Open House Picks

Seems like a lot of sheckles for that Wyckoff Street house?

Is that truly what the market is bearing in Boerum Hill?

i think the boerum hill house looks really nice. and though i'm a huge windsor terrace fan, i think that house seems over-priced in comparison: it's one 1 story shorter, the rental apt. would bring a lot less, and, if the market sags, won't closer-commute neighborhoods like boerum hill be more likely to hold their value?

If anything, I'd say the Wyckoff house is priced low, presumably because it's on the block between the two housing projects.

...and Bainbridge on the far side of Malcom X.

Doesn't matter what they ask though...low-ball is king!

I have to agree about the windsor terrace house too. I might be able to buy that number if the house were in pristine condition but it clearly needs some updating.

About that place in WT, I love Love LOVE the paneling and wallpaper. Wouldn't change a thing.

hummmm, let's see. Pay a mortgage of $10,000 per month for a 1.3 million dollar house or a mortgage of $5,000 a month for a townhouse of similar size and detail. One in Boerum Hill the other in Bedford-Stuyvesant. For folks looking to set down roots in Brooklyn I guess that Bainbridge Street house is not a bad buy after all, factor in a rental income and realistically speaking, a working couple could live well in Brooklyn, not 15 minutes to Manhattan over the Williamsburg bridge. The Boerum Hill house is beautiful but no nurse, fireman or police officer could afford it. Bedford Stuyvesant is the last of the affordable Brownstone neighborhoods. Period.

A house very near and very similar to the Wycoff Street house sold recently for $1.4m.

WT house was on the market a month ago, showed on that weekend, buyer fell through, and is now back on the market.

It is two floors and unfinished basement you need to put in a bathroom downstairs and update quite a lot to make it a good one family. To make it a two family duplex over rental you have to do a complete english basement renovation, and then you don't have a basement..

11:25 -- any idea what the accepted offer on the WT house was?

What about the Fort Greene Place? Any one been inside? How much reno are we talking about here?

It was listed at the same price before, and I believe they got an offer very close to ask probably 1.2m. Obviously depended on a mortgage that didn't get thru, or the buyer got cold feet (And counts themselves lucky to not have gone to contract).

Fort Greene house - "ground floor tenant stays in place" the parlour and above are vacant. Does that mean the ground floor is RC/RS?

We are very likely to be entering a period of recession in the U.S. economy. I would be quite wary of buying in places like Bed Stuy and other areas that will not only be experiencing a large number of foreclosures, but also a possible increase in crime (already happening and joblessness (also already beginning to happen). The newly released data shows that U.S. housing will most likely not start any real increase again for possibly up to 10 years from now. Buying in these outlying areas will be the first to show problems and the last to rebound from them.

I love these people who are still predicting a depression 5 years into our continued economic expansion. Yes 5 years of straight GDP growth. 2:25 is typical of the people who sit around year after year and eat up the negative commentary of folks like Paul Krugman at the NYTimes who have a political agenda and not an economically objective bone in their body. The numbers do not lie, and most economists predict that we may actually have just seen the end of a soft landing this past quarter. They predict an increase in GDP this quarter. In case 2:25 missed it, Durable orders jumped by a large percentage this last report, indicating a growing economy. Consumer confidence remains strong and the "sub-prime" market fall out is less than 5% of the overall american economy. Don't believe me? look it up. Then realize why new housing sales actually went up last quarter. Hey, I'm no Pollyanna, just giving it to you straight. Without the political agenda and cross-referenced with what we are actually seeing happening in NYC real estate. No, I'm not realtor and I do realize that the 20% yearly increases in housing values are probably over.
Stop the dissemination of opinions based solely on "gut-feeling" or tired old "bush=everything negative" mentalities. We are too smart for it. Don't believe me? Again I say: google it.

Did you just wake up from a 3-year coma, 5:41? Do you actually believe most of these "hired-gun" economists who constantly eat their predictions (no tech bubble, no housing bubble, no sub-prime contagion, etc.)

GDP does not measure the sustainability of growth. Economies experiencing an economic bubble, such as a housing bubble or stock bubble, or a low private-saving rate tend to appear to grow faster due to higher consumption, mortgaging their futures for present growth (debt, debt and debt). Economic growth at the expense of environmental degradation (bankruptcies, foreclosures, etc.) can end up costing dearly to clean up; GDP does not account for this.

Uhhh...consumer confidence is down and tumbling http://www.reuters.com/article/economicNews/idUSN2139037720070821 .

Subprime may be less than 5% of economy but it's not just a subprime crisis we're dealing with here. It's a credit and insolvency crisis. People and companies are having SERIOUS TROUBLE paying their bills and as a result, credit is hard to come by. And it is credit that has propped up our economy (MBS's + LBO's = Dow 14,000).

New housing sale numbers are purely nominal. THEY ARE NOT CLOSED SALE NUMBERS. They do not take into account skyrocketing cancellations as people are backing out of deals that are poised to turn into kills. Can you say '110 Livingston'?

F*** the bogus numbers, we're already in a recession. Smell coffee.

Once again I have to remind our intrepid nabobs of negativity to remain objective for once. I know that all you hear from the NYTimes and CNN is that the world is coming to a crashing end, but try to listen objectively to what I am telling you. First, a recession is defined as three or more successive quarters of GDP decline, not my numbers, that's the definition by economists. As such, there is no recession, this past quarter which was the height of the subprime meltdown did not even post a negative GDP. And, as I stated, most economists are predicting a healthy increase once again in GDP this next quarter. Secondly, unemployment continues at a theoritical low of 4.4-4.5%, meaning that anyone who wants to work can find a job. Don't believe me? See the Craigslist NY listings for jobs. Third,although it is true that many forclosures are happening, this is a natural occurrence in an overextended market, not the end of the economy. Wall street has already factored in the negatives and took a small percentage hit. The feds lowered the prime lending rate and the ship is still sailing.
Please understand how much of this is simply your own emotional response to the political landscape. As a conservative, I am acutely aware, especially in New York, of how badly the democrats want to see failure of this economy, in a way. Sorry, but what else explains the fact that dems have said we are sinking for years, without the reality to back them up (I refer you once again to the jobs listings in your local paper).
That being said, forclosures will happen, credit will tighten and people will lose their homes as has always occurred in our capitalist economy. But again, the economists I've heard speak at length about this matter, say that the total number of at-risk loans in this "meltdown" are a small percentage of our overall economy, which has many other sectors doing well like: manufacturing, technology, health, entertainment, restaurant services, military technology, oil, pharmacology, etc, etc. Do I really need to go on? Don't belive me? google it.