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June 19, 2009

Nondescript East W'burg Condos Defying the Market

15-Judge-Street-0609.jpgWe can't see the appeal in this new condo offering at 15 Judge Street but the one-bedroom residences in Bushwick East Williamsburg are flying off the shelf at around $550 per foot: Five units have already sold since the project hit the market a month ago, if you can believe it. Given that the development has neither architecture nor location going for it, the sales effort must be getting a big boost from the fact that you can buy a place with just 3.5 percent down courtesy of the FHA. GMAP




Posted by Brownstoner at 10:15 AM | Comments (31)
Categories: Bushwick, Condos, Williamsburg

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It is the FHA. All of the new projects on aptsandlofts.com have pending FHA approval. NV saw a four-fold increase in sales after started FHA approval. combine this with the 8,000 tax credit, you are picking up an apartment for less than first, last, and deposit. I think sales in Brooklyn have totally started to pick up due to this. However, with buyers with very little skin in the game, could it lead to a bubble?

Posted by: king of the burg at June 19, 2009 10:21 AM

I think I would consider this neighborhood williamsburg.

Posted by: king of the burg at June 19, 2009 10:31 AM

I looked at the financing terms. They forgot to put "number of months until you are legally forced out of the dwelling after failing to make any payments" so that people can divide the downpayment by that number to see if it's a better deal than renting.

I don't know how anyone's supposed to make a rational decision with all of this "30 year" nonsense. Come on, I don't even know what I'm doing this weekend.

Posted by: joe_the_bummer at June 19, 2009 10:32 AM

misterbubble is most pleased to hear this.

Posted by: misterbubble at June 19, 2009 10:34 AM

grand street L? That's the burg, definitely. Could williamsburg be so overbuilt that realtors are pushing the neighborhood boundaries in the other direction?

Posted by: joe_the_bummer at June 19, 2009 10:35 AM

they know that it's embarrassing to say williamsburg these days. that is why thy say it's bushwick.

*rob*

Posted by: PitbullNYC at June 19, 2009 10:58 AM

I think Mr. B called it Bushwick. They are marketing it as Williamsburg because the neighborhood is hip and happening.

Posted by: king of the burg at June 19, 2009 11:03 AM

when I lived there in 1999-2001 that area was definitely williamsburg. you could walk to the fun stuff around the BQE & metropolitan ave, like "quiz-off" on wednesday nights. that was before the real housing nonsense started.

Posted by: joe_the_bummer at June 19, 2009 11:09 AM

if u think williamsburg is "hip" and "happening' you got problems.

*rob*

Posted by: PitbullNYC at June 19, 2009 11:10 AM

I was making a funny rob. But please enlighten me, what is the "hip" and "happening" neighborhood in NYC? my williamsburg lease is up in September and I need to move to the new hot spot!

Posted by: king of the burg at June 19, 2009 11:15 AM

Our bad--this is East Williamsburg

Posted by: brownstoner at June 19, 2009 11:18 AM

how the hell would i know KotB? im the biggest loser in nyc. personally i dont there is anything hip or happening in nyc anyway.
i actually hate it here, but im stuck here.

*rob*

Posted by: PitbullNYC at June 19, 2009 11:25 AM

do you want some cheese to go with that whine?

Posted by: king of the burg at June 19, 2009 11:28 AM

im not a cheese and wine kind of guy, sorry.

*rob*

Posted by: PitbullNYC at June 19, 2009 12:00 PM

Here's the sales pitch:

You put $11,515 down on a 593-sf one bedroom. Your monthly cost is $1412.53. That's significantly cheaper than renting a similar but much more decrepit one bedroom railroad in the same area.

Ding, ding, ding, as the What would say.

The fine print: This does NOT include private mortgage insurance.

Pretty damn interesting.

Posted by: mopar at June 19, 2009 12:52 PM

I actually went to one of these open houses a couple of months ago. The aptsandlofts guys seemed friendly enough and at the place I saw, the developer was covering the closing costs up to 5% of the total sale.

They fully disclosed PMI, but PMI is only another $100-200/month on a place like that, and ccs are under $300. So you drop $12k on a 1br and you're still paying under $2k/month all in. Not bad for a young couple I suppose. They're not any more or less strapped than the 4 family brownstone owners who rent out three floors to stay afloat. The only problem is that the places aren't as likely to hold their value.

Posted by: GuyIncognito at June 19, 2009 1:06 PM

There's actually some really interesting blocks in that little enclave east of Bushwick Ave. The movie "Eternal Sunshine of the Spotless Mind" - was shot in a grand old house on Catherine Street (I think is inhabited by squatters now)

That being said - I always thought anything east of Bushwick Avenue was technically considered Bushwick. Although if brokers are calling Ridgewood, Queens East Willamsburg - then this is WIlliamsburg too I suppose.

Posted by: dirty_hipster at June 19, 2009 1:29 PM

DH, if it were on the other side of Grand, it would be Bushwick.

Posted by: mopar at June 19, 2009 1:53 PM

Sidebar: Judge St, is it in fact the shortest street in all of NYC?

A friend lived on this block and i always thought it weird that it was just a block long.

Oh and this building has been under construction for how many years?! 3 maybe?

Posted by: MAT at June 19, 2009 1:56 PM

Nah - Judge can't be the shortest street - there's tons of little streets in the west village that have to be shorter. Gay Street comes to mind - as does Jersey Street in Soho.

Still - I think many are considered alleys - that's a good trivia question!


Mopar - very true nowadays but the oldtimers on my block stick to their guns that once you cross bushwick, you're in bushwick. i agree that the area of the condos above has a williamsburg feel, the industrial park (morgan L) is kinda its own separate nabe, and once you cross flushing ave things seem to feel like bushwick.

Posted by: dirty_hipster at June 19, 2009 2:05 PM

Orient Ave, Dirty Hipster, not Catherine. But Catherine is cute too. Or was. I used to love this area, but development has not been kind to it. Quite a lot of the little farmhouses that had somehow managed to survive up there have been torn down. (See Maspeth, the ugliest street in the burg...) And, since most of the mafia has moved out, crime is way up.

Posted by: Heather at June 19, 2009 4:27 PM

Okay, but I just checked out the offering, and yes, whoever designed it is genius. I can see why they're selling... I wouldn't buy one, but I can understand it.

Posted by: Heather at June 19, 2009 4:43 PM

Yes - orient ave heather - i stand corrected.

http://www.brownstoner.com/brownstoner/archives/2007/03/house_of_the_da_272.php

HOTD back in 2007 - I haven't been over there in a while - i wonder what has become of it.

Posted by: dirty_hipster at June 19, 2009 5:15 PM

I was over there about a year ago... it was depressing enough to be one of those "williamsburg is dead to me" moments. House was semi boarded up, but it looked like they were opening it to the elements enough that they could later claim it had to be torn down. Like on purpose.

The weird thing is, and I've said this before: that block used to be Really Nice. Like, crime did not happen there and every house was immaculate. There's a lot of Williamsburg that is not the better for all of the rampant development.

Posted by: Heather at June 19, 2009 7:02 PM

i like this area. spent some time going to cooper park and kid went to st. nicholas preschool on olive and powers. artist friends have a big space just past bushwick. i consider this still wburg. the real bushwick artist scene is a bit past still. there's gentrification growth if you are investing for at least 5 yrs out. grand street amenities have pushed that direction - there's actually a good wine store and restaurants and bars.

Posted by: wine lover at June 19, 2009 7:05 PM

I just read an article in the NYT Real Estate section about "How to spot a bargain" and it described several decent one bedrooms in Manhattan asking $530 and $471 per square foot. The maintenence is more.

Posted by: mopar at June 20, 2009 11:19 AM

They must have paid someone a pretty penny to design the web site. I'm sure they're paying royalties to Apple for using the iPhone image -- not. A funny idea -- this is an apartment for iPhone people.

Posted by: mopar at June 20, 2009 11:24 AM

http://9stopsout.wordpress.com/

Same story differnt era

Posted by: bonsavant at June 20, 2009 8:31 PM

http://9stopsout.wordpress.com/

Same story differnt era

Posted by: bonsavant at June 20, 2009 8:32 PM

this is 100% williamsburg

Posted by: aj at June 21, 2009 11:50 AM

this is definitely williamsburg! anyway, looks like six units have accepted offers at 15-17 Judge
http://www.aptsandlofts.com/index.cfm?page=searchbuilding&id=1753

Posted by: tk at June 21, 2009 12:36 PM

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