High Maintenance in Brooklyn Heights?
GUIDANCE NEEDED! We’re considering buying a 2 bedroom co-op in 111 Hicks (the St. George Tower). The price is right (it needs a bit of updating) but the maintenance is unbelievably high! Are we right to be concerned about resale value? Is it worth paying such a high maintenance? Frankly, this may be the only…
GUIDANCE NEEDED!
We’re considering buying a 2 bedroom co-op in 111 Hicks (the St. George Tower). The price is right (it needs a bit of updating) but the maintenance is unbelievably high! Are we right to be concerned about resale value? Is it worth paying such a high maintenance? Frankly, this may be the only place we can afford in BH. Thanks so much for any input or thoughts.
The St. George is a great full-service building but, even by co-op standards, has high maintenance, and it definitely affects resale values. If you compare market prices of similarly-sized apartments in the Heights with listings in the St. George, you’ll notice the difference.
You say this place might be the only one you can afford in BH due to the lower asking price – but if you run the numbers, isn’t it more cost effective in the long term to pay higher asking and have a lower maintenance? That high maintenance is NEVER going away, whereas you can pay down a mortgage.
i looked at a apt in brooklyn in the fall, it was priced really low and in a nice nabe, ditmas in a nice pre-war building that was well maintained, the price? 160k for the 1 bedroom, the seller broker said to offer 150k lol, the catch the mt was 800!
when we started to do our due diligence, the truth came out, the building financials were a MESS, and the mt was likely to go up soon.
i was wondering why when the broker around the building everyone we met in the building seemed so unnaturally friendly,
they were desperate!
Desk Sgt, I lived in L.A. for several years until recently and there are no 1400 sq foot condos in excellent neighborhoods INSIDE the city in an excellent neighborhood for $500K. Not even close. In Orange County or the Valley, maybe, but that’s not an “excellent” neighborhood by my standards. Not when you have to commute 2 hours in bumper to bumper traffic from out there. Besides, if the people here wanted to bother with living in L.A. they’d move there. Nothing is stopping them. Except hating L.A. which most people do. That said, yes, the condo fees are cheaper there. Property taxes are NOT cheaper there though. Neither are income taxes.
To answer the OP question, yes do take monthly fees seriously when shopping for a condo or co-op. It’s sad but true, it will make it difficult for resale. And please keep in mind those fees go up every year, PLUS there are extra charges if there’s a big improvement project like replacing the roof. They don’t pay for major repairs out of the reserve every time. If you do go for this unit, get a good inspector who will find every potential major repair in the next few years. Because you will be helping pay for those repairs.
Nothing beats the Heights. But given the high costs
you could buy a mansion anywhere else in the free world for what your monthly nut will be.
I believe the avg maint in Manhattan is $1/sq foot – so quite a bit more than most Brooklyn digs. This has nothing to do with the real estate bubble. Maint has been high in manhattan forever in good and bad markets.
That said maint. is a part of living in a coop. Why anyone would buy a coop when they could own their own house will never make sense to me. Yea, you have to dole out to maintain a house…but its not a consistent huge bill every month. And if you put a little money a month in preventative care, you rarely have to shell out big amounts. In a coop, that underlying debt is financing the riches of the guy who originally had the building and turned it coop. Most of that maint (at least the tax ded. part) is going to make someone ELSE rich.
I don’t get it. People in Park Slope are paying $3000+ mortgages AND another $600+ in ‘maintenance fees’?.
Do these people CRAP the money?. Because otherwise it just plain DOESN’T MAKE SENSE.
Like Anon 1:17pm says, ” Its like having a mortgage forever in addition to whatever your personal mortgage is plus the added joy of it going up every year”.
In CA (for example) you can get a brand-spanking-new 1400 sq ft condo for $500.000 in an EXCELLENT neighborhood and it’ll come with a $150 per month ‘maintenance fee’.
These people moving into Brooklyn and paying outrageous prices (while driving-up the prices there on a daily basis in doing so) all in exchange for living in a yuppie-ghetto surrounded by poor people is so freakin’ STUPID.
This booby-bubble market HAS GOT TO CRASH and when it does these a-holes will be saying, “What was I thinking”?.
111 Hicks posts a breakdown of the budget spending here: http://www.111hicksstreet.com/building/development_finance.php4
Id never buy a condo with high maint….so it would definitely impact resale. ( Its like having a mortgage forever in addition to whatever your personal mortgage is plus the added joy of it going up every year.) No thanks.
Is the maintenance tax deductible (or at least a part of it)? b/c i would imagine that would make a huge difference on its resale value.