Why Townhouses Are Priced at a Discount
Between 1997 and 2006, townhouses in Manhattan appreciated at a slightly slower rate than condominiums, according to Radar Logic. The reason, according to The New York Times, is basically that a house is a hell of a lot more work than an apartment. You hate when you come home from a trip with a lot…
Between 1997 and 2006, townhouses in Manhattan appreciated at a slightly slower rate than condominiums, according to Radar Logic. The reason, according to The New York Times, is basically that a house is a hell of a lot more work than an apartment.
You hate when you come home from a trip with a lot of luggage and have to drag it up the stairs, or you’re in a huge hurry to leave and you have to run back up to the third or fourth floor dressed up in high-heeled shoes because you’ve forgotten something, said Barbara Fox, president of Fox Residential Group, who lived for two decades with her husband, James Freund, in a 7,000-square-foot town house on West 73rd Street near Central Park. And you hate when you have to have repairs because there’s always got to be somebody there to answer the door.
So, townhouse dwellers, what are your greatest gripes about non-doormaned, vertical living?
Town House Living: The Untold Story [NY Times]
Photo by Littlekim
The couple in the NYT article could have still lived in a townhouse without having to carry their luggage up the stairs. They could have just gotten the butler to do it. That is after the chauffeur drops them off curbside in front of the townhouse. They could then send the cook to do all of the shopping, have the nanny carry their kids and have the housekeeping staff clean. Of course, they would have to keep a carpenter/handyman on staff to handle all of the maintenance issues that may arise. A butcher, a baker and a candlestick maker could be contracted on an as-needed basis.
Sorting the recycling, carting out the trash, plowing the sidewalk etc are a very, very, very small price to pay compared to the thrill of owning a piece of history; the pleasure of having a backyard; the delight at being able to accomodate friends and family; and the joy of being forever free of the crazies that lurk on every coop board.
When I swept the sidewalk and cleaned up my street pit yesterday afternoon, I also caught up with 4 of my neighbors. The cost of community? Priceless!
Bless you Brenda, for saying it best!
My favorite quote from the Times article: “Moving into a town house, I was prepared to clean up after Mother Nature but not human nature,†said Dr. Lautin, who, with the aid of latex gloves, soap, a broom and a garden hose, regularly removes nearly every human substance save blood from the front areas of the town house he shares with his wife, Jackie, and their two children, Sabrina, 9, and Alex, 3.
What a wimp! In Brooklyn, we remove every human substance INCLUDING blood. This guy is a doctor wearing latex gloves, and he won’t clean up the blood? What’s this city coming to?
I love living in my brownstone. I have wonderful tenants and after a grueling experience renovating this place, there is a kind of peace I feel about the whole thing. It IS a lot of work and it is forcing me to be more organized than I ever needed to be.
It is also very expensive to maintain. I have a day job so there are only so many hours in a day to do things so I need help.
There are also so many things I don’t know how to do, it is humbling, but I am learning.
I used to own a big old house which was 75 years old and that was a piece of cake compared to this brownstone. But it is great. I am very grateful it is working out.
Bob Marvin,
You could not “stand” to live “that way” now.
My, my, aren’t we precious!
What happens to people when they buy brownstones? Their brain turns to mush.
I have seen it happen to several of my friends. Suddenly they are in a kind of house stupor. They forget that they once had other interests. Boring.
I agree keeping a house clean in this city is next to impossible, but I doubt the people in this article know anything about vacuuming and dusting, either.
“Having a big old Victorian house without servants is just crazy. How can you even deal with the ….”
Right–it’s absolutely impossible, which is why no one reading this website does it 🙂
Personally, I grew up in a pretty nice apartment building, but could not stand to live that way now.
No, not really. Urban home owners, especially in NY, face issues that others do not. One of these is five or six flights of stairs. another is sanitation department rules and tickets, another is vagrants and just plain annoying people hanging around the stoop, and another is that it is just harder to keep a house clean in the city. Impossible almost. I have no problem with my house in the country, but the soot and grime and dust in the city is incredible.
No wonder people like to live high above it all.