211 23rd Street: Livin' La Vida Scarano
When we were discussing the Greenwood Hill Condos on Tuesday, we epressed surprise at the fact that the entire building was comprised of one-bedroom apartments. Not necessarily what you’d imagine the target demographic of the nabe to be. Turns out that developer is not alone in his thinking. Just down the street, the unfinished Scarano…
When we were discussing the Greenwood Hill Condos on Tuesday, we epressed surprise at the fact that the entire building was comprised of one-bedroom apartments. Not necessarily what you’d imagine the target demographic of the nabe to be. Turns out that developer is not alone in his thinking. Just down the street, the unfinished Scarano project at 211 23rd Street is made up of eight studios and one bedrooms as well (two are in contract, six are available). The studios are priced in the mid-$400’s and the priciest one bedroom (a first floor and basement duplex) is $889,000. Browsing the listings, one sees frequent use of the word “mezzanine” — no surprise given the architect involved. It may also not be a surprise to see the DOB website shows an active violation on the books since November 30 of last year. Anyone know what it’s for? We’re sure the locals will be able to fill us in on how this construction process has gone as well.
Available Units [21123Condo.com] GMAP
I don’t get it either. I’m on 180K yr, no debt. But I can’t bring myself to pay such a huge amount of my monthly pay in a mortgage when I can rent a great place for just a couple of grand and have loads left over for the other things in my life. I just can’t do it – it seems insane. I’d end up being a slave – on 180K a year! It makes no sense to me.
Anon 4:22 PM, I completely agree with you and I understand your questions. I actually find them comedic because I’ve been there, done that. These were the same questions that I asked myself 2 or 3 years ago when brownstones in bed-sty sky-rocketed way out of my price range. It’s the same question that every salary bracket group will end up asking itself as the real estate in nyc continues on it’s apparently, never-ending, upward spiral.
Don’t worry, you’ll get over the outrage in time and soon begin to accept the reality of the situation.
Best of luck to you. Follow your instinct. Lose the outrage, for the emotion will hinder you. 150K a year is terrific but, in new york city, that puts you solidly in the middle class bracket. Elsewhere you’d be rich and wealthy.
As far as nyc is concerned, you may need to adjust some of your expectations, whether it be the neighborhood (middle class), type of building or the size/charactistics of the house/apt that you want to purchase.
Good luck.
I escaped the coop/condo scene, the more people in your space the more likely hood for problems. 400K for a studio or 800K for a 1 bed is retarded. while prices are up, renting will be more attractive. I also bought in this nabe 2 yrs ago for <500 for a 2 family. My rental pays 60% of my mortgage. it better to buy a 2 family house, in this nabe they are going for 675 to 800. taxes are lower, You can offset your mortgage with a rental, you have more space to live, and you can expand if you plan on having a few/more kids.
Hey, Reverb: I appreciate you looking through the offering plan on these taxes, and if it’s there, I suppose it may be real. But if it is, those owners are gonna want to be appealing those taxes fast. $27K a year taxes on a 1 BR? I just don’t understand how that’s possible, even as screwy and unfair as NYC taxes are. I have a 3000 sf brownstone for which the annual taxes are $3200. And I just sold a 2200 sf loft condo in Chelsea for which the annual taxes were $11,000. Who sets these tax rates–George W. Bush?
150k is great!
with my first place, my wife and i started with about 100k combined 5 years ago – bought a small place for about 250k, sold it for a huge profit and bought a 600k place, where we currently live.
that’s how you do it. little deals that gradually become bigger deals. buy a condo for 300k, or a co-op in ditmas/kensington/windsor for 250k (and you’d probably get 700 square feet) hold it for three or four years, sell and upgrade. no one can guarantee appreciation, but over the long haul the prices are not going down.
good luck.
Why are these apartments so expensive? I just don’t understand it. I have the same question as others on this thread — who are the people who are buying them? Does all new construction have to be this expensive? Is it just a matter of capital flowing to wherever there’s the most money to be made? Don’t my husband and I — with a household income around 150K — and the many others like us –constitute a market?
Hi #135 Here. Thanks for the big ups. Anyways, yeah Bushwick (parts of it) are pretty cool. There’s a sort of abandoned warehousey part and pat with some pretty cool houses. Most of the new comers are young and I mean like 18-27 young. Which is real cool to me. they don’t have jobs they’re either in school or just fuck around with art. I like this vibe. Not only do they stay out late on their bikes and what not but they are generally pretty interesting. (Like Williamsburg (91-99). As for the warehouse part – where I bought – there were barely any people living there to begin with so you’re not coming on anyone’s turf. Grant it there are no bodegas or laundrymats, etc but it’s quiet and When I bought – for 800k you can get a whole building.
I bought a huge building for 550 a few years back. I split it with friend. We divided it in half. I have the first two floors (which i removed the 2nd floor so it’s on huge room)and the back yard and he has the top two and the roof. Our neighbor lives in converted garage which is sick.
It’s still pretty hairy – the bars are illegal and kind of makeshifty in changing locations – definitely not for the faint of heart.
I like the neighborhood just fine, but it just isn’t really a place for the 800k for a one bedroom crowd. Like the comments above show, they just aren’t going to see the amenities they want in the area (like the comment above says “there isn’t dick to do here” – except work and raise families) for some time to come, if ever. And to the extent that this area becomes one of 800k 1 bedrooms and 400k studios you’re going to lose the very thing that makes the neighborhood distinctive.
Now, if they were selling 2 and 3 bedrooms for something like these prices I might understand it, because those would be the type of units that people I know in Park Slope, Carroll Gardens, Manhattan, etc. are looking for.
But I still have to wonder just who, precisely, is buying stuff like these apartments. One poster suggests it is speulators trying to get on the real estate band wagon before it’s too late (but then why not buy a house in the area? They’re not priced that much more). Another says it’s “young people”, but where are these young people coming from with all of this money? I sure never had any money like that (even taking inflation into account) before I was 30, and I went to a good school and had pretty good jobs. I would think that the market of folks over 30 would be looking for a bit more family space than a studio or a 1.
So I’m honestly curious, who is buying these things? Where are they from? And where did they get all this money while the salaries and wages of the rest of us are stagnating (or declining in relation to inflation)? And over the long term are there anywhere near enough of them to absorb and support the sort of building that’s going on here and elsewhere in Brooklyn (Williamsburg anyone?)?
Of course one also wonders where the hell the rest of us are supposed to live, but that’s not really an argument for this board.
The RE taxes I quoted are correct. Just check out the offering plan yourself and skip down to the RE tax section:
http://www.leewoodgroup.com/contracts/211_OfferingPlan5-2-06.pdf