November 4, 2009

Cost of Owning a Brownstone

We've been longtime lurkers on Brownstone and appreciated all the knowledge we've gleaned. We're considering buying a 4 story, 17 foot wide brownstone but are not sure we are ready to shift from condo to brownstone ownership. I know there have been posts on this in the past, but have been unable to call them up. The question: We're wondering about monthly costs of ownership as well as periodic costs of things we haven't thought of. So, how much do you hold in the bank and how much are you paying out (on average) every month?

October 14, 2009

Moldy Smell

The basement of my building flooded over the summer, and post clean up effort we have been smelling mold. I have read about mold to a degree and most sites recommend using borate based products to eliminate it. Any advice on what to buy?

October 7, 2009

How To Compare Maintenance

Can anyone recommend a tool or resource or database for doing neighborhood-by-neighborhood comparisons of coop maintenance fees? I live in a coop in PLG, and we have a lot of conversations about whether or not our maintenance is reasonable, and it would be nice to be able to get beyond anecdotal evidence.

Let me describe the thing that would make me happiest: A spreadsheet, where each row was a New York City neighborhood, and where each column was a category of coop building ("large, w/ doorman," "small, w/o non-doorman," etc.), and the cells contained a rough estimate of average or reasonable maintenance figures for that kind of building in that neighborhood ... perhaps expressed in dollars of maintenance per square foot of apartment.

(Apparently what would make me happiest is a robot real-estate broker.)

Thanks, everyone.

September 29, 2009

Calculating Maint. Deductibility

Just to make sure I am doing the math right, from my 1098, my RE taxes paid in 2008 were X and my share of the Building Mortgage paid was Y. If maintenance is Z, then is this the right formula for determining what I can state on my listing is the deductibility?

( X + Y ) / ( Z * 12)

I am getting a number of ~ 24% I vaguely recall the listing when I bought had 33% so I don't know if that was bogus or if I am doing my math incorrectly?

Thanks,
Matt

September 24, 2009

Good Cleaning Crew?

Hey-Anyone have a good cleaning crew they use for apartment cleanings? Apartment is empty, but we need to get it cleaned before we move in, just a lot of dusting, mopping, scrubbing. Thanks

August 31, 2009

Mechanic in Carroll Gardens Area

Hello All,
I really need to find a good, reliable, reasonable mechanic for a domestic car in the Carroll Gardens Area. I stopped by the service station on Atlantic, but the guy was so mean to his employee's im not sure i trust him to be good to me either.

Please let me know if you have any suggestions, its greatly appreciated!

Thanks, Rich

August 1, 2009

Cleaning brick?

Hi everyone,
excuse my ignorance, but I've never lived with the oft-sought "exposed brick." The stairs in our duplex are brick. It's nice, but dirty...it looks like it has some kind of whitish stuff. Should I post a pic? I'm not sure how to do that. Also, I have a working fireplace so it's got a little soot. I've never made a fire and I'm not immediately planning on cleaning it like I want to with the stairs. But never have had brick in an apt before, I don't know what to use to clean it. I have a bucket and scrubby bush, but feel like I'm missing something. Any ideas?

July 25, 2009

Is a tenant/porter an employee?

Hi,
I am on the board of a small 8 unit coop. One of the shareholders has agreed to remove garbage and clean the common areas in exchange for a $400 discount to his monthly maintenance fee. We have been told that this constitutes an employer/employee relationship the implication of which is added overhead (worker's compensation insurance, disability insurance, taxes etc.) The shareholder/porter also ends up having to pay taxes on his discount. It seems to me that this approach is an overkill. I would appreciate any thoughts from members of the forum. Thanks.

July 13, 2009

first time homeowner DIY/fixes

We just recently closed on a 2 family brick house in Bensonhurst. I've lived in Manhattan most of life and know nothing when it comes to fixing up the house or even stopping a leak. Any advice on where I can find resources to gain more knowledge in this area (fixes for common problems around the house) or just to get an idea how things work in the house. Thanks in advance.

July 7, 2009

NHS Home Improvement Classes

Has anyone taken home improvement classes with NHS?
Was it worth it?
Overall, did you find them useful?

Forum: Maintenance