House of the Day: 266 Berkeley Place
The four-story brownstone at 266 Berkeley Place is a prime property, don’t get us wrong, but the $3,250,000 asking price strikes us as rather out-of-sync with the current market, especially gi. First of all, it appears to not be configured for the most likely family buyer in the this location: The listing calls the house…
The four-story brownstone at 266 Berkeley Place is a prime property, don’t get us wrong, but the $3,250,000 asking price strikes us as rather out-of-sync with the current market, especially gi. First of all, it appears to not be configured for the most likely family buyer in the this location: The listing calls the house “multi-family” while PropertyShark says it’s a two-family. Secondly, the kitchen and bathroom renovations don’t, in our opinion, rise to the level of the rest of the house. (And there’s also the issue of the recessed lighting on the parlor floor—just say no!) While these may seem like nits, most people gearing up to pay the estimated $27,000 a month (that’s per the listing not us) in carrying costs will care about every last detail.
266 Berkeley Place [Bellmarc] GMAP P*Shark
Mr. B–So recessed lighting is a no-no but ceiling fans are ok?? It’s interesting that you make comments about the interiors of other people’s homes and yet you removed photos of your own home when negative comments were made. Just some food for thought…
money in the bank is lots of interest – can def. generate over 100,000+per year – if you look at the next 10 years – money invested wisely should earn @14% per year. i know it hard to imagine but some people don’t want the the headache of owning a brownstone..
i enjoy the freedom – and no we are not at the mercy of landlords –
because its our choice. whether you feel to cash out now or in 10 years… its all the same game. as long as you do what is good for you and your family. no need to get pissy 4:01
4.01 – I own my own house, i’m not the person you were talking to early on. Just pointing out the non-liquidity of your asset. You haven’t made anything (yet).
3:56 – Believe me, I’ve been following the market obsessively for years now. Last July, the tenor of the NY media was: “What housing downturn? NYC is immune”. It was really only at the beginning of 2008, after Bear Sterns and the Wall Street problems started to become evident, that the tune started to change and suggest that in fact, NYC may finally be affected. And, a number of statistics are showing that prices ARE softening in NYC. Inventory is low in PS, however, so that has propped up the market, and there are still people who sold closer to what was arguably the peak and their cash has been working its way through the system. But I challenge you to point to a reliable source that is forecasting major gains in NYC real estate in the next year – or any gains for that matter (inflation-adjusted). I’m not one to treat my home as an investment – if we’d been in school zone we wanted to be in, we wouldn’t have sold, it was just that the school issue led us to sell, but truly, most people have told me we (perhaps inadvertently) made a wise decision. I also am not planning to “make money” on our next home we purchase since our goal is to stay there for life – so if we buy a bit high, that’s OK so we’re not “waiting out the market” – but we are not going to pay a ridiculous price for a crappy home (like this HOTD IMO) since we do feel choices/prices will get better for us in the next year or so and we are in certainly no rush to buy when prices seem to be levelling off, if not heading down in the future.
The other building is 221 Berkeley. $1.2 million. They rejected our $800,000 offer, but it doesn’t make sense otherwise. The current rent rolls (stabilized) barely exceed $3K/month. Plus there is at least $250,000 in improvements to be made.
i believe you are the one kidding yourself, 3:57.
trying to convince yourself that as you and your family age, the best thing is to be at the mercy of landlords.
interest rates on the bank are around 2% right now. stock market sucks.
that’s LESS than NYC home prices rose last year…even IN the housing “crash”
3.36, money in the bank is money in the bank. You haven’t “made” anything until you’ve actually sold your house. Stop kidding yourself.
totally agree, keep the recessed lighting to closets and not so obvious hallways..
2.31 – property taxes are part of the costs of owning the house, unless you’ve some how figured a way of avoding NYC property taxes. if so, do tell.