Six Months Later: Open House Picks 6/22/07

You can try to buy a piece of real-estate now, or soon, or sorta soon.

Or you can do what so many of these NYC idiots do and rent until you’re in your fifties/60s/70s, and everything costs 100 times more than you’ll ever be able to afford.

Maybe prices will dip, maybe they’ll even plunge for a little while ( I doubt it), but if you can afford your payments, have a job, and stay in your house for a few years–as I’ve said about 1,000 times here–you’ll be fine, at a minimum. You might be in great shape.

These doom and gloom people are such losers.

TGL, I think Wise Young Trader is right on target. The What is the most denegrating guy on this board – I suppose you havent been called an asshat or fucktard lately?

Every argument on this board is in poor taste.

Hi Everyone! Thought I would check what is going on this webpage since I have been out of contact for some time.

I would say to A Wise Young Trader that you will probably not be Mr. What’s landlord because, apparently, Mr. What owns his own home.

As I have stressed before when the discussion degenerates into an argument over the temperature of the economy and what people working in the financial will receive as bonuses this year–I have stressed–that we should keep in mind that there has been a change in the perception of downtown Brooklyn and a change in the demographics in the US. Boomers and their children are more interested than ever (in my lifetime) of moving into the urban center. They have a much different outlook than our parents may have had. Many people I speak with feel they have “discovered” Brooklyn in their 50’s.

As long as New York is a city where people want a pied-a-terre or feel their kids might as well live, I feel we will continue to have a relatively stable environment in brownstone Brooklyn…barring a sudden collapse of the Manhattan real estate market.

And even then, downtown Brooklyn will probably not become a wasteland because many people may continue to want to live in calmer landmarked Brooklyn instead of hi-rise Manhattan.

The very wealthy and the flashy can afford/may want to live in townhouse Manhattan on the Upper Eastside. I for one, as I have mentioned in the past, have found that some very wealthy people are not choosing to live in the priciest, flashiest Manhattan locations. There is a lot of variety out there.

I feel that people with good money may be the ones moving into or buying homes for their children in landmarked Brooklyn, that it is not exclusively a story about what people can afford to buy based on what loan they can qualify for based on what salary and bonus they may or may not receive.

Season’s Greetings,
TheGrammarLady

PS I know the house that sold for $2.48 million. We toyed with the idea of buying it after looking at it a long time ago but it was an SOR (lived in as a two family) with a mean tenant occupying three floors. Apparently, it got ugly, a court case ensued (tenant did not win), a suspicious fire burned the top floor and the house got water damage. I guess the first owner after the repairs were done paid about 400K for the house. I think it went for 1.2 after that and now 2.48. I happened to pass the house during one of the many open houses this past summer. Two gals were coming out and commenting on the asking price being ridiculous because the ironwork was corroded and missing a little piece (not original ironwork…the house, unfortunately, has wrought iron railings that look to be of a 1960 vintage unlike many of the other houses along that side of the street which retain their original cast ironwork). I don’t think they were really interested in Fort Greene to begin with! Oh, well!

Good One “The What”, But there will always be work for bright, talented, and savvy business people. Not sure I could say the same about washed-up, bitter, medicated brokers…

Also, not sure the daily news would print such a offensive headline, but I promise when I am your landlord, I will not be an asshole to you at all. I will even let you skate on your rent to pay for your meds once in a while – As long as you promise to take out the trash and do some minor cleaning around the building for me.

A Wise Young Trader

PS – The War is over, you lost.

Great feature, Mr. B! I hope you do this every week. It’s very useful to know what properties actually sold for, especially as compared to the original asking price. Keep it up!