding layouts or amenities. We include the photo above from mezzanine-gate-related problems at the Scarano-designed Washington Condo in Prospect Heights last Fall. Anything similar happen to readers recently?
Condos, Brand-New Yet Not So Perfect [NY Times]
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See about broken j-51 promises
Posted by: bonsavant at August 27, 2007 10:11 AM
Ha ha! Are people really surprised? These condos are all about a quick buck, of course corners were cut. What until the monthly charges go up because maintenance costs sky rocket. PT Barnum was right....
Posted by: guest at August 27, 2007 10:51 AM
We just moved into a two-bedroom, two-bath condo in Brooklyn and we are thrilled with our building and our new place. We went into contract before the building was finished and moved in six months later. It was a little tricky negotiating our old lease and a pretty open-ended closing date, but it all worked out fine. The uncertainty of the wait was the worst part.
Luckily, we haven't had any of the problems that were mentioned in the NYT article. We moved into a finished building and have no mechanical problems in our apartment. We do have a few minor punchlist items that the sponsor has to correct, but so far he has taken care of everything we've asked for and aren't worried that he'll skip out before he addressed all problems in everyone's units.
It seems that buying new construction can be very emotional. Perhaps this is due to the risks and uncertainty when you're buying from a floorplan and have no fixed move-in date. And it seems like there is an unrealistic expectation on the part of the buyer that the place will be "perfect" as if it's a new car. We definitely had to fight this expectation at our walkthrough.
New construction was a great option for us. We had a certain budget and found that most of the pre-war apartments we looked at had very high maintenance fees and / or needed enough renovation work that they'd ultimately be unaffordable. And we have a baby on the way so didn't want the inconvenience of living in a renovation zone even if we could afford to undertake the work.
Posted by: guest at August 27, 2007 12:17 PM
I'd be even more worried about the state in which the majority of these building's "bones" were built. Rush to build, sub-par materials, questionable tradesmen (if trades at all and not undocumented laborers) and of course questionable architects and GCs.
My fear is what these places will look like (let alone remain standing) in 5-10 years.
Will we just see a new round of tear downs and rebuilds? Time will tell.
Posted by: Action Jackson at August 27, 2007 12:24 PM
Haha I flipped one of the two condos I bought in preconstruction for a nice 150k profit and I am living in the second. No mechanical problems and the developer has fixed every problem I found in the place. I guess I'm the lucky one.
"Ha ha! Are people really surprised? These condos are all about a quick buck, of course corners were cut. What until the monthly charges go up because maintenance costs sky rocket. PT Barnum was right...."
Posted by: guest at August 27, 2007 12:24 PM
a little too polished, 12:17. you might wanna try again.
Posted by: pfa at August 27, 2007 12:25 PM
12:25 -- too polished? Not sure what you're getting at here, would you prefer that my post had been rife with misspellings, LOLs and idiotic slurs to other commenters?
That's our story, it's true and we're in a great building. The unit next door to ours flipped at a $160K after sitting on the market for a few days. Our building was well made and it's in a great neighborhood. We are going to live here for at least the next 7 years. We know we made a great investment. LOL, happy?
Posted by: guest at August 27, 2007 12:50 PM
12:50 -- should have read a $160K profit...
Posted by: guest at August 27, 2007 12:51 PM
Yes, you made money, but that was when the bubble was at its height, that's not going to happen now.
Posted by: guest at August 27, 2007 12:58 PM
Why don't you tell everyone what building you bought in so we can all buy in this wonderful development.
Posted by: guest at August 27, 2007 2:18 PM
bought a condo last year. the constrution was very good, solid. not worried about it falling over in 10 years or anything. although have every intention of being in the place still. it's huge and perfectly laid out with a backyard and a patio.
we did and do have some ongoing issues that are being ironed out. we expected that we would. nothing is perfect. we are very close to finishing up, and because we got a great price per square foot feel like it's an excellent investment.
having lived in an older property previously, this new construction is lovely to live in.
also really enjoying the central air!
ps: cannot not buy in our complex because it is 100% sold.
Posted by: guest at August 27, 2007 3:22 PM
Actually as far as I can tell I'm up over 25 percent on the second place too. So I made 150,000 on the place I flipped plus 25 percent cushion on my second place. Factor in the 15 year mortgage and I think I did pretty well.
"Yes, you made money, but that was when the bubble was at its height, that's not going to happen now."
Posted by: guest at August 28, 2007 10:14 AM
These are all realtors who rep new buildings posting here. The language is too formal, as someone pointed out. Also, the language is the same in all the posts but pretending to be different people.
I've seen problems with my own eyes in the new, multi-million dollar condos. Things already falling apart, water leaks at windows or doors, etc. If you are considering buying one of these condos bring an inspector, and bring your "caveat emptor" attitude same as you would if you were buying a 100 year old house. Just because a building is new doesn't mean it can't have problems.
Posted by: traditionalmod at August 28, 2007 12:10 PM
I bought 2 years ago into a scarano building. we've had consistent leaks that the builder's GC can't seem to fix. yes, they are unresponsive, yes they are irresponsible and yes, they are in it for the money. likely outcome: they stall for 5 years until the plan allows them to escape scott-free while we (the building) gets stuck with the bill for a total roof renovation. if you are looking to buy new, you NEED to have it inspected by someone qualified. why this city doesn't require thorough inspections before closing is beyond me. its really sad, since a lot of honest, hardworking people are getting burned. from the non-union immigrant laborers to the buyers, the wild-west brooklyn developers are fucking us all.
Posted by: guest at August 28, 2007 5:46 PM
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