home search: realistic expectations?
Getting ready to start an out-of-state (mostly) search to find a new home in Brooklyn (my former home, so I’m very familiar with it). I’d love some advice about whether I have realistic expectations for what I’m looking for, lest I waste too much time holding out for that “just right” place that takes years…
Getting ready to start an out-of-state (mostly) search to find a new home in Brooklyn (my former home, so I’m very familiar with it). I’d love some advice about whether I have realistic expectations for what I’m looking for, lest I waste too much time holding out for that “just right” place that takes years to come along.
Budget: around a million (but thrilled to pay far less!), less if it needs work, more if there’s rental income. Prefer something renovated or new, but if all else is perfect, we would consider doing reno ourselves.
Nabes: Prospect Heights, Park Slope, Ft. Greene,m Clinton Hill, Boerum Hill, etc. Walking distance to “good stuff.” Would LOVE walking distance to Prospect Park and Grand Army Farmers Market. Not Lefferts Garden or Kensington (too far out, and not enough walkable stuff).
Size: 1500+ sq. ft. At least 1.5 bathrooms. Pref. 3 bedrooms (or two bedrooms plus office area), pref. formal dining room or ample dining space.
Must have: dedicated parking on-site or super nearby.
My (no doubt unrealistic) dream home: a townhouse with parking and a yard, sizable owner’s duplex, plus in-law unit or studio and a one bedroom rental. I see one like this listed in Lefferts Garden, a limestone beauty, listed for under a mil. But it’s too far! If it were this, I could probably swing $1.3 mil…
OR, a large condo for a lower price, with reasonable maintenance. Parking for sure. A patio or yard would be great. Actually, the Vermiel listings for the largest units seem perfect, except that they front 7th Ave and Sterling (with the windows RIGHT, right, right on the street) and the asking prices are high!
Am I crazy, or is this doable?
The other dream (im)possibility, a well-priced empty lot that meets the above requirements and is buildable… for a super-dope prefab…
This is what every single person in NYC whether renter or buyer goes through, anyone who doesn’t have unlimited funds that is. Lots of money can buy everything on the wish list. Less money means having to decide what you care most about on the list and compromise on the rest. Everybody’s decisions about those priorities are different.
1500+ sq ft Denton? And do you actually think anyone that who doesn’t want any windows right on the street at the rather uncommercial intersection of 7th Av. and Sterling Pl. really wants to live on 4th Ave? (I don’t, and I’m nowhere near as picky.)
In Jackson Heights you can get an entire house with a yard and parking for less than $1M and be in a great school district and close to a major transit hub 10-15 minutes from Manhattan. Not to mention a short train ride to the largest park in the boroughs and have the best Indian, Columbian, Argentinian, Korean and Chinese food all around you.
Screw Brooklyn.
Hey 9:50:
I just sold a coop, 3br, 2 bath, 2 outdoor spaces, 1 parklng space, for 900k, 4th ave and 5th street. So don;t rule out coops. Unless you are broke.
You CANNOT find a condo or coop or house in those areas for 1 million with 1500+ sq. ft., 3 bedrooms, 1.5 baths, formal dining room or “ample” dining area, and dedicated parking.
Nor can you find a townhouse with parking and a yard, a “sizable” duplex PLUS studio or in-law apartment PLUS one-bedroom rental for 1.3 million.
Nor a large condo for a lower price with “reasonable” maintenance (even if condos had maintenance), parking, a yard or patio, but no windows on the street please.
Nope, nada.
Yes you are crazy. Next.
You should rent in one of those nabes for a year. During that time, you’ll be in brooklyn, so you can go to open houses and check out various areas that you like. Also, as you know, the market is really in flux right now. Could go down, could go way down, could be where it is right now, which is very little inventory and prices for anything but great properties either flat or accepting offers below asking price.
It’s so hard to find a good home to buy in New York even when you already live here. Doing it from 3,000 miles away, unless your absolutely loaded, is nearly impossible.
I DO think you can find a co-op or condo in most of those areas for $1 mil or under that will meet your needs. But it will take some looking and a willingness to go “all in” when you see what you want.
“…I’d be thrilled if someone would explain why some folks on this forum are so hostile and skeptical”.
Nothing to do with Brooklyn, but a lot to do with the anonymity of blogs.
Good luck with your search
4:37, I have no idea whatsoever what that means.
I’ve been watching all the realtor’s websites for a while, (which includes, yes, a place in PLG that seems perfect to me EXCEPT for the fact that it’s in PLG) and my husband and I are almost ready to get serious about searching. Thought I’d get some advice here before that.
Sorry if that offends you.
Seriously, though, I’d be thrilled if someone would explain why some folks on this forum are so hostile and skeptical. I can’t quite figure out why anyone would think I’d be a “fake”… or why in the world anyone would want to “fake” a post like this in the first place…???
Sitting at a computer in Cal. (if there) wanting to “exhaust all the possibilites before widening the neighborhood search” and “eyeing a place [in PLG] for awhile” – all online?
THIS is how one goes about seriously looking for a home in Brooklyn?
You/we all are too kind, too helpful with the advice.