Belltel Joins the FHA Club
The FHA trend has officially gone upscale: Curbed is reporting that the Belltel Lofts at 365 Bridge Street in Downtown Brooklyn has been approved by the FHA for buyer financing, joining several other buildings in areas like Williamsburg and Bed Stuy that have already proven that the lure of 3.5% down-payments can be enough to…
The FHA trend has officially gone upscale: Curbed is reporting that the Belltel Lofts at 365 Bridge Street in Downtown Brooklyn has been approved by the FHA for buyer financing, joining several other buildings in areas like Williamsburg and Bed Stuy that have already proven that the lure of 3.5% down-payments can be enough to overcome major bear markets and questionable locations. Given that the Belltel is one of the higher-end conversions in Brooklyn, it’ll be interesting to see what kind of pop this gives to sales. Predictions?
CurbedWire: 3.5% Down at BellTel [Curbed]
Targeted Price Cuts at Belltel Lofts [Brownstoner]
Checking In On The BellTel Lofts [Brownstoner]
Belltel Parking On Tap [Brownstoner]
Belltel Lofts: 50% Percent Sold [Brownstoner]
The Belltel Lofts: 40 Percent Sold [Brownstoner]
On one hand, these are 1K and up square foot apartments. On the other hand, most of them don’t have very many windows and use the “home office” excuse to create a second bedroom.
I wonder if this is just the beginning of the trend though? Seems likely.
@CookieCutterBrownstone fair point, I should have said “luxury.” but you know what I mean.
BH76, I didn’t say that none of them were, but the vast majority are definitely not.
I really do not like the government helping people pay $700/sq. ft for overpriced downtown apts.
This is just another form of corporate welfare.
Let the prices fall and then fewer people will need government help to buy a home and the people who still do need government help won’t need as much help because prices will be lower.
Everyone wins but the developers.
This way, everyone loses but the developers (government overpays, people getting assistance overpay, and people not getting govt. assistance overpay since the government is propping up the market).
Bklyn365: What do you call this for $1MM+?
http://www.streeteasy.com/nyc/sale/93391-condo-365-bridge-street-downtown-brooklyn-brooklyn
5 of the 20 listings are like that — no legal bedrooms.
^——– There’s nothing luxurious about Belltel. Just because their marketing material and sales staff say it is luxury does not mean it is luxury.
If a car salesmen describes a honda and a ford as luxury brands, I’d laugh at them to their face. Some of the units might be expensive, but not really for a luxury building in NYC.
The majority of units for sale are on mid to higher floors (10th floor and up) and very few are “studios”
I sympathize with the original aim of FHA but this is bulls*hit, why should taxpayers be subsidizing purchase of luxury apartments?
At least with cash for clunkers we can decide how much it’ll cost us up front…
i saw an ad on TV last night for belltel lofts…on the HGTV channel!!!!