Last Week's Biggest Sales
Pretty brisk business in the brownstone neighborhoods and a head-scratcher in Manhattan Beach. 1. COBBLE HILL $3,950,000 13 Tompkins Place GMAP (left) This 4,100-sf townhouse was originally listed for $4.5 million in February, according to StreetEasy. Asking dropped by a quarter mil about 5 months ago. House has two units, one of which is a…
Pretty brisk business in the brownstone neighborhoods and a head-scratcher in Manhattan Beach.
1. COBBLE HILL $3,950,000
13 Tompkins Place GMAP (left)
This 4,100-sf townhouse was originally listed for $4.5 million in February, according to StreetEasy. Asking dropped by a quarter mil about 5 months ago. House has two units, one of which is a 5-bedroom triplex. Deed recorded 9/02.
2. MANHATTAN BEACH $3,050,000
150 Hastings Street GMAP (right)
3,532-sf house on a 6,000-sf lot half a block from Manhattan Beach Park. Property Shark records show it last traded for $800,000 in 2005—quite the meteoric appreciation.
3. BOERUM HILL $2,700,000
253 Dean Street Street GMAP
20 ft x 42 ft townhouse with an owner’s triplex and rental unit. The property sold quickly: It was listed for $2.495 million in late May. The Los Angeles-based person who signed as a trustee for the purchase has the same name as someone who’s reportedly dating a star of the TV show “Grey’s Anatomy.” Coincidence? Deed recorded 9/03.
4. CLINTON HILL $1,895,000
298 Lafayette Avenue GMAP
3,496-ft, 2-family house priced at $1.995 million when it was an Open House Pick this May. Deed recorded 9/03.
5. CARROLL GARDENS $1,830,000
16 4th Place, Unit 1 GMAP
Triplex condo in a 19th century townhouse. Listed in April for a hair above the closing price, according to StreetEasy. Deed recorded 9/02.
Photos from Property Shark.
If people are calling for The What being banned, then I call for Biff and Dave to be banned as well. They constantly fall for The What’s bait, and always banter back and forth, adding nothing to most threads they are involved in. Enough is enough.
chicken: I just got into work and I need to get cracking, but I will come back at lunch time to give my response (unless I need a break and I will post sooner).
Thank you for your post and I reallly appreciate you responding.
I should be posting by 2 if you want to drop by later.
You’ve hit the nail on the head chicken–one cannot purchase (or time) happiness. This is the reason that the economic determinists on here have an overly simplified way of reading the situation. While we all agree that the underlying fundamentals in the market are weak right now, the ones who say that it is all a matter of time and logic that prices should come down by whatever percent don’t take into consideration the personal circumstances of the buyers on the market. We all can’t act in lockstep to force the market to do one thing or another. One person’s transaction mark is another person’s castle.
no offence intended wasder. You’ve got a house that you like at a price that works for you – absolutely nothing wrong with that. More importantly, you seem like a fairly happy chap and money can’t buy that.
chicken–I think you overstate the case by saying prices will come down half, but certainly we would all seem to be in agreement that prices still have a ways to fall. I guess I am one of your “transaction marks” but I don’t mind. I got a good house at a good price and certainly benefited at least somewhat by the price cuts of the last year. I have a business that I will run out of one floor and with one tenant I will be in fine shape no matter what happens to prices (the beauty of a fixed mortgage).
What, this was easily your worst day ever. How can I be pwned if I can make my payments and I am enjoying my house.
DOW–you are in danger of me breaking my moratorium with your 10:47 post. You can’t laugh at your own jokes.
“Hey no prostate massaging in public!”
Damn, What. You made me wake up the baby.
You, DIBS??!!! That was you???? Omigod- I just sprayed my soda. Biff- I was trying to make you feel good, but I thought Brooke was for real.(I’ll kill you, dave- if I ever find you ):-)
that was very funny….and she seemed so nice.
sure thing.
“One thing I am having a hard time understanding is this: How can houses be selling for the prices noted above (yes, back to the point of this post!) when the markets have been tightening for some time? How are these people getting the financing for this? Where is there money coming from? Didn’t banks cut back on such loans months (a year) ago?”
This was in the last point of my last post. Some people don’t want to wait for the market – they don’t want to rent. If you’ve just sold a manhattan condo for $1m, a $1.5m brownstone that you can get for $1.3m is not that much of a stretch. Prices aren’t going to go from $2m to $1m in one step – there are going to be transaction marks all the way down.
“What do you think it would take to bring a sense of stability in the housing market today?”
When number of buyers equals number of sellers. For me, the most important figure to watch is the volume of transactions (I know it might seem counterintuitive but hear me out). If the seller is unwilling to go below $1m but no buyer is willing to go above $700k then no deal is done and no new mark can be made for the representative price. Buyers can’t go up at the moment because of the lack of available funding so sellers are going to have to get realistic.
” Specifically the Brooklyn brownstone market. (I think there are two markets right now – e.g. Park Slope and less affluent markets.)”
I agree but as house prices went up, the relative difference between the good and less-good areas also went up. The difference in price between a Park Slope brownstone and a PLG brownstone is not just big, it’s f-ing enormous. The $1m+ difference for what is essentially the same house is the same as an extra person in the house making $250k/year and maxxed out – that’s just not normal. We only think it is because we’ve got used to it these past few years.
“I know that some of the loose lending practices really did a number on several less affluent areas and it will take several years for these areas to get past the recent go-go period. The foreclosures and short sales will hurt prices there over the next few years. Your thoughts?”
Foreclosures speed up the process but they don’t ultimately change the fundamentals, unless the volume of the foreclosures themselves change the nature of the neighbourhood (like certain areas of Detroit).
“You say that housing prices will be half what they are today. What is your basis for this and do you think that this will be true for all of brownstone Brooklyn?”
That’s only my opinion, and that’s the only one that’s mine to give. Some areas will come down more, some less but there are too many variables to factor in to be anything other than broad brush. Ultimately, how much can a family on average income afford to borrow responsibly? That’s how I’m getting to half off.
“Are you looking in brownstone Brooklyn to buy? If so, what area(s) and why?”
I’m looking at Victorian Flatbush because I like the houses, I want to have a garage, I like the trees, etc. One man’s drink is another’s poison so you shouldn’t read too much into what I like. I know the upkeep will be higher but I can afford it and I can justify it to myself.
What are your thoughts on the subject?
Hey What:
>>”Investors should sell stocks following the rally as economies in the U.S. and Europe remain weak, Credit Suisse Group said. The rebound is unlikely to last because the U.S. housing decline will continue, while Europe and the U.K. are “close to recession,” Credit Suisse’s London-based analysts including Andrew Garthwaite said in a report dated yesterday.”
Translation: Dump your overpriced shit to the smart investor retards now! Get the fuck out of dodge!>>
Obviously, it’s time to buy. When all the asshat Wall Street analysts (make that analists) tell you to sell, then it’s time to buy.
Where was this dickhead a year ago? Was he telling everyone to sell? No, most likely he was telling everyone to buy! Same sh*t as the internet bubble. One day I have to post a photo of a sugar bowl I got at Fishes Eddie in the late 1990’s… I keep it to remind me never to listen to overpaid Wall Street Asshats. It has a stock ticker on it… LU, 55.125… WCOM, 44-15/16… my fave, PMCS, 185.375. T, 51.625.
Remember those days? All the analists were saying BUY BUY BUY. Some of them are in jail today.
There are some smart people on Wall Street, but with the exception of GS, most of them are running their own money and don’t have time to pontificate to various consumer finance websites.
Remember what the original investor said: The time to buy is when the blood is running in the streets. That time hasn’t arrived in NYC RE, but it has arrived elsewhere. FNM investors who followed that were well rewarded today. I suspect LEH investors will be as well.