Condo of the Day: 497 12th Street, #1R
It’s hard to get your arms around this ground-floor duplex at 497 12th Street in Park Slope without a floorplan; despite having some nice original woodwork, the layout looks a little awkward and the views aren’t exactly uplifting. Our guess is that the eventual buyers will have a similar profile to the sellers—a couple with…
It’s hard to get your arms around this ground-floor duplex at 497 12th Street in Park Slope without a floorplan; despite having some nice original woodwork, the layout looks a little awkward and the views aren’t exactly uplifting. Our guess is that the eventual buyers will have a similar profile to the sellers—a couple with a small baby (or one on the way). The asking price of $849,000 for the 1,020-square-foot apartment seems a bit aggressive to us, but the outdoor space helps soften the blow. What do you think?
497 12th Street, #1R [Betancourt] GMAP P*Shark
Polemicist: Though your doom and gloom is very dramatic, I just don’t beleive you as it relates to your ability to take out a $700K mortgage.
Also, there aren’t hundreds of these places on the market and 1,000 in the pipeline. Stop making things up.
And why are you paying $2,500 month for rent? That is insane. There are perfectly good places in this city that rent for much less? If you are so worried about finances, why aren’t you spending less on rent and taking that money and doing something more useful with it? Hmmmm? MAybe you are just talking out of your ass.
P, the buyers in Brooklyn come from Manhattan.
My old building… I lived on the top floor… absolutely fabulous apartment even back in 1975 … paid $150 a month!
The original owner was a Mr. Demant… the building had been in his family forever… he ended up selling it to one of his tenants for #35,000 in ’78 or ’79…. they sold it eventually and bought a one family home in the neighborhood.
What wonderful memories.
11233:
Obviously I know many people who can afford a $700K mortgage, myself being one of them. I live in a similar 8-family building with a much larger 2-bedroom apartment and pay $2,500 a month. Why on earth would I pay twice as much per month for the same apartment when there is almost no chance this place would ever appreciate significantly in the near term? When the city’s largest employment sector by dollars earned is literally collapsing before our eyes? You would have to be a lunatic to take on such a death vow.
Such people are as numerous as you believe however, nor do I believe most hard working young people have any faith in the “trade up” game of the most recent asset bubble in this country. I don’t know anyone, especially in my profession, who honestly thinks prices like this will ever appreciate to a level they will be able to cash out and flip the place.
The US Census Bureau estimates that in 2006, there are only 22,342 households in the entire borough with a household income above $200,000 a year – what I consider the minimum to be able to afford this place comfortably. When you consider there are literally hundreds of similar apartments on the market, and easily another 1,000 in the pipeline, one must ask the question: From where will these buyers come?
Oh, and by the way, I don’t get why people trash the F – it’s really not so bad!
49712th – I wish you luck. In my own experience, pricing a bit below market value, drumming up lots of interest and hoping for a bidding war is a good strategy in this market, but it’s risky, esp with the most recent turn of events, since of course some buyers have the mentality that they should get 10% min off ask. Low inventory is still working in your favor, but that may start to change, so you might want to consider a price cut if you’re in a hurry to sell and it does not move soon – otherwise, the market might do it for you.
11217: well, we just qualified for a 700K mortgage but that does not necessary mean I think we can really afford one. We are lucky to have capital (from real estate sales) but we are in modestly-paying professions and have kids. Even before the grim economic turn, we felt the need to be frugal but even more so now. Especially since even friends of ours in lucrative fields (i.e. finance) have recently lost their jobs. It’s a nervous-making time and honestly we’re hoping to find a place where we can pay mostly with the cash we have. No, I don’t think the sky is falling, (and of course, eventually the pendulum will swing back), but if there was ever a time to live within (or better yet, below) your means, this is it.
Polemicist-I just cooked dinner for my family in my “functionally obsolescent” kitchen-in the business we call that a home cooked meal. It’s a standard “L” shaped kitchen- rather than a wall on one side -there’s an open stair way to the lower level- not to be repetitive but it’s one of my favorite rooms in the house and whenever we have company we spend most of our time in the eat-in kitchen. If you haven’t seen our place please in person come by on Sunday from 2-4…
11217: I know several people who can get mortgages over 700K and they don’t work in financial services.
I think Polemicist, being so young, doesn’t know enough people who are old enough to have saved money, bought co-ops/condos years ago, pooled money with spouses/partners, traded up the property ladder and now can trade up to a house of this size and cost without taking a $700K mortgage. As for fashionably dressed lawyers, I work with several who can all afford this place without tkaing a $700K mortgage.
Sounds like someone woke up on the wrong side of the litter box today…