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If prices are now at 2004 levels here in NYC, was she wise on selling her Manhattan unit in 2004 and rented the past 8 years?

Last i heard she paid 2,400 for a 2 bedroom. That's 230,400 in the past 8 years down the drain.
No tax deduction.
No equity pay down.
No refinance with lower rates to bring payment down.
She'll have to fork out time, energy and money to look and buy a new place.

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Drinking? You mean eating?

The point isn't about if she had the money to do it.
The point is, did she made the right decision? And the obvious answer is...

NO

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I'll play.

Let's say she had $200K to buy a $1M place back then vs. invest & rent, liquidating everything today.

Instead, she put $100K in stocks (SPY) and $100K in bonds (TLT). The former would be worth $138K, the latter $183K. Taxes on the former would take it down to a profit of $29K, $59K on the latter. So $88K profit against $230K rental cost, so $142K on housing over 8 years, $1480 month.

Had she bought, she would have paid $1500 a month in cc & property taxes, no deduction because of AMT. Even with ARMs, interest rate would have averaged at 4%. At $800K and 1/3rd off for tax deduction, works out to $1800 a month. Throw in $100 for insurance, and another $200 for minimal upkeep. So $3600 a month down the drain. Works out to $345K out of pocket. Then comes the small matter of transaction costs: $60K to broker, $20K in transfer taxes, $10K in recording taxes & other closing costs: $90K. So $435K total money down the drain over 8 years, $4530 a month.

Given that it cost her one third, a full $300K less after-tax over 8 years, yeah I think she made out alright compared to buying in 2004 and selling at the same price today. If you want to say that she would have stayed in the same apt for 8 years (hence no additional transaction costs), she'd "only" be ahead by $200K.

She clearly could have sold later and done better. Or she could have sold later and done worse.

Or you may be asking the question too early. The bonuses must have blown your mind again this winter.

"After 9am her energy is devoted to drinking
I hope she has some breakfast before the bottle.
Even if she washes down her bacon and eggs with a screwdriver."

ar has not been on this board in months yet we still see this personal attacks from the real estate homunculus.

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AR's rent wasn't $2400 originally, it was something in the $4K range I thought before the court ruling. The court ruling changed it to $2400 -- how else do you get a good-sized 2BR/2BA (1200+ sq ft?) at that price? I imagine ericho was referring to all that.

Truth, I'm not sure why you think I dislike you. I don't engage in discussions with you because you rarely discuss NYC RE, which is what I'm mainly here to do. You are mainly interested in discussing interpersonal crap, which is of little interest to me. You shouldn't take my lack of interest as a sign of dislike.

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Hope more people like AR and Alanhart stayed in SE. Alan really saved me from making a huge RE mistake before the crash. AR has taught me a lot, and I think she is very generous. Sick posters that use this board to spill venom about people they don't know is annoying sad an inconvenient. Wish they decide to do therapy and take their meds.

At $2/sq ft rent in Manhattan even for a basic place with no doorman, walk to the subway, why would you buy?

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if 2,400 for a real 2-brm is the real payment all these years, she/they did much better

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"And as huntersburg pointed out, you've got more than a little interest in the interpersonal crap."

I linked an article that described LIC as the sister copy neighborhood of Hell's Kitchen, the two hoods heatedly discussed and contrasted as superior / inferior in many an argument here. I consider that RE-related and ironic. I find it unusual that you consider the topic interpersonal crap as opposed to RE-related.

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Renting leaves you least in control of being able to stay put in your residence, knowing your future housing costs and leaves you with no upside appreciation of the asset. And you miss out on the psychic benefits of home ownership.
Now it's true that the upside/capital appreciation of owning a home also exposes one to depreciation, the longer one stays put the less this is likely to remain true, and if yo pay off your mortgage your very likely to have a lower monthly carrying cost.

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Yes!

has midtownereast weighed in on this topic?...

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Chillax.....very Disney channel

Capillary blood glucose monitoring (CBGM)?

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Having fun talking to yourself? I just wanted to know what CBGM stands for, Mr. SMH/LOL.

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'Anyone who moves as much as her, in one city, is unstable.'

Plato believed that the realm of reality is divided up into two different areas, the world of senses and the world of ideas (forms). He believed these two worlds must co-exist to maintain equilibrium in the world, but in doing so, he also believes that we can only trust what we “know” due to reason and that we must discredit things we perceive with our senses (Plato 475-513)

Conclusion: mutombonyc
So, You are not only the essence of shit but you type shit and, probably smell like it as well.

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R.I.P. Plato!
Falco - really? physics + philosophy? you're tugging at my heart strings! Theory of Forms had me at hello.
Allegory of the Cave = Holographic Principle. Cool shit!!

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This coming from a person who believes "erudite" is an insult.

imho she bought in Harlem way before the optimal timing, when it comes to prices

she sold 3 years too early in 2004, and she bought too early in 2011 (maybe around 3 years too early too). just my 2 cents.

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> she'd "only" be ahead by $200K

Awful, awful.

I for one, am glad I didn't lose 20+% leveraged 5x....

Harlem seems to have performed worse than the upper east or upper west side by several percentage points. Markets like Harlem tend to be last up and first down and don't hold up as well in flat to down markets.
The best one could say is that if one is not looking to sell the cost of ownership is lower after considering real estate taxes and price per square foot and the cost of neighborhood services.
-------------------------------------

The median sales price for homes in Harlem, New York for Nov 11 to Jan 12 was $561,020 based on 34 sales. Compared to the same period one year ago, the median sales price decreased 9.1%, or $56,040, and the number of sales increased 25.9%.

The median sales price for homes in East Harlem for Nov 11 to Jan 12 was $825,000. This represents an increase of 16.2%, or $114,770, compared to the prior quarter and a decrease of 8.3% compared to the prior year.

The median sales price for homes in Upper West Side, New York for Nov 11 to Jan 12 was $1,110,323 based on 181 sales. Compared to the same period one year ago, the median sales price increased 5.1%,

The median sales price for homes in Upper East Side, New York for Nov 11 to Jan 12 was $1,049,000 based on 139 sales. Compared to the same period one year ago, the median sales price decreased 6.8%

http://www.trulia.com/real_estate/Upper_West_Side-New_York/5261/

http://www.trulia.com/real_estate/Upper_East_Side-New_York/5260/

http://www.trulia.com/real_estate/East_Harlem-New_York/5089/market-trends/

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Why are we looking at just a year back? Ericho said last 8 years.

We pretending there wasn't a crash?

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"Renting leaves you least in control of being able to stay put in your residence, knowing your future housing costs and leaves you with no upside appreciation of the asset. And you miss out on the psychic benefits of home ownership. "

Incredibly one sided... and not quite true.

1) Not true, owning only lets you know part of your future housing costs. Taxes have obviously gone up lots. Not to mention, is locking in costs always a positive? Of course not. Guess what happens when costs go down and you've locked in your payments.

2) Owning makes it much harder to change your mind, upgrade, move to a better neighborhood. My tastes have changed (as have neighborhoods), and I'm extremely happy that it costs me a couple grand to upgrade, not several times more.

3) "And you miss out on the psychic benefits of home ownership" You mean like being sure you are doing the right thing because the old wives told you so, even though you just lost tons?

and shall we forget...

4) "leaves you with no upside appreciation of the asset". Correction... upside... or downside. Kind of a HUGE one you missed. Owning let you take advantage of that 20% dip in the market. 10)% loss with 20% down! So glad we got to ride that one!

and 5) extra costs of home ownership vs. renting last few years. I was very happy to pay less... while avoiding all the other problems, like losing my down payment.

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did aboutready purchase something...why the turn around in market view?

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condo or coop?...neighborhood?..what made it a buyable deal?...

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what neighborhood was deemed to have prices that would justify buying?...just wondering how the less than enthusiatic aboutready came to this decision...aboutready argued over and over again that prices would fall more (even well after 2008/2009) and that it was therefore unwise to buy in nyc...so, did aboutready have a complete change of outlook????

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ar- why are you selling the upstate place? I thought you saw that as a great family compound/gathering place in the future. If your housing costs are actually going down after tax, why not just keep it?

obviously you have some good memories made there, and could make some new ones with the new addition.

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