Co-op of the Day: 111 Hicks Railroad Loft
$500 a foot in prime Brooklyn Heights? You betcha. There is one catch with well-located and well-appointed pad: A distinct shortage of windows. The railroad-style apartment has just two windows at the front; for a space that’s roughly 70-feet deep, that’s not a lot of natural light. On the other hand, it’s been nicely renovated…
$500 a foot in prime Brooklyn Heights? You betcha. There is one catch with well-located and well-appointed pad: A distinct shortage of windows. The railroad-style apartment has just two windows at the front; for a space that’s roughly 70-feet deep, that’s not a lot of natural light. On the other hand, it’s been nicely renovated and, at $699,000, is a heckuva a lot cheaper because of the lack of natural light. How do you think this will fare on the open market?
111 Hicks Street [Brown Harris Stevens] GMAP P*Shark
Sam, you may be right, but our co-op refinanced last year and paid down 50k of principal. Our mortgage was due in 15 years. Perhaps the paying down negated some rule of which I’m not aware of. It cost us, but not as much as we’re going to save over the life of the mortgage.
Bolder:
underlying co-op mortgages are not like individual mortgages. there are usually extremely severe penalties for pre-payment. Co-ops therefore cannot refinance their underlying mortgages at will, they must wait until they are close (within a year or so) of coming due. This is one of the basic facts of co-op financial management.
I wonder if they can refi their mortgage at a lower rate? That might knock a few hundred off the maintenance, which I agree is a dealbreaker. At 20-25% down you’d be paying as much in maintenance as mortgage. Ugh. But at least a lot of it is deductable.
Perhaps this was once two apartments combined into 1. The maintenance seems high even for this building.
Looks nice otherwise.
Heather, I would still prefer a second or at least a half-bath. Plus, I don’t like the thought of having to go down the long hallway, i.e., the apartment, to get from my bedroom to the shower. Although it would be fun yelling out to potential guests to cover their eyes as you make a run for it. And to parkedslope’s good point, how on earth is this considered a 2 bedroom? It that were the case, they could put up a couple more dividers and call it a 3 or a 4 bedroom.
Not if you have to clean them, and not in anything under 1000K square feet.
Sorry, BH76, I couldn’t resist. But did you notice the link you gave has two bathrooms? That, combined with the additional windows and lights, makes the small difference in price make me favor the listing you posted. Say what you will, 2 bathrooms is WAY better than 1.
Biff: My comment was just to point out that this is hardly cheaper because of a lack of light. It is barely cheaper …. What are the criteria for “co-op of the day” any way? There are plenty of “well-located” units around — in fact, more coming every day!
The maintenance has always been high in this building because of the greed of the original sponsors who placed a huge underlying mortgage on the coop. It’s a miracle the corporation hasn’t failed, although it has come close. The old sponsors milked it dry. Now the shareholders have to pay for their windfall.
forget it.