Cheap New Construction a Deal? Not a Chance
Not to beat a dead horse, but there were several commenters in Friday’s discussion that seemed to feel that the new construction eyesores being slapped up around the borough serve the purpose of providing lower-income people with the benefit of the american dream. Our rebuttal was that these structures actually do the opposite. They are…
Not to beat a dead horse, but there were several commenters in Friday’s discussion that seemed to feel that the new construction eyesores being slapped up around the borough serve the purpose of providing lower-income people with the benefit of the american dream. Our rebuttal was that these structures actually do the opposite. They are almost without exception poorly constructed and almost without exception extremely ugly. We don’t see how these things have a chance of holding their value over time against the traditional housing stock. Take these two comparably priced houses within a few blocks of each other in Bed Stuy, both of which were posted in the last couple of days on Craigslist. Which owner do you think is more likely to have preserved or built equity 20 years from now? Which owner is more likely to get completely wiped out in a downturn? So much for serving the needs of the needy. These developers are taking the money and running from those least able to afford it.
3 Family New Construction [Craigslist] GMAP
4 Family Brownstone [Craigslist] GMAP
As a former owner and rehabber of a Brownstone in Brooklyn Heights, I’m definitely a proponent of original vs new POS. There is just no comparison.
I’ve since returned to the midwest, and am thrilled that my current neighborhood (historical) has resident led zoning committees. You can’t drill a hole for a painting without obtaining prior approval from the committee. Don’t even think about razing a house and putting in substandard low income housing on it’s grave.
In addition to the obvious results, we ensure that low income housing (and the ensuing problems that it brings) will never get within 2 miles of my house.
Loved the brownstone, glad I’m 800 miles from NYC
While I agree the new stuff is often ugly, I’ve had trouble with allergies in my old, tiny condo in a Brooklyn walkup so I can understand why people go for it– new construction can eliminate numerous health hazards which is a very fair concern. And on the appearance, it’d be nice if we could all afford to build/buy something gorgeous but I could only hope to afford something like that years from now, and it would have to be somewhere like Idaho not here. NY prices unfortunately affect the fabric of the city.
While I agree the new stuff is often ugly, I’ve had trouble with allergies in my old, tiny condo in a Brooklyn walkup so I can understand why people go for it– new construction can eliminate numerous health hazards which is a very fair concern. And on the appearance, it’d be nice if we could all afford to build/buy something gorgeous but I could only hope to afford something like that years from now, and it would have to be somewhere like Idaho not here. NY prices unfortunately affect the fabric of the city.
While I agree the new stuff is often ugly, I’ve had trouble with allergies in my old, tiny condo in a Brooklyn walkup so I can understand why people go for it– new construction can eliminate numerous health hazards which is a very fair concern. And on the appearance, it’d be nice if we could all afford to build/buy something gorgeous but I could only hope to afford something like that years from now, and it would have to be somewhere like Idaho not here. NY prices unfortunately affect the fabric of the city.
Brownstone is not a bad building material in itself. When it is quarried correctly the end grain, like a butcher block, is exposed to the elements and is quite stable. The spalling that some owners experience is from blocks that have the grain/ layers exposed allowing sheets to separate. During building booms like the turn of the last century, you got inexperienced builders doing things to buildings that only after time, prove to be errors. As a contractor who gets many calls to repair other peoples work, I say buyers beware. Developers have always preyed on new immigrants selling them sub standard housing. In ye old Chicago it was an epidemic.
I guess the definition of “poor” has changed. According to the old definition of “poor”, a poor person could not afford to buy a house selling for $870K.
They do not believe that these homes are within the reach of poor people. They do not care about poor people. What they care about is their view, properties values, etc.
“The new condo on 2nd Place in Carroll Gardens is much nicer than this crap.”
That building is an eyesore that is totally incogruent with the surrouding homes. Also, its pretty poorly constructed.
People,
It seems to me that a lot of you believe that these homes are being built to cater to the low income families that cannot afford anything else, but the fact is that these houses are not cheap. They’re priced at market value. I think that the people who buy them are first time home buyers and just want to own. I know because it happened to me.
Yes, Bedstuyer, my house was shoddy. I forgot to mention that in my master bedroom, if you walked by the television set, it would shake. The floors would bounce. I know what you’re thinking; yes, we’re all average sized people. LOL