Open House Wrap-Up
Did anyone check out any of the Open House Picks this weekend? How about any other interesting places? We’d love to hear from those who can comment. Open House Picks [Brownstoner]
Did anyone check out any of the Open House Picks this weekend? How about any other interesting places? We’d love to hear from those who can comment.
Open House Picks [Brownstoner]
I said 5 to 7 years ago. And yes, I know two people who bought in Victorian Flatbush for under $400K in those days. It was just before the first big jump in prices. I am not exaggerating. I am not going to give you my neighbors names either. My own house was on the market about 6 years ago for $400K and they couldn’t find a buyer. I KNOW what I’m talking about. Prices sky-rocketed here very quickly. I got one of the last houses here for under $700k (just a few years after the very well known broker couldn’t sell it for $400K).
RE Ditmas Park prices: Who said houses were 350K 5 years ago? That is absurd. We bought in Lefferts Manor in 2001 for 550K, only because there was nothing in Ditmas under 650K. We saw everything on the market and the only things for 500-600 were horrible and not really in Ditmas. So, please, don’t exagerate price increases so much.
And there seems to be some nice, but smaller homes, currently for sale in Ditmas for 950K to 1.2M.
Thanks, Anon 2:34. Those sound like great options…
anon 2:08–
I’d just like to congratulate you on being one of the few people in a Brownstoner thread willing to admit that you might actually live in a different neighborhood if you had more money. As would I and probably a lot of other people here, but honestly, the defensiveness around here sometimes–people blow up their nabes into shangri-las rather than admit that, yes, we do make tradeoffs based on what we can afford.
off topic on the rent vs buy equation:
someone said “can you rent that kind of duplex in park slope”, my comment would be this:
if you have a 1.3m bucks sitting in the bank or if you have to take a 1.3m in mortgage, it is pretty much a wash: you’re shelling out 60k after tax per year for five+ years and most of that is interest (you are dirt poor), or forgone investment income (you are cashed up) as an investment professional can probably get you 5% after tax on your 1.3m.
If you buy, you just agreed to be on the wrong side of a 10% bid/offer spread (buy and there goes 3%, come time to sell, and there goes 7%).
have you looked at the kind of rentals you can have for 5k a month? certainly as large and interesting as a townhouse duplex.
Ok – come 5 years, the owner is hoping the market has gone up with inflation + 10% more, just to cling to the tiny bit of mortgage principal (70k) he paid off with his 430k of payments, or in the case of the cashed up guy, just to get back his nest egg plus inflation). Meanwhile the renter has flexibility and cool places for all that time, and no risks.
caveats: I know this math doesn’t count if you intend to stick to a place for 10 years, or have a crystal ball that says houses will continue to rise faster than inflation, or if you think having the right to repaint without calling a landlord is worth $2 on the dollar..
houses in new york sell for 60% more than their intrinsic value, no doubt about it. In park slope it is probably more like 100% more. Rents, being less easy to push into the future, are pinned to wages. They are not going to rise to close the gap.
The Brotherhood Institute at 139 (one of three mini schools there is very popular). 217 on Newkirk is very good. All schools in District 22 have Eagle (gifted) programs, and for the real genius’s out there, try CIG (Center for the Intellectually Gifted – they have there own elementary school on Avenue L, I believe). Middle School – Hudde (three gifted programs including CIG) and the magnet program and CIG program at 381 – district busses from pick up points in the neighborhood). HS – Morrow and Midwood. The Express Bus on Cortelyou Road takes kids very close to Stuyvesant. Hudde is one of largest (largest?) feeder school to Stuy in the city. Preschools of note include Popcorn (off Albemarle/Kenmare Terrace), and Midwood Montessori in South Midwood.
Thanks for the info, Anonymous 2:10. That is extremely helpful.
Thanks for the post, anonymous 2:08. Sorry. I’m just having fun too… The neighborhood does sound really wonderful. Which are the schools you like? The neighbors of the house on 18th Street send their little one to Midwood Yeshiva and while they seemed like absolutely lovely people, I would like to know what other options are available.
I saw the house at 190 Clermont when it was listed with Aguayo in October. The house itself is very nice and the owners did a great job renovating, but there are two flaws. The rental apartment has access to the triplex (stairs blocked by a piece of furniture — in the rental). Also, as you can see from the floorplan both baths are ensuite (one off a second living area on the second floor and the other off a child’s bedroom, plus they are tiny with very shallow tubs. Clearly, I am not the only one who noticed these things because it has been on the market for almost 6 months and still no takers.