House of the Day: 430 10th Street

SF is pretty, too. Prettier than PS, actually, and the restaurants are a lot better. Here is what one prominent economist just wrote about SF:

http://www.prospect.org/cs/articles?article=the_meltdown_lowdown_062708

“And the Bubble Keeps on Bursting

“The new Case-Shiller housing data showed that prices kept plummeting in April. Real house prices in the 20-city index were falling at close to a 26 percent annual rate over the months from January to April. Since their peak in the summer of 2006, real house prices have dropped by more than 23 percent. This means that we’re probably a bit more than halfway to the bottom of the bubble.

“Prices in the most rapidly deflating markets are dropping much faster. In the last three months, real house prices in Phoenix, San Francisco and Miami have all fallen at close to a 40 percent annual rate. The implications of this rate of price decline are incredible.

“Imagine you had paid off 20 percent of a mid-priced home in the San Francisco area as of January. This would have given you approximately $136,000 in equity on a $680,000 home. Three months later, that home is $597,000 and your equity stake is down to $53,000. In three more months at this rate, you will be underwater. Such are the joys of home ownership in a collapsing bubble.

“Of course, it is not gloomy for everyone. Imagine that you are a wise renter who was thinking of buying a mid-priced home in the SF area. You are now $83,000 richer as a result of your decision to wait. That’s not bad — you get almost $28,000 a month for not buying.”

I was in South America a few weeks ago and told some people I met there that I was from Brooklyn — they threw a parade for me!

I was carried down the road by a group of teenagers as old ladies cried and threw flowers in my path. Obviously, they too want to live in Park Slope. A damn shame it isn’t large enough to accommodate everyone; only we lucky few!

I happen to think that Park Slope HAS done a 360 in the last 10 years.

Wow, some of the most intelligent comments/debate on Park Slope I’ve seen in awhile on bstoner. Though that statement is likely to doom this thread to the usual anti-PS rhetoric.

Anyhow, I’m a bstone owner, have lived in the Slope off and on for 20 years. I think PS is a great alignment of numerous factors:

– the hippy-dippy people, who ad a certain charm and keep the bankers in check.
– the influx of Manhattanites which bring certain standards and tastes for the finer things with them, and so the high-end entertainment and services naturally follow which I see as a benefit (even if not all of you do).
– the beauty of the architecture which was always there.
– the neighborhood activism which also was always there.
– the transportation network; much as you might malign the F-train, its worked well for me and there are plenty of alternatives
– the proximity to attractions like Prospect Park, BAM, museum, etc.
– the diversity, which IMO is still remarkable given the socio-economic realities. Find me another upper-middle-class nabe with a bigger cross section of people by income, race, gender-pref, age, etc. It may be dominated by yuppy stroller-moms in the media, but that is hardly the reality on the street. And I will concede that maybe the buyers are no longer a very diverse profile given today’s prices, but the overall PS experience (the people you encounter in everyday life, on the street, in the Park, in the restaurants and bars) are a pretty interesting mix. And I say this as a minority myself who happily feels quite welcome and comfortable in PS, whereas I definately don’t always feel the luv in many parts of Manhattan or Bklyn for that matter.

It was always a popular nabe, but all the more so now because its reached a critical mass of services and conveniences to attract an even broader audience of buyers, renters, and gawkers/tourists. It’s arrived if you will. Half way around the world, people know of Park Slope.

I’m sure prices will recede some over the next year or two, given the city’s Wall st based economy, but I think the long term outlook is quite extraordinary. It’s a matter of supply and demand. There’s nowhere to build except the fringe (i.e. 4th Ave), yet the popularity will keeping going up over time. Whether you appreciate what it has to offer or not, its relatively unique, which part of what defines every successful brand.