Is It a Buyer's or Seller's Market in Townhouses?
Here’s an email we received from a reader this week: I was hoping you could foment some sort of discussion on the summer brooklyn townhouse market. I can’t really figure out what’s going on. It seems like a lot of stuff is left over from the spring, but then some great stuff just flies off…
Here’s an email we received from a reader this week:
I was hoping you could foment some sort of discussion on the summer brooklyn townhouse market. I can’t really figure out what’s going on. It seems like a lot of stuff is left over from the spring, but then some great stuff just flies off the shelf. I’ve been to dozens of open houses the past few weeks, some are empty, some are thronged. I can’t tell if it’s a buyer’s market or a seller’s market. It seems like a lot of people are waiting for the fall to see what comes on the market. What’s your sense?
Seems to us like there’s not a lot of good inventory and that buyers aren’t desperate enough to go for the crap. Your thoughts?
Photo by Da Nator
One note for people:
Once you succumb to temptation to get that huge spread outside the city (and not keep your investment in properties here), don’t expect the burbs to appreciate anywhere near in tandem with what that “little old place of yours in Brooklyn” is worth.
I have two separate friends that sold townhouses in the Slope (One on Sterling, one on 2nd St) 5 years ago, and while their nice spreads up north (one in Bedford, one in Somers) have appreciated, the Park Slope properties have doubled the appreciation they’ve seen for their (nice!) homes out there.
There is just endless supply of nice, large homes out there. 2.0MM gets you an old PS brownstone in need of serious work, or a beautiful huge old colonial on 5 or 10 acres in Bedford.
But, over time, guess which one will hit 3.0MM (and beyond) first, and likely in half the time…
It all boils down to a lifestyle decision, to be sure, but when you make that big leap to the burbs, unless you make the big Wall Street silly money, don’t expect to be able to afford even your old place in Brooklyn after you move.
This will be even moreso the case in case of market downturn, when far more inventory out in the burbs is much less able to sop up whatever diminished demand may exist.
Can’t someone love where they are and yet still miss things about where they were, and want to keep in touch?
What a small minded, self-righteous bunch of- oh, wait, that’s why I come here. Carry on then!
sorry, but i beg to differ, 2:47 on more than one count.
#1. i don’t find those moving to the burbs (primarily couples with children) all that interesting in general. once the baby comes, that’s all they talk about.
#2. the “interesting” people for the most part and the ones that new york city are known for, talked about, portrayed on tv etc are the young, creative set. they aren’t moving to the burbs, i guarantee you.
#3. the moving to the burbs thing is on its way out. we are in the beginnings of a major green bubble in the u.s. mcmansions and the like don’t make sense for those of us that care about the earth.
#4 don’t get me wrong. there will always be people who want to live in the burbs but please don’t fool yourself into thinking that brooklyn’s loss is your gain. it simply isn’t true.
i’ve known 2 people, btw who moved to the burbs about 3 years ago.
both are back in carrol gardens.
Just wanted to caveat my earlier post that I loved living in Manhattan and have come to love Dumbo even more. This borough is a great place to live for so many reasons. But I still look at the CT listings out of curiosity. I’m glad I didn’t make the move out there, but may chose to do someday, especially if I find myself priced out of Dumbo in a few years time if I have more than 1 child and need a little more space / school tuition.
With every 10% increase of prices in Brooklyn and stagnating prices in outside NY, the hudson valley becomes more and more interesting….
…reverse the locations and the sentence made sense for for the 80ies and 90ies and when people say brooklyn as the alternative to burbs
i’ll admit to looking at a listing here or there in another city. i can’t however imagine the feeling of being priced out of brooklyn (while pretending that it was something you were doing because you wanted to) to the point of moving to the suburbs, and then find myself on brownstoner.com preaching about how much i LOVE the suburbs to all of us here back in the city.
THAT actually seems absurd to me.
and kinda sad.
2:26,
Commute on the train to GCT is 40 minutes.
Unless you work at or next to GCT, add another 30 minutes average on foot or subway to get to wherever your office is.
When people refer to subway commute, they are referring to time on the train to go to within 5 blocks of office, not just to the same city.
Brooklyn to anything below 34th street or above 50th street absolutely trumps commute from Westchester to GCT alone, but happens to exactly match (or beat) Westchester Metro North commutes to 42nd street area.
“every Saturday and Sunday that I walk around Brooklyn, I realize much of the diversity, respect for others, and street sense that brooklyn was known for is gone. It is replaced by individuals who has a sense of entitlement over other the surrounding people, who let their kids run wild without an attempt to instill some discipline in their kids, who believe that their neighbors should cater to their spoiled children, and who openly cheer Brooklyn, but complain about the way people act (despite the fact that Brooklyn had been that way for 50 years priro to their arrival and was that way when they moved here).”
1) I think you look for people to reinforce your current outlook.
2) I think your perspective on children’s behavior has changed not that you are an older person. And the adult perspective is always ‘when I was young things …’ which is really distortion of reality.
3) You have already developed a nostalgia of how you perceived your environment as a child….but let me assure you it is not a totally accurate one.
The more things change the more they stay the same.
2:31.. because many people have recently moved to the suburbs from Bklyn, and are you telling me people in NYC never look at listings or info on houses outside the city? absurd..