Co-op of the Day: 101 Lafayette Avenue, #17C
We’re huge fans of The Griffin at 101 Lafayette Avenue and the views from this 17th floor studio look killer but the trade-off is size: There’s no exact square-footage provided, but the apartment can’t be a whole lot more than about 400 square feet. (There is a murphy bed though!) Given the size, both the…
We’re huge fans of The Griffin at 101 Lafayette Avenue and the views from this 17th floor studio look killer but the trade-off is size: There’s no exact square-footage provided, but the apartment can’t be a whole lot more than about 400 square feet. (There is a murphy bed though!) Given the size, both the monthly maintenance of $661 and the asking price of $345,000 feel a bit on the high side. On the other hand, the building and floor are special so maybe someone’ll fall in love.
101 Lafayette Avenue, #17C [Corcoran] GMAP P*Shark
snark, that’s correct, larger multi-bedroom apartments tend to be more expensive on a per-square-foot basis than smaller studios and 1BRs. I didn’t contradict that. My point is that prices of those large apartments swing more wildly with the market. In a pinch most people can downgrade by dropping a bedroom… but you can’t downgrade below studios (at least not the people we’re talking about, who can afford to drop a few hundred grand on real estate).
More relevant, the recent historic building boom has been made up mostly of large, expensive condos. And even now, they’re still building more of them. They’re not making any more studio and 1BR co-ops. So, in this particular downturn, the glut of larger apartments will cause prices of large condos to suffer more than prices of small co-ops.
And, if we’re going to run numbers let’s run numbers at 275k: with 50k down you could get a mortgage for about 1200/mo., making the total out-of-pocket cost about 1,850/mo. You then get to deduct about 14k/year, which would equal savings of about 400/mo.
This place would probably rent for 1400-1500/mo., which means the cost to buy is about equal to the cost to rent. Which means you build equity for free – not to mention any speculative returns on this nicely leveraged investment, some day when the market is better. Also note that mortgages are a nice hedge against inflation, which I understand might become rampant in the next year or so.
You don’t have to like the price… I’m just saying this math is going to work for *somebody.* (That’s assuming, of course, that the seller is smart enough to let it go for 25% below ask…)
Rob, there is such a thing as an 80-square foot studio. It’s called single room occupancy or SRO. I don’t know about NYC but in SF this used to be a much more common type of housing than it is now. Perhaps boarding houses and sex-segregated rooms for single ladies and gentlemen were considered SROs.
at $345,000 this to me means:
$2142 per month (using BHO’s #), minus +/- $400 mortgage tax deduction, minus +/- $100 maintenance tax deduction (assum 50% deductible) minus +/- $250 towards principal equals= about $1400 monthly rent equivalent.
How does this square with your idea about it being less to rent the same place?
If the price goes lower, you can see the final # above getting lower.
Hey BHO What’s up. You missed all the fun today!
The What
Someday this war is gonna end…
“On the other hand, the building and floor are special so maybe someone’ll fall in love.”
Love is blind.
“$1481/month assuming 20% down and 5% interest, plus $661 in monthly fees. So that’s $2142/month plus utils to live in a 400 sf studio in Fort Greene.”
…plus (69K + 15K)/60 = $3,542/mo.
$69K = Downpayment
$15K = Underwater cash brought to closing table after half off
60 months = Average buy/sell period
Uh…No no.
***Bid half off peak comps***
From a 2003 NYTimes article:
“In 1993, for example, two-bedroom co-ops sold on average for 79 percent more per square foot than co-op studios ($251 per square foot versus $140).”
Kensingtonian, in the early 90’s that wasn’t the case. Studios an 1-bedrooms were ultra-cheap, and there were a ton of them on the market, as they were considered riskier investments than family-sized places. I remember seeing an article in the Times about it.
In absolute terms, you can’t lose more on this place than the HOTD has already been cut!
Percentage-terms is a whole other ballgame but you can’t eat a relative sandwich…
“i dont think people under the age of 35 should be allowed to buy property.
*rob*
Posted by: PitbullNYC at May 11, 2009 1:19 PM”
Why’s that Rob?