Co-op of the Day: 40 Clarkson Avenue, #4F
If you’re looking for a large prewar apartment for under $350 a foot, this co-op at 40 Clarkson Avenue in Prospect Lefferts Gardens could be worth a look. The three-bedroom pad has over 1,200 square feet of space and a new kitchen to boot. The monthly maintenance is $1,000, pretty reasonable given the space, but…
If you’re looking for a large prewar apartment for under $350 a foot, this co-op at 40 Clarkson Avenue in Prospect Lefferts Gardens could be worth a look. The three-bedroom pad has over 1,200 square feet of space and a new kitchen to boot. The monthly maintenance is $1,000, pretty reasonable given the space, but you don’t get a doorman with that. The location is good in terms of proximity to the park and the Q train. What’s this particular block like?
40 Clarkson Avenue, #4F [Douglas Elliman] GMAP P*Shark
Ty, I rub every penny together believe me. Both Kens and I both say this coop cost is reasonable based on our background knowledge. You only take issue with me because I wasn’t as nice about it.
Kens — makes total sense to me. I work in a unionized industry where 75% of the operating budget is the payroll and related expenses. The only opportunity to contain costs is within the 25%, so obviously there’s little wiggle room.
You seem like a very reasonable person that gets my point. Giving a value like “reasonable” to monthly maintenance fees is ridiculous — it’s either fiscally sound situation or not. The co-op is spending their money wisely or they’re not. You can say they are ‘high’ or ‘low’ relative to the purchase price (i.e., total monthly costs), but that’s about it.
To say it’s reasonable because that’s what you see others charging is foolish… and it’s totally asinine that I was attacked by Squaredrive for asking the question: Wait, but is it really “reasonable” — i.e., justified? I guess he has so much money that such questions are foolish. You should just pay what the co-op board asks you without question.
tybur6 – wow you are pretty worked up. relax dude, it’s just the internet and i’m feeling argumentative.
Particularly, i feel argumentative with you because every post of yours is pretty much the same broken record -“so let me get this straight, for 3000/mo i can live in a closet. seems reasonable.” The cynical whining gets really tired. You pretty much daily call everyone else in NYC idiots for making the best decisions they can based on the current market – let go of the self-righteous arrogance. We get it, you think costs are high and you’re smarter than everyone else.
Kens, your condo bylaws etc don’t have a provision that if the suing co-op owner loses in court they have to pay the condo’s legal fees? I thought that was standard. Or did the guy not lose?
Ty, that’s maybe some of Brownstoners attitude but TRUST me, not the case. I went on my co-op board as a treasurer because I believed that I can contain expenses (I am a finance guy and get paid to do that at work all day long). At the end, I realized that I couldn’t. I actually ended up spending more to spruce up the lobby because it was very ugly and hurt our building value in my belief. Could I get a cheaper contractors and architect? Probably Yes. Why wouldn’t I? Because I volunteer my time and I wont penny pinch every single project in the building. I rather hire competent guys to do it right and sometimes that does cost a little extra and I am fine with it. Problem is that co-op boards can’t control about 80% of their expenses. Those are insurance, taxes, union workers, heat, water. You CAN’T shop around for those. Everything else is a small portion and we could shop for those but wont make much of a difference. What got us into a bit of a hole that we’re slowly coming out from is the legal fees because we got messed up in 2 very messy legal battles. That’s almost done so that’s good news. BTW Ty, we might have a studio getting publicly auctioned off for VERY cheap (I am talking in the 60-70K range). If you’re interested, email me at BKJester3 at AOL. com and I’ll let you know more detail when I find out about it.
I shouldn’t bother, but… Squaredrive… don’t be a DOUCHE BAG. My “audit” most definitely DID include taxes FROM THE BEGINNING… this figure of $115,000 — that came from me. And, no, it didn’t include a mortgage because it looked like they were only carrying about $500k, not that much I thought, though it could be more — and oh, yeah, READ MY POSTS and don’t just be a twat. Or shut up. You’re very selective in your attacks on me — you ignore the bigger point I’m trying to make simply to be a little bitch.
“Ty so if you add 115K for taxes plus another 100K for say mortgage, you have the revenues covered pretty much, correct?”
D’oh! Your audit forgot taxes and mortgage!
So if the expenses justify the maintenance afterall, does that mean the maintenance is “reasonable” now?
Weighing in on maintenance here: yes, apartments have shares allocated to them, and all things being equal larger apartments have more shares, and apartments on higher floors often have slightly more shares; also, other more intangible things may have been considered in the initial allocation: for example, if it’s on the more desirable part of a building, if it has more of a view, etc. Once shares have been allocated, it’s really hard to REALLOCATE given hoops one would have to go through to get approval to do so.
Maintenance: double edged sword: low maintenance may mean that residents get hit with (large) assessments for all capital work; high-maintenance may mean large staff or big mortgage. One of my friends told me about an apartment she saw: 2 br, very reasonable price, very low maintenance. What’s the catch, I asked? 15% flip tax.
Kensingtonian — It’s just the free info on property shark. I may not be seeing the full picture.
You’re probably right. And i am probably reacting more strongly because of the “that’s the way it is” attitude leaking out of Squaredrive. I just don’t like to hear this passive bullshit… that’s what I see, must be acceptable. It’s attitudes like that which make NYC unsustainable… co-op boards don’t try that hard to contain expenses (even if they could), contractors charge crazy prices because “that’s the way it is,” and mediocre or worse apartments are rented for THOUSANDS and THOUSANDS of dollars… because that’s how it is. Must be reasonable because that’s what I see!