West Village Townhouses

"Given current market conditions, how to generally value Prime West Village townhouses?"

As opposed to SUBprime West Village townhouses?

To me the most important aspect of valuing a townhouse is frontage. A 25 by 40 townhouse and a 20 by 50 townhouse are both technically the same "size"-- but the 25-footer is worth a lot, lot more.

You need a townhouse broker -- I would refer you to my colleague 30_years.

ali r.
{downtown broker}

Not being able to be delivered vacant because of rent regulated tenants is a MAJOR factor, mostly because it changes the entire nature of the transaction. The big premium is for a single family house, which you don't get with statutory tenants. If you have to do a significant amount of renovation, it doesn't matter much if it's being delivered vacant already as a single family or as divided up into units which need to be combined into a single family (except that there's a good chance that the taxes would start out higher on the multi family if 4 units or more, but that's a separate issue and the taxes are what they are, which have their separate impact just like maintenance in a Coop, and it's "known" what is it before you buy it). Now, you can occupy the house and gradually evict tenants to take over the space for your own use, but that can take years and will be factored into the pricing in a major way.

Another factor is how you define "prime" because there are certain blocks where the same house is clearly worth more than on other blocks, even if they are around the corner from each other. If you are on Perry or Charles between Bleecker and 4th, you're going to command a premium over clearly lesser (especially more commercial) streets. And if you start "West" Village at 5th Ave, 10th St is going to be significantly more than 9th St (a bus route).

One thing which I never see spoken about, but I think makes a big difference because it tends to tie together a number of factors is "who was the house built for?". Federal houses built for middle class merchants have one Gestalt, whereas houses built for upper class owners have another. It shows itself in terms of room sizes, ceiling heights, details, etc.

While I agree with ali that IN GENERAL 25 footers are worth more, there are so few of them in what I would consider to be the "Prime West Village" that it's almost impossible to value them for being 25 vs 20 feet wide as opposed to the "total picture" of what they are.

You also get some things which are interdependent: for example, original details intact. Those looking on blocks like the aforementioned Perry/Charles tend to want those details, so having them is important. But many who are looking on other streets - especially more commercial looking one's - tend to gut the houses and turn their interiors into "clean" loft-like structures anyway, so having details which most buyers will rip out doesn't add much to value.

Some things you didn't talk about:
Does it have it's stoop intact?
Does it have a good rear yard? (many in this location don't)
What's next door or across the street?
Does it have a curb cut?

Obviously, there's a lot more, but the question is so general it's really too broad to answer.

Matt you must be a real ladies man. Ok a die hard republican on NYCHA discussion, but why are you snarking over the quality of townhouses?
Don't like that

What 30yrs says and this applies to UWS THs as well. I've also noticed that some 20+ footers have shallower lots (70'), so check lot depth as well.

You have mail from me 30yrs.