Thoughts

overpriced......

i am just about to close, across the street, on a 3 br/2 bth with a balcony, doorman, parking space for $430K with maintenance $100 more per month. as you can see, i'm getting so much more than this apartment provides.

real price $375K if fully renovated, which doesn't seem like it is.

Thanks ab-11218. Just curious though, is the apartment you bought pre-war? We've looked at several late 50's and 60's buildings on OP and found them very bland and we hate most of the renovations we've seen.

People in Kensington for some odd reason think that there is somehow a premium attached to the neighborhood, and the price their homes that way.

coophunt, obviously it's a post war building that i'm talking about. the problem is that there is too much given to the prewar charm in terms of price. what most people forget is that the buildings are old and were not really taken care of well until recently, so get ready for either high maintenance or large assessments.

NYCMatt, only an idiot can make a statement like that and obviously it is you. compared to all of the neighborhoods around there, Kensington is the most affordable. many people don't feel that they need to live on the island of manhattan just to say that they do and end up travel 1+ hr to work like you do.

Postwar v. prewar - ab, you have to recognize that some people will never go postwar. Matter of personal preference. I think the premium is related to the relative stability of the neighborhood and the not-bad & improving schools.

nyc - I agree and would definitely want a prewar. unfortunately, in kensington/ditmas park area, most of the prewars were neglected for a very long time and it will take a significant amount of money to repair everything that is broken. this is why paying the same in that area, prewar/postwar, would be prudent with the expectations of out of pocket costs for the repairs that will have to be done.

the perfect example is 811 Cortelyou Rd. it always had on a higher side of reasonable maintenance. this year, a 1 br has maintenance in the $700's and 2 Br around $1K on the average. that is extremely high for the neighborhood and i can only expect it is due to the repairs that were required. i would say that approx 1/4 of the building units are for sale now.