Goals for professional achievement and personal development are often accompanied by thoughts of improving one's home environment. Whether it be through renovation of existing property or the search for a new home.
As most of you know, I work for a boutique real estate firm specializing in lofts, town homes, and investment property. Previous Bright Reports have shared information pertaining primarily to rentals. This edition will focus on the sales market focusing on specific notable properties for sale in various price ranges, neighborhoods, and levels of luxury.
One of my resolutions was to write this more often, so check in for the next Bright report in about a month's time!
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Starter apartments
"Live outside the box"
Who likes paying rent? You saved up some money or your parents are willing to put a downpayment on a apartment you can call your own.
Whether it's a studio or a one bed, expect to spend 400-600k for a small slice of the big apple. Your average apartment sells for approximately $1000 per square foot, so it won't be huge, but it will be yours.
LOCATION
The keys for maximizing the output of your dollar are location and layout. Hot spot neighborhoods in the middle of everything, with 3 starbucks, 2 destination restaurants and a variety of boutiques grant convenience, but that convenience will cost you.
Opt for neighborhoods that are close to everything without being right in the middle of everything. Midtown south the area between 42nd and 23rd street west of Madison is a perfect example. K-Town, Herald Square and the flatiron district are all part of this area, and you're a short jump to nightlife in West Chelsea.
Fort Greene and Prospect Heights offer great value in Brooklyn, 15-30 minute commute to midtown. Tree lined streets, neighborhood bars, and restaurants and the oft overlooked separation of work and play.
Long Island City offers luxury hi rises with Manhattan views with outer borough prices. PS1 in the summer, a bohemian tenancy of artist trailblazers with an influx of young professionals that make it interesting without being overly avant garde.
Expect a 10-30% discount on Manhattan price per square foot as soon as you step off the island, unfortunately the word's out on Brooklyn Heights and Park Slope.
LAYOUT
If you're wed to Manhattan and want to be as close to the action as possible with budget being a main concern, then an alcove studio might just be your best bet. Studios with Alcove sleeping spaces or separate dressing rooms provide an efficient separation of space without the wall.
A 450sf straight studio will have a lot of empty space in the middle of the apartment where you can neither sit, sleep, or eat. 450sf in an L shaped studio will give you a queen sized sleeping area of maybe 100sf and a loveseat sized living area.
How to Navigate the Condo Craze
"Designer domiciles"
Designer condos are like designer jeans, if it doesn't make you feel like a rock star, don't buy it. STARchitects have become marketing lures for high priced condo developments, but are often used to compensate for iffy locations or simply to jack up the price. Always trust your gut.
If a hot sales associate can get you to buy a $300 pair of jeans that you will probably never wear, STAY AWAY from the STARchitect buildings. If you are the type that will pay $300 for a pair of jeans and get good use out of them, then you probably have a good eye for quality and detail.
If you visit a LUXURY building and leave feeling unimpressed, WALK AWAY. If you aren't blown away by your new investment/residence, imagine the lackluster response of your potential buyer/renter when you put it back on the market in a year's time, at which point you will be competing against 20 virtually identical units in the same building!
With that being said, if you have expensive taste, aim for buildings that offer unique design in addition to six burner stoves, corian countertops, and top of the line appliances. Anybody can slap a countertop down or purchase and plug in appliances... if you want a designer building pay for design not bling.
If you like bling, expect to pay a premium for it and look at it as a luxury and not so much an investment.
When to opt Coop
Coops get a bad name for being elitist, complicated, and difficult. Conceived as private club residences, they ARE m ore complicated than condos, but they often offer more value, once you pass the board. Coops almost always require higher down payments than condos but the monthlies and price will be cheaper in a pre-war coop or townhouse apartment than it will be in a hirise condo, especially with the repeal of 421-a tax abatements.
Coops tend to be older than condos and can offer prewar finishes--crown mouldings, fireplaces, beamed ceilings-- in prime locations. Prohibitive rental rules make sure that the majority of coop residents are the actual owners. Steer clear if you are lookin to purchase as an investment with the intention of renting it out immediately.
If you've got the down payment and financials to qualify, coops are a solid investment. Coops generally require a 28% debt to income ratio, and often frown upon parents buying for children. If you plan to do some serious budget crunching to get that down payment together, or your parents are ponying up the DP, opt for condo over coop.
New development condos, or the rare prewar condo will be more lenient with financials and will generally have more modern finishes. Lenient coops do exist, however, and a coop is similar to a bond with condos being more like stock. IF you can get your hands on a lenient prewar coop, you will have a stable, spacious, and solid piece of real estate in your portfolio.
That concludes this edition of the BRIGHT report. Feel free to contact me for more information, specific building/neighborhood recommendations, or even better if you are actively searching for a new home.
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Peter-Charles Bright,
Loft/Townhouse Specialist.
Your guide to "life outside the box"
petercharles@custombrokers
646 322 3698
