House of the Day: Last Great Deal in the Slope?
The listing calls this house “truly the last great deal in Park Slope” and on the surface it looks like that might be true. All we have to go on is a single photo which doesn’t even make clear which house is for sale, but both look pretty nice from the outside, especially given the…
The listing calls this house “truly the last great deal in Park Slope” and on the surface it looks like that might be true. All we have to go on is a single photo which doesn’t even make clear which house is for sale, but both look pretty nice from the outside, especially given the $1.2 million asking price for Center Slope. Since we’ve recently been reprimanded for not knowing the Slope, we’ll leave our opinion at that and let others chime in. It would be particularly helpful to have a specific address (all we’re told is 4th Street between 5th and 6th Avenues) or hear what kind of shape the interior is in.
Center Slope Brick [NY Times] GMAP
I physically care for my mother-in-law and, like many families, financially support both her and my partially support my parents.
The nerve that some people here think that people not only don’t care for parents but take money from their parents is just indicative of how far out of touch you are. There are people in NYC who recieve their downpayments, etc from Mommy and Daddy and then there are the vast majority of the rest of us who not only receive no such money but support our extended families. Ask you cleaning lady or your nanny if this is such a foreign concept to you — they might help you understand how the real world works.
Tim,
You wrote:
“For a narrower house, the fraction of wasted space is higher: the space taken up by the staircase is a real issue in a 16′ house…”
I agree. Which is why I wrote:
“There is unusable square footage in all houses, including the 16-ft. Park Slope houses that have been selling for considerably more than $450/sf.”
My point being, the unusable-space argument would only make sense if other, comparable 16-sq-ft-wide houses have also been selling for $1.2 million. But let’s take, for instance, 383 6th Street. 16.67 feet wide, 40 feet deep, and (I think) only 3 stories. Also between 5th and 6th Avenues. But it sold in June for $1.535 million.
So how does the less-usuable-space argument explain that?
I am the poster who lives across the street, my house is excatly like his. Just to set things right my interior space is 15’9″x45’3″ on a 16.67x 100′ lot
I don’t think you’ll find many 8′ wide hall/stairs in 16′ or 16 1/2′ houses.
Certainly not in the one I live in or my neighbors.
If you are used to or use the larger houses with grand size proportions as your standard the rooms may feel small or narrow. But compared to rooms in most newer apt.bldgs I’ve been in -my rooms don’t feel small/narrow.
For a narrower house, the fraction of wasted space is higher: the space taken up by the staircase is a real issue in a 16′ house, but not a problem at all in a 24′ house. While the larger house is only 50% wider, it’s got almost twice as much usable space per floor. (Assuming the house is 45′ deep and the “wasted” space for the staircase is 8’x20′ for stairs, landings, and hallway.) Price per nominal square foot is, at best, a crude approximation to the value of useful space.
Argument of anon 1:22 is a stretch. There is unusable square footage in all houses, including the 16-ft. Park Slope houses that have been selling for considerably more than $450/sf. There may be good reasons that this house is going for less, like the condition. But saying “it’s not that cheap if you don’t count the unusable space” overlooks the fact that every sale you’d be comparing with *does* count the unusable space. I don’t buy it.
I agree with the last poster. Just follow what houses are still selling at, and look at the details such as location, condition, square footage, and you will see that that there is no huge bubble burst – maybe some flattening in the increase in prices for some brownstones. Find me multiple bargains and I’ll listen.
What are you talking about? You make it sound like a 16×48 (so they say) bldg., which means the interior is at most 15×45 or so (not to mention that the staircase and hallway in these narrow bldgs take up approx. half the width for close to half the length of the bldg., is a bargain at $1.2 mil. Even using gross square footage, the asking is $450 sf. Taking into consideration that the usable sf is significantly lower, you’re probably paying at least $550-600 per usable sf.
Anyone who reads a couple of opinions and then starts espousing that the bubble (consensus is that there is none) is bursting (consensus is that there is flattening and perhaps modest drops in overheated areas [e.g., Florida, Las Vegas, etc.]) doesn’t know much about the housing market or economics.
Some of the prices in Manhattan have droped but the Times allways ignores the fact that Studio and One bedrooms are up 13% every quarter this year. I am a sales agent in Manhattan and sales of Studios and One’s are still robust.