Inside Third & Bond: Week 119

The Third & Bond bloggers from The Hudson Companies interview one of the early contract signers at the new condo development.
T+B: What’s your name, rank and serial number? Only joking. We know that you are a veteran of the US Armed Forces. What did you do in the service?
My wife and I were actually both in the Army. She was in for three years and deployed overseas, as did I. I spent about twenty-three years in the service as an armor (tank) soldier and officer, about half of that time in the regular army and the other half in the National Guard. I have deployed to Desert Storm, Bosnia, and most recently I was a combat advisor to the Afghan National Police in southern Afghanistan. We joke that the Military says you’ll see the world, they just don’t mention where exactly.

T+B: How do you like being out of the service, after twenty years in?
The pluses are that I actually have all my weekends to myself, and that I can spend more time with my family. We both miss the camaraderie of the military though.

T+B: What are you doing now, aside from buying a home at Third + Bond?
I am a landscape designer here in the city. I work for a firm that does a lot of work on parks, playgrounds, and public spaces within the city. Of course, my wife and I are thoroughly enjoying living in Brooklyn.

T+B: Are you from NYC originally? Is this your first real estate purchase in NYC?
No. My wife grew up in the DC area and overseas. I was born in upstate New York, but grew up in Alberta, Canada. This is our first real estate purchase in New York.

T+B: When did you know for sure that you would sign a contract for a unit at Third + Bond? What motivated you to sign now rather than wait?
It was a combination of factors. First, we went to the open house and got a good look at the model unit and were pleased with the materials and finishes being used. Second, we had been looking for an apartment for a long time and felt comfortable looking at floorplans to envision the space. Finally, the seller’s broker really made us feel comfortable with the process and the building.

T+B: How long had you known about the project before making an offer? How did you hear about Third + Bond?
We had heard about the project about three months prior to seeing it from a friend of my wife’s.

T+B: Your unit was an empty shell without even sheetrock to define the rooms when you made an offer. How did you visualize the finished product?
We used the website, open house, and the floorplan to visualize the space.

T+B: When you set out to find a new condo, what were your top 4 must-haves? What was one thing that you really, really hoped for but knew realistically probably wouldn’t get?
Price, location, light, and the ability to use a VA Loan. We hoped for outdoor space, but knew that was a slim chance based on our price range.

T+B: Any good house hunting stories?
We were told by a seller (a developer, BTW), after he had accepted our offer that clearly stated we were going to use a VA loan, that he, wasn’t in the business of giving handouts to veterans.

T+B: What drew you to this particular unit? We only have 3 of this particular floor plan and each is on a different floor with different views.
We wanted a one bedroom, it had a lot of light, great sight lines, and it was the third floor so it was above the street.

T+B: What neighborhood do you live in now?
Boerum Hill

T+B: What do you like about this area?
We love everything about this neighborhood, and refuse to leave it.

T+B: Are you worried about the Gowanus Canal? Do you favor Super Fund or a City/State clean-up?
Not really. I think the cleanup is a great idea.

T+B: Do you think Whole Foods will ever open?
I don’t know but we feel like there are already options within the neighborhood.

T+B: Be honest, how important in your decision-making was Third + Bond’s commitment to being green?
It certainly helped. The fact is that LEED compliance will help us save money in energy efficiencies. Ultimately though it was the fact that we felt that we were being treated with integrity and respect by the sales team.

T+B: When in your buying process did you learn about our postings on Brownstoner? Did they have any impact on you (like you hated our sense of humor and therefore offered less)?
We heard about the blog before we visited the project. We found it to be very open and interesting, and we liked the sense of humor, frankly. Kudos to laying bare the crazy process of getting a building built and sold in this insane city!

T+B: If there was one thing about how we developed T+B that you’d have wanted us to do differently, what would it be?
No, not really. Again, for us the positive attitude of the sales team and their willingness to let us use a VA Loan really sold us on T + B. We had a number of bad experiences prior to T + B, until the point like we felt like second-class citizens for asking to use a benefit that we had both earned by serving our country. It was extremely demeaning and frustrating. You folks were willing to listen to us, educate yourselves on the VA Loan process, and move forward. And frankly, you were the only ones to recognize that getting the project VA approved is good business. There are a lot of Veterans in the area and until now have not been tapped into within the city, and especially with the tight market, they can be a good source of buyers.

Inside Third & Bond: Weeks 1-118 [Brownstoner]
Our legal fine print: The complete offering terms are in an Offering Plan available from Sponsor. File No. CD080490. Sponsor: Hudson Third LLC, 826 Broadway, New York, NY 10003.