"'People were concerned,' said James Tate, 44, who, along with his wife, Valisa, 39, paid $695,000 for a 1,100-square-foot studio."

I don't even know where to start. Buying a studio at 44/39 y.o.? For $695K? With 1,100 sq. ft. but no rooms? What is with this place?!?!

Posted by: betterside at July 27, 2009 3:04 PM in response to Renting 1 BBP: 'We Would Like Things to be Different'

Apparently a million+ bucks buys you restored woodwork and a rectangular bathtub. And its not the straight sheetrock that makes the interior so ugly. What a joke.

Posted by: betterside at May 5, 2009 1:45 PM in response to House of the Day: 481 4th Street

Hideous exterior, but absolutely amazing view, big place, and a beautiful neighborhood (BH, Cadman Plaza Park, DUMBO, etc.).

Don't read too much into this admittedly imprecise comparison, but here's some food for thought. Which would you rather do at least twice every day:

1. See the exterior of this ugly building and know that you live there.

or

2. Walk under the BQE or take an airport-style shuttle.

Posted by: betterside at April 21, 2009 4:06 PM in response to Co-op of the Day: 75 Henry Street

I agree wholeheartedly with tybur6. The DOT, spearheaded by Commissioner Sadik-Khan, is doing some great things that will hopefully transform our city.

http://www.bicycling.com/article/0,6610,s1-2-18-17075-1,00.html

Posted by: betterside at April 17, 2009 11:25 AM in response to Two Lanes for Two-Wheelers on Prospect Park West

This is a gorgeous place in a great location with a unique layout (essentially 1.5 floors of a brownstone, kinda like a ranch-style brownstone). I'm guessing there will be buyers that are priced out of full brownstones, want more space than a normal-sized floor-through, and would prefer the layout of a large single floor to a duplex. Definitely commands over a million...I guessed 1.2.

Posted by: betterside at April 16, 2009 3:09 PM in response to Co-op of the Day: 314 Clinton Street, #3

Regarding the location, its in Windsor Terrace, but its the cute and convenient corner of Windsor Terrace. For my money, its a better few blocks than most of Park Slope south of 9th St. Certainly nicer house and block than most of what passes as the South Slope.

I think this place fetches close to $1.5M.

Posted by: betterside at April 8, 2009 1:55 PM in response to House of the Day: 489 16th Street

Maybe this site's bitter feud between nervous owners and wannabe buyers has some basis in reality:

"Right now, she said, there is a standoff in the market, with buyers expecting huge discounts and sellers resisting. 'The buyers and sellers have gotten different memos of what the price should be and no one is budging,' she said."

http://www.nytimes.com/2009/03/29/realestate/29deal1.html?ref=realestate

Posted by: betterside at March 30, 2009 11:29 AM in response to It's Good To Be A Renter Right Now

Blah. I love Windsor Terrace, but to me the whole point of the neighborhood is that you don't have to live in a big prewar building. I agree the location's in the middle of nowhere retail-wise, but to the Fresh Direct comment, there is actually a decent-sized grocery store a few blocks away.

Posted by: betterside at March 19, 2009 3:44 PM in response to Co-op of the Day: 135 Prospect Park SW, #F12

Gemini, I think the sole criterion for HOTD is period detail. The rest of the house can be a dump if at least one ornate wooden screen is intact.

Just kidding.

Sort of.

Posted by: betterside at March 17, 2009 4:02 PM in response to House of the Day: 735 Decatur Street Revisited

Audrey Edwards needs to head back over there on a sunny day, though. Managed to make a killer view look downright icky.

Posted by: betterside at March 16, 2009 12:59 PM in response to Co-op of the Day: 315 Saint Johns Place

Not a big fan of big co-op buildings, but I love the layout of this place. Regardless of what the actual square footage is, this place makes good use of the space--its a bona fide 3BR/2BA with a killer master setup.

Posted by: betterside at March 16, 2009 12:55 PM in response to Co-op of the Day: 315 Saint Johns Place

This apartment will sell to someone moving from Manhattan who is accustomed to Manhattan-style buildings and everything they entail (full service, high fees, noisy location, etc.). The listing is even pitched as being located on the "Central Park West of Brooklyn" (although its more like the Columbus Circle of Brooklyn--ever heard of Prospect Park West?). Not my cup of tea, but I definitely think it will move at that price.

Posted by: betterside at March 10, 2009 4:44 PM in response to Co-op of the Day: 39 Plaza Street West

Although it does beat suburban St. Louis (@zinka).

Posted by: betterside at March 6, 2009 11:52 AM in response to Forte Marketing Effort Gets a Makeover

This building embodies what I find unsatisfying about Fort Greene. Its a beautiful little neighborhood, but with a heavy emphasis on "little." This building's placement just across Flatbush (in the "BAM cultural district" it proclaims) is all that distinguishes it from the numerous fancy high-rises that have sprouted incongruously from the downtown morass.

Posted by: betterside at March 6, 2009 11:50 AM in response to Forte Marketing Effort Gets a Makeover

MacD's comment got me thinking. What will happen to rents as leases come up for renewal? Neither landlords nor tenants seem eager to rock to boat in these uncertain times, but there appears to be downward pressure on all housing prices (rented or owned), and broker fees are beginning to evaporate (making a tenant's threat to walk away more credible). Is his zero-increase (but also zero-DECREASE) plan--"I am currently getting market rates and seriously considering offering one-year leases with no rent increase when the leases are up late in spring/early summer."--unreasonably optimistic under the circumstances?

Posted by: betterside at March 3, 2009 11:00 AM in response to Brownstones, Co-ops Outperformed Condos in Q4

This article, in the quoted section, isn't suggesting that NYC will revert to the *national* ratio but its own historical ratio. Its definitely a bummer for people that bought in (or otherwise locked themselves into) the artificially inflated prices of the last several years, but BHO, et al, are probably closer to the truth than the nervous cheerleaders who seem to be growing increasingly frustrated with his/their antics.

Posted by: betterside at February 23, 2009 11:17 AM in response to NYC Real Estate Market 'Most Challenged'

Wow, that's a bad wide-angle lens job. It took me several minutes to convince myself that pictures 6 and 7 were of the same room (I had been counting three bedrooms in the pictures). Nice building, but lucille is right--no way its 1000 sq ft.

Posted by: betterside at February 17, 2009 1:14 PM in response to Co-op of the Day: 125 Eastern Parkway, #6F

Apples to apples, folks. A better comparison for most people that enjoy living in an urban neighborhood would be to compare housing prices of living in walkable/urban/interesting neighborhoods in different cities. New York has vastly more options in this category than any other city , and some/many of these options are much more affordable than the most expensive New York neighborhoods. Equivalent neighborhoods in Chicago are cheaper, but the price difference is much smaller in places like San Francisco, Boston, DC, etc. Houston has no such neighborhoods, and the few in the other listed cities have much more expensive housing stock than in then is available in other, less "urban" neighborhoods in those cities.

Posted by: betterside at February 6, 2009 10:36 AM in response to It's Tough Out There for a Middle-Class New Yorker

Perhaps rents appear to be falling faster in Manhattan because the market is large enough to warrant independent studies of the rental market. The evidence to support the claim that rents weren't falling in Brooklyn and Queens seemed to be the self-serving reports of brokers based in Brooklyn and Queens. If rents haven't fallen in the outer boroughs yet, they will. Claims otherwise are just as deluded as those that thought sale prices would never fall.

Posted by: betterside at February 2, 2009 10:15 AM in response to Rents Falling in Manhattan a Lot, Brooklyn Not So Much