To Buy or Not to Buy
We rent a two-bedroom in Park Slope for over $3,000/month. We have $120K sitting in the bank ready for a down payment and could easily make a payment of up to $4,500/month. We could afford to buy an apartment, but we are in no rush as we live comfortably now. When we do buy, we…
We rent a two-bedroom in Park Slope for over $3,000/month. We have $120K sitting in the bank ready for a down payment and could easily make a payment of up to $4,500/month. We could afford to buy an apartment, but we are in no rush as we live comfortably now. When we do buy, we are looking for a 2 bedroom w/ outdoor space. What are your thoughts about the market – should we hold off and sit tight until the market falls further, or should we jump in now? Is there a general sense it still has up to 30% to fall?
Oh yeah, Brownstoner had a post about that same report a few days ago. It got a lot of comments, and then the whole thing was yanked and disappeared from the site in the middle of the day without explanation.
to add to the mopar’s point. I picked up BayRidge Courier a day ago. It has some numbers on the recent house price fluctuations in Brooklyn (Q3 2008 v. Q4 2008). Overall Brooklyn prices are down … except 1-3 family houses in what they call “Brownstone Brooklyn”. This is Park Slope, Brooklyn Hights, Red Hook. Median prices in these areas went up 10%. (Though volume is down).
Since Bay Ridge Courer does not have interest in Park Slope, I feel like this is objective numbers.
Bobjohn, I could not agree more, but you have made the point much better than I could.
Also, Brooklyn, and Park Slope, is not exactly the same place it was in 2000.
“We live in the most expensive shantytown on earth [New York City]….the grandly named County of Kings used to be an afterthought, a bridge-and-tunnel punchline. Now it’s rapidly becoming a Zagat guide destination of its own, with rock-star residents and CEO-priced real estate.”
Quote is from “Gimme Shelter,” a book that came out last week about house-hunting in New York by Mary Elizabeth Williams.
http://www.halstead.com/detail.aspx?id=1597314&ab=TAB
everything you’re looking for
I would buy if I had that kind of money. Perfect timing if you were thinking of investing in real property already.
Miss Muffett: for a love of god, what possessed you to compare prices with 2000? Why not 2004 or 1985?
But even if you compare with 2000, you need to factor in 9 years of inflation (at 4%/year it will add up to 42% price increase). You also should consider the mortgage interest rates. Now they are much lower then in 2000. rates came down from 8.5% to 5.5%. It means, that you can get 31% bigger mortgage today they in 2000 with the same monthly payment.
So to compare prices you should at least add 86% to the prices in 2000.
and by the way, we plan on sitting tight until prices come down enough that it makes sense to buy.
hannible,
I just spent the last 6 weeks or so looking for a nicely maintained, good sized (~1000sqft) 2br on a good block in PS (north of 10th st, east of 5th ave). We didn’t see a single place under $2500 that came even close to being acceptable to us. 2,700 to 3,000+ was the price range where we saw places that appealed to us.
We ended up with a great place on a good block in carroll gardens for 2,700.
I would see a doctor. Giving 3000 dollars a month to a landlord in rent is not a good thing. I would look for some place much cheaper. Thanks to people like you that overpay. People like me have to overpay for rents.