Last Week's Biggest Sales

squaredrive – hard to say what a “reasonable $/sf is for a pslope house/brownstone” since houses vary a lot in terms of what kind of condition they are in. Many homes, even if in good condition on the surface, still need some renovation since the chances are good that the electric/plumbing is old, exterior may need some touch-ups, etc. Plus, many of the homes we’ve looked at still have funky layouts that are inefficient, and rejiggering is costly. That said, I think $500/sf is generous for most houses, with a discount if it needs more than the typical amount of work.

As for my criteria, wine lover, we are not seeking anything very grand – just a decent amount of space for us (ideally about 2000 sf) with or without rental income, depending on dimensions, price, etc. We love old detail but could forgo it if necessary. Location is important to us since we have a child in school and don’t want to move too far, plus we want the house to be in a good school zone for our other child in case sibling variances go out the window with the crowding problems plaguing our schools. We’d love to stay under 1.5 mil all in, though given scary economy, closer to the 1 mil end than the 1.5 would be more comfortable, but we’ll see where prices go…

And Bolder, if you’ve been following this blog, you’ll see that on 1st Street in Park Slope alone, many houses have recently hit the market that are hardly troubled properties. In fact, inventory is starting to creep up even in prime areas (and some houses have started aggressively slashing prices from ridiculous starting points), and I suspect this trend will grow next year.

I think miss muffett is right — if I were in her shoes, I wouldn’t buy now unless I found an amazing bargain, which is exactly what she said she is doing. Some of the posters on here, especially Sebb, seem oddly upbeat about a housing market that every rational expert has said is due for a correction. Prices are way out of whack right now — there was no good reason for my brownstone in Carroll Gardens to triple in price since in the 7 years since I bought it, and I expect that in a year, it will be worth a good 50% less than its inflated current value. I lived here during the 80s and 90s and remember well the housing decline — I have friends who had to move away from the city and lost money on properties for 5 or 6 years before they could finally sell for the price of their outstanding mortgage in the late ’90s. Sure, it turned out that had they waited an extra few years, they would have made alot of money, but when you are paying for a 2nd home you can’t sell, you are pretty happy just to get out without any debt. Any the bubble we’ve experience since 2001 or so is far worse than the bubble in the ’80s, and the fall will be far harder.

“italian enough to very safe” — unless you didn’t happen to be in the wrong family! Seriously, I wouldn’t ever have felt safe in Howard Beach for example, and when I lived on Kane St in the late 1980s (around the corner from what was known as the Gotti block because so many of his relatives lived on it) I felt safe, but was worried for the safety of some of my friends.

“if jim cramer is right…”

Whew, at least we won’t have to worry about that ever happening.

Hi Everyone,
I’m all confused on the economy but I addressing the previous comment, what is the “artificial price” the government might set on that 8-point-something million dollar house? I’m curious. Does anyone think it will be pennies on the dollar?!!! I will allow myself a simple: Eeekkkk!!!
😉
ms bg

PS to Miss Muffet
Even if prices fall quiet a bit and we have deflation, how will you be able to protect your money? Are you spreading it out in various savings/checking accounts?