Co-op of the Day: 100 Remsen Street, #8K
This one-bedroom at 100 Remsen Street in Brooklyn Heights has just changed broker directions. After buying the 750-square-foot apartment in May of 2007 for $430,000, the current owner put the place on the market in April for $525,000 for a month before yanking the listing; two weeks later, it popped back up with Corcoran asking…
This one-bedroom at 100 Remsen Street in Brooklyn Heights has just changed broker directions. After buying the 750-square-foot apartment in May of 2007 for $430,000, the current owner put the place on the market in April for $525,000 for a month before yanking the listing; two weeks later, it popped back up with Corcoran asking $499,000. This place isn’t for someone whose obsessed with things like plaster crown moldings and six-panel doors, but it’s a fairly-sized unit in good shape with nice windows. What do you think this ends up going for?
100 Remsen Street, #8K [Corcoran] GMAP P*Shark
First, wow I think 52/54/62 is the ugliest building in Bk Heights but it’s all a matter of opinion isn’t it? I mean a building that looks smacked together and barely standing up, how can that compare with 100 Remsen which has trees & other grounds but for some reason you all seem to want to hate on this building. I have friends who live there and been in it many times, it’s very well kept with a doorman and live-in super.
Second, you have to wonder what a long term tenant would gain by talking you out of a bid. Benewagain it’s a legal duty to disclose the land lease details so seriously, why are you trying to imply the sellers are super shady? Messing with another person’s bank account is so very Madoff of you. You are clearly a first time buyer.
Does anyone seem to realize there are millions of reasons to sell ie. hello it’s a recession, maybe someone wants to have a baby and a 1 bdrm isn’t going to cut it, or maybe someone in their family is ill and they have to move home to be a caretaker?
BUYER BEWARE! My family had made an offer on this apartment several weeks ago when I stumbled across this discussion chain, so I raised a red flag and looked into the land lease situation. It turns out that what the building actually has is a “lease hold,” which gives the owners of the apartments in the building even fewer rights/less control than would a land lease. We discussed this with a longtime tenant in the building and were strongly cautioned to steer clear. Given the availability of other units at this price in this neighborhood, it just doesn’t seem worth the risk at all. You’d pretty much have to buy hoping that a next potential buyer wouldn’t figure all this out before it was too late.
With all due respect guys, someone buying a $500,000 place is facing a $2800-$3000 monthly payment – a full-year of monthly payments is only $35,000 in savings. Frankly, someone who doesnt have at least that shouldnt be buying a half-million dollar property – THAT is why we are in the mess we are in. It shocks me to no end seeing so many people I know – smart, educated professionals – who practically live paycheck to paycheck, and spend over 50% of their net on their home. I just find it insane that someone puts 95% of their savings on a down payment. The bubble years made it doable, but in a normal market, thats just stupid financial planning (or non-planning).
Colin85 is right on. You just adjust your withholding so you have more money in your pocket. The mort. deduction is absolutely a “known known”. Now, it does go down as you start paying off the principal, of course, but for the first 5 years or more it’s a considerable amount. For us, with a 525k mortgage, it was about $700 a month last year.
CWB is also correct. It took a lot of self control, but we ignored the deduction in figuring what we could afford–but I can tell you after draining our savings to make a bigger dp, we sure looked forward to that IRS envelope this year.
Yes Bessie2, it is the building with the ground lease. A risky purchase…
I totally agree with CWB’s approach – far better to play it safe and be rewarded in the end. The fancier the numbers game, the more likely it will be screwed up.
cwcuelcher – that’s definitely true…one shouldn’t depend on the mortgage deduction to factor into affordability, but I was just pointing out that the deduction can have substantial month-to-month benefits.
But all in all…yes, I’d be willing to bet that those who counted too much on mortgage deductions to meet payments are the very ones who are in trouble now.
collin85 –
I still think you’re better off going the safe route and buying something that you can afford on a monthly basis even assuming you weren’t able to deduct a penny of it.
I don’t know many home owners personally, anywhere, that have two years worth of mortgage payments sitting in the bank. Most of the people I know shoot for ~4 months of living expenses in savings and a lot of them aren’t always able to make that.
Maybe that’s how you do it if you’re rich … but most people aren’t rich.
And it’s all well and good to say “well, don’t buy then” but that’s kind of a mixed message when places like this are often billed as entry-level or starter apartments.