QOTD

I’m not sure about Park Place, but the inventory of any new condos or conversions in the North Slope is dwindling, it seems. There are only 4 units left in the Vermeil, just a couple in Park Place, a few in that Lincoln Place former brothel and not much else that I can think of. Kinda slim pickings unless you want to go down to 4th Avenue area…For someone not interested in a full brownstone, there’s really not much to pick from in terms of inventory in North Slope. Maybe that’s why prices are holding up there relatively speaking.

— by 11217 in Last Week’s Biggest Sales

I didn’t love Patois, but am feeling nostalgic. Boerum Hill Food Company last month; Patois this month. Those two, plus Smith Street Kitchen and Halcyon, are the first places that I remember getting excited about on Smith Street. Oh well, things change — but its clear that the neighborhood’s exciting stage is done.

— by aishling in Brooklyn Food & Drink Round-Up

I think we forget, with all of the negative doom and gloom in the media, that many people are still doing well, many people are in jobs that are thriving and, gasp, growing, and many people are doing what they would have been doing had this mess not occured. People are still moving to NYC to follow their dreams, and people will still buy apartments and houses in the neighborhoods they want to buy in. Seems to me that our media’s hyper attention to the minutia of every stock market jiggle, every business decision, and especially every business and personal disaster story, has turned us into a nation of hesitating, reactive, quivering masses of jello. (Continued…)

— by Montrose Morris in Hey, Something Sold! (more…)

We bought our wreck 21 years ago and all our worst fears (which you enumerate succinctly) came true. We are hostages, no, slaves, to this energy-devouring century-old heap, which delights in torturing us from its devious old mechanical heart to its leprous, flaking exterior. It has sucked every penny of disposable income from our combined labors while continuing to deteriorate before our eyes. We have made every imaginable mistake in attempting to “renovate” it, mistakes from which we seldom learn anything, because the next mistake arises from a totally different and unprecedented sort of calamity. Our so-called “investment” has kept us house-poor and chronically overwhelmed for what we laughingly call the “prime” of our lives. And unless someone gives us, oh, say, half a million dollars, it will never get any better. Needless to say, we love this pile of wretched wood and pipes with a passion so tender that to gaze upon it sometimes brings tears to our eyes, at least until a piece of woodwork or roofing falls off in plain sight.

— by Brenda from Flatbush (whose 2009 Prospect Park calendar is now available here) in First Time Homeowner Anxiety

I pick cereal very quickly thank you very much. Just don’t want to pay a crazy price when I am literally seeing price cuts in the hundreds of thousands for some properties we’ve looked at (but rejected for other criteria). There is basically unanimity that prices will go down in 2009, and possibly through to 2010 and beyond. We only sold a few months ago, and the meltdown happened, so we’re just actively looking, but not rushing. We have a list of flexible criteria for the property we’re seeking, of which price is just one element – but since price impacts so many other parts of our lives – esp time spent with our kids! (big mortgage = more hours working to pay the bills), price is a major criteria, esp in an environment when prices are headed down.

— by Miss Muffett in Last Week’s Biggest Sales

I would think that not taking aesthetics into account is why so many of these properties are still sitting on the market but that is just my opinion. We have been looking for a house for a while and I can tell you, that if it was just about the space the developer was providing inside (which I find great, except the kitchen sitting in the middle of the room) we would have purchased a while back. But the look outside, and not the brick or stucco turn me away. It is the fact that the house stands out too much. They are either built too far back or protrude out or the scale is just off. It doesn’t have to be a brownstone, I like brick, but at least scale it to the size of the house you are building next to. How a block looks matters, aside from cost and space provided. Just because I live in a house that was built cheaper doesn’t mean it has to look cheap.

— by BrookLynn816 in Horror Show Friday

Everyone I know, who has either held on during the bad old days, and is still hanging on, or chose to come back or join our communities since then, is very, very committed to not only keeping what we have now, but improving it. For ourselves and families, not to make it attractive and desireable to others. Because we, as a black community, are certainly not all poor, not criminal, not all unemployed, and not all concerned with impressing other people. We in Crown Heights North, did not work like dogs to get our neighborhood landmarked to impress white people, or make it “good enough” for them to want to move here. We, and by which I mean an organization that was about 95% black at the time, did it for US, because we are proud of our neighborhood, and wanted it protected, for now, and for our future generations, no matter who happens to live there.

— by Montrose Morris in What the Census Says About Us

Why does the Ghetto need improving???? Stop it; there is a difference between not wanting long time residents and business to be forced out and accepting a lower standard of living as if it is a badge of honor. Why should we expect and accept garbage flying thru the air, swirling on the streets, landing in trees and the fronts of homes three blocks away? I don’t believe I deserve higher priced, lower quality food and products; expired goods on the shelfs and items covered in a thick coat of dust. I wouldn’t mind a few festive lights and pretty store fronts. It does make shopping more enjoyable. Why can’t we ever realize that we have to take care of what we have before someone else recognizes the value and takes it away from us? Then everyone starts screaming it’s mine give it back. Too late. The “ghetto” is only the “ghetto” when people stop caring.

— by bedstuy11216 in Fulton BID Gaining Momentum

There is a difference between a preservationist and an obstructionist althought to many the terms are interchangeable. The bottom line is that the commission does something very few government agencies do, they make controversial decisions and they accept the fact that not everyone can be made happy all the time. All the more remarkable considering ten of the eleven commissioners are not paid and the agency’s budget is a tiny fraction of its sister agencies like the City Plannng Commission (whose commissioners get paid handsomely).

— by sam in The Dance of Preservation and Progress

you know, park slope doesn’t really have great subway access, yet somehow people continue to survive. personally i don’t see quincy & franklin as the middle of nowhere. it’s not that far from the subway (okay, the C), i lived near there for many years; friends of mine still live there. it’s not the middle of nowhere to the people who live there. anyway, to his point of luxury condos in desolate areas, i’m all for it! who better to live in no-mans land but the affluent, who not only can afford sparklin new condos, but also probably have cars and the means to go out and get the groceries, or freshdirect, or vases or whatever rich people go out to buy. let’s build some luxury hi-rises in the Flatlands. put in underground parking and rake it in!

— by Jimmy Legs in Dolkart Down on Prospects for “Fringe Areas”

Doesn’t it seem like prices have only dropped on places you don’t want? Or, the places you want haven’t seen price drops anywhere near what you expect? It’s possible that the desirable places will never be “cheap”. Barring divorce, death, relocation, unemployment, etc… the people who own these “better” places may just decide to stay where they are. Of course, there will always be crap for sale, but in NYC, even that’s expensive. Still. There may be “buyers” renting for 10+ years looking for a good deal.

— by broadwayron in Cheap Today, Cheaper Tomorrow?

I’ve lived in Bklyn all my 54 years, attended public school, etc, etc. When the face of Brooklyn becomes Chase; Rite Aid; CVS; Bank of America, etc., you’re right, “it’s not what I think it should be”. Change is great, but when Gage and Tollners becomes TGIF Fridays, it’s not for the better. When Applebee’s is packed across the street from Juniors which is empty, Brooklyn’s narrative is becoming as bland as the suburbs. I’ve seen lots of great change in Bklyn. The Heights of my youth had boarded up brownstones and dangerous welfare hotels, but it also had a vibrant Montague Street with local usefull businesses. So, let’s all put our i-pods on, go to an ATM on every corner and look at our cell phone screens while we cross the street.

— by jebby in Park Slope Can’t Measure Up to Marine Park

Prices will come down. How much depends on what happens with the economy in the next months. Most shops I know still have work from the overhang of a very busy summer. But everyone is looking to fill in scedules for the beginning of next year and there are fewer jobs out there. You should expect to negotiate a good discount if you’re starting now, but I would be careful of huge price cuts as these are the companies that disapear and go out of business.

— by nyurb in The Future of Construction Costs?

You know it’s a HORRIBLE sports bar when the only thing people praise is the Veggie Burger!!!

— by IrieMan in ROTD: Downtown Bar and Grill

If wanting to pay a reasonable price for a home somewhere within a 40 minute commute to my place of employment makes me a loser and a “tool bag”, then I’m happy to be a loser and a tool bag. I’m sorry for all the people who are losing money on their home values right now, but those of us in careers other than banking, medicine and law would like to own our homes, too.

— by cwbuecheler in Has the Buyers’ Market Come to Brooklyn? Duh.

Deadbeats are deadbeats, and I have no sympathy at all for people who borrowed money they could not reasonably expect to afford to repay — especially because they are largely responsible for driving up MY housing costs the last few years as the end of the housing bubble coincided with me reaching a point in my life when I was tired of living in a crappy rent stabilized apartment. In fact, my gut feeling is just to let all of these places get foreclosed as it will drive down property values so that when I eventually do buy a place it will be even cheaper yet. But I feel more and more like this is a case where my neighbors have built a poorly designed dam upriver from me, and while I may think they are irresponsible, selfish, and stupid, it doesn’t change the fact that the bursting of the dam will drown me too, so it has become in my best interest to see their problems fixed.

— by northsloperenter in Citigroup Puts the Kibosh on Foreclosures

this is how to deal with a legspreader [on a subway] if you ever find yourself next to one: place your leg that’s furthest from him [i say him because this is almost always a male] on top of and across your leg that is closest to him so the bottom of your shoe is right next to his leg and if he gets any closer he will have a nice treadmark from the bottom of your shoe. unless they have filthy clothing [ie construction workers] they don’t like this one bit. i never move my leg if they ask me to or say excuse me. i will only move my leg if they de-spread. if they re-spread, i respond in kind. works for me every time.

— by 11214 in New F Trains Leaving the Station

I remember walking from Park Slope to Pratt once, about 10 years ago. It was desolate and empty. I remember passing a huge empty red brick building on the corner of Gates and I forget what, thinking, this is a beauty, but who’s gonna want to live here. Look at the neighborhood now…it’s come a long way.

— by bayridgegirl in The Big Draw in Clinton Hill: Architecture