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  #31  
Old 06-16-2006, 04:35 PM
xadrez xadrez is offline
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Default Re: On the verge of buying apartment in Brooklyn, opinions?

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Park slope. 3 br. 1450 sq ft. newly renovated, in great shape. loft like. 3 blocks from F train and 1.5 big blocks from the park. who wants to guess how much?

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How many bath's?
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  #32  
Old 06-16-2006, 04:47 PM
El Diablo El Diablo is offline
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Default Re: On the verge of buying apartment in Brooklyn, opinions?

colgin,

What you wrote is virtually identical to what friends of mine in NYC who have recently (well, mainly six to nine months ago) sold their places told me. None of them have any regrets about their decision.
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  #33  
Old 06-16-2006, 05:15 PM
Paluka Paluka is offline
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Default Re: On the verge of buying apartment in Brooklyn, opinions?

Colgin thanks for the info and the links.
I'm basically going in with the idea that I'm not really gaining anything financially by this purchase. It is reasonably close to break even with renting making some pessimistic assumptions. I'm hoping that I'm making a breakevn decision at worst which lands us in a nicer apartment and makes my wife a little happier.
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  #34  
Old 06-16-2006, 05:17 PM
colgin colgin is offline
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Default Re: On the verge of buying apartment in Brooklyn, opinions?

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colgin,

What you wrote is virtually identical to what friends of mine in NYC who have recently (well, mainly six to nine months ago) sold their places told me. None of them have any regrets about their decision.

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If you view buying/selling a place purely as an economic decision, I think the risk of doing what your friends did is extremely low. (Yeah, prices could shoot up again, but barring serious inflation this is really unlikely; more likely you can always rebuy the same place for less.)

There might be other reasons not to sell, like your eally love your place. The other issue is that in NYC, even if you are willing to spend a good amount on rent, the housing stock is just not that good (as Paluka stated), particularly as more and more rental buildings convert to condos. There have been some nice rental developments in NYC that were built in the last 5 years or so, but while they all have nice amenities, the apartments tned to be small. But you know what, the apartments most people can afford to buy here are really small too at $1,000 +/- per sq. ft.

We are lucky in that we are in one of the nicer village full service buildings that went condo years ago and the owner of my unit rents it out as an investment property. Right now we spend $3,000/month, which is actually under market rates for this unit. However, to buy the unit would cost me about $850K give or take. So, I would have to putdown $190K (including closign costs), and my gross monthlies would be a litle over $6,000 (incl. maintenance). I would epxect ot get back about $1,800 in tax savings but would forgo about $900 a month (before taxes) in risk free investment income (short term T bills).

Thus, unless you think there is going to be continued appreciation, renting seems like the better deal when compared to buying equivalent properties. Part of the problem in NY is that there are not thos eequivalent proerties in that much of the rental stock just sucks. Elsewhere in the U.S. I understand this is not a problem. I am not sure why people in California or Florida bubble areas are buying now where you can rent a nice house for far less than it costs to buy. That is just crazy!
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  #35  
Old 06-16-2006, 05:17 PM
turnipmonster turnipmonster is offline
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Default Re: On the verge of buying apartment in Brooklyn, opinions?

fwiw this was basically my attitude as well, but add in the utility of being able to upgrade/customize the apt with some potential ROI.
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  #36  
Old 06-16-2006, 05:32 PM
haakee haakee is offline
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Default Re: On the verge of buying apartment in Brooklyn, opinions?

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I am not sure why people in California or Florida bubble areas are buying now where you can rent a nice house for far less than it costs to buy. That is just crazy!

[/ QUOTE ]

Because everybody tells them it's a good investment.
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  #37  
Old 06-16-2006, 07:03 PM
colgin colgin is offline
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Default Re: On the verge of buying apartment in Brooklyn, opinions?

[ QUOTE ]
Colgin thanks for the info and the links.
I'm basically going in with the idea that I'm not really gaining anything financially by this purchase. It is reasonably close to break even with renting making some pessimistic assumptions. I'm hoping that I'm making a breakevn decision at worst which lands us in a nicer apartment and makes my wife a little happier.

[/ QUOTE ]

Sounds like you are going in with the right attitude. Best of luck.

Your post also makes me think I need to look in Brooklyn. $1.1MM for 1,800 sq. ft. is so much cheaper than Manhattan. Every time I suggest it to my wife, she balks. Oh well.
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  #38  
Old 06-17-2006, 12:13 AM
burningyen burningyen is offline
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Default Re: On the verge of buying apartment in Brooklyn, opinions?

I've been looking to buy for the past 2 years and have not found anything that is both a good value and a place that I would actually want to inhabit. My boss tells me that Chappaqua has a scary number of vacancies (those cracks that colgin mentioned). It's gotten to the point where I'm considering buying overseas.
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  #39  
Old 06-17-2006, 01:19 PM
2Fast 2Fast is offline
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Default Re: On the verge of buying apartment in Brooklyn, opinions?

FWIW, my 1 bedroom search in the city (from Wall Street to mid 60s up an down) has been pretty depressing so far....any new building with a doorman is like $850K for a cookie-cutter 1 bedroom, while 2-bedrooms are more like $1.25mm +. I thought market would have dropped at least a bit but from what others are saying it hasn't, although my broker told me the other day that she's seen a lot of recent clients bargaining.
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