We thought we were going to see an underpriced wonderland as we wandered toward this apartment on Avenue B last week. After all, we said, Avenue B is far from the subway and still developing a vibe, so $849k for just over 1,000 sq ft seemed like a reasonable price for what looked like a beautifully finished 3BR floor thru apartment.
Instead, we couldn't believe it when we arrived at this unit and discovered (by running around the ground floor and peering into every rectangular shape that looked like it could hold a person) that this place is an fcuking (not the clothing retailer) 6th floor walkup. "Oh why the heck not?" we said as we climbed stair after stair - we've walked all the way to Avenue B, we might as well see the unit.
After finally arriving at the 6th floor, we wiped off our sweaty brows and decided to have a look around as this would undoubtedly be our last visit to this apartment (unless a helipad is being built on the roof deck that is oh so accessible from the 6th floor). What we found was quite fascinating - this place is actually some artist's studio (and boy is that obvious) complete with only 1 BA, an industrial "kitchen" (basically a huge sink to wash your paint in and a fridge) plus no W/D (ummm...are we actually supposed to carry our laundry somewhere?).
Overall, although the floors are nice and there is (sort of) some square footage in this unit, the asking price is completely ridiculous. Maybe if Halstead gave us an airlift into this place, we'd think about seeing it again.
Posts
4 comments:
What kind of a discount do you think these strikes represent? I've been looking at EV and WV apts for about a year and I am beginning to see things in much better shape- move-in-able for a lot less money per square foot. This seems unreasonable considering one would have to put in $150k to make it liveable.
Honestly, we're not sure. You could try looking at comps but there have only been 3 sales in this price range (800k-1M) in the ENTIRE East Village in the last 2 months, so probably futile. You could also subtract 150k from the asking price (and throw in say another 10% discount) and arrive at an offer that way.
What we've been doing lately is something a little bit different - we ask ourselves how much we would pay to rent the apartment (for us for this place $0, but let's say someone would be willing to pay $4k per month) and then we multiply that number by around 1500, which would make nyc sales prices relatively more in line with the rest of the country. I have to say that this will typically get you to quite a lowball offer, but this particular unit has been sitting on the market for some time and $849k is usually a tough price for someone who is willing to put up with a 6th fl walkup.
What other units have you been looking at? If you want a fixer upper, we saw a great hot ghetto mess place over on Ave B for $575k. Less space than this one, but less of a walkup too.
Thanks for your thoughts- very helpful. I'm looking for more space than the ave b apt. It's hard to find 1000sf in the east village. I just really like the neighborhood and have seen several too small apts for less $ per square foot. Does the size of the apt increase the $/square foot in a market like this?
How do more, "marginal" (not transportation convenient) neighborhoods fare in a softening market?
On your first question, yes. The price per sq ft will go up with the size of the apartment in any Manhattan neighborhood. If this apartment were in an elevator building, my guess is it would be listed for 10- 20% more than it currently is, which would inflate the price per sq ft even more.
The problem with Alphabet City (and the East Village in general) as you've noted, is that there are many small apartments on the market. The even bigger problem is that many of those apartments are not just small but also not well-maintained and in awful, walkup buildings, so it's hard to find a decent place. 533 East 6th Street #6 is actually not a bad apartment in terms of the interior. The layout is something that you can work with, there is lots of light, and the renovations needed are mostly cosmetic. There is a saying on Streeteasy however that I think best describes this unit: "At what price is a lime green leisure suit a 'good deal'?"
For us, this apartment is fundamentally wrong. It's a 6th floor walkup yet it's so large that it is only affordable to people who don't want a 6th floor walkup.
On your second question, "marginal" neighborhoods (regardless of why they are marginal) are always going to fare worse in a tough market. Just look at "trendy" East Harlem, Williamsburg etc. for examples of neighborhoods that over-developed and are now in a pile of doo-doo. The East Village (at least west of Avenue C) is no Harlem, but it has similar "marginal" issues and not just the subway.
Post a Comment