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August 21, 2008
Sales: Big Haircut Required To Get 160 Henry Street Done
When we wrote up Apartment 5A at 160 Henry Street in Brooklyn Heights last March, readers were digging the apartment but, generally, not the asking price of $3,250,000. The market agreed: A price cut followed in April and another in May, bringing the list price to $2,800,000. At the end of May, a low-baller won the day with a bid of $2,500,000. Good buy?
160 Henry Street [Brown Harris Stevens] GMAP P*Shark
Co-op of the Day: 160 Henry Street [Brownstoner]
Sold: 160 Henry Street, #5A [StreetEasy]
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Comments
20% reduction in The Heights? Look out below!!!!!!
Posted by: lowintheheights at August 21, 2008 10:25 AM
No 20% asking too much. It is not a reduction
Posted by: billyboomer at August 21, 2008 10:35 AM
After looking back at the co-op of the day posting I'm guessing the March 4th 10.43am guest must now be hanging from a branch with his prehensile tail and munching on a banana.
Posted by: dittoburg at August 21, 2008 10:36 AM
uhh ditto, 20 percent below asking is not 'near ask' especially in one of the nicer co-op's in the heights... and i love the broker-speak that says a near million dollar price cut is 'not a reduction'. hilarious!
Posted by: travy at August 21, 2008 10:44 AM
“No 20% asking too much. It is not a reduction”
Either way it’s a reduction. All reductions are in a sense of a result of the selling asking too much.
$825K/25% below original asking is a nice reduction.
Posted by: 7andfive at August 21, 2008 10:48 AM
Not a reduction ... lol
Kind of like when someone passes away, they haven't died, they've just stopped living.
Posted by: LilBitOfLuck at August 21, 2008 10:49 AM
Bidding 10% below asking hardly qualifies one as a "lowballer". If you are not ashamed of your bidding price then you can't be called a "lowballer".
Posted by: djr at August 21, 2008 10:50 AM
This is a nice apartment. 2.5 million is a lot of money though. I think the buyers bought it because they loved it.
I do not think it will appreciate much in the coming years. In fact I think that very many high earners in the Heights are so over-extended that if the downturn continues you may see more and more properties like for sale, which will mean a decrease in prices. If the economy straightens out, then fine. But with the prospect of a Democrat President and a Democrat Congress, I predict significant tax increases and corresponding decreases in go-go growth. It is shocking how many "rich" folks are living on the financial edge. They are looking at the very real possibility of crash landing.
Posted by: sam at August 21, 2008 10:52 AM
Sam - I'm guessing Obama's SS increase for those earning (salaried) over 250k will defintely leave those people with less purchasing power.
Posted by: dittoburg at August 21, 2008 11:00 AM
of course it's a reduction. the key question is the $psf relative to comparable sales. in the march post, 'stoner says an apt on the 8th floor went for $2.745 in 2007 and a poster said the "same" apt on a lower floor went for $1.6 million in 2003. doesn't that make it 9% or so less than the 2007 sale, assuming they're comparable apts? (i don't know how to discount for the lower floor, but it seems we're talking at least 7% decrease.)
Posted by: i disagree at August 21, 2008 11:03 AM
"and corresponding decreases in go-go growth."
What planet have you've been living on Sam?
Posted by: kuroko at August 21, 2008 11:15 AM
studios are already cheaper in brooklyn heights than they are in park slope and caroll gardens. If things keep up I could see studios going for 200k in the heights.
maybe...
Posted by: Santa at August 21, 2008 11:27 AM
it looks like santa is hoping for christmas year-round...
Posted by: i disagree at August 21, 2008 11:30 AM
Keep dreaming, Santa.
2.5 looks like a good deal for this apartment.
Posted by: buttermilk channel at August 21, 2008 11:37 AM
santa- that's been my price point for the 'bottom'...
Posted by: travy at August 21, 2008 11:38 AM
Is there someone out there who does not believe that the hyper-increase in Brooklyn RE prices over the past four years does not constitute go-go growth?
Posted by: sam at August 21, 2008 11:41 AM
I would say property "value" increases of 50 to 250% in four or five years (as some recent postings have shown) is both ridiculous and constitute "go-go growth" if you want to give it a positive connotation.
I, on the other hand, consider it unsustainable growth with an ethos of irrational oneupmanship and price-points lacking any grounding in reality.
But that's just me.
Posted by: tybur6 at August 21, 2008 11:47 AM
By the way... irrationality is not new for this city, just newly invigorated in the borough of brooklyn.
Posted by: tybur6 at August 21, 2008 11:48 AM
tybur6. For example someone was saying they rented a 2 bedroom in greenwich village for $1900 in 1985 and then ended up paying $1500 for the same place in 1990.
also from '80 to '85 rental prices almost doubled in same areas.
Posted by: Santa at August 21, 2008 11:57 AM
Sam, it was a bubble (that just popped) not go-go growth. This apartment is evidence of that. Additionally the broader economy has been anything but go-go...it has been so-so for the past eight years.
Is there anyone who does not believe that?
Posted by: kuroko at August 21, 2008 11:57 AM
I completely agree that the sort of price inflation we have been seeing in the boro is unsustainable.
Posted by: sam at August 21, 2008 12:00 PM
The stock market is bearish, but the economy is not really in a recession.
But when you drive around Brooklyn and Manhattan and you see the cranes and the construction sites everywhere, I mean everywhere. it really is a testament to hyper-growth. Must have been a little like this in the 1890's or 1920's.
Boom and bust, Nothing new there.
Posted by: sam at August 21, 2008 12:04 PM
Santa:
Would you beleive me if I told you my rent went down by $400/month ($4.8K/year) FOR THE SAME PLACE? I wouldn't believe me. That was a lie.
Posted by: 11233 at August 21, 2008 1:14 PM
11233, I've actually heard of this from many people. It's not $400 a month all of a sudden, it's basically a yearly (or perhaps more often) negotiation. "Hey, this neighborhood isn't that great and the economy tanked... you couldn't rent it at this price if I left, what will you do for me?"
It happened in NYC in the 80s. It just happened a few years ago in San Francisco when the tech bubble blew up. And on and on. There are stable neighborhoods where that doesn't happen... but I don't know if there are any of those left anymore. Even the high-crime, no amenities (except bodegas) neighborhoods are inflated prices like crazy.
Not sustainable... but if you're a landlord or an owner than can sell in the near future, you can milk it for what it's worth while it lasts!!!
Posted by: tybur6 at August 21, 2008 1:28 PM
I still think 2.5 m is a ton of money for a 5th floor apartment in BH, but that's a serious price cut.
It takes some pretty large huevos to go 15-18% over a 2007 sale on a HIGHER FLOOR. Still, I do feel some sympathy for the sellers because in March the magnitude of the credit crisis wasn't yet apparent.
Posted by: Bolder at August 21, 2008 2:58 PM
tybur6: Was this in The Village?! Where were these people who negociated down their rents by 20% (using santa's example.) I have never met a landlord in NYC who said you could pay less unless you were willing to do work around the building to compensate for their lost income. No increase year-over-year, I would believe as landlords like the rent on time, no trouble and no bounced checks. An actual reduction? Don't beleive you. In this city, there is always someone right behind you who will take your place and pay the same or more.
Posted by: 11233 at August 21, 2008 4:17 PM
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