House of the Day: 532 3rd Street
This limestone house at 532 3rd Street in Park Slope was an Open House Pick back in March 2007 when it was listed for $2,600,000; it quickly went into contract at the asking price. Now the 18-foot-wide single-family is back on the market for $3,200,000. It’s hard to see pulling off a 20% mark-up from…
This limestone house at 532 3rd Street in Park Slope was an Open House Pick back in March 2007 when it was listed for $2,600,000; it quickly went into contract at the asking price. Now the 18-foot-wide single-family is back on the market for $3,200,000. It’s hard to see pulling off a 20% mark-up from a year and a half ago, given that there’s only been bad news for the market since then. Whatever. Nice house, though.
532 3rd Street [Corcoran] GMAP P*Shark
Open House Picks 3/17/08 [Brownstoner]
“most properties at this price level are purchased by people with the means to own them outright”
Or major cash down like 50% or better. UWS sellers.
Recover from what, -5 percent? Prices have to fall in order to recover. Remember, this was a once in a lifetime boom/bust. A real recovery will happen after you die of old age and the new generation forgets all about The Greater Depression.
Wasder – No, I don’t think a typical buyer for this kind of house puts so little down, but I do think it’s possible that they may have put, say 30% down (or 780K, not an insignificant sum), which still leaves them with a mortgage of 1,820,000. Or even if they put down a million, and had a mortgage of 1.6mil, that could be tough to keep making payments on if there is some income hit, and I’ve certainly seen a few high-earners take income hits of late. Stretching to buy a house seems like a great idea when you have income security, but it can get scary when you find yourself laid off and unfortunately, I’ve seen this among people I know.
Is your comp limestone, Miss Muffet (no photos in the link)? 3rd St is very synogoguey. I just see someone, some wealthy family, likening such a purchase to buying a Bently. Who cares what it’s REALLY worth. This is an exceptional brownstone on an exceptional block. The rule is that all comps will be affected but I say this one goes near ask.
DOW–you think it was flip? That seems unlikely but I guess possible.
“Who buys something that expensive with the intention of selling so quickly?”
Oh come on, wasder. Greed has no bounds. It discriminates no number.
Miss Muffett—do you really think that somebody took out a 2.3 million dollar mortgage (or so) on this house? I mean if they did then your scenario makes sense–the mortgage payments would be astronomical. It is my assumption (which of course could be incorrect) that most properties at this price level are purchased by people with the means to own them outright.
This is pretty beautiful, though no comment on the price. I appreciate the look of the painted wood and modern furniture, but if it were mine, I’d strip it all.
Wasder – who buys something so expensive and then turns around and sells so quickly? Someone with a mortgage they can no longer afford. I know plenty of people at risk of being in this situation, who are all watching the market nervously and praying their jobs are safe so they can pay the huge mortgages they took out during the boom.