Open House Picks
Carroll Gardens 72 2nd Place Corcoran Sunday 3-4:30 $2,350,000 GMAP P*Shark Park Slope 466 13th Street Douglas Elliman Sunday 1-2 $2,050,000 GMAP P*Shark Gowanus 389 Sackett Street Neuhaus Realty Sat 1-4, Sun 12:30-4 $1,900,000 GMAP P*Shark Prospect Lefferts Gardens 218 Midwood Street Brown Harris Stevens Sunday 2-3:30 $1,375,000 GMAP P*Shark
Carroll Gardens
72 2nd Place
Corcoran
Sunday 3-4:30
$2,350,000
GMAP P*Shark
Park Slope
466 13th Street
Douglas Elliman
Sunday 1-2
$2,050,000
GMAP P*Shark
Gowanus
389 Sackett Street
Neuhaus Realty
Sat 1-4, Sun 12:30-4
$1,900,000
GMAP P*Shark
Prospect Lefferts Gardens
218 Midwood Street
Brown Harris Stevens
Sunday 2-3:30
$1,375,000
GMAP P*Shark
1:59 is right. Prices have nowhere to go but down and will do so by -25 to -50 percent peak to trough. It is beyond me why most owners are so biased to think otherwise. The historical record does not lie. All the symptoms for a serious devaluation and general economic recession/depression are visible.
Buyers are either very wealthy or brainwashed with herd mentality. Current sellers are wise to get out now while the getting is still good.
NYC is lossing jobs and this trend is most likely to continue for a couple of years.”
Well there are NO jobs in our field in other places than NYC, so we’re here to stay and no thanks, we’re not going to rent for the next 30 years.
This is what the autoworker said in detroit in the 80’s no?
“The fringe hoods are going to de-gentrify.”
The brownstone neighborhoods that have gentrified have done so over a period of 20 years. It sped up in recent years especially in blue chip areas, but it’s not a recent trend for Brooklyn. This is a prediction that is completely unfounded and is simply race-baiting and offensive. Live that way if you want but we don’t.
gentrify has nothing to do with race but rather socioeconomic conditions(talk about unfounded)
“The inventory in Manhattan is growing fast”
People who buy 100 year old brownstones don’t buy new construction glass-tower condos. No competition. No comparison.
If you dont understand that Brooklyn real estate is a deriviative of Manhattan you are in denial.
“Rates are going to shoot up making it smarter to rent.”
Again unfounded. Rates are low and going lower.
Rates are low but they have bottomed and the Fed cant make them go any lower. rates will be much higher 1 year from now as Fed fights inflation through rate increases.
“Why have your equity tied up and not making an interest.”
Why pay the highest rent in the country for your entire life and have no equity in it?
you are going to have no equity if you buy now with 20 percent down and prices come in by a moderate 20 percent now will you Einstein?
“Real Estate is an illuiqid asset class.”
Only if your silly arguments held up but they don’t.
You can call my arguments silly but that does not change the fact that if you needed to sell a place this week you would take a beating on the price you had to sell it for hence an illuiquid asset!
“The banks are tightening lending every day and the pool of people to that can get million plus mortgages shrinks every day.”
All the people we know buying brownstones have had a property to sell that doesn’t make them have to take out a million dollar loan. Nobody is doing that that we’ve ever met.
If all the peopleyou know dont need a million dollar mortgage on say a 1.8 million dollar place I suggest you branch and and find reality. You are living in a bubble!
“Have you seen a long term chart of real estate valuations and where we are now?”
No, but we are never leaving NYC and we need a place to live so we don’t care.
ignorance is bliss!
Posted by: guest at April 27, 2008 12:48 PM
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I agree with most everything 12:40 writes EXCEPT that The brownstone neighborhoods that have gentrified have done so over a period of over 40 years–not 20. I think this year’s Park Slope house tour is the 49th one (we’re only having our 38th in PLG–we started 10 years later and skipped a year in the late ’70s).
I bought my house in 1974 as NYC was going into a fiscal crisis that raised serious questions about the city’s survival. We had saved enough for a down payment and knew that we only wanted an old house and that we wanted to stay in the city. Was our decision a prudent one, given the economic news of the day? I doubt it. Did I entertain thoughts that the whole city might go “down the tube”, to use a phrase common in the “Ford to City: ‘Drop Dead'” days? Of Course. Do I regret buying my house? No way!
“NYC is lossing jobs and this trend is most likely to continue for a couple of years.”
Well there are NO jobs in our field in other places than NYC, so we’re here to stay and no thanks, we’re not going to rent for the next 30 years.
“The fringe hoods are going to de-gentrify.”
The brownstone neighborhoods that have gentrified have done so over a period of 20 years. It sped up in recent years especially in blue chip areas, but it’s not a recent trend for Brooklyn. This is a prediction that is completely unfounded and is simply race-baiting and offensive. Live that way if you want but we don’t.
“The inventory in Manhattan is growing fast”
People who buy 100 year old brownstones don’t buy new construction glass-tower condos. No competition. No comparison.
“Rates are going to shoot up making it smarter to rent.”
Again unfounded. Rates are low and going lower.
“Why have your equity tied up and not making an interest.”
Why pay the highest rent in the country for your entire life and have no equity in it?
“Real Estate is an illuiqid asset class.”
Only if your silly arguments held up but they don’t.
“The banks are tightening lending every day and the pool of people to that can get million plus mortgages shrinks every day.”
All the people we know buying brownstones have had a property to sell that doesn’t make them have to take out a million dollar loan. Nobody is doing that that we’ve ever met.
“Have you seen a long term chart of real estate valuations and where we are now?”
No, but we are never leaving NYC and we need a place to live so we don’t care.
top ten reasons not to buy any time soon
1. We are at the top of a historical real estate bubble.
2. NYC is lossing jobs and this trend is most likely to continue for a couple of years,
3. The inventory in Manhattan is growing fast and is about to pass equilbrium.
4. The historical valuations are about 40 percent too high.
5. The fringe hoods are going to de-gentrify.
6. Rates are going to shoot up making it smarter to rent.
7. Real Estate is an illuiqid asset class.
8. Why have your equity tied up and not making an interest.
9. The banks are tightening lending every day and the pool of people to that can get million plus mortgages shrinks every day.
10. Have you seen a long term chart of real estate valuations and where we are now?
Sorry, I wasn’t specific enough, it’s not zoned for “commercial”. You can’t put a store or restaurant there. It zoned for a medical office. Can you put an accountant or attorney there? I’m curious about that. I’ve only seen medical offices in these spaces.
We’re starting to get finance people buying in PLG, but most all our neighbors in PLG’s LM are in the arts, media, and design and architecture. Of course their income will be affected by an economic downturn, but don’t you think people are preparing for that? We ourselves are expanding into another area in our work, to increase where and how we make money. It’s what people do. Adaptability.
The Midwood house does not presently have a doctor tenant. Somebody above was wrong about that. I’d rather have a commercial tenant below than a resident, myself. You don’t get noise at night or have to be quiet for a tenant down below at night. These corner houses that are zoned for a commercial rental space in the garden level are the only houses in Lefferts Manor on which you can earn a rental income. As everyone who reads this blog knows, Lefferts Manor is designated one-family houses only. You can also rent out one or both garage spaces if you don’t use them. Because of this added income, the house is priced higher than the other houses on Midwood. I don’t know what kind of rent the doctor’s office gets so it’s hard to comment on what they are asking for the house. Is it worth paying an extra $200K for the garages and commercial rental income? As for choosing that rental income and not a yard – that’s a totally personal, individual choice based on economics and lifestyle.
Hi Bob Marvin,
You are right that there are people buying who are not worried about their job security or a drop in income, in any way connected to the contraction going on in wall street.
But I do believe that prices are set on the way up by marginal buying and on the way down by marginal selling. I don’t see the marginal buying demand this year because of the job losses on wall street and the collateral effect on the other industries. I do believe that, at the end of the day, with nyc real estate prices up here, it has become a confidence game and once the confidence in one’s future income/job security is shaken, it will be hard to get it back in order to support prices here.
Dandel,
You are, of course, right that “every job in finance generates a number of other jobs that supports the finance industry, whether it is legal, corporate events, accounting, information technology, etc” That is stating the obvious. Those who need a wall street bonus for a down payment might not want to look for a house now. Anyone who fears that they might loose their job, or have a drop in income due to the the travails of Wall Street might also be well advised to avoid a major commitment now. I just fail to see how it is “crazy for ANYONE to be thinking of buying these days.” The world is somewhat bigger than you might imagine.