archigoddess's Profile
Author's Posts
September 10, 2009
FSBO or Not?
I'm thinking of putting my 3b/2b floor-thru apt in a prime Park Slope brownstone on the market and am debating whether to try to go the "For Sale By Owner" route. Anybody have recent experience doing this and have any words of wisdom?
I'm a designer, so can draw up plans myself, feel confident with staging and photographs. It's the rest of it I find daunting, but am having a hard time justifying 6% to a broker . I feel like the apt is pretty special, don't see anything quite like it on the market, but am under no delusions this will be easy. Again, any advice would be greatly appreciated.
Author's Comments
@ Brenda: Agree, it's amazing what people deem to be trash. Thank goodness for landmarking, too bad it doesn't apply to interiors. I was walking by Jennifer Connolly's old home this week and the front door was open. Looks like they were doing extensive work inside, curious to see (if we ever can), what changes were made. That interior looked gorgeous from the pics when it was on the market. If a breakfront ends up on the sidewalk, will call you on this new-fangled phone everyone's talking about.
Posted by: archigoddess at November 19, 2009 12:20 PM in response to Walkabout: Montrose Morris - Full Circle
Did someone castigate Gay on an earlier thread? So weirdly angry over a bit of brownstone history.
Posted by: archigoddess at November 19, 2009 11:57 AM in response to Walkabout: Montrose Morris - Full Circle
Someone's cranky this morning. Some of us actually do find this interesting. If you don't, just skip it and proceed to the things that do interest you, whatever that may be. May I suggest starting with picking up a dictionary and looking up the word "homophone."
Posted by: archigoddess at November 19, 2009 11:46 AM in response to Walkabout: Montrose Morris - Full Circle
Is this even legal for light and air calcs?
Posted by: archigoddess at November 16, 2009 9:02 PM in response to Development Watch: S#!tbox on Underhill
This all depends on the actual condition of the structure and interior finishes. But, assuming nothing catastrophic, $300-$400k is probably in the range of doable.
Posted by: archigoddess at October 1, 2009 10:44 AM in response to Cost of Run-Down vs. Reno'd
It would be very difficult to get an accurate quote without drawings and some basic specifications to give to potential contractors. I would recommend hiring someone to do plans and specs to bid it out to the builder. If you could give an idea of the range you are comfortable spending, you can get some feedback on feasibility before you proceed.
Posted by: archigoddess at October 1, 2009 10:34 AM in response to Rooftop Renovation, Addition
Said it could get close, but NEVER said it should. Have also said at least twice, no one actually knows. Can't be any clearer than that.
Posted by: archigoddess at September 29, 2009 9:53 PM in response to House of the Day: 329 Adelphi Street Reduced
Ok, I'll take the bait Ty. If you read the ENTIRE post, you'll see that I never said it should cost a million, just that $350 was probably too low for a house that needs this much work. Truth probably somewhere in the middle. Someone needs to take a hard look at it, come back with some real info, and until then no way to know. What could be perceived as crazy is being so darn certain one is right when they have about 5% of the data. That's it.
Posted by: archigoddess at September 29, 2009 4:34 PM in response to House of the Day: 329 Adelphi Street Reduced
Minard, what a glorious change in tone. Not one of us was suggesting doing anything but the bare minimum to this house to make it habitable or as you say "perfectly nice." And, I'll say again, until someone actually unbuttons this thing, it's all speculation. You have a lovely evening, as well.
Posted by: archigoddess at September 29, 2009 3:09 PM in response to House of the Day: 329 Adelphi Street Reduced
Minard, do you have a vested interest in the outcome of this discussion? While you're correct that it wouldn't be prudent to sink a ton of money into this thing, the kicker is you'd have to to make it livable, not "designed", just livable.
Posted by: archigoddess at September 29, 2009 2:36 PM in response to House of the Day: 329 Adelphi Street Reduced
Minard, the architect's job is not to make an unrealistic budget work or tell people what they want to hear. It's primarily to address life safety issues (of which this house has many), if you can get some good design in in the process, bonus points.
Square foot take-offs on this kind of problem are wildly variable. To say with any certainty what this would cost would take more than the five minutes of consideration most of us have given it. No one here is insane or deserves to be spanked, and architects certainly aren't to blame for the high cost of living in New York. If they were, they would live better. What's with the vilifying?
Posted by: archigoddess at September 29, 2009 2:28 PM in response to House of the Day: 329 Adelphi Street Reduced
If structural damage, rot, and mold take up $300k of your number, there is no way to "make it work."
Posted by: archigoddess at September 29, 2009 2:06 PM in response to House of the Day: 329 Adelphi Street Reduced
Minard, I find that comment offensive to architects and sailors. The house looks like it has significant structural and cosmetic problems (not to mention landscaping). It would be difficult to fix it up for the number you throw out. If it was so easy, would be sold by now - what a steal. $1M might be too high, but not so off base as to categorically dismiss.
Posted by: archigoddess at September 29, 2009 1:29 PM in response to House of the Day: 329 Adelphi Street Reduced
I had the same thoughts about the open houses/showings. We bought an apt FSBO and were shown the apt by the owner. Ended up liking them. Only tricky part was as we came to know them better, they would want to discuss the sale and logistics personally rather than let the lawyers flesh it out. That was a bit awkward. If doing it myself, would definitely not do that. I would still do open houses, but only by appt only.
Posted by: archigoddess at September 11, 2009 12:08 PM in response to FSBO or Not?
Vesna- I had this exact issue with an upstairs neighbor a few years ago and ended up moving. Your neighbors reaction was near identical and we tried many of the tactics here, even offering to buy the carpet. For us, it was two young kids that would chase each other all over the apartment until we'd hear a large crash, crying, and then it would stop for about 1/2 hour. It frequently started at 7a on Sat/Sun. We had a chandelier over our bed that I had to remove the glass globes because the would rattle like a train was going by. The neighbor simply didn't care. I knocked on the door one Sunday at 8a after an hour of chaos and he said he was just trying to enjoy some fun time with his kids and I was bothering him by knocking on the door. It never occurred to him that I too deserved to "enjoy" my time in my apartment. That's when I knew it was a lost cause.
So, we moved after 6 months. I hate to be so negative, but people either care or they don't. Sounds like you have a don't. Btw, I have two kids, so it's not like I don't get it.
Posted by: archigoddess at September 11, 2009 8:20 AM in response to Running Child Upstairs
Hi Crown- That's an interesting idea. I have seen FSBO listings that say brokers welcome and always wondered why, if they had no vested interest in selling, they would even bother. Perhaps that's the potential arrangement.
Posted by: archigoddess at September 11, 2009 8:04 AM in response to FSBO or Not?
No, those sound exactly right. I just spec'd this exact thing, a 2x2 hexagonal carrara mosaic was $18/sf, carrara subway tile was $11/sf and a penny tile was $7/sf. In no way absurdly high, but could possibly be found for slightly cheaper with a fair amount of running around and research. Time is money.....
Posted by: archigoddess at September 11, 2009 8:01 AM in response to Price of Tiles High?
Appreciate the advice! The apt is in a 25' wide brownstone, so bigger footprint than most floor thrus. In pristine condition. Also has beautiful and exclusive roof deck accessed directly from apt with fab views. I've looked at a lot of apts for comps, but most don't have the amenities this place does. Will keeping looking at comps as things come on the market.
Posted by: archigoddess at September 10, 2009 4:55 PM in response to FSBO or Not?
That's more than likely what I would do, but am wondering if there are any pitfalls to trying to do it myself from a marketing and negotiating point of view. I don't need to sell it, so am not in a hurry, thus think I can play with the option. Wonder if anyone has tried FSBO and then went to a broker when they had no luck or realized they were in too deep? On a $1M+ apt, $60k to brokers is hard to swallow. Are brokers negotiating fees these days?
Posted by: archigoddess at September 10, 2009 3:31 PM in response to FSBO or Not?
Give either European Marble and Granite or ABC Stone a call. They can probably refer you to a fabricator. Assuming it will need to be removed and you don't want it done in place?
Posted by: archigoddess at September 10, 2009 2:57 PM in response to Need Countertop Honed
rising crane, i appreciate your loyalty, but geez... a railing will never help this disaster. if you know the developer personally you may want to help guide him to another profession.
Posted by: archigoddess at August 4, 2009 7:59 PM in response to Development Watch: 330 Clifton Fugly, As Expected
Responses to Author's Forum Comments
figure 200/sf and see if that works for you...if it does, hire an architect to make it real..
Posted by: eman1234 at October 1, 2009 9:23 PM in response to Rooftop Renovation, Addition
Crownheights2007,
I've been working very hard to do just that. The trick here is that in NYC and the boroughs, in residential construction all bearing structure needs to be non-combustible, meaning no wood studs. All of the pre-fab builders in the country work in wood or have limits to what they can do in steel. Those that do work in steel do not do jobs less than 20,000 square feet. There are some custom modular builders that do smaller scale, but their costs are typically double the current expected minimum of $200 a foot, so they're not a viable option.
There are cases in which pre-fab can be used in NYC. The building needs to be 1 or 2 stories, or 1 or 2 families. In these cases, the state code, which allows wood construction (therefore pre-fab), actually overrides the city code and allows wood framing - but only if built as pre-fab.
As I've said, I've been researching this for a long time, and have yet to find a way. If someone could figure out a way to do small scale, metal framed pre-fab, they could corner the market on pre-fab rooftop additions and make a killing.
Posted by: JimHill at October 2, 2009 4:29 PM in response to Rooftop Renovation, Addition
The first question you want to ask yourself, is do you really want to do that?
Honed counters are unusally porous, and can have all kinds of issues.
Posted by: STEPHENWANGEL at October 12, 2009 4:52 PM in response to Need Countertop Honed
Yes, standard. I base it on a ballpark of the cost of construction and do 0.5-1% so for a $500,000 project, may ask for a $3500 retainer.
Posted by: archigoddess at November 19, 2009 12:42 PM in response to Retainer for architect