Co-op of the Day: 32 South Oxford Street

I REALLY love that this studio has a nice little room that can be a home office or a dressing room as it appears it is in the photos on the real estate webpage. Also, it looks like a very nice, clean remodeling.

This is a very well-run building. I wish the gals upstairs in the building would chime in on this thread but they probably don't read Brownstoner or are too busy at work.

The next door neighbors (S & J) are really nice and their house is fabulously renovated. It doesn't get much better than that.

And NO, this is NOT fringe. Ugh. I got testy when I saw that too and I'm glad cooler heads jumped in and took the poster to task.

The only fringe in this area of Fort Greene at this point is the fringe on my davenport.

BHO, I have to say that you kind of lose your audience (i.e. me) with the endless quotes, calculations etc. Please distill it down. PLUS, if you're going to refer to maintenance/RE taxes going up over time as part of your argument, you might as well mention that the Rent Control Board allows rents to be increased every year.

Plus, BHO, while we're on it, I never quite seem to be able to understand from your calculations and explanations if you ever take into account that even if an apartment or house sells for a little less than the original purchase price (adjusted for inflation or whatever), that it's usually a gain in non-fringe Brooklyn.

So, really, the cost of ownership ends up being lowered by the gain at the end of ownership which throws you cost of "rent vs. own" out of whack.

Sure, there can be depreciation like with everything, but it seems that, generally, these living spaces (at least slowly) appreciate over time, especially now that we're no longer "fringe"... And even with depreciation, at least the seller pulls something out of it (unless, of course the owner is "underwater" which appears may be the case in parts of Queens, Staten Island and, yes, "fringe" (I shudder using that charged term!) Brooklyn and Manhattan).

I would imagine the seller is prepared to accept an offer below the asking price.

Frankly, if this apartment were on the garden, I would snap it up in a heartbeat. The maintenance is good and low (in my opinion), the location is wonderful. And BTW Biff, we really DO have incredible subway, bus and LIRR service all right together super-conveniently clustered in Fort Greene.

Wow, a nice, easy-to-keep-clean pied-a-terre...H'mmm. This studio is not my dream apartment but it's pretty cute.

It's very tempting to think about downsizing to a studio this size with such miniscule maintenance. Sell our house, fully retire so I could get out of NYC much more(but then there IS the pesky issue of eldercare her in town of course) and we'd use a nice, little apartment like this as the NYC address and not feel like we were losing Fort Greene...which is one of the reasons I'm finding it hard to downsize.

Don't imagine I haven't thought about it...there just isn't that many apartments for sale in Fort Greene that have been either to my taste or made sense financially. For example, why end up with a mortgage on a big, fancy apartment if the point of selling our house is to simplify?

Posted by: BrooklynGreene at August 3, 2009 2:35 PM

I can see Fort Greene from my front porch.

And by the way, a lot of people wouldn't mind a studio. You can do a lot with a small space--although I've never really lived in one so what am I talking about? ;-) ...and if you're not living in it full-time, it can kind of serve more like one of those long-term business stay hotels. If it's beautifully furnished with furniture that serves multiple purposes (murphy bed, sleeper couch, tables that fold down or fold away, stacking chairs, clever storage), it can be very serviceable.

My fear is I'd junk it up in no time at all with too much bric-a-brac (a personal demon), but a smaller space might really force me to think twice. I really DO like the stuff I'm reading: "bring a thing/object into the home and another item has to leave the home." I'm not sure I could live by that artificial rule but I seems like a good idea.

Has anyone checked out the tiny house blogs? Very intriguing. I don't see myself being able to live in the smallest of them (or hoise myself into a sleeping loft!!! hahahaha!) but the small houses designed by Jay Schafer, or Ross Chapin or the various mod small houses available such as WeeHouse are kind of cute. Might be perfect for (really) old age!

By the way, re: restaurants in FG. Try Fulton Avenue too...and there's No. 7 on Greene at Fulton...which is apparently being dubbed one of the top 10 new restaurants in the US. "Who knew?"

Speaking of which, has anyone noticed the Bridgeport, CT ad campaign? Rather ridiculous but it has made me laugh when traveling I-95: billboards with "Bridgeport! Who knew?!" on them. Hahahahaha! If you know CT, you get how funny that one is.

Back to Fort Greene, unlike other fringe areas like the Heights, Park Slope and Dumbo, we have our own New York TIMES blog! Put that in your pipe and smoke it!

:-)

Posted by: BrooklynGreene at August 3, 2009 3:14 PM

Back to the ad for the apartment. I think it would look great with some wall colour. Maybe, a warm colour as a low wainscotting? Not sure if a feng shui consultant suggested the artwork up into the corner by the window but I find it rather distracting. Wouldn't mind all the artwork to be on one sightline around the room on level with the picture that is hung between the windows.

I think I'd try to do away altogether with the central light in the middle of the ceiling so there would be nothing to visually break up the ceiling. I would rather see some nice mod table lamps around the room.

That dressing room is intriguing but I'd dare to suggest to the owner to neaten it up and retake the photo for the website if that's possible. It should be catalogue-ready for any open house! I'd even reduce down the bulk of the clothes and send them upstairs in a suitcase to a willing neighbor for the afternoon. If it looks less cluttered, that little room could be more easily imagined as a multi-use space: dressing room, home office, sewing/hobby room.

And depending on the room measurements, for a little (okay, a lot) there's some very clever furniture out there with wall beds that fold down, twist, turn, etc. so you can have a work table for example, but if you have a guest, the table folds flat against the wall and then the whole thing pivots in very little space to reveal a bed on the other side. Very clever.

I have a dressing room but it's only a dressing room with heavy furniture and dressers (no built in). It's a little bit of a catch-all It really could be a small bedroom since it has a large window. I've often dreamed of having the whole thing done as a built-in with a velvet settee set into cabinets and a little shabby chic chandelier...but then I wake up.

:-)

Posted by: BrooklynGreene at August 3, 2009 3:29 PM

How much would a comparable, redone (to this level) studio go for in Manhattan or Brooklyn Heights? I'm curious if anyone knows...

And apparently, I've really been bitten by the downsizing bug. I'd love a super efficient, mod two bedroom flat with all sorts of clever storage and lovely little details. Would be lovely on a high floor with a terrace or a ground floor with a patio/little garden.

Oh, well. The daydreams of "A Lady of Quality" (Lady Vane's memoire in the Peregrine Pickle) if you don't know the reference...

Posted by: BrooklynGreene at August 3, 2009 4:20 PM

The Chicken,
Did you really, truly need to add that comment? Hhh...very, VERY poor judgment.

And Aj, what about a 15-year mortgage? Who needs to live in a box for 30 years? You're right? Who does...but Sweetheart, I'm hear to tell you that "it happens"...kind of surprising as the years start adding up!

Then again, looking at all those tiny house blogs, it would seem ideal to be mortgage-free with a small mobile home or shack somewhere. Just not our style though. Our garden shed in New England is probably as large as some of those tiny houses. And, the more nicely finished, larger houses in the 700-800 square feet can be pretty darned expensive so you're "back at square one". I guess a tiny home on a piece of barely taxed land in the country is an option...problem is, if you live and work in NYC...

As I was saying earlier, this kind of nicely finished studio IS rather appealing because it would allow us to have a low maintenance pied-a-terre right in the heart of our beloved Fort Greene. I realllly love the idea of this being a studio BUT having that little multi-use room. Makes this much more exciting than a single room with a bathroom.

I guess if this were in the back of the townhouse and not on the ground floor with a ground floor entryway taking up space, it would be wider/have a small side room. Or, if it were on the parlor floor, since there's no stoop (sad), the parlor floor front studio would also have either a full width room a little side room. That might be nice too.

Does anyone know of any decent townhouse pieds-a-terre in Fort Greene. It seems that all the recent redo/condos are big and expensive. I've had my eye a bit on that Sanctuary top floor studio with loft but it's not really ideal.

Not to beat a dead horse as they say, but BHO, although I'll let DIBS fight it out for me because Maths and I aren't particular friends, I still wouldn't mind an explanation why an eventual sale, when you say it might at least in nominal terms, be back up to the original purchase price, would not go for something.

As I see it, without even depending on appreciation, but just imagine a house or apartment ends up selling for "something" (and the seller does not owe more than the sale price), then wouldn't that tend to depress the cost of ownership when all is said and done? If you're paying about the same per month to rent or to "own", then wouldn't owning be better since you have to take into consideration the tax write-off (interest and RE taxes), which we agree on, of course, but also the eventual sale which kind of "nets" back some of what one has paid over the years? I agree, one has to consider the "lost opportunity", or whatever term you guys bandy about on a busy day, of the downpayment...

If you sell for anywhere near what you paid, in my book, you've lived in a space and paid mostly just interest. If you've paid cash, you've simply lost the interest/income that could have been gained on that money if it had been in "the 2 or 3 per cents" as they said a hundred years ago. Last time I checked, the income minus tax on the income one is getting for "safe" investments is not very high and is higher than the interest one would pay on a mortgage. So it seems to make sense to "tie up" one's cash in a home...

AS LONG AS one does not overpay, granted.

Posted by: BrooklynGreene at August 3, 2009 4:59 PM

Not sure if many of you know, wheat and millet have been farmed in China for centuries. I found the reference above quite distasteful.

Thank you BH76 for the info. Those prices are doable. I'll look to see what's available. Is the New York Times search engine the best way?

Call me an oddball, but I would really rather we stay in Fort Greene but maybe I could get used to Brooklyn Heights.

Posted by: BrooklynGreene at August 3, 2009 5:15 PM

How embarrassing! I had a case of commentitis today. Oh well. It's just that see red when the Fort Greene detractors make snide remarks and so have to "jump in".

Posted by: BrooklynGreene at August 3, 2009 5:17 PM

Thanks for the support, East New York...

But, yes, that haiku episode was atrocious! I agree. And when a girlfriend of mine told me about all these poetry groups online...I checked some out and it's all overwhelming and a little nauseating. It was a turn off so I stopped.

Mopar, look, I'll take the above crack as a snide remark. You should understand that "back in the day" as they say (NOP, back me up) rents in NYC could be low...YES, LOW!

I knew many people with a floor-"thru" either singly or a couple and they weren't breaking the bank, even on a modest income. Granted, apartments were RARELY fancy or done up. Just about every rental apartment in a townhouse in Manhattan or Brooklyn that I can think of off-hand, had a shabby edge, if not some full-blown shabbiness to it.

It's just gotten all out of whack and the last 25 years have seen a steady slide in wages/salaries and buying power. So here we are, rents for a studio that are 100% of the take-home pay for basic, fresh-out-of-college entry-level jobs (not finance or law mind you). It's not fair; it rarely has been unfortunately.

Frankly, I don't know how the young people are managing, but it seems there are all sorts of group situations in cheaper Brooklyn neighborhoods.

We should have the kinds of super-neat, clean, organized group apartments like those in Berlin. There may be a dozen people living in a sprawling flat with a couple of bathrooms and everything seems to run smoothly and the place is clean. Do we have anything comparable in NYC at this time?

Speaking of Germany, when is the Schwarze Koelner going to open? They had their gates either all the way or half-way down yesterday in the afternoon/early evening.

All in all, I would like to wish the coop-of-the-day owner all the best!!! Again, it's a lovely studio and I love, love, love the extra activity room and the tasteful renovation. Just one word again, for any open house, clean up the dressing room, dump half the clothes upstairs with the neighbors for an afternoon and fold everything super neatly like you would see in a shop. Really make that dressing room super cute and neat. Also, you might add a small table lamp with a warm bulb in that room if you don't have one already and/or add some under cabinet (i.e. IKEA) lights under the shelf to light the counter...and, maybe crazy, find a small but cute upholstered chair or tuffet to put into that room even if it doesn't make sense on a daily-use level. It might give the look that the room can be used to sit and read. Of course, it may be too small. It's hard to tell from the photos. Would be great to add some colour to the bit of visible wall mabye and maybe replace the picture with a mirror for now.

Best wishes!

Posted by: BrooklynGreene at August 3, 2009 8:02 PM

Thank you BabyGreene for backing me up and disspelling some of the misconceptions out there. I agree that if you stroll around the neighborhood on a Saturday it's as though the whole East Coast has decended on us. The Flea Market sellers are from all over and the shoppers/strollers/brunchers are from ALL over NYC and from outside the city. People will even come in from Philadelphia for the day and spend it in Fort Greene. "Who knew?"

Argentina, I think you're a little out of touch with the goings on vis-a-vis the Vanderbilt Yards. That's the only thing "Bilt" about it...the name.

The project that is not, is titled "Atlantic Yards" (not very pretty of a name in my opinion). The existing yards are called the Vanderbilt Yards (gee...I wonder who THEY're named after?!). The "Atlantic Yards" has been nothing but Yards at Antics. It's shocking that so much good money after bad has been thrown down the toilet at this mess. I'd love a real accounting of both the total taxpayer money handed over so far, how much is really promised (which is apparently a mind-blowing number), the amount the MTA in a sense handed over by penning a lousy deal, and how much profit the developer could walk away with.

Of course, now the state wants to allow this project to have a 22 million year build out allowance...okay, you can scratch the "million". But why should any private profit project be allowed a quarter century? Most of us/many of us won't even be alive. Can anyone name one project like this? Sure Lincoln Center took a long time from drawing board to finished project and has been an ongoing project, in a sense, for years. But that is LINCOLN CENTER, not a lousy arena dead zone and simply, boring apartment towers.

They might as well have built a housing project frankly. Would be smarter to build affordable housing.

"IF" anything is ever built there, it won't have much impact on this little studio BTW so to bring that up now at the end of a long day is a little dumb...unless you did it for humour's sake.

Posted by: BrooklynGreene at August 3, 2009 9:53 PM