Rentals of the Day: Prospect Heights
Here are some of the Prospect Heights rentals recently featured on Craigslist, most of which are pitched as good shares. Judging from this sample, 2-bedrooms in the nabe tend to go for around $2,000. Clockwise, from upper left: 1. 2-bed, h/w floors, large common spaces, $2100; St John’s at Underhill 2. 2-bed, 2-bath, 1500-sq-ft. duplex,…
Here are some of the Prospect Heights rentals recently featured on Craigslist, most of which are pitched as good shares. Judging from this sample, 2-bedrooms in the nabe tend to go for around $2,000. Clockwise, from upper left:
1. 2-bed, h/w floors, large common spaces, $2100; St John’s at Underhill
2. 2-bed, 2-bath, 1500-sq-ft. duplex, priv. garden, $3500; Prospect at Vanderbilt
3. 2-bed, h/w floors, open kitchen, $1800; Prospect near Washington
4. 2-bed, r/s, gut reno, $1700; Underhill at St Marks
5. 2-bed w/ office nook, h/w floors, $2000; Bergen at Vanderbilt
2:12, your statement:
i’m too nervous to wait till i’m 40 because if i don’t start out with a small place now and work my way up, i’ll never be able to jump into the market
is really interesting. That’s the sentiment which has actually driven the bubble — buy now before it’s too late! In two years, I wonder if the common statement is going to be: I don’t want to buy now, because I’m too afraid that I’ll lose too much money.
Only time will tell.
i don’t necessarily know if i’ll be in one city my entire life either, but i’m too nervous to wait till i’m 40 because if i don’t start out with a small place now and work my way up, i’ll never be able to jump into the market…even with a major price correction.
in all likelihood i do want to be in nyc for the majority of my life and want to make sure i’m not priced out completely.
that would be sad.
depite the economic woes, it is a very exciting time to be living in brooklyn, in my opinion.
just had a friend visiting from iceland this past weekend on her first nyc visit. she was blown away by brooklyn…said the spirit of culture felt like reykjavik.
and i know everyone likes to rag on it, but she really fell in love with park slope.
i guess I dont plan on staying in one city my entire life.
or even the same country.
maybe i’ll by when im 40
1:27 & 1:31: couldn’t agree more. It’s as much of a psychological benefit as it is a financial one.
i prefer owning.
i don’t want to keep moving like i used to…
from manhattan to park slope to prospect heights to bed stuy.
what was next, brownsville???
now i have the same monthly payment for the next 30 years and couldn’t be happier about it.
I think owning vs renting is a psychological issue even more than a financial one. The renter is looking forward to the future -another city, a bigger apt, a marriage – whatever and values the freedom and lack of issues such as repairs. The owner has the lord or lady of the manor psyche – it is their piece of turf. Owning a BS can be a pain but the pride of ownership is tremendous. When you come down the staircase or look in the huge parlor floor mirror you feel great because it is your house. If you are talking about white box apartments in larger buildings this feeling may be somewhat diminished but is still present. So I think if you have money for either buying vs renting is not just dollars and cents.
We own, and I’ve always owned not rented starting in my late 20’s, but I still say it only makes financial sense to buy unless you’re staying in the place at least 7 or 8 years and it’s big enough to grow into be comfortable long term. The whole flipping every two years thing was an odd phenomenon that’s over now. You can’t expect to do that all the time. I also think some people especially those with children, feel pressure to buy even when they can’t really yet afford it. Because they feel like bad parents or whatever if they don’t own their home. Which is a stigma that didn’t used to exist in NYC, which used to be a city of affluent renters.
Yes, the calculation is simple and doesn’t take maintenance, tax deductions, or the forgone interest on any downpayment into account, but the analysis is basically sound.
When I bought a coop apartment in P.S. in 1999, taking in the mortgage interest tax deduction, I was saving money every month by buying over continuing to rent. (I wasn’t expecting the subsequent increase in value, I was just looking to reduce my monthly expenses.) My 10% downpayment was small, so the foregone interest earnings on that amount was negligible (and that small 10% downpayment did earn me a lot of equity I tapped into when I sold).
When I sold last year, I rented temporarily, as I couldn’t buy a new place until I got my equity out of the old one. Now that I’m renting again (a really nice place, bigger than the large place I owned), it makes so much more financial sense to keep renting. I couldn’t own what I rent without paying way more every month, even if I put down most of my equity from my old place (and forgoing the substantial interest earnings on that.)
Now,if you buy, you have to be counting on a sharp increase in value in the time you own a place (which you can never really count on) to offset the additional monthly expenses you take on – otherwise, it isn’t worth it to own. Even though I’d like to have my own place again to do with exactly what I want and be able to stay indefinitely, the practical side of me can only justify buying in a place and a market where it also makes financial sense.
And renting has the added benefit of not having to worry about coop self-management or making repairs inside my apartment anymore.
– A Happy Renter (for now)
I want to be a renter all my life and be subject to uncontrolable rent increases and be forced to move repeatedly throughout my lifetime. Doesn’t that sound fun?!
Go one nabe over and save your money to buy.