House of the Day: 145 Bergen Street
From what we hear, the market for nice houses in Boerum Hill is still pretty tight. And compared to some houses in the area that have been on the market recently, the $2,000,000 asking price for 145 Bergen is not particularly high. That said, there are too many question marks with this place to feel…
From what we hear, the market for nice houses in Boerum Hill is still pretty tight. And compared to some houses in the area that have been on the market recently, the $2,000,000 asking price for 145 Bergen is not particularly high. That said, there are too many question marks with this place to feel optimistic about its chances of selling at this price. The house had its last major makeover back in 1968 and, given the fact that it’s a four-family rental, it’s unlikely that the interiors are in great shape. (The lack of photos lends credence to that theory.) Has anyone been inside this place?
145 Bergen Street [Craigslist] GMAP P*Shark
If you look at my earlier posts you’ll see that I thought they would get their price and that it was in the ballpark as a single residence.
My beef is with the poster at 2:09 who suggested that the new owner would be subsidizing his/her tenants.
Get it?
It’s madness to have that expectation. Recent prices have grossly outstripped inflation. The huddled masses ain’t keeping up. Something has got to give.
Let’s be clear: even if you make $500K a year, a $2 million home is not “spare change.” On $2 million, even if you put 30% down, your mortgage is still around $12K a month. You can’t pay a $12K-a-month mortgage comfortably if you make $500K a year — it’s around 40% of your take-home.
Of course, you can rent out the other apartments, but then you’re locking up $600K, losing all the investment income on that, and paying at least $3K a month (plus taxes, repairs, maintenance, etc.) to live in a one-bedroom apartment on Bergen St. There is no way this makes financial sense unless you’re expecting the property to appreciate significantly in value over the next decade. Which it is simply not going to do — the run-up in prices we saw between 2002 and 2007 was big enough to last at least another ten years. In inflation-adjusted terms, you’re almost certainly going to be able to buy this place for just about $2 million in 2015. You really think it makes sense to shell out that money now so you can live in a one-bedroom?
What Kuroko doesn’t seem to understand (since week after week, he or she says that every house is a million dollars overpriced) is that if homes are routinely selling for these prices and people seemingly can afford them, that perhaps you are just not correct.
“The expectation that BECAUSE you have paid this premium you can expect that there are enough renters out there to pay a proportionate amount of your mortgage is absurd.”
Kuroko- stop right there! Some may not want to rent and some may not have a mtg. This is America and we are all not financally equal.
long live captalism down with communism.
Can’t wait to cut and paste Kuroko’s comments in 3 months when this sells for ask.
Kuroko is a know it all.
And not a very nice one.
All of his/her posts are filled with misinformation and sounds of a bitter person who won’t own property anytime soon.
It doesn’t Hal but my righteous indignation felt good for a moment. As I said in my next posting, I’ll stop and furthermore, I’m sorry.
Kuroko, how does refering to the poster as ‘idiot’ advance your argument?
I don’t think there can be a rent controlled tenant — the listing says:
3 high rent
1 vacant
That’s four units, none of which is rent controlled.