Co-op of the Day: 7 South Portland Avenue, #5A
Stunning building, mediocre apartment. That kinda sums up the situation with this fifth floor co-op at 7 South Portland Avenue. The 7,000-square-foot, 8-unit building is on what’s been called the
Stunning building, mediocre apartment. That kinda sums up the situation with this fifth floor co-op at 7 South Portland Avenue. The 7,000-square-foot, 8-unit building is on what’s been called the best block in the city. Bereft of historic detail, the apartment, however, has a boxy, 1980’s vibe to it. As for the $425,000 asking price, guess it’s possible but wouldn’t be surprised if it came in a little under $400,000. Waddya think?
7 South Portland Avenue [Brown Harris Stevens] GMAP P*Shark
Re: Top floor apartments vs. lower floors:
Worth the Climb [NY Times]
http://www.nytimes.com/2008/05/11/realestate/11cov.html
In the current real estate market, top-floor walk-ups may well be the best deals. They can also be quiet spaces that are flooded with light and that have open views of the city, especially if they peek out above their surrounding neighbors. In some cases, they also have a deck or terrace that can become an outdoor living room with the twinkling night sky as a backdrop.
“In a market where you have more competition because you have more listings, the price on any apartment with a disadvantage — like a fifth-floor location or high maintenance charges or an awkward layout — may get penalized,†said Jonathan J. Miller, the president of Miller Samuel, an appraisal firm. “But that means the buyer can get a good deal.â€
11:58, thank you for b!tch slapping some sense into 10:30. Doormen are handy for receiving packages and an increased sense of security (although I don’t think any of the doormen in my last place could have stopped Joan Rivers from trying to enter unexpectedly). But some absolutely prefer trading that off for increased privacy and not throwing their money away on other amenities they know they might never use, i.e., what percentage of party rooms, pools, rooftops etc. are really used by residents? I’ve been there and it’s an extremely small percent.
The condescension here (by an ignorant person who can’t even spell wherewithal!) is laughable. Yes, some people do have money, but they aren’t interested in paying for the services of an elevator building, because they don’t care about them, and would rather spend that money elsewhere (or save it.) That shouldn’t be too hard for an ignoramus to understand….but I guess it is. More expensive is not always better.
I have noticed that people who say they would rather live in walk-up non-doorman buildings are usually people who could not afford a doghouse. Of course they would not mind a walkup, they do not have two quarters to rub together. People with more wherewithall appreciate amenities and will seek out quality.
6:18 – When you say lugubrious what do you mean? It’s a really interesting description if you look it up.
The husband-unit has huge, flat feet. The noise on the stairs is unbelievable. I swear he’s damaging the staircase. I mean, I understand, the balls of his feet extend beyond the front of each tread. It’s like wearing flippers.
BTW, is “thinking about real estate” a problem?
Anyway, I’ll admit that, yes, I’m irked by the noise through the party wall (music, yelling and some very loud weird, sort of mechanical noises at regular hours late at night).
Am irked by people opening their SUV and car doors when they know they haven’t disarmed their alarms. Irked by excessive traffic and through-trucks which are not allowed on our street but have become epidemic. Irked by screaming teens carrying on in the street. Irked by police helicopters circling for 30 minutes overhead. Whatever. But I haven’t moved…
Thank goodness there is no one tromping overhead…that would do me in. I’ve had friends contending with excessively noisy, floor pounding neighbors and it is horrible.
Having upstairs neighbors marching back and forth over your head or doing jumping jacks at 2AM is a real nerve-wrecker.
I would take a top-floor apartment–definitely!
if you are irked by hearing the husband-unit tromping around your house, you’ve got worse problems than thinking about real estate..
I walk up and down in our house sometimes constantly on the weekend.
Frankly, sometimes my legs hurt (long day sitting in front of a computer) and other days I don’t even notice until I’m on the fourth floor wondering how I got upstairs so fast.
I admit, I’ve been looking at all these mod, new apartments for sale and kind of pondering what it would be like living without stairs (maybe just stairs in a duplex) but I have to say, I kind of like a house and not having anyone tromping around making noise. Has gotten to the point I get irked by noise through the party wall or when the husband-unit is tromping around overhead or on the stairs.
Now, the whole floor/price thing I thought corresponds to the parlor floor being more expensive because of ceiling heights and possible detailing (mantles, mouldings, etc.) but if the ground floor does not have any real access to the garden, I would imagine it would be worth less than an upper floor that would have more light, no?
This house is right on/by DeKalb which is noisy with traffic. Yes, South Portland got featured in, what was it (?) Time Out, as NYC’s best brownstone block. It’s okay but lugubrious and the entrance from Lafayette has the cruddy bodega there (making tons of dough not from selling food and beer apparently).
One note someone made above, yes, this apartment is probably very hot in summer whent he sun shines down and heats up the roof.
1:57 has it right.
If NY real estate stays stable for a few years, this place costs you the same as renting for $2300. That is probably more than you’d pay to rent it, but not much. The difference is what you are paying for the privilege of ownership: the right to profit (or lose) if prices go up (or down) and the right to control (and pay for) the renovations.
In rational markets, people are paid for taking risk. This isn’t a rational market, but you aren’t paying much for taking on the risk, presumably because Dave et al still think that the only risk in real estate is that prices will go up.
No magic to making money in real estate, except not overpaying. Here, you are only overpaying by 20% or so. So you are probably only starting out 6 or 7 years behind; less if high income people continue to take an ever higher percentage of the national income and this apartment really is attractive to the wealthiest 1/2%. That’s not bad at the end of the largest run up in NYC history.