Condo of the Day: 403 Pacific Street
We’ll give the developer points for keeping the original floor boards and the fireplace in this townhouse condo conversion at 403 Pacific Street in Boerum Hill; we’re less enthusiastic about the new closet doors and the somewhat awkward placement of the kitchen. The second-floor unit, a 700-square-foot two-bedroom, is asking $579,000, down from its April…
We’ll give the developer points for keeping the original floor boards and the fireplace in this townhouse condo conversion at 403 Pacific Street in Boerum Hill; we’re less enthusiastic about the new closet doors and the somewhat awkward placement of the kitchen. The second-floor unit, a 700-square-foot two-bedroom, is asking $579,000, down from its April debut price of $669,000. Getting close?
403 Pacific Street [Douglas Elliman] GMAP P*Shark
Less expensive places are always less risk. If everything goes to hell, you will have an easier time renting a 1 or 2 bedroom than a full SFR brownstone. There are still a ton of creative types that are moving to NYC regardless of the financial turmol.
Wasder, why would you think there less risk of loss of equity in a more moderate price range?
I would think it’s the same risk on a relative basis. In other words if you buy a $500K place and its value plummets to $400K, that’s the same percent decline as a $1M place going to $800K.
Some say the risk is greater in the less expensive places because they are more likely to see greater declines if market really collapses.
Needs more floorplan!
Also, I have a hard time believing that 700 sq. feet can comfortably house two bedrooms. That seems 1BR-sized to me. Hard to tell without a visit or a floorplan, though.
What warrants this apartment at around its asking price is that it’s a two bedroom in boerum hill. While I generally agree that Brookyln real estate is overpriced, this apartment is priced entirely within the market rate of the neighborhood (albiet one that is dropping). Townhouselady – can you point to a single two bedroom in the area that costs substantially less?
househunt–has the stock market fallen that low? I have no idea what the Dow was at in 1995 but hadn’t heard that it was that low now (or are you speculating that this might happen?). Anyway, I don’t exactly understand how the financial markets and the housing market work in relation to each other but it is hard to imagine an apartment like this being much less than 500 anyway. Famous last words I suppose…
Can anyone explain what would merit this getting over half a mill? For the life of me the only thing I can see that are nice are the floors and the exterior of the building.
I didn’t ask, Biff. The buyer keeps changing the closing date, so maybe there’s still an opportunity for you, househunt.
I’ve also seen the units (there’s another one on the top floor). The kitchen isn’t as cramped as it seems, but it sits oddly in the space, IMO. The big doors that you can see in the interior shot house a washer and dryer.
The block is great. The developer lives in the downstairs duplex and is friendly. This condo has a lot going for it.
What you write makes a great deal of sense, wasder, and congrats on selling your property. For prospective buyers, however, they’re looking for the real metric here. As others have written on this blog before, if the stock market has fallen to 1995 rates (just for the sake of argument) then shouldn’t the housing market be measured not by the height of the bubble but by some standard of what things were going for before the insanity settled in? Remember the stock market is forward looking for it should recover first and the commercial real estate meltdown has only begun.
househunt–i recently sold a similarly sized apartment in Clinton Hill for slightly more than this ask so while we may not have reached a bottom yet there are people willing to buy at these prices, which would have seemed very reasonable six months ago. At this price range there is less “risk” in that the potential loss of equity is much lower.