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
10:57 here again. A quick search through NYT:
http://realestate.nytimes.com/sales/detail/2428-3310
http://www.ipgmac.com/index.cfm?page=details&id=3310
It’s not an architectural treasure, but people are looking for houses, not museums.
Prospective Buyer, you probably won’t get much sympathy here on this Bklyn centric site. I too, am a native and I choose to leave Brooklyn a few years ago, not because I was priced out, but because as you say, it’s not the same Brooklyn it once was. Although I’m happy upstate (I don’t have to commute), it took me about 2 years to feel comfortable here. It also helps that I bought a brownstone investment so that I can keep my connection with Brooklyn, because I do miss it. But then I go down there for the weekend and all I want to do is come back up here! Anyway, not all suburbs are bland. Many, many artists and “bohemian gays” (thanks, 10:37!) are leaving the city and planting roots in gentrifying towns nearby. I have a richer social and cultural life up here than I did in Brooklyn. The quality of life IS better and no, I don’t have to drive everywhere because I live in town. Hate to sound like an advertisement for suburban living, but I’m just filling ya’ll in on my story.
It pains me to see that so few people look outside PS, CG, FG, CH, or BH when looking for a house.
If you still want “original, diverse” Brooklyn – look at Sunset Park! Great housing stock, good transportation, ethnic cuisine galore – and lots of houses for under $1MM.
10:53.. believe it or not, it’s possible to form a “sense of connection” in other places too, i mean, people do live in places other than nyc.. sometimes people stay in nyc because they love it, other times they can’t leave out of fear..
Why isn’t prospective buyer looking in Queens? I know I would be if I were looking for a house. Not pretty & charming & thoroughly affluent like prime Brooklyn nabes, but Queens has its own charm, not to mention the most diverse cuisine in the world. You can get a really great property in Queens for what prospective buyer is planning on paying in Westchester.
10:46:
I agree with you re: “cookie cutter,” except that you’re talking *way* up the Hudson Valley (say to a cool town like Beacon) or you’re paying so much money that there’s no bottom-line difference from a brownstone neighborhood in Brooklyn.
10:37, that was an interesting piece on commuting.
I, too, like Prosp Buyer have considered leaving town for more space, but giving up the time and the sense of connection you get just walking around the neighborhood or taking the train just isn’t worth it to me.
You’ve also got to remember that once you’ve given up the fight and moved to the burbs that just having a drink after work turns into a hair-raising odyssey, unless you live a short walk from the train station.
I’m considering building a carriage house on the back portion of my corner property. Legally it would be a condo but it would feel like a house. I think I’ll only be able to build about 1,400 s.f. The location would be within one block of the 7th Ave. Q train. How much do you think the carriage house would sell in today’s market?
Does everyone know that there are places to move other than NJ? Like east or north, instead of west. Someone describing burbs as “cookie cutter” etc screams of someone who has never been to any of these locations, especially up the Hudson Valley…