I first want to apologize for not posting any more updates on food and restaurants. I have been a little occupied with my husband looking for a place we can call home and not have to throw our rent money down the drain every month. We first entered this NYC real estate market with great optimism because of all the reports on the news saying it’s such a buyer’s market and all the “houses” (condos/apts since that’s all they have or the normal people can afford) are sitting on the market for so long… We first started looking around the Upper East Side and the West Side, some how, out of the two, Jason and I really like the Upper East Side. Obviously there’s the more prominent areas such as soho, greenwich village and Tribeca, you just dont get any square feet for a 2 bed 2 bath and at a higher price (maybe a lower condo fee). What we observed is that the condo fees had become a big part of financial constraints because it is normal for them to charge $1500-$2500 for a 1000-1400 sqft place. Then when anyone looks at the mortgage, you are looking at a chunky payment PLUS the condo fee. Also buyers be aware, that the higher condo fees mean that they are most likely to be land-leased building which means the COOP board does not actually own the land, it’s leased through some other big company. Why would you want to buy just air with furniture in it? BUT i am not gonna lie, most land leased building are really nice! and BIG! Oh, most of the fees you see are tax deductible between like 40-60%, so that’s something you can calculate on your 1040 at the end of year (reported on schedule A).
After a while, we got bored with the same stuff we see over and over again, and by the way, something may sit on the market for like 4 months, but they will be sold if it’s new, close to the metro and a decent area. I have kept tally of all the open houses we have been (averaging 8/sunday for the past 4 months), most have been sold or under contract already.
Jason suggested looking at Brooklyn, my first impression of Brooklyn was not that great because we went to visit a friend of ours at this stop on the G Classon ave, which later i found out had a shoot out 2 weeks ago at that station. Then Jason heard about Park Slop from his colleagues, so we went to our first venture on the 4th ave of Park Slope. I was disappointed. Really, a big high way looking ave with new condo complexes sitting next to it on both sides with tons of industrialized places such as Uhaul rental, MacD, car repair, etc. The next time we went, our broker showed us a different side of Park Slope, somewhere between 5th and 6th ave at Lincoln Place. OH, my god, the location is pristine. It has a beautiful tree-lined neighborhood, just like the back bay area in Boston (that’s where we were from originally). I fell in love immediately. And so did we find out from the rest of the NYC people because after that d@mn article on NY magazine about Park Slope being the #1 neighborhood to live in NYC that all the houses are getting snatched fast.
We finally put in a bid on a place in north slope and later found out there was 4 offers and couple at the asking price. And gradually you see that the real estate brokers obviously realizing that high demand trend and immediately started raising their prices. It’s so sad how human nature is, people are like flock of sheep, they dont understand by putting a bid of asking price they are screwing everyone else including themselves. And they dont realized they are also affecting the whole market by doing that.
We are not angry, just facing the reality that lots of people have a lot of money to spare and we are just no match for those people. Another point I would like to point out is that I HATE the NYC real estate way of business. So we put in an offer, the seller counter offers, and we accept that counteroffer, in any other state, that would be a done deal. Nope, not in NYC. The seller can actually put a counter offer to all the offers and go from there. SO be aware that it’s never a sure thing until you sign some paper. Another thing, when they do have many offers, they go into a sealed bid. Unless you are a gambler,who likes these kinda rush, we also Hate sealed bids. It became more of a psychological affair trying to figure out what the other party is thinking and you can never stop thinking what they maybe thinking, and what they may think what we are thinking…
So for the meantime, our search continues of a home we will love and not having to fight a million of people to buy.
OH, Park Slope has a couple good public schools including ps321 (getting overcrowded we heard) and ps 107. GOOD LUCK to you all out there searching for a place you will one day call your home.
