Advice for a Freaked Out Apartment Seller
Help! After many wonderful years living in Brooklyn my husband got a new job and we have to relocate to Seattle. He left me here to sell the apartment and take care of our two young boys thinking we’d have the deal wrapped up and be out there by Christmas. Well, it hasn’t quite turned…
Help! After many wonderful years living in Brooklyn my husband got a new job and we have to relocate to Seattle. He left me here to sell the apartment and take care of our two young boys thinking we’d have the deal wrapped up and be out there by Christmas. Well, it hasn’t quite turned out as we planned.
The broker recommended we price the apartment (a two bedroom walkup on Henry Street in Carroll Gardens) at $595K when it first went on the market almost two months ago. No takers.
After two more price cuts, we’re down to $475K. The open houses are always very busy. But NO ONE IS BUYING. At this point, I’d consider any offers. But there aren’t any. What should I do? The URL for the listing is http://www.bhsbrooklyn.com/detail.asp?id=960620
Thanks in advance for any and all advice!
Yikes, these places were $200,000 or $300,000 and barely big enough for two adults when I lived there in 2001. Not to throw cold water.
Brooklyn housing prices doubled or tripled over the last ten years.
If prices can go up 200%-300%, why can’t they go down 50%?
The stock market is down 50%. Oil is down over 50% Wall Street is getting crushed. Unemployment is skyrocketing. A big time “wealth-distributer” is about to enter office. Billions and billions of dollars in bs mortgages are still on the books. The list goes on and on . . .
I would prefer if the economy rebounded tomorrow. I own lots of real estate and the down market hurts me too. It’s not about what I want, or what you want.
It’s not about being pessimistic or optimistic. It’s about looking at the facts and making an educated guess as to the way things are heading.
IB and Wasder, I think you guys are wrong re the market tanking. Or at least it depends how you define “tank.” Certainly the market has and will continue to stagnate and dip. However, even in the late 80s the market didn’t drop 50% (re your desire to find a brownstone that was $2 mil a few months ago now for under $1 mil – keep dreaming). The market dropped close to 20% btwn 1987 and 1991 when it bottomed out, and that was pretty extreme. We may be in for that type of drop again, but it won’t be more than double that, that’s for sure. Not to mention that the city is much more desirable today (from a real estate perspective) than it was in the early 90s – crime down, international buyers, “white flight” into the boroughs instead of the burbs. So one could argue that even if the overall economy mirrors the slump of the late 80s, or is worse than that recession, nyc real estate is not in a parallel circumstance.
Cobblegirl – my advice is to calculate how much you are spending on the place each month in mortgage and maintenance. That is money you are losing every month. You can hold out for a higher price if your monthly outlay isn’t that bad. But if you bought a few years ago and you’re spending a lot on the place then you may save money buy selling for less sooner, rather than for a higher price a six months down the line. This calculation doesn’t of course take into account the overall market and if it continues to dip, but it’s a good benchmark to work from. Good luck.
Wasder,
Glad to hear that you’re getting on board, brother.
When the real estate market really does tank, I’ll probably buy a brownstone myself in Brooklyn and fix it up just like you did. For a million or less, if I can get a nice one near Prospect Park I’ll probably pull the trigger. I’m talking about something that would have cost around two million a few months ago.
The secret is hoarding cash for a big down payment and waiting. . .
For the first time ever I think I agree with something that Iron Balls wrote. First time for everything I guess. But really I think he is right, despite my earlier post, that renting is probably only likely to get you less money later. I have no idea what you originally paid or what you need to get to break even on the apt but I would think that as IB says 400 would get this sold, though I bet you could still get 475.
There is almost no closet space. I would call in a contractor to create a closet or two. If you can’t create closet space, lower the price again.
Also, the apartment looks a bit cluttered in pictures, I suggest sending some furniture to storage and/or putting away the toys under the bed.
You are fucked…..
The What (OH Shit lookie at the market)
Someday (Soon) this war is gonna end…
Oh yeah,
And only rent if you understand that the market could be substantially lower a year from now . . . possibly 50% lower.
Eventually the market will come back, but it could be years.
Nobody knows for sure.
Keep lowering the price.
Real estate prices are about to tank.
The Dow and S&P are already lower than they were ten years ago.
You’re lucky in a sense because the NYC real estate market hasn’t tanked yet. . . but it will.
Any positive return over what you originally paid would be a good price.
Price really does talk. Folks jump when the see a real deal.
Lowering to 400k would likely incite a bidding war, even in this environment.
Good luck from somebody who has been in NYC real estate for over ten years as a buyer, seller, landlord, and building manager (not a broker).