Officially (as in, when filing with the DOB, etc). A basement is anything below grade, so a garden 1 or 2 steps down is actually a basement. but no one would call it that in selling a house so they call it the garden floor/ garden apartment. Below that is the cellar. Code regulations about what constitute legal living space (bedrooms, etc) include needing sufficient light and air. You can turn any basement into liveable space with a 5' light well in front of it, which is much less than typical garden floors have.

Posted by: 11216 at July 15, 2008 2:38 PM in response to House of the Day: 219 Washington Avenue

when we bought we took a mortgage for 80% to purchase. then took a second mortgage for 10% (at a higher rate) for part of the renovation and paid for the rest of the reno using new credit cards with 0% interest for 12 months. managed to finance $200K in construction. avoided having to get a construction loan. and could have refinanced once it was finished since it was worth more but so far haven't done that. the credit card thing is risky i guess, but it worked for us and was less pain. managed to get our gut reno done and have tenants in within 3 1/2 months of closing on a building that had been used as an SRO. So i'm not sure I agree with ontheparkway about you being in over your head... don't know how they can know that without knowing your situation much better

Posted by: 11216 at July 15, 2008 4:08 PM in response to Financing? How do you do it?

Its a great location but these apartments are overpriced and the renovation looks horrible.
I'm guessing at these numbers but I know the market in that area pretty well:
Say the whole building before renovation would be worth $750K
and the renovation cost $200K, then, with soft costs, etc, the owner spent around $1m or $1.1... With two units at $425,000 and a third at $550,000 plus a fourth not on the market (already sold?) which was probably the same $425K. Thats a total of $1,825,000 for the apartments. Thats just greedy.

Posted by: 11216 at July 21, 2008 2:24 PM in response to Condos of the Day: 83 Halsey Street

This George must be something else. Silverstar seems to spend all his time online just touting the services of his architect. Come on: just say that you are an architect who can help this person with the job and finished. Its not like they won't want to work with you just because you admit you are yourself.

Posted by: 11216 at July 21, 2008 3:02 PM in response to digging out basement?

it is not a commercial building in terms of zoning -- though as a multiple dwelling it might be just that in terms of mortgage requirements. To convert from a SRO to a single family the hardest thing is the certificate of non-harassement which it sounds like you have. check w/ the city if it is current/ sufficient. then you will need to change the C of O. Thats a pretty big endeavor and will require both architect and expeditor. You'll need drawings of the building and they city will do inspections of everything: so you might well have a good deal of work to do on it even though you don't want to do any renovations now because you will have to get everything in the building to code. Before you take this on have a thorough house inspection and a walkthrough with architect & contractor so you can ascertain what the costs involved might be.

Posted by: 11216 at July 22, 2008 2:11 PM in response to Conversion of SRO to one-family

Finance dept is not the place to find the designation. Look at the HPD website, should list the number of 'A' apartments. Occasionally the website is wrong and you need to go in person to get the actual hardcopy listing the buildings use. You could have an expeditor look into it if you don't feel confident you are finding teh information yourself.
If its a legal 2 you don't need to change the CofO which is much simpler of course. You do need to file with the DOB to add a bathroom and kitchen, even if you aren't changing the CofO so you will need an architect. I'd imagine if you are going to change from a one family to two family use there might be other things that need to be done and an architect would be very helpful.
If you are going to need a new CofO its a much bigger process as you'll have all sorts of inspections and might well land up doing additional work you didn't want to, or anticipate having to do.

Posted by: 11216 at August 5, 2008 2:33 PM in response to Reno

As smokychimp noted, there really is likely to be an HPD record, as an architect, I've never heard of them not having the information. If you want to discuss further let me know: we do these kinds of renovations pretty often. You can email me at tbraude at gmail dot com.

Posted by: 11216 at August 6, 2008 11:32 AM in response to Reno

I've worked with Steve Kessler at Grogan on projects where I was the architect and he has always been extremely helpful, efficient, etc, even in situation with conflicts between neighbors, and such that got quite problematic. I'm not saying use them for this condo, but I certainly do not find that madamlee's comments are echoed by my personal experience and I assume there is another side to whatever story is being told there.

Posted by: 11216 at August 13, 2008 3:49 PM in response to Management Companies

is there somewhere that all the inside third and bond postings are collated so i can go through them sequentially. i've missed some and i'm not finding any easy way to get at them... maybe i'm missing something obvious

Posted by: 11216 at August 14, 2008 12:05 PM in response to Inside Third & Bond: Week 49

my understanding of this kind of living is that everyone has their own kitchen, in their own unit, and can also choose to use and share the communal spaces. that combination of private and shared space is what, to me, makes this a workable idea. seems like it could be a really great lifestyle.

Posted by: 11216 at August 15, 2008 10:52 AM in response to Brooklyn Co-Housing Moving Closer to Reality?

Hi,

My company is very active in the area. We are a small - medium sized company with around 26 buildings, mostly Coops. You can check us out at www.ebmg.com (Excel Bradshaw Management Group) or give me a call at (516) 333-7730 x.201. We have a Brooklyn office that can be reached at (718) 266-1110.

Posted by: mblevine at August 21, 2008 10:16 PM in response to Management Companies

I second the recommendation to save the bug. I hadn't had bites but found a little bug that I thought fit the description of a bedbug. Saved it for the exterminator, and it turns out it was a carpet beetle. Not a problem unless we decide to install natural carpets in the future.

I haven't used them for bed bugs (knock on wood), but they've been great for roaches and mice. . . Pestawayinc.com.

Posted by: Heatherie at August 27, 2008 10:34 AM in response to Bed Bug Recommendation?

I thought I saw some when packing up my apartment last week, saved them in a glass jar and drove them over to Ecology Exterminators in Sunset Park where the guys there assured me what I had were spider beetles, probably from the packing boxes and not a major problem. If you still haven't resolved this, try catching one and bringing it to someone to verify.

Posted by: WTbound at August 27, 2008 11:05 AM in response to Bed Bug Recommendation?