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
Apart from the stairs (which you either love or hate–and I could understand how someone could quickly change his or her mind about the charm of all that) this article could be about the responsibilities of home ownership ANYWHERE. It’s a lot of work, no matter in which zip code you do it.
those damn stairs…. those damn stairs!
A zippy Modena?
whatever.
Having a big old Victorian house without servants is just crazy. How can you even deal with the dust bunnies, let alone the carpets, the beds, the windows, the bathrooms, the kitchen, the fireplaces, the sidewalk, the yard, the food, the trash, the deliveries,the bugs, etc, etc.
It’s interesting, 1:23, that we’ve had the reverse experiences. I grew up in a Manhattan doorman building and got used to all those conveniences (and thus empathize with 12:53’s beleagured husband!). When I was working crazy hours during the ’90s, I don’t think I could have managed a house. But now that I have more balance in my life, I feel that I’ve worked my way up to having a big (relatively) house instead of a two-bedroom co-op. But I understand and can’t argue with anyone who feels the reverse.
The Manhattan townhouse is a Ferrari tho, not a bicycle. You’re old, with too much make-up and a silly fur coat in your lincoln towncar and I’m self-made and zippy in my Modena.
Actually the NY/B’klyn brownstone/townhouse was designed for live-in ‘help’. If you can get the original plans (I have) you’ll that it included a small apartment on the ground level for the ‘help’. In fact a neighbor, a professional woman, rented an ‘english basement’ to a man who maintained the property as part of his rent. These great old houses accommodated all operational needs.
Today, of course, this planned space is too valuable for non-revenue producing purposes. The owner collects the money but does not plan for these unmet needs.
There is something to be said for living in a full service co-op (and I’m not talking about a walk-up flat)
Co-op living is to rowhouse living what a towncar is to a bicycle. I have everything done for me and I don’t worry about the snow or the leaves or the trash. When a pipe leaks or a door creaks I leave a note for the super on my my way to work so that it can be fixed by the time I get home. Packages and dry cleaning are waiting for me by the doormen’s desk when I get home. If I’m running late the porter takes the doggie for a walk. It is comfortable.
I grew up in a house, I worked my way up to a fancy co-op.
Gawker, which always gives the NYT a hard time (and rightfully so) picked it up too:
http://tinyurl.com/2zqlrf