Not to be "blockist" but Washington Park is much "better" than South Portland because you are looking at the park not another row of brownstones. Additionally to one of the other commentors: 10 South Portland is obviously not a corner lot. It is the house that went into contract for $2.65MM through that weird broker that's about 3 houses in from the corner - it's 5 floors and needs total renovation. The person who bought 10 South Portland is going to do it "right" so assume $300 per sq ft reno cost - the house is 4,500 sq ft so that is $2.65MM+$1.35MM=$4MM
Now would someone like to tell me why this pristine, unreal renovation (and yes I've been inside several times)in great taste and amazing quality right on the park is mispriced?

Posted by: Washingtonian at July 14, 2006 2:56 PM in response to Stepping Out On FG Park (For Almost $4 Mil!)

Here's my partial list:

Insurance $8K
Taxes $2.5K
Water/Sewer $0.3K
Electric $3.6K
Gas $3.6K
Endless things breaking $10K per year (?)

You're also going to want service contracts: heating contract, a/c contract, plumbing contract

Oh yeah...walking in your own front door at the end of the day...priceless

Posted by: Washingtonian at August 2, 2006 2:33 PM in response to What Does It All Cost??

can someone shoot "original poster" with a caulk gun?

Posted by: Washingtonian at August 2, 2006 2:39 PM in response to Bathroom Caulking Job

Not to jump on the bandwagon and I will caveat this with the fact we are just in the exploratory phases of our reno project but I cannot believe that you can get this done for $150K - again depends if you're putting in IKEA etc. but still I would think $300K+...if you are confident on the 150K...do it

Posted by: Washingtonian at August 2, 2006 2:50 PM in response to renovation cold feet

Look at any corcoran brownstone listing and you can see annual taxes: they usually vary from 2000 to 5000 annual, although they are all on a fixed path to rise over time no matter WHAT happens to the economy or house prices!

Insurance is pretty cheap I think typically less than half property taxes.

Utilities are whatever you use. If it is multi family you get raped on common area electricity charges.

Repairs: well that can be almost nothing for years to major work. Usually the three things people have to pay for sooner or later are
boiler
roof
facade

Many owners buy, live in, and sell a brownstone without ever getting hit with any of these things.

Generally my impression is that owning a brownstone is a lot cheaper per square foot than owning a co-op with a doorman and/or elevator if you pay well to buy one in good condition.

Posted by: at August 2, 2006 2:37 PM in response to What Does It All Cost??

For a good, watertight seal, the caulk should be removed before new caulk is applyed. A flat razer scraper should be used, not a putty knife, if you want to avoid damaging the tiles. It shouldn't take more than 1 - 1.5 hours, and a neat (emphasis on the neat) handyman should be able to do it if you don't want to do it yourself. IMHO, I find that running a finger along the caulk line makes the smallest, smoothest caulk line.

Be careful if someone recommends grouting the line - grout is not meant for 90-degree angles, and probably is not flexible enough for that joint. Lastly, don't be cheap on the caulk. A couple of extra bucks on one tube of the lifetime-guaranteed silicone may save you headaches in the future.

Posted by: HCarson at August 2, 2006 3:22 PM in response to Bathroom Caulking Job

oops - razor, of course

Posted by: at August 2, 2006 3:33 PM in response to Bathroom Caulking Job

Gee, Mateo, I was gonna say the same thing. Glad you got to it first. Ouch! OP, I apologize and understand if you really are physically challenged, but you would lose more time and energy dealing with the handyman than just doing it yourself.

Posted by: Yente at August 2, 2006 5:56 PM in response to Bathroom Caulking Job

What is it they say, Mateo? No good deed goes unpunished? Well, even if the OP didn't find it useful, I did. Any tips like that that people can pass along are always much appreciated to those of us without bucks to throw around. Maybe you can answer my related question? I have a beautiful piece of old tin ceiling that I am using as a backsplash for my freestanding clawfoot. What caulking would you recommend to seal the edges? I get confused with all the choices.

Posted by: Bx2Bklyn at August 3, 2006 12:19 AM in response to Bathroom Caulking Job

Calk should always be used where two dissimilar surfaces butt up against each other to allow for expansion and contraction. You can grout first but corners should be neatly caulked. DIY is over rated. If I had the cash I would pay to have everything done by someone else and I.m a handyman by profession. Don't be shocked to find a big gap under all that caulk. Sometimes
(whether from the tub sinking or a poorly planned tile job) a space is left that gets plugged with gobs of caulk over time. Be careful that the tile doesn't fall off when removing the caulk. Prior water damage may exist and the wall may not be holding the tile anymore.

Posted by: retired at August 3, 2006 8:45 AM in response to Bathroom Caulking Job

One of my pet peeves on message boards is when I ask for advice on how to do A and am instead told that nobody in their right mind would do A and that doing B is the way to go. But before I respond I try (not always successfully) to take a deep breath and remember that the great thing about message boards is that many people can learn from questions asked by one. It can feel so satisfying to snap back at the irrelevant/condescending/combative posts, but I try to tell myself that even though I'm not learning anything from them, someone else probably is, and the world goes 'round.

That having been said, I've never in my life found a handyman who could caulk well, so if anyone comes up with someone please let me know.

Posted by: cicek at August 3, 2006 10:25 AM in response to Bathroom Caulking Job

I moved the kitchen up to the parlor and had a full bath (well, shower) put in up there as well. There was no plumbing on the parlor level, but we just went through the floor from the garden. Agree with the posters that this is the "entertaining" floor and it both made sense for me and for future resale. I could only fit 2 nice sized bedrooms on my garden level though. I don't have an extension and there are some details in the front room that would've been lost if I cut it into 3 smaller rooms. As far as pricing, I'm always surprised by the numbers people throw around. I spent way less than $300k on the entire 4 floors of my brownstone and it was nearly a gut job. If you have time and you're handy...as much DIY as possible, you can GC, which always helps and shop around for salvaged antique materials, which are usually 10x nicer than new "high end" shite. Also, it sounds as if you're going to re-do the existing kitchen and bath anyway, so it's just a matter of running some plumbing.

Posted by: Yente at August 3, 2006 10:44 AM in response to renovation cold feet

... and its even less per square foot if you buy a fixer-upper and pay well to do a careful, thorough renovation.

Posted by: NHassebroek at August 3, 2006 4:13 PM in response to What Does It All Cost??

If it's more than 3-family, RE tax could be over 15K.

Posted by: at August 9, 2006 5:51 PM in response to What Does It All Cost??