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, I think the argument is that in the downturns, people loose jobs and/or income and downgrade therefore settling for a one bedroom from a two bedroom and to studio from a one bedroom therefore stabilizing prices for smaller apartments. Same theory goes for cheap but decent quality restuarants. In downturns, they tend to get stable business as opposed to loosing business like the higher end restuarants.
I am not saying that studios or smaller apartments will increase in value by any means. They just don’t get hit as hard as larger apartments in general in downturns.
Kensingtonian – I’ll have to do some research, because everything I have heard points to the opposite conclusion. Which makes a certain sense to me, as the turnover and the need to sell on the smaller units is the most intense.
Snark, actually, historically the smaller apartments such as studios or junion one bedroom (whatever that means) tend to hold the values better in the downturns. There are statistics backing that up but I just don’t have time to google it right now.
sdrubbins:
The listing for West 57th Street says “Amenities: Doorman and Garage.”
I’d also venture that it is larger than the Griffin place, based on the measurements included on the floorplan. The living room is about five feet longer.
I’m guessing places like this will drop below $250k in the next 24 months.
The UWS apartment has a maintenance of about $520. Frankly, it is a small studio (300 SF) and I couldnt live there – but i couldnt live in 400 SF studio either. Point is that unless you are looking at real large 500+ SF L-shaped studios, a studio is basically a place for someone without much money to sleep and not have to share with roommates. The key is price and location – and for $235,000, someone can now lay claim to their own space in a killer UWS location in a elevator building (no doorman though). My GF until a year or so ago lived in a pretty 2nd floor 350-400SF brownstone studio a block from the Griffin (towards Fort Green park) and paid $1100. What they are asking for this place is insane.
> “prices of studios and 1BRs are holding up better than
> those of large apartments”
Is that true? Aren’t smaller apartments typically the hardest hit during downturns?
Seems to me this widget is being taken a bit too seriously by some people on this site (including Jon Butler himself – he’s having a little bit of a tizzy fit on the HOD thread). All these prices are still crazy. I know realtors (and I guess website owners) want to punish those who express their sentiments, until the place is sold (is anything being sold?) their outrage is a bit misplaced.
Also: note that snarkslope’s linked apartment has a very similar floorplan, so I think I’m on point with my guess of 450 sq ft. Personally I’d rather live in the Griffin than in a building near Central Park even at the same price, but of course I’m not everybody. Nevertheless, it’s a nice comp: similar size, similar maintanence, in Manhattan but no doorman (I expect they would mention that in the broker babble)… what kind of discount do you think it’s worth? 20% gets you to $280k, 25% gets you to $260k. I expect closer to 280 gets the deal done.
saminthehood, methinks you underestimate the difference between living in 300 sqare feet versus 450 square feet. Every apartment has at least 150 or so square feet in kitchen, closets and bathroom. So just for living space, we’re talking twice as much space compared with your friend’s UWS studio.
The studios in the Griffin range from 400 square feet (the ones with closet-sized kitchens) to about 520 square feet (the ones with eat-in kitchens and an extra closet). This one is in the middle of the range, with a decent kitchen and only two closets; I think it’s about 450 square feet. A year or two ago, this might be worth $650-700 psf… so about $300-325k? Things are tougher for sellers, but prices of studios and 1BRs are holding up better than those of large apartments, and this building has some good parent-friendly intangibles, like 24-hour doorman and in-building laundry. (Not to mention, good resistance to fire!) I bet $275K would move it now.
By the way, the appraisal widget is in need of some tweaking. It’s clear that some people aren’t using it in good faith. $483k and $207k are completely unrealistic estimations. Why not adopt some simple measure like disregarding the five highest and lowest appraisals? I bet that would result in a much more accurate system.
Further, from the comments I’m not sure whether people use the widget to estimate what they would like to pay if they were in the market, or to estimate what they think the property will ultimately go for.
To the extent that it’s not merely a system for wishful thinking, why not put it to the test? Just as we have follow-up “six month later” posts for open houses, why not put up posts comparing the Brownstoner consensus (such as it is) with actual sale prices. For that matter, why not compare sale prices with each user’s estimate? If this sells for $275k on the dot, shouldn’t people know that I got it right and the $207k guessers got it wrong, and respect my opinions that much more? Let people put their reputation on the line.