Wednesday Links
Harlem’s Real Estate Boom Becomes a Bust [NY Times] Daddies Join Mommies at Prospect Park YMCA [NY Times] Senate Mess Means Hiring Freeze for Cops [NY Daily News] Council Candidate Beats Bogus Parking Ticket [NY Daily News] Council Approves Demo of Slope’s PS 133 [Brooklyn Paper] Optimism Grows About Bushwick Inlet Park [NY Observer] Photo…
Harlem’s Real Estate Boom Becomes a Bust [NY Times]
Daddies Join Mommies at Prospect Park YMCA [NY Times]
Senate Mess Means Hiring Freeze for Cops [NY Daily News]
Council Candidate Beats Bogus Parking Ticket [NY Daily News]
Council Approves Demo of Slope’s PS 133 [Brooklyn Paper]
Optimism Grows About Bushwick Inlet Park [NY Observer]
Photo by JamesWolberg.
Too risky for me, fobsdelhi. Slopefarm did something like this, but it turned out to be a bit of a nightmare.
bxgrl, you are right, but they don’t have to cover over perfectly good plaster with sheet rock. It’s just a formula. They go in and do every house the same.
I agree – flippers really have no stake in the neighborhood or the architecture. They have interest only in “product.” It’s a far cry from real preservation- which doesn’t have to mean preserving every scrap of the past by the way. Flippers are into minimal investment and maximum return- that’s why so many of these gut renos of old buildings are such quick and dirty redos
Mopar, one possible way to negotiate with these guys is to get the FHA loan where you get an upfront loan to buy the house and some money for development. They said they could redo the architectural plans for loan purposes.
Another way to do it is to pay them extra for finishings etc and tell them not to split each room into two (they cannot understand how preserving stuff can be more important then two bland rentals). At the same time get a contract where they pay you closing costs, so you can redo the kitchen etc. Best of luck.
Fobsdelhi, we had a very similar experience. It is tragic. One of the places we saw was very large and beautiful, actually had not much wrong with it at all except needed kitchens and baths to sell legally without an FHA construction loan. I also chatted with the flippers about maybe preserving some basic structure. They are nice guys, but it was hopeless. They just don’t understand. They have their formula. Arrrrgggg. Also there is a place with serious water damage, otherwise perfectly intact, in Bushwick that someone is renovating. The foreclosure company told the guys to save some detail, they are sending me photos in three weeks, we’ll see how it looks. Probably will be nothing but a few fireplaces in sheet rock when they are done.
We were looking for a place and we saw several flipped brownstones in Crown Heights and Bed Stuy, which were being offered by the same development group (Eastern European immigrants who advertize on craigslist). They have the right to make a quick profit but it was really tragic to see the insides of such beautiful buildings, it’s almost a crime.
We tried to negotiate a deal so as to preserve some basic structure but to no avail, they did not get the point of it.
What, the homeowners are still “enjoying” the comps from the flippers. $600,000 on two renovated properties in Brownsville and Ocean Hill! I think the developers of so-called luxury condos (really glorified cement studios) and flippers are the worst excesses of the housing market here in NYC. They push prices up for everyone and provide a rip-off type product that is relatively expensive but cheaply made and often makes the neighborhood less rather than more attractive. The work that Habitat for Humanity is doing is so much better.
“Prices are not down very much at all for anything on a street with lots of character and nice architecture.” Agreed. This is what I hear from friends looking.
They are still operating. Don’t fool yourselves into thinking the downturn has put them out of business. They are everywhere.
I recently toured five job sites with a flipper in Bed Stuy. They throw up sheet rock over perfectly good plaster walls. It’s nonsensical. And very ugly.
They get the buildings cheap because they pay all cash. Buyers aren’t exactly lining up to buy distresssed properties in need of rehab. Buyers don’t have lots of cash to fix things up, at least in these neighborhoods.