king of the burg's Profile
- Tyler
- 2003
- 2006
- Brooklyn
- Williamsburg
- Rental
- Commercial Real Estate Appraiser
- Male
- 29
Author's Posts
January 20, 2009
renting with the 421a
My understanding is that if an apartment building is built and receives the 421a tax benefit it will be subject to rent stabilization for the duration of the abatement. However, the initial rents are set at market so the leasehold advantage is not all that great. What I am unclear about is if I were to purchase a condo unit within a building that is receiving the 421a and I were to rent out my unit, would that lease be subject to rent stabilization for the duration of the abatement?
All this stuff kind of confuses me and I was just wondering if anyone out there has done some research. Thanks!
Author's Comments
This apartment is almost 1,800 square feet. That is much bigger than your typical one(and a half) -bedroom unit. You have to make sure you are comparing apples to apples. Can it get $700 a foot? No, likely not. but can it get the low $600's per foot? A quality building like this, sure.
Posted by: king of the burg at November 2, 2009 2:43 PM in response to Condo of the Day: 85 North 3rd Street, #207
I don't see any reason why this wouldn't sell for $1.1 MM.
Posted by: king of the burg at November 2, 2009 1:50 PM in response to Condo of the Day: 85 North 3rd Street, #207
I really like the Mill building. It was a very good conversion. As for high quality conversions trading for $700, I don't know. There are not any comps besides Mason Fisk, and those were first generation sales. Furthermore, I think most units sold for below $700 a foot (I didn't check though). There really isn't many high quality condominium conversions in the neighborhood to know what kind of pricing this should achieve. However, I remember looking at pricing when it was first selling out and the numbers were pretty low on a $/SF basis. Although the price points were pretty high. The Mill Building contains a lot of BIG units.
Posted by: king of the burg at November 2, 2009 1:13 PM in response to Condo of the Day: 85 North 3rd Street, #207
king of the burg wrote a review about Restaurant of the Day: Motorino on October 21, 2009 12:22 PM
this place is very, very good. I used to eat here often when I lived in the area.
actually joe, I am specifically curious about what rob thinks is affordable. I have noticed that he claims nearly everything in NYC to be too expensive for anyone who is a single (i.e. not a family). Although your analysis is completely reasonable.
Posted by: king of the burg at October 20, 2009 3:08 PM in response to East New York's Nehemiah Housing Proving Resilient
I have a question for rob. A a long-time reader here I have often seen you state that things are not "affordable". I am just curious as to what your standards of affordability are. What is an affordable monthly expense for studios, one-bedrooms, two-bedrooms, etc.?
Posted by: king of the burg at October 20, 2009 12:49 PM in response to East New York's Nehemiah Housing Proving Resilient
I found this earlier this year:
http://www.go4funding.com/60-Equity-partner-needed-for-Brooklyn-Waterfront-Movie-Theater-$6M/P13182.html
I think they are just out of money. Too bad, I was looking forward to having a theater in Williamsburg.
Posted by: king of the burg at October 1, 2009 9:11 AM in response to Checking in on Cassandra Cinema
so to summarize, the city shut off the water because a pipe was broken. After the city was informed the landlord was dead, the city said it would fix the pipe as soon as the city got the proper permits from the city. Luckily, the city stated that it is doing everything in it power to expedite the process.
Geesh, jump through a bunch of bureaucratic hoops much?
Posted by: king of the burg at September 11, 2009 12:38 PM in response to No Water for Two Months in Bed-Stuy Building
king of the burg wrote a review about Barberry on September 1, 2009 12:28 PM
Used to go here often when it was Zipi Zape. Always loved that place. Have gone twice now that it has been transformed. Really liked it. The sardines where a highlight both times I went. the owners are very nice as well.
I think you should be able to get the broker down to 10% pretty easily. I would actually shoot for one months rent (like 8%). However, in this current market, I would think you should be able to find a place with no fee without much problem. I would push for the landlord to pay the fee. I moved this month with no fee. Friend of mine in Williamsburg got a place this month with no fee, and some friends moving here from out of town got a place in park slope with no fee. It is a renter's market!
Posted by: king of the burg at August 31, 2009 4:14 PM in response to Negotiating Rental Fees
Why would knitting factory do any better than Luna Lounge in this location? Seems like Music Hall of Williamsburg fills the hood's need for a mid-sized music venue, as evident with Luna Lounge closing previously.
Posted by: king of the burg at August 27, 2009 3:15 PM in response to Streetlevel: Stitching Together the Knitting Factory
king of the burg wrote a review about Bliss on August 26, 2009 12:26 PM
At here a few years ago. I remember not being very happy with it. The food was bland and kind of boring. If you are looking for a vegan fix (what ever that means) I would go to wild ginger across the street. Much better.
I was at the open house and there was a lot of foot traffic. A couple of the units that were facing Bedford seemed pretty reasonable. They were over 800 square feet and the net effective rent was 2300 I think. I was there around one o'clock and the best units had applications on them already. There is still a huge demand for rentals in Williamsburg, especially prime Williamsburg. Lots of people really want to live there and there really has not been a lot of rental product added (although more is coming). furthermore, most of the building stock in the neighborhood is really crappy so anything that is "nice" will rent quickly.
Posted by: king of the burg at August 3, 2009 11:29 AM in response to Bedford Avenue Building Leased in One Day
alright bxgrl. you can have this thread all to yourself. I wasn't trying to be condescending, but you took it that way and wanted to start a sparing match. I will step out of this discussion. the sandbox is all yours....although you are being kind of a stick in the mud.
Posted by: king of the burg at July 27, 2009 1:37 PM in response to BK.LY Launches
I think you are missing my point. I am not calling anyone stupid, and you don't really need to be computer savvy to use twitter. I just think people are missing its real potential.
I think you have been commenting on this website too long. You seem to view any disagreement as an attack. you should stop being such a stick in the mud.
Posted by: king of the burg at July 27, 2009 1:21 PM in response to BK.LY Launches
The general tone of the previous comments seemed to be a dislike of twitter due to what appears to be a lack of understanding of it. That is what I meant by stick in the mud.
Posted by: king of the burg at July 27, 2009 1:07 PM in response to BK.LY Launches
ouch dittoburg! Why do you think I am a broker? I never have, and doubt I ever will be a real estate broker.
I am not going to try and explain the benefits of twitter to everyone. I did that last week ion the flea tweets thread. Most of the people on this comment thread are just being sticks in the mud. I will say, that twitter has become very beneficial to me professionally. I recommend giving it a try. It is all about who you follow. It took me a while to figure out how to make it work for me, but now that I have I really like it.
Posted by: king of the burg at July 27, 2009 12:36 PM in response to BK.LY Launches
I am really liking this. Well done brownstoner. Glad to see your twitter activity has really picked up.
Posted by: king of the burg at July 27, 2009 10:57 AM in response to BK.LY Launches
I am kind of disappointed. I really like this place and go here often. Honestly surprised by the tone of the comments on this thread. all of the places owned by these guys are great. Luckily I can hit up La Superior for a mexican fix, which I thought was great the one time I went.
Posted by: king of the burg at July 24, 2009 12:57 PM in response to Original Bonita to Close
They just started serving food again (always had a full kitchen, just not used for the last year or so). I was talking to them and they said that there will eventually be delivery, just not right now. It really is kind of a bar that has cheese steaks rather than a restaurant, if that makes sense. Fun place to hang out. I am there often.
Posted by: king of the burg at July 22, 2009 1:12 PM in response to Brooklyn Food & Drink Round-Up
if you get a cheese steak at Maracuja, get it with the cheeze whiz. Truly a great local place.
Posted by: king of the burg at July 22, 2009 12:45 PM in response to Brooklyn Food & Drink Round-Up
that concludes my twitter cheerleading session.
Posted by: king of the burg at July 21, 2009 12:29 PM in response to The Flea in Tweets
the way to make it useful is to use a third party app like twhirl or tweetdeck. Then choose cool folks to follow:
For real estate stuff I follow the usual suspects: jonathan miller, the real deal, brownstoner, curbed, streeteasy and rebny. for local news i follow freedubya, and brooklynvegan. for national news I follow jaketapper and patkiernan, and for fun I follow mindykaling, robcorddry, and icecreaman.
None of these people use strange capital letters or talk about when they need to use the restroom.
Posted by: king of the burg at July 21, 2009 12:27 PM in response to The Flea in Tweets
Well, many people like to receive tweets from a commercial real estate appraiser, especially other real estate professionals. On the same token, I for one gain valuable insight from other real estate professionals through twitter. The common misconception is that twitter is just a bunch of people updating a bunch of other people with random useless information. I find this contrary to my experience. I use it kind of like an RSS feed for news and it is great to find out what is going on locally. Also, it is a great marketing tool. You can reach a lot of specific people very easily. It took me a while to get on the twitter bandwagon, but I am glad I did.
Posted by: king of the burg at July 21, 2009 11:15 AM in response to The Flea in Tweets
I find twitter a very useful tool. For business especially. Out of all the"social networking" sites, it is by far the only one with much staying power. If you think it is silly, or not useful, you are doing it wrong.
Posted by: king of the burg at July 21, 2009 10:33 AM in response to The Flea in Tweets
DH, the way I understand it, the press release from last week is different from the protection plan. It is a free year as of right. The protection plan is old news and needs to be removed from the web site. However, I imagine a call to the broker would clear this up.
Posted by: king of the burg at July 1, 2009 10:47 AM in response to Come On and Take a Free Ride (at Northside Piers)
I was poking fun at Rob's comment. Of course you should meet your prospective tenants and make sure they can pay the rent. that is being a responsible landlord. Use a standardized lease, verify income, and run a credit check.
Posted by: king of the burg at July 1, 2009 10:36 AM in response to How to Assess Potential Tenants?
Totally agree with rob. There is absolutely no reason you should take into consideration a tenants ability to pay the rent. Income level really only comes into play when you start talking about apartments that are over 1,200 square feet. Even meeting the tenant during the vetting process is a tad bit intrusive.
Posted by: king of the burg at July 1, 2009 10:05 AM in response to How to Assess Potential Tenants?
king of the burg wrote a review about Williamsburger on June 30, 2009 12:29 PM
went for lunch when it first opened. I think it is a tough location due to lack of foot traffic. The burger was pretty good, but not mind-blowing. Overall, a nice place to grab lunch and read the paper. Diner, just down the road has a better burger in my opinion.
What is going on with development sites in downtown brooklyn? Has anything traded? what are they going for $/FAR? It seems at the peak in 2007 large sites were going around $130 to $150/SF. How far have land prices fallen? do we even know?
Posted by: king of the burg at June 26, 2009 1:04 PM in response to Commercial Klutch: June Edition
Not big on the whole social networking scene but Twitter is an excellent tool.
Posted by: king of the burg at June 26, 2009 11:52 AM in response to Overheard on Twitter
I am with Mr. B. I really can't wrap my head around your problem with this rob, and trust me, I am really trying. It makes zero sense. Being that the garden is located on a roof, it would seem that for the most part it would be out of sight and out of mind.
Posted by: king of the burg at June 24, 2009 10:44 AM in response to Try This Green(point) Roof on for Size
Sorry but little confused about the new restaurant row. where is that location? Meeker Ave between Graham and Metropolitan? is that possible?
Posted by: king of the burg at June 23, 2009 1:00 PM in response to Williamsburg Hipsters Aren't All Rich Kids After All
do you want some cheese to go with that whine?
Posted by: king of the burg at June 19, 2009 11:28 AM in response to Nondescript East W'burg Condos Defying the Market
I was making a funny rob. But please enlighten me, what is the "hip" and "happening" neighborhood in NYC? my williamsburg lease is up in September and I need to move to the new hot spot!
Posted by: king of the burg at June 19, 2009 11:15 AM in response to Nondescript East W'burg Condos Defying the Market
I think Mr. B called it Bushwick. They are marketing it as Williamsburg because the neighborhood is hip and happening.
Posted by: king of the burg at June 19, 2009 11:03 AM in response to Nondescript East W'burg Condos Defying the Market
I think I would consider this neighborhood williamsburg.
Posted by: king of the burg at June 19, 2009 10:31 AM in response to Nondescript East W'burg Condos Defying the Market
It is the FHA. All of the new projects on aptsandlofts.com have pending FHA approval. NV saw a four-fold increase in sales after started FHA approval. combine this with the 8,000 tax credit, you are picking up an apartment for less than first, last, and deposit. I think sales in Brooklyn have totally started to pick up due to this. However, with buyers with very little skin in the game, could it lead to a bubble?
Posted by: king of the burg at June 19, 2009 10:21 AM in response to Nondescript East W'burg Condos Defying the Market
I love Twitter. Out of all the social networking sites, I see twitter as having the most staying power and being an excellent marketing/information tool. It is simple, so simple people figure there is something more to it, and it works. I find the best way to use it is with a third party app that lets you run it on your desktop or phone so you get a constant stream of tweets.
Posted by: king of the burg at June 12, 2009 1:08 PM in response to Brownstoner on Twitter
cheeks was very good.
Rob, during the last few recessions there were lots of random places that popped up. It is just so weird, and I hate it so much. Can't really explain why, but it just bugs me when random places just pop up during the past few recessions.
Posted by: king of the burg at June 8, 2009 2:48 PM in response to Streetlevel: Closing Time on Metropolitan Avenue
king of the burg wrote a review about Acqua Santa on June 5, 2009 12:43 PM
I used to like this place. Liked the outdoor seating and the food was relativly consistent (read: not too bad). Then, in early 2007 I went and they screwed up my order (It was a steak special and one of the most expensive things on the menu that night). After I pointed out the mistake they refused to fix the problem. I have not been back since and will not be going any time soon. Yes, I am still very bitter about it.
king of the burg wrote a review about Kellogg's Diner on June 3, 2009 12:22 PM
This place is really, really bad. Besides being open 24-hours I can't think of anything I like about it.
king of the burg wrote a review about Lokal on June 2, 2009 2:20 PM
ate here twice. not much to write home about. I found it very mediocre. The service was alright and nothing was horrible, but overall found it blah.
I am a long-time reader (2006) and comment every now and again. I find Rob's comments often make me very uncomfortable/uneasy. For me at least, he is not missed.
Posted by: king of the burg at June 2, 2009 1:22 PM in response to Open Thread
didn't they start building the thing about a year ago? It looks over half done to me. Maybe TCO's on the lower floors latter part of the summer.
I think they are sleek. Very sleek.
Posted by: king of the burg at June 1, 2009 4:08 PM in response to Development Watch: Northside Piers Part Deux
It is popular to hate these towers, but aesthetically I really like them. the design is very straight-forward and sleek. I suppose being next to the Edge with those punch-out windows and unappealing facade helps. Forte is pretty ugly, as is oro. The Toren is one of the best looking buildings I have ever seen. But overall, I think these towers are great looking.
I heard the finishes in tower two are a bit nicer than the first tower.
Posted by: king of the burg at June 1, 2009 3:11 PM in response to Development Watch: Northside Piers Part Deux
I have to say that of all the new high-rise residential towers in NYC, these are two of the more attractive. word on the street is 5 or so units are in contract, but they are not really pushing the second tower while they still have units to sell in tower 1. TCO's by the middle of the summer.
Posted by: king of the burg at June 1, 2009 2:45 PM in response to Development Watch: Northside Piers Part Deux
The "right" price? hard to say. I wouldn't be surprised if it goes for 60 to 70 cents on the dollar.
Posted by: king of the burg at May 29, 2009 4:44 PM in response to Burg's Warehouse 11 Seeking a Savior
The L train is much improved since they implemented the new computer system. That being said, dittoburg is right, once all these units come on line, it might get a little tight.
Posted by: king of the burg at May 29, 2009 4:42 PM in response to Burg's Warehouse 11 Seeking a Savior
The closed sales in the public record indicated north of $700 per square foot. some of these sales included a parking space and or storage unit (kind of inflating the $/SF). almost all of the contracts were signed in 2009.
Posted by: king of the burg at November 17, 2009 11:16 AM in response to NV Now 85% Sold