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
There seem to be some developers that are making a small effort to design infill properties to match the neighborhood. I’ll have to walk around to find the exact address, but there are some relatively nice red brick, 2-family, townhouses in Bed-Stuy. They look less than 5 years old, and they even have brick detailing at the roofline and on the facade.
Wow. I am so sorry that this home, which many working families would do anything to own, is so \’offensive\’ to you. Goddamn those poor people. Will someone just sterilize all of them so that we no longer have to worry about protecting our view?
I cannot imagine dreaming up a worse looking home in that location. It took somebody’s hard sweat and tears to come up with that gem. I am seriously impressed.
welcome to the blog david. well done. very intelligent, fair and thoughtful comments.
FYI: my husband and i went to see the brownstone in the pic yesturday. it will recieve a gut reno and no original details will remain.
i must say that i agree with “Anonymous at January 30, 2006 05:01” also my 2 cents is this, the developers don’t give a hoot they are just out to make $$$. they make it very difficult for a buyer who wants a nice home for their family to live in. the cost vs the workmanship does not equal. i am so sick of seeing those cheap “wood” cabinets. i don’t expect granite countertops but they can be much nicer. as for brownstones, i love them but most are too small for a large family unless you plan to restore to a one family. so what options are out there? my experience so far is to keep searching until you find something that you can live with.
correct me if I’m wrong, but isn’t the brownstone used in a “brownstone” just the facade? Everything else is just brick.
How does a porch roof which seems to shed water onto the nieghboring house’s stoop comply with codes? As someone who lives around the corner from this new house (and the other really ugly building at Fulton and Classon), I think they would have been better off with well-proportioned brick boxes with no detail at all.
Brownstoner, the $870,000 new construction is not a subsidized affordable housing project.
The project you posted last week was a tax syndicated affordable housing subsidized building built by an affordable housing developer.
Don’t you understand the difference between the economics of these two types of projects?
An $870,000 building is not affordable housing.
of course cheap can have good design! Ikea for example. I think Ikea actually makes Prefab houses. Yes, I just googled it:
http://www.treehugger.com/files/2005/02/ikea_boklok_fla_1.php
someone needs to design a prefab brownstone design that looks decent- that cheap developers can use. not that they would…