Open House Picks
Boerum Hill 100 Nevins Street Nancy McKiernan Sunday 2-4 $1,975,000 GMAP P*Shark Park Slope 425 Dean Street Brown Harris Stevens Sunday 2:30-4 $1,425,000 GMAP P*Shark Clinton Hill 306 St. James Place Corcoran Sunday 2:30-3:30 $999,999 GMAP P*Shark
Boerum Hill
100 Nevins Street
Nancy McKiernan
Sunday 2-4
$1,975,000
GMAP P*Shark
Park Slope
425 Dean Street
Brown Harris Stevens
Sunday 2:30-4
$1,425,000
GMAP P*Shark
Clinton Hill
306 St. James Place
Corcoran
Sunday 2:30-3:30
$999,999
GMAP P*Shark
“You say “no one is going to sell at a loss” and that is precisely what is happening all around the country.”
Again, Miss Muffet once more tries to compare this market to a completely different and irrelevant one.
Nobody has to sell at a big loss in such a strong rental market.
If things got so dire that people would have to take a loss of hundreds of thousands of dollars selling a brownstone as Miss Muffet claims people will be willing to do, they’d stick it out and stay or they’d rent out the house for however many years it takes for the market to recover.
and i was at the St. James place open house too with half of Brooklyn, havent seen a crowded open house in a while, so it does need alot of work and that block seems to be shaping up really nicely might not be a bad buy for the right buyer
Woops, correction – the Dean street house is “only” asking 1.425, (so significantly under 1.5) so I don’t think 1 million is as crazy as you suggest.
Boroughbred – I’m NOT talking about Nevins Street, I’m talking about Dean St house. So, if you think a 2million house could credibly sell for 1.7 (which has been happening), then why is a house asking about 1.5 selling for 1million so insane? You say “no one is going to sell at a loss” and that is precisely what is happening all around the country. I also don’t care what others say, since the market will speak for itself, but what it is currently saying is that properties that are priced too high linger, and then suffer price cuts.
Miss Muffett, It would be one thing if you had predicted that the Nevins house would sell for 1.7M but you said one million. When you post comments like that you sound insane. I honestly don’t think you could buy a shell in Boerum Hill for under a million today or even in the next few years. And while many people bought houses for cheap in the area, they have since invested hundreds of thousands of dollars into them. So no one is going to sell at a loss. You can’t look at selling price in 2004 to determine the worth of a house. Not that I care, but I think you could really stand to have your own price correction as much as some of the brokers do. They may be hoping for more money, but you are so wrong to think that people in this area are going to be giving houses away ever.
“Why are you comparing this market to 2004? Demand for historic Brooklyn houses have only gotten higher and the typical buyer more wealthy since 2004. Appeal of the suburbs has decreased further. Amenities have WAY improved on many streets in Park Slope including those around the Dean Street house. 5th Avenue is night and day it’s so different. Schools have continued to improve. You often compare two completely different markets in different eras or years”
Again, Traditionalmod – to suggest that the market in 2008 is that different from 2004 seems a bit disingenuous to me. Fifth Ave has been improving for many years so it’s not like the difference in 4 years warrants price doubles in real estate. The typical buyer of late may have been more wealthy but in many cases, that wealth was on paper – either stocks or real estate, and stocks have already gone down, and real estate is going down, so that wealth is evaporating. Add to that growing job insecurity and I bet you many potential buyers do not feel anywhere near as “wealthy” as they have in recent years. I also think there may be significant anxiety about the direction of NYC in the years to come as budget cuts take their toll, and I can tell you from experience that there is a lot of concern about school crowding, overdevelopment, etc. The thing that is craziest about your line of attack is that you suggest that what I’m talking about is so radical and it really is not – what was radical was the double-digit price climbs, year after year, of the last few years. This is typical bubble behavior, and bubbles, as we are seeing now, DO burst. Sure, the Dean Street sellers may not want to sell at 999K and maybe they won’t have to right now, but an identical house this time next year may indeed have to – and furthermore, that would still be a decent price since chances are the people who bought these houses paid MUCH less, and will still be making a tidy profit.
You twist my words when you say I am “desperate to buy within next 6 months” – that is totally untrue. If anything, I am settling more comfortably into my very modestly priced, nice rental (yes, there are plenty that DO exist, even in prime areas). What I’ve said is that we are not “waiting” for the bottom – since, if we see a house we love, and we can afford it, we will buy it, even if the price has a bit more to go downwards, since we intend to stay for life in our next home. That said, we’re not stupid, and we simply refuse to pay an astronomical price when the market is clearly moving in our favor. As I’ve said before, many of the houses we’ve looked at subsequently had price cuts of well over 100K (and this, before the real financial meltdown began) so why on earth would we pay, say 1.5 mil for something that will probably be at least 100-200K less next year, if not more? The discounts are just beginning.
Folks like you seem to have amnesia – don’t forget that in the last NYC real estate bubble/crash (late 80s/early 90s), prices went down a LOT, and took many years to recover.
Oh please traditionalmod, I probably wouldn’t buy that Dean Street house regardless of price – we don’t like it. And you flatter me if you think I have any power to “panic sellers” – how on earth can I, an anonymous individual on a blog, possibly do that? That’s just silly. I don’t need to panic anyone anyway – as the stock market has been showing us, there’s plenty of panic around already. And I agree that Brooklyn may have gotten nicer in the last few years, but not as much as the price increases would suggest. Believe me, I’ve lived here for years, saw our last place more than double in price and believe me, things had not changed **that** much (and actually, many people now worry about the Atlantic Yards effect on much of “prime” Brooklyn, more croweded schools, etc.). Say whatever you want, but you sound to me like you’re just in denial and can’t stand when I assert that a significant correction seems highly likely, if not inevitable. I’m happy to rent for several years if need be, since the cost of our rent will be more than made up for the savings on the houses we’re seeing already getting price cuts – which are just beginning.
went to the st james place today. it is really close to atlantic – but still about 3,4 houses in – it needs a lot of work, beyond basic restoration type stuff – and is not worth a mill – but there are some really nice old details, and is worth checking out for the typical fixer-upper type person with an extra 200 grand
“Demand for historic Brooklyn houses have only gotten higher and the typical buyer more wealthy since 2004.”
Completely irrelevant… The relevant question is “Can the typical borrower finance the purchase?” And the answer is no!
The limit on a conventional jumbo is the lesser of $729,750 or 125% of an area’s median home sales price. Mortgage lenders don’t want to issue loans outside of Freddie and Fanny’s guidelines because will have to hold it on their own balance sheet.
Doesn’t matter how much you want to buy a property for and how much you think it’s really worth if you can’t finance it. If you pay $1.425 million for Dean St, be prepared to put down about $700K as a down payment.
FYI –
I have a country house for sale in Westport CT 4BR/3BA. Easy access to town/train/I95/Merrit Pky/Post Rd.
Price: $1.2 million. Will owner finance.