Co-op of the Day: 149 Willow Street, #2D
This handsome listing at 149 Willow Street in Brooklyn Heights just hit the market with a price tag of $1,250,000. We’re digging the prewar details and the abundance of windows in the two-bedroom, two-bathroom pad; we also like the unusual design of the prewar exterior. Our back-of-the-envelope square footage calculation comes out to around 1,200,…
This handsome listing at 149 Willow Street in Brooklyn Heights just hit the market with a price tag of $1,250,000. We’re digging the prewar details and the abundance of windows in the two-bedroom, two-bathroom pad; we also like the unusual design of the prewar exterior. Our back-of-the-envelope square footage calculation comes out to around 1,200, which makes the monthly maintenance of $1,584 tolerable given that it’s an elevator building. What do you make of it?
149 Willow Street [Brown Harris Stevens] GMAP P*Shark
Thanks, 11217. I’ll check it out. But I do want to stay in Brooklyn Heights/Cobble Hill. And a walk-up is definitely out of the question for CDog.
Mean Pete, I heard that! But, it’s you, not me, that’s a decade past mandatory retirement age. Plus, I agree with everything Minard said, especially about the unions being the cause of high maintenance.
And I don’t really think this maintenance is so out of whack for Brooklyn Heights. I’ve bid on apartments with similar maintenance, as well as higher. It is what it is in the nabes where I’m looking.
ML, I guess I’m saying that, while it’s not cheap to maintain a house, co-op owners have an unfair burden tax-wise which is a huge expense. Sure, the water rate jumped, but .. eh, it’s not killing anyone. And if you want a doorman or a super, that’s up to you. But why on earth are my neighbors with 2-bedroom apartments paying the same real estate taxes as local brownstones? I think it’s completely out of whack.
taxes, insurance, water, union wages, all are increasing rapidly. The only break lately has been heating fuel, which has actually come down in price. Then there are costs associated with facade and roof maintenance and restoration. It ain’t cheap, but neither is owning a house.
So much of the maintenance run-up is attributable to the hike in real estate taxes and the unfair load that co-ops are paying. And it’s getting more and more unfair. Something has to be done about it.
Our building has had some lucky breaks (J51 abatement mainly) and have been able to keep the maintenance in check. But other buildings have to just pass it on to shareholders. It’s tough.
Is that PS listing a walk-up?
This is an attractive apartment, with two fireplaces no less.
Obviously the fact that it is a combined unit boosts the maintenance, which is steep, but maintenance payments everywhere are just zooming up. What used to be high is now normal. The bottom line is that it costs what it costs to maintain a building and pay the taxes and other bills. Some buildings prefer to pay for necessary repairs through assessments in order to keep the maintenance low, or to cutback on all services such as janitorial help. Only one’s due diligence can really shed light on what kind of financial shape a coop or condo building is in. But all in all, an attractive elevator building like this one, in Brooklyn Heights, is a pretty solid investment.
also – President St is a walk up. Not really ideal for someone CGar’s age.
11217, it’s a lovely listing, but the price might reflect the difficulty in financing in a 3-unit condo. It’s not a fair comparison – you’d have to find an all-cash property somewhere else.
I would have linked that listing no matter what neighborhood it was in, M4L. I just love it. Maintenance and taxes are obscenely low as well.