Open House Picks Six Months Later: 9/14/07

Once again, people only seem interested in Park Slope.

Why is that?

Posted by: guest at March 7, 2008 11:38 AM

Actually I think many are interested in clinton hill/fort greene. The clinton ave place was just overpriced. The broker for the lafayette place said there was a deal in the works, but both buyer and seller were lawyers and lawyerly behavior ensued.

Posted by: guest at March 7, 2008 11:47 AM

theres only one park slope listing.

and two clinton hill listings.

?

Posted by: guest at March 7, 2008 11:48 AM

As far as i know, the Irving Place house is still on the market -- last price i heard for it was $750,000. but i might be mistaken.

Posted by: guest at March 7, 2008 11:49 AM

Nearly one and a half million for a 2-story plus basement rowhouse on 13th Street below 5th isn't setting the woods on fire?

Who cares what the initial ask was, that's still a buttload of money.

Posted by: guest at March 7, 2008 11:51 AM

Great buy on the South Slope Place. Nice Block, Decent House. I think it went for exactly what is worth.

Posted by: guest at March 7, 2008 11:52 AM

comment from the initial thread:

"For that kind of dough, one would hope the PS house comes with a herd of wild unicorns in the backyard."

Posted by: guest at March 7, 2008 11:57 AM

Seems to me the center of new retail activity in Brooklyn has become centered around Park Slope over the last 6 months.

So many new businesses coming to Park Slope...'Snice opening today, Babeland, that Nolita Ethiopian place, new Union Market, that new Yogo Monster which looks like it's right off Avenue A....all kinds of amazing stuff.

I know some people hate it, but for my money, I'd rather be there and have the park and all the services and pay a little extra.

Posted by: guest at March 7, 2008 12:03 PM

No doubt that Unicorn comment came from some middle-aged North Sloper who bought 3 years ago for a huge premium and never ventured past 9th street to see what has been going on.

Now bitter, he cant imagine that anything outside of his primo neighborhood could be increasing in value and stealing some of his thunder.

Posted by: guest at March 7, 2008 12:03 PM

A relatively decent (needs a little work but not much) full house on a nice block in prime Brownstone Brooklyn goes for over $200k less than ask and you people STILL won't admit that the market is not great? Amazing. The 13th Street house still went for a healthy price, but clearly the days of being able to ask for the moon and then still get a bidding war are OVER. And if recent events are any indicator, this is just the beginning of the downturn.

Posted by: guest at March 7, 2008 12:04 PM

Who cares, its just paper losses, just like all of your equity you thought you had was paper gains.

Lifer will not change very much for 95% of us. You will still go to work, pay your mortgage, hang out with your kids, see your friends. Etc.

Civilization will not come to an end, and Brooklyn will not be overrun with roving street gangs of former Brownstone owners who are now homeless.

Get a grip people and stop worrying so much about what you think your house is worth yesterday vs. today.

Posted by: guest at March 7, 2008 12:09 PM

13th Street below 5th Avenue is prime Brownstone Brooklyn?

Do the people on Fiske Place and Grace Court know?

Posted by: guest at March 7, 2008 12:13 PM

12:04.

The 13st Street house is less than 2000 sf and has one bathroom.

You don't think 1.49 million is a healthy price for that despite what they asked?

Posted by: guest at March 7, 2008 12:14 PM

All of Park Slope is prime, Brownstone Brooklyn in my opinion.

Park Slope is the largest intact enclave of late 19th century architecture in the COUNTRY.

So yes, 13th and 5th is a terrific area to some people, myself included.

Posted by: guest at March 7, 2008 12:23 PM

market looks fine to me in brooklyn

Posted by: guest at March 7, 2008 12:34 PM

12:23 you are mistaken bed stuy has the largest collection of brownstones in the US.

btw i too live in the slope

Posted by: guest at March 7, 2008 12:34 PM

For you 12:34:

"No neighborhood in America has a finer and more intact collection of late 19th-century row houses than Park Slope," notes architectural historian and Columbia University professor Andrew Dolkart. "Block after block is virtually unaltered, with houses ranging from grand townhouses designed by Brooklyn's leading architects, to long rows of vernacular speculator-built housing designed by the obscure architects who provided character to so many urban neighborhoods."

Posted by: guest at March 7, 2008 12:37 PM

12:37

12:34 is right, you said "largest" in your 12:23 posting, and that's what 12:34 commented on. Bedford and Stuyvesant Heights do have far larger collections of brownstones than the Slope, and if people weren't poorer in those areas, they would be just as nice as Dolkart's comment makes the Slope out to be.

Posted by: guest at March 7, 2008 12:43 PM

I'm pretty sure Professor Dolkart wasn't talking about 13th Street and 5th Avenue, which has such fine examples of late-19th Street architecture as the Dee & Dee store, the old Salvation Army site, and Cookies.

Never mind that there's multiple dwellings and a one-story health clinic on that block of 13th. Not exactly intact.

Posted by: guest at March 7, 2008 12:44 PM

Bed Stuy is not intact. Many areas have been ruined with Fedders buildings breaking up the lovely brownstone blocks.

There is no way to make it intact after it has been broken up.

I agree bed stuy has nice houses, but it won't be till the next housing boom in 2030 that the neighborhood resembles anything that would attract significant gentrification again.

It will coast for a while, or slip down a bit as it is now. I heard 1 in 10 homes in Bed Stuy are in some stage of foreclosure.

Posted by: guest at March 7, 2008 12:48 PM

thank you 12:37 bed stuy incl stuyvesant heights is way larger than parkslope and still has more brownstone. dolkart is wrong

Posted by: guest at March 7, 2008 12:50 PM

I love Salvation Army. Doesn't get much more "hip" than that in this day of hipsters and vintage clothing.

Ever been to a Salvation Army in 2008? It's all white kids in skinny jeans and canvas bags and sunglasses at 2pm.

Not the symbol of ghetto as you would have people believe, 12:44.

Posted by: guest at March 7, 2008 12:50 PM

I doubt Professor Dolkart ever crossed 9th street. Certainly not below 7th Avenue.

Posted by: guest at March 7, 2008 12:52 PM

All I can say is that 4th Ave is now the official western border of big bucks PSlope (especially 4th - 5th Avenues above 9th Street)! Amazing how far it's come along in 5 years. House prices, 5th Ave shops, etc.

Posted by: guest at March 7, 2008 12:52 PM

Bed Stuy ain't winning the best neighborhood in the U.S. award anytime soon. I can tell ya that right now.

Even if every woman in the neighborhood won the largest rack award.

Posted by: guest at March 7, 2008 12:53 PM

The Salvation Army is gone. Isn't that where they built the 5One5 "green" condos?

Posted by: guest at March 7, 2008 12:53 PM

in 5 more years, it will be 3rd Avenue, 12:52.

but most people on here will fight it tooth and nail and claim every listing is overpriced, no matter what.

it amazes me how people who have lived in this city long enough don't see what's happening around them, but put blinders on, cover their ears and just pretend that it's not happening.

i even called the other day to make a reservation at hotel le bleu for my uncle...you know...the one everyone here claims to hate....it was sold out.

Posted by: guest at March 7, 2008 12:55 PM

12:37 what year was that artical written?

Posted by: guest at March 7, 2008 12:56 PM

Too bad about Salvation Army. There is another up on Flatbush near Carlton.

Posted by: guest at March 7, 2008 12:56 PM

12:56...

That article was written in 2007...it was a blurb from the American Planning Association's write-up announcing Park Slope as one of the top 10 neighborhoods in the United States for 2007

http://www.planning.org/greatplaces/neighborhoods/parkslope.htm

Posted by: guest at March 7, 2008 1:00 PM

The Salvation Army store (which is gone and the site redeveloped) wasn't a a symbol of ghetto - just a mid-20th century one-story taxpayer. The observation was architectural, not sociological.

Posted by: guest at March 7, 2008 1:02 PM

"it amazes me how people who have lived in this city long enough don't see what's happening around them, but put blinders on, cover their ears and just pretend that it's not happening."

I agree with fucktard but it called "The Depression" or I like to call it D2. People got the blinders on alright, you are witnessing the destruction of wealth. Where are the lending institutions are going to find the money to make loans?? Plus Inflation is eating up your money. It's just sad that people on this blog don't get it, we are in the Long Emergency.

BTW 15 Irving Pl. is still on the market. That house has been on the market for 3 years.

The What { Tick Tick Tick )

Someday this war is gonna end..

Posted by: guest at March 7, 2008 1:05 PM

"Where are the lending institutions are going to find the money to make loans?? "

The fed just announced today it will be releasing 100 billion to the lending institutions.

You don't read much.

Posted by: guest at March 7, 2008 1:08 PM

12:48

Well, imo, it may be far longer than 2030 before another "wave of gentrification" like what has happened over the past 6 years occurs again (esp after this market shakes itself out). Luckily for people who will stay and raise families, and/or have grown up in neighborhoods throughout the city, these neighborhoods will continue to improve in the long-run without new waves of gentrifiers (sp?). This downturn (2-4 more years?) is gonna hurt big time, even for people in "prime brownstone Brooklyn" lol, but neighborhoods can and do continue to improve themselves even without huge influxes of new people.

The 70's, 80's, and early 90's were an especially bad time for NYC, but the city overall is still pulling itself out of a huge downturn. Bed-Stuy will probably be a different and better place in ten years, but many of the families who are there now, wont have been displaced to make it that way.

Posted by: guest at March 7, 2008 1:11 PM

Bed Stuy's crime rate has surged over the last 6 months. The schools are beyond bad and homes are going into foreclosure like crazy.

How is that good?

Posted by: guest at March 7, 2008 1:13 PM

As the owner of a similar house below 5th Ave., if a million and a half for 13th Street is "not great," I'll take "not great" any day of the week. Especially considering I paid less that half that 5 years ago.

Back then plenty of people were saying the market was just about to tank. Oh, well.

Posted by: guest at March 7, 2008 1:17 PM

1:13

That's why this downturn is gonna hurt you so badly. The What's predictions are right for people like you, b/c you're a short term thinker. The bad things that are happening in poorer neighborhoods will be visited upon you're own (more or less) soon enough. The poor are the canaries in the coal mine for society as a whole.

Taking the longer term view, I see things getting alot better b/c of all of the new infrastructure this boom will leave behind.

Posted by: guest at March 7, 2008 1:17 PM

Sorry, it might be bad for you in the short run b/c you might have invested too much and are now caught on the wrong side of the curve, but it will eventually be good for the people raising families in this city, and for you too, if you plan to settle here for the long run.

Posted by: guest at March 7, 2008 1:20 PM

1:17:

I'm a short term thinker? Do you know me personally??

I'm not actually, but spending a million dollars to live in a crappy neighborhood with nice houses, shitty schools, hardly an services and crime is not my idea of good thinking...long OR short. If I paid 300K for it, yes. Not a million.

The ONLY reason all these white people bought in Bed Stuy was because they thought their homes would be worth 3 million in 10 years. It's true and you know it.

When that doesn't happen, what will happen to this neighborhood where more than 50% of the people make less than 20K per year?

Posted by: guest at March 7, 2008 1:22 PM

11:47 you cracked me up - "both buyer and seller were lawyers and lawyerly behavior ensued."

As a lawyer who bought from 2 lawyers, I can say that sometimes *good* lawyerly behavior happens (with corporate lawyer type behavior that includes full disclosure) that makes closings go really smoothly.

Posted by: guest at March 7, 2008 1:24 PM

thanks 1:00. parkslope deserves the title! Dolkart's wording is very misleading he should be ashamed and I hope he's reading this. South Slope has like 5 brownstones and is also peppered with fedders style townhouses.

People dont forget one person's forclosure is another's discounted brownstone.
Life goes on survival of the fittest.

Posted by: guest at March 7, 2008 1:25 PM

1:17 What new infrastructure? There haven't been any new improvements to NYC's infrastructure in the past decade.
Same subways, same bad roads.

Posted by: guest at March 7, 2008 1:26 PM

Speaking of Park Slope...check this out!!!

http://gowanuslounge.blogspot.com/2008/03/park-slope-friday-focus-5-yogo-monster.html#links

Posted by: guest at March 7, 2008 1:26 PM

1:22 - don't ya think maybe some of those white people who bought there did it because they like the homes and wanted to live there? I'd like to buy there, and that's why I'd do it.

I can't be the only one who isn't stupid enough to believe that one can time the real estate market. There must be others who know that, and know that for that reason, you should only buy something you are happy to live in, in a neighborhood you are happy to live in.

Posted by: guest at March 7, 2008 1:27 PM

The good thing about white people is that they have enough political juice to demand and receive better schools and police protection. They're too invested to let the neighborhood truly tank.

Posted by: guest at March 7, 2008 1:32 PM

1:22

Yup alot of people overpaid in Bed-Stuy. They speculated and are caught on the downside. People who bought years and years ago, are going to be fine, but there are alot of speculators everywhere, not just poor neighborhoods. Americans don't save anymore, so when those Wall Street bonuses don't happen this winter ... and next winter, people who are leveraged up to the eyeballs in "the Slope" are going to face some really tough choices. That being said, the new infrastructure that has been created to serve all of these people will eventually help build and rebuild communities.

Think of all of the things that you use the Internet for in a day; from e-commerce to wasting time, to work related activities, to entertainment. The internet bubble was required to make that happen.

This housing bubble will be the same. Alot of eggs are going to get cracked to make this omelet though.

Posted by: guest at March 7, 2008 1:34 PM

Buying in a fringe neighborhood right now is STUPID.

Unless you get the deal of the century (i.e. 600K-700K or under for Bed Stuy) I seriously would doubt your intelligence.

Bed Stuy is not where it's at right now. It's too overpriced for what it is at this stage, which means it will continue to be overpriced for years to come.

You want a deal...go look in Kensington or Midwood or Flatbush. Those are areas that have not ridden the wave of outlandish prices like Bed Stuy did.

Seriously man...you can't walk around Bed Stuy and say...wow...this is a neighborhood full of million dollar homes.

But it is.

And it's not right. It has forced the neighborhood to become haves and have nots with no middle.

Not healthy.

Posted by: guest at March 7, 2008 1:34 PM

1:32 evidently hasn't met as many stupid, useless white people as I have.

Meanwhile, I don't have much of a clue on 15 Irving Place, but I will say that we strolled over there to glance at it for fun on an open-house day, and opted not to even go inside once we saw it. Needs lotsa work, and is right across the street from a school

Posted by: guest at March 7, 2008 1:38 PM

Regarding the South Slope house, all it says is that the last ask $1.495. Could have gone for considerably less, and maybe even more, but I doubt it.

Posted by: guest at March 7, 2008 1:38 PM

kensington, midwood, and flatbush? why not mention sheepshead bay, millsbasin, coney island, gravesend and so on.

some people want "brownstone" deals and south bedstuy has lots.

Posted by: guest at March 7, 2008 1:42 PM

"The fed just announced today it will be releasing 100 billion to the lending institutions."

True, but the lending institutions won't be releasing much of that money to borrowers. They'll hoarding it because more multi-billion writedowns are coming.

Or don't you read much?

Posted by: guest at March 7, 2008 1:42 PM

Anything over a million for a 2000 sf house with one bathroom between 4th and 5th is a healthy price.

Period.

Do you people have any idea anymore how much a million dollars actually is?

You make it seem like it's a buck fifty.

Posted by: guest at March 7, 2008 1:42 PM

1:42, well if said lending institutions are coming into 100 billion, i don't think they'll all be going under as the what has suggested.

Posted by: guest at March 7, 2008 1:43 PM

"if said lending institutions are coming into 100 billion, i don't think they'll all be going under as the what has suggested."

They will have to pay it back, you know. Or we the taxpayers will, when some of them fail.

Posted by: guest at March 7, 2008 1:50 PM

I saw Irving when it was with Chappell its not anymore its with some other agency never heard of. I brought a friend who is an engineer with me. The house has serious structural defects, the electrical is not up to code. There is tremendous water damage in the basement causing the wall adjoining the condo's next door to bow. Its full of roaches and rats. As far as I know its still being priced in the 900's even with the new agency, could be wrong about that though. I think its worth in the 500's. The house is sadly neglected but could be so nice with alot of TLC and alot of money. My friend estimated the work to be done at btwn 400-500K.

Posted by: guest at March 7, 2008 1:52 PM

""Where are the lending institutions are going to find the money to make loans?? "

The fed just announced today it will be releasing 100 billion to the lending institutions."

Ha! This statement shows the average asshole knows nothing about The FED. 100 Billion you are talking about is call Term Action Facility or known as TAF. The FED is trying to provide liquidity to banks because confidence has evaporated. Banks will not loan money to each other because of trust. The FED has to step in to provide short term relief. The FED effects OVERNIGHT lending rates, not mortgage rates or other fantasy shit. The Mortgage spreads have been blowing out all week plus, other forms of credit has having problems raising capital. Mortgage rats have GONE UP because two reasons. 1 The credit markets are frozen shut, no one is making any bids on new debt. 2. People want risk return to borrow money, they wont loan it to assholes to buy 856k 1 Bedroom Condos in DUMBO. With the FED lowing the interest rates has made a echo boom in commodities and bringing inflation to the consumer. Here read this asshat.

U.S. Mortgage Market Needs $1 Trillion

http://www.bloomberg.com/apps/news?pid=20601087&sid=aWM0APufFqGg&refer=home

Mortgage-asset prices are tumbling partly because investors are borrowing less, as banks rein in both how much they lend and how much they borrow for their own investments, the analysts wrote. Carlyle Capital Corp., Carlyle Group's mortgage-bond fund, is among investors saying bond-secured lending is tightening.

The What ( tick tick tick )

Someday this war is gonna end...

Posted by: guest at March 7, 2008 1:53 PM

About Kensington/Midwood or South Slope/Sunset Park/Bay Ridge, I don't live in Bed Stuy but I personally think in the long run years from now a closer proximity to Manhattan will mean more and more and more as Brooklyn's population grows and the city continues to ignore infrastructure. An hour on a crowded R or F to get to work sucks. Don't say it's not an hour because it is. It might happen by chance to take less than an hour some days but an hour is what people on those lines have to set aside every day on their way to work, just in case. And that's what counts. The time you have to set aside out of your day every day. The actual time on the train it might per chance by random take on some good days is NOT what you get to quote as the average commute time for a resident in these places.

Posted by: guest at March 7, 2008 1:59 PM

Actually from Sunset Park on the R train, it takes me under 30 minutes to get to Midtown.

Never even close to an hour.

From Kensington on the Q, it takes 20 minutes to Union Square.

Bay Ridge is the only place you mention where an hour commute comes into play. And even that, you can do in 45.

Posted by: guest at March 7, 2008 2:08 PM

2:08, we couldn't get to Midtown in 30 minutes on the R when we lived in Park Slope near the Union Street stop. We barely got out of Brooklyn in 30 minutes on the R. How are you doing it from Sunset Park?

Posted by: guest at March 7, 2008 2:11 PM

They have improved R service significantly over the last year or so. Takes 15 minutes to get to Union Square and 30 to 42nd.

Tops.

Posted by: guest at March 7, 2008 2:17 PM

My rule of thumb with houses is that you should be able to buy it at a price where your mortgage and monthly expenses could be covered by a market rate rent. That way, if you lose your job or have some trouble, you won't have to sell into any weak market.

Posted by: guest at March 7, 2008 2:18 PM

That's good, 2:17. Before it was like the R was the whipping-boy-train that had to stop for every other train in NYC that needed to pass by. Nuts.

Posted by: guest at March 7, 2008 2:20 PM

Good policy 2:18, but most places are inflated way over market rental prices. What neighborhoods, that are decent to live in, would you suggest for finding those homes?

Posted by: guest at March 7, 2008 2:21 PM

On crack it only feels like 15 minutes.

Posted by: guest at March 7, 2008 2:24 PM

My studio which I bought in PS in 2006 (most of you say top of the market)....I pay $1500 for mortgage and maintenance combined.

A studio in my building rents for 1600. Same exact size, but mine is in better shape.

Posted by: guest at March 7, 2008 2:24 PM

The N and the R... you mean The Rarely and The Never. They are the obstacles between me and happiness.

Posted by: guest at March 7, 2008 2:28 PM

wow, i take the d/n express from sunset park and it takes me 30min to midtown . what magical r train are you all taking?

Posted by: guest at March 7, 2008 2:42 PM

2:24 PM
I bought in PS in 2006 as well.

The condo across the hall, miror image, slightly more rundown, just sold for 30% more than I paid for mine.

So when is this thing gonna collapse?

Posted by: guest at March 7, 2008 3:10 PM

seriously, 3:10. a studio on my block sold for 85K more than i paid in nov. 2006.

i think if you buy wisely, you can make money no matter where you do it.

Posted by: guest at March 7, 2008 3:14 PM

No way does it take 15 mins on the R. I catch it everyday from 4th & 9th and change onto the N at Pacific, it always takes around 25 mins with a good connection.

Posted by: guest at March 7, 2008 3:29 PM

Pullback to normal levels? Yes.
Price reduction? Yes.
Balloon has burst? Yes.
Depression? No.
The TWAT.
We're gunna win this WAR!

Posted by: guest at March 7, 2008 3:30 PM

2.21, you asked what neighborhoods can you buy for market rent prices? Kensington. A friend has a one bed there that she pays the same in mortgage and maintenance as the market rents. The co-op buildings in Ditmas are the same way, I believe.

And in my experience the Q from Cortelyou to Union Square is consistently about a 25 - 30 min ride. That's a longer commute of course once you factor in getting to the stations.

Posted by: guest at March 7, 2008 4:00 PM

4:00, Thanks for the response. I've been looking for a brownstone or townhouse, but I'll check out the Kensington/Ditmas listings for reasonable buy/rent ratios.

Posted by: guest at March 7, 2008 4:31 PM

This thread is starting to sound like a conversation with subarbanites about how long their commutes are. They all say things like 37 minutes or 49 minutes. That's the time the trains takes to get from their local station to Grand Central, Penn Station, etc. 4:00 only notes the point in passing that all these 15 minute trips to Union Square does not factor in walking to the station, waiting 5-10 minutes for a train, the delays due to congestion ahead (which makes you wonder what congestion since the last train was at least 5 minutes ago) and then walking to work. On a good day it takes me 35 minutes door to door to midtown and I get on the R train at Boro Hall.

Posted by: guest at March 7, 2008 4:33 PM

If you buy in the North Slope for 2.5 million...a 4 or 5 story...each floor would rent for about 2500-3000. Times that by 4 = 12,000 or 15,000 a month.

Seems like that would cover the mortgage to me.

Posted by: guest at March 7, 2008 4:34 PM

I don't get it. Are you saying that Canada will invade Brooklyn?

Posted by: guest at March 7, 2008 4:48 PM

What, please pass that shit. TGIF

Posted by: guest at March 7, 2008 4:48 PM

I think the What needs a nap or something. His posts make less sense as the day goes along.

Posted by: guest at March 7, 2008 4:49 PM

4:34 Nothing makes you look more ignorant than writing "Times that by" when you mean multiply that by. Times is not a verb.

Posted by: guest at March 7, 2008 5:25 PM

dizzam, 5:25 you sure showed 4:34!

Posted by: guest at March 7, 2008 5:39 PM

spell check dweebs can eat fatty all weekend.

Posted by: guest at March 7, 2008 5:49 PM

Say what you will, the What is right. Doesn't anyone on here read calculatedrisk.blogspot.com.

Look, when this market was going up, didn't any of you say to yourselves - I just don't understand this...who are all these people in this neighborhood with incomes that support these prices???

Then...last August...all was revealed. People did NOT have incomes to support the prices. Eureka!

The government is doing what it can to keep prices from adjusting properly so it can save the American financial system from going under...but, eventually, since no lender is going to lend loosely like the past, we will have to return to a reasonable income/debt ratio.

It is the simplest thing possible - people were getting mortgages b/c banks wanted to feed a market for securitized mortgages. No more such market. So now banks are going to be stuck with the loan they make.

I would love for someone to explain how otherwise they think prices are sustained at these levels. Prices are not determined in a vacuum.

Posted by: guest at March 7, 2008 6:33 PM

6:33....that's fine and good, but it still doesn't apply to all of nyc.

what about someone like me who bought a place in 1997 for 170k and sold it 10 years later for 1.6 million? then i bought something else for almost 2 million and paid almost all cash. i didn't have to have a 500K income to do that. i make around 125k...perfectly fine for my 400k mortgage.

you don't think there are a lot of people in ny with those same circumstances?

i sure do. pretty much everyone i know.

every person in nyc who owned property prior to 1995 and held onto it for at least 10 years made insane amounts of money.

that is where all these people buying multi-million dollar properties are coming from.

maybe 20% of them actually make the huge 500k plus incomes necessary.

Posted by: guest at March 7, 2008 6:58 PM

oh and i should also mention that the same 2 million purchase i made was just appraised in feb. for 2.75 million.

Posted by: guest at March 7, 2008 7:02 PM

Uh 4:35 PM that was lame. This is the worse week for Real Estate. I know you Assrockets can't see that!! No need to type a bunch of shit. I'm going to relax and chill. If Asia goes red on any Monday from now, The gates of hell will open up. When that event happens, there will be no more denial about the Mutant Real Estate Bubble. Have a great weekend.

The What (tick tick tick)

Someday this war is gonna end...

Posted by: guest at March 7, 2008 9:00 PM

9:00 PM
Hey What, you're dissing yourself now?

You need more meds assrocket.

Posted by: guest at March 7, 2008 9:12 PM

"6:33....that's fine and good, but it still doesn't apply to all of nyc"
the what is right about you - you just do not get it. the melt down in the financial markets will effect everything. people cannot afford to borrow, and they will be denied access to, the large mortgage sums now. does the fact that ny's largest bank cutting 20% of its lending capacity register at all with your delusion? why not put your amazing home on the market and see how many peeps agree with your extravagant self appraisal?

Posted by: guest at March 7, 2008 9:46 PM

don't understand your argument 6:58. either you are selling now (which would be smart) and taking your gains and you are out of the market - as would any sane person in the midst of a bubble (think mark cuban). Or you are buying into the same market you are selling into...in which case, what difference does it make (so there is not a ton of incentive to go back to the market)? You can trade up from Manhattan to Brooklyn, sure, but you can do that at any price level.

Point is that it takes the volume that easy lending creates to have a market like what we've seen over the last several years...I personally know several people with a lot less money than I have who were willing to take on a lot more risk. People who said their mortgage broker asked them how much they could pay a month & then "structured the mortgage around that" regardless of price. That is not going to happen anymore.

Sure there will be people with big chunks of cash (I have a nice chunk myself), but now and in the near future, no one wants to be the last chump buying at a high. I am dying to buy, but it doesn't make sense now and I am holding out just to see what the next year holds. As are a lot of people...it is after all a numbers game.

Posted by: guest at March 7, 2008 9:52 PM

"9:00 PM
Hey What, you're dissing yourself now?

You need more meds assrocket."

No thats not me assfuck.

The What

Someday this war is gonna end...

Posted by: guest at March 7, 2008 10:42 PM

Okay, listen up you lobototards! You want to tear me a new one for holding a conversation with myself? Who the fuccck are you??? Go worry about your paper worth going up in very real FLAMES, FUCKTARDS. The bubble is real. The endtimes are real. The end of the known universe is real and I will just sit in my lazy-fuckin-boy recliner and enjoy it all with a bowl of Poppycock and a pint of motherfukkin absinthe. This is gonna be GOOOOOD. It's happening any second... can you hear it...? Can you...? Listen closely now...? Real close. No, that's not a car alarm, ASSHAT! That's it. That's the end. It's happening. Right now. Like I predicted. I did it. I was right. It happened. It's over. Everyone's dead. Planet combusted. Galaxy sucked into a subprime black hole. Nothingness. Infinity. Nothing left but the Motherfuckkin WHAT. Eternal Almighty Me. Me. Read it and weep.

Shut up! That ain't a fukkin car alarm!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

Posted by: guest at March 8, 2008 9:06 AM

For those holding out, what are you going to buy? This isn't CA or FL with tons and tons and tons of houses always available. The better neighborhods and blocks of houses have very limited stock. If values go lower nobody will be selling. We're already seeing this. I'm asking a genuine question. I'm curious if most of those who are holding out are looking for a condo or coop and hoping those prices drop or something. People I know who want a house are actively out there looking and are willing to buy.

Posted by: guest at March 8, 2008 11:45 AM

The clatter of falling knives.

Posted by: guest at March 8, 2008 12:04 PM

"If values go lower nobody will be selling."

Wrong. People always sell. Death. Divorce. Job relocation. People in over their heads. Plenty of reasons to sell.

Posted by: guest at March 8, 2008 1:16 PM

there's just never going to be enough inventory in brownstone brooklyn. sorry.

Posted by: guest at March 8, 2008 2:10 PM

Ha ha ha. Stay tuned.

Posted by: guest at March 8, 2008 3:26 PM

"If values go lower nobody will be selling."

Fucking idiot. I don't suppose you would then agree with the statement that "If values go higher, nobody will be buying".

Who are these idiots? Where do they come from? Oh, that's right, they're FUCKING BROKERS!

Posted by: guest at March 8, 2008 3:42 PM

When 6:58 says: "what about someone like me who bought a place in 1997 for 170k and sold it 10 years later for 1.6 million? then i bought something else for almost 2 million and paid almost all cash. i didn't have to have a 500K income to do that. i make around 125k...perfectly fine for my 400k mortgage" to explain why you don't need people to make a lot of money to keep property values high, I'm just mystified by his math.

In the first place, who bought his first place for $1.6 million? Someone who had just sold their place somewhere else in NY? No -- someone who got a mortgage at a time when banks were happy to lend to just about anyone. And who's going to pay $2.75 million for his new place -- as if? Only someone who makes $500K or better. And there are nowhere near enough people, even in NYC, who earn $500K a year and want to live in Brooklyn to keep property prices as high as they are. We have been living in a bubble, driven by easy lending, cheap money, and speculation. It's over.

And, like all the nitwits who post on this site, 6:58 thinks the experience of someone who bought in 1995 and held onto the property through the greatest price inflation in NYC's history offers a lesson for people today. It doesn't. It just tells us he got really lucky with his first investment, and he's going to be really unlucky with his second. He put $1.6 million in cash into a place that five years from now is going to be worth about what he paid for it, and in the meantime he'll have foregone at least half a million dollars in potential investment income. But of course, it's always better to own.

you don't think there are a lot of people in ny with those same circumstances?

i sure do. pretty much everyone i know.

every person in nyc who owned property prior to 1995 and held onto it for at least 10 years made insane amounts of money.

that is where all these people buying multi-million dollar properties are coming from.

maybe 20% of them actually make the huge 500k plus incomes necessary.

Posted by: guest at March 8, 2008 6:06 PM

wow scary..... so how much will it be worth after 30 yrs?

Posted by: guest at March 8, 2008 6:38 PM

6:06--

What 6:58 was saying was that he bought a place in 1997 for $170K, sold it for $1.6M, and put a downpayment on a $2M brownstone.

You're saying that his brownstone will be worth $2M in five years, and that makes him a nitwit?

Yeah. Over 16 years, he will have made a million and a half dollars on an original investment of $34K (assuming an initial downpayment of 20%), plus he will have a $2M brownstone to live in.

Boy, sounds like a real dumbass. I'm sure he wishes he could be a genius like you.

Posted by: guest at March 8, 2008 8:30 PM

It seams to be a Doppelgänger of The What on this board. Well I'm sorry that you don't have a persona. Sad, very sad.

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Doppelgänger

The What (Yes the real one)

Someday this war is gonna end...

Posted by: guest at March 9, 2008 12:33 AM

I can see a movie in the works about The What, or at least him playing a bit character - perhaps in the sequel to Batman, when Gotham is down in the tubes?

Posted by: guest at March 9, 2008 2:49 PM

"there's just never going to be enough inventory in brownstone brooklyn. sorry."

Then why didn't the bubble take off prior to 2001? Population remains unchanged since then. Still 8 million and change.

Because you're dead wrong. Inventory did not drive this insanity. It was an easy credit epidemic fraudulently fed by "hot patato" securitization. A ponzi scheme if you will. Consumer spending, salaries, tax revenue, Wall St. bonuses, etc., all fed off of this "funny money" economy.

P.S. Sorry

Posted by: guest at March 9, 2008 3:12 PM

"For those holding out, what are you going to buy? This isn't CA or FL with tons and tons and tons of houses always available. The better neighborhods and blocks of houses have very limited stock."

I'm going to buy a brownstone or apartment when the NY Metro area Case-Shiller home price index stops falling year-over-year. It's now -5% and dropping. For now, I'll rent. NYC lags CA and FL. As the recession gets deeper there will be tons and tons and tons of houses available. Read some history. The better neighborhoods have limited stock now but that's a snap shot. Keep the camera rolling. Unemployment, divorces, relocations, bubble revelations, etc., are on the rise.

Posted by: guest at March 9, 2008 3:23 PM

3:23 = lifelong renter

Posted by: guest at March 9, 2008 4:49 PM

Oh come on, 3:23. The only place in NYC where there will be "tons and tons and tons of houses available" might be Queens. Good luck with that.

By the way, the "New York metro area" does not mean NYC. Duh. That's the suburbs around NYC. Huge difference. Nobody compares the two on equal footing in any way. Except deluded renters apparently. And if it's the suburbs you're talking about buying in you're on the wrong site. This site is for Brooklyn.

Posted by: guest at March 9, 2008 5:38 PM

4:49 = 'bout to lose a lot of equity

5:38 - Okay, exaggeration. But there will be significantly more Brooklyn brownstone and apartment inventory in the coming years as people head for the exit (if the banks don't bring the exit door to them). Bubble spread from NYC to suburbs. The reverse is true for the chickens coming home to roost. Brookyn can run but can't hide from serious depreciation. New York Metro Area encapsulates Brooklyn and is very much relevant. Duh.

Posted by: guest at March 9, 2008 8:29 PM

"Think you can build your condo with bubble flesh"
LOL
i kinda like the fake What better. he makes more sense.

Posted by: guest at March 9, 2008 8:45 PM

hogwash 8:29! brownstones are like antiques.your kids will rent from my kids.

Posted by: guest at March 9, 2008 9:25 PM

The tWhat is a bitter renter. Finish high school tWhat.

Please stay out of Bed-Stuy naysayers. THe neighborhood is improving and we don't need your negative vibe here to ruin for all of us.

Posted by: guest at March 9, 2008 10:29 PM

3:23 and 8:29 nailed it. You guys who think these current prices are going to stick are totally dreaming. Park Slope, Brooklyn has already seen depreciation per all of the aggregated real estate reports out now. Condos are particularly suceptible but so are brownstones. There is NO WAY that places which have doubled in value in a handful of years can stay at their current prices during such an economic downturn. Remember everyone who said that the Dot Coms were valued correctly??? Just use common sense. It won't be a bloodbath but there will be a real correction. Prices around the globe have been artificially inflated and they will all see corrections- NYC is not THAT unique or immune- even areas or housing types that are relatively low in supply.

Posted by: guest at March 9, 2008 10:43 PM

"The tWhat is a bitter renter. Finish high school tWhat.

Please stay out of Bed-Stuy naysayers. THe neighborhood is improving and we don't need your negative vibe here to ruin for all of us."

No assfuck, I'm not.

Now tell me, How long you been in Bed Stuy? You just moved there 2 years ago? Guess what?! I was born and raised in Bed Stuy.

Now the real fun starts now. The hand job of the stock and real estate markets are finished. RIP MREB

The What

SOMEDAY THIS WAR IS GONNA END......................

Posted by: guest at March 10, 2008 5:20 AM

tWhat: It is obvious that you never got a formal education.

You had the chance to buy in Bed-Stuy when the housing stock was significantly cheaper, but you didn't. Why? Because you didn't have the vision or the intelligence to buy in the "hood" you grew up in. Now the market has moved on and you realize that you will be a renter all your life. You are a sad and pathetic fool.

This war will end and you will be the loser and you will have to move and the city will be a better place because of it.

Bye bye, tWhat

Posted by: guest at March 10, 2008 9:29 AM

9:29 AM This is going to be fun. The crash is here he he. I hope you got your hood "skill set" up because you will need it. Asset bubbles do stupid things to people. They believe the debt is riches, ASSHOLES! They hide behind a keyboard and pop shit.

"This war will end and you will be the loser and you will have to move and the city will be a better place because of it."

Leaving NY wouldn't be a bad idea.. I wonder what can I get for my place?

The What

Someday this war is gonna end...

Posted by: guest at March 10, 2008 10:26 AM

tWhat, you don't own, so don't kid yourself. If you did, you would have taken your own advice and sold. You haven't so you are the biggest liar and troll on this site.

You need to get out more often. I have been living in Bed-Stuy for several years and lived in NYC all my life. No need for a skill set. Trash like you are being pushed out as prices and rents rise.

Bye bye tWhat.

Posted by: guest at March 10, 2008 11:37 AM