215 Gates Sells...For the Fifth Time in Five Years
The wreck of a brownstone at 215 Gates Avenue in Bed Stuy finally sold earlier this month for $440,000, bringing, perhaps, an end to a five-year roller coaster ride that’s emblematic of the boom-bust cycle of the housing boom and its excesses and abuses. Here’s the sales data from PropertyShark: June 2004: $655,000 March 2006:…
The wreck of a brownstone at 215 Gates Avenue in Bed Stuy finally sold earlier this month for $440,000, bringing, perhaps, an end to a five-year roller coaster ride that’s emblematic of the boom-bust cycle of the housing boom and its excesses and abuses. Here’s the sales data from PropertyShark:
June 2004: $655,000
March 2006: $902,000
August 2008: $776,546
October 2008: $325,000
June 2009: $440,000
If that $902,000 number for a wreck of a brownstone looks suspicious to you, then you’ll also be interested by the fact that the buyer was able to finance 100 percent of the purchase. The only comforting thing about all this data is that it suggests that the Bed Stuy market is up 35 percent since last summer. Good to know.
House of the Day: 215 Gates Avenue [Brownstoner]
215 Gates Avenue [Historic Brooklyn] GMAP P*Shark
Perhaps i read your statement too narrowly based on personal experience – when we bought, we didn’t weigh moving to the suburbs, we didn’t price it, didn’t consider it, didn’t think about it. Didn’t consider hoboken, jersey city, newark, westchester. Didn’t run the numbers and wouldn’t care if it was cheaper – we wanted to be in brooklyn, and specifically wanted to be in the neighborhood we’re in.
I’m sure ‘cost factor’ is relevant to some people (maybe many people) like Paul C, but there are others like us who would be willing to pay a premium, even when all lifestyle issues are considered, to be in specific city hoods.
I guess what I’m saying, squaredrive, is that “lifestyle issues” is an array of items (location, space, public schools, the corresponding taxes you pay, need for a car or two, etc.) that you SHOP and PAY for. That’s math.
I’ll take it a step further and say that, in the end, your housing cost remains more or less the same per neighborhood class. Higher taxes and a car or two but lower prices. Or, higher prices but no car and lower taxes.
***Bid half off peak comps***
“This is exceedingly reductive and over simplistic.”
How? Your paragraph falls short of an explanation. Interdependence, as he calls it, applies to Paul C and millions of others who have undoubtably considered the boroughs. Yes, there are “lifestyle issues” but exactly how does that decouple the choice between NYC proper and NY Metro at large? In fact, the weighing of “lifestyle issues” is exactly WHY they choose. My assertion is real. People come far and wide to work in Manhattan. This affects demand in either direction, high (ooh, I like the City!) or low (ooh, I can get more space/$ within 70 minutes elsewhere!).
One New York metropolitan market. Premiums for period detail or chic SoHo-like locations were already priced in before cheap/EZ credit. All up +200%. I still haven’t read an alternative explanation for this phenomenon other than interdependance (thanks Paul C!).
***Bid half off peak comps***
“A manhattan employee chooses between the burbs or the city and that is based on math.”
This is exceedingly reductive and over simplistic. It doesn’t apply to me (manhattan employee) or most other people i know. There are major lifestyle issues that weigh in to these decisions as well.
I agree with BHO regarding the fact that the entire Tri-State market is interdependent.
Several months ago, I backed out of a new-construction condo in Greenpoint (I couldn’t afford a brownstone), and made the decision to move to Nyack, NY — as a very happy renter (for the time being).
The commute to midtown is 70 minutes door-to-door, which is not great, but it’s tolerable. I save a ton on NYC income taxes. I have more space than I know what to do with. The town is charming and peaceful, but the best part is that it has a thriving restaurant / bar scene, all within walking distance.
I might end up buying something up here. Although I still check this site once in a while to keep up to date. Anyway, the point is that many people in NYC area move to/from the City and back, as their desires, resources, and prices dictate. That is: prices in the “burbs” affect the prices in the city, and vice versa.
I can’t decide if I should live in a 19th C. brownstone or a McMansion in the burbs. They are exactly the same housing stock, property taxes and commute. My need for multiple cars and the cost of gas are exactly the same too. I just can’t decide?!
If I actually practiced what I preached, would I own a home by now or would I still be on Brownstoner using football metaphors?
I understand it’s the current market, ‘stoner, but that is shortsighted because comps are still laden with risidual fraud from “excesses and abuses”. The long term trend is down and it needs to be. That’s the big picture. Manning throws the ball where Toomer will be, not where he is now.
Not that newborns are not buying near peak but that pool is dwindling.
How wrong, DIBS? A manhattan employee chooses between the burbs or the city and that is based on math. The two are valuated in proportion to eachother (maybe not directly but ultimately). The buyer is a participant in the whole Tri-State market. Many on this blog have either come from LI/Jersey/Westchester or are going there. Why everything up +200% peak/trough? Coincidence?
***Bid half off peak comps***
“There’s only one housing market for which everything is proprotional.”
This is where you will be proven wrong.
Our comments about HOTD’s are based on the current market–and they are usually skeptical of the seller’s ability to achieve the asking price.