woah - jealous

30 yrs can weigh in better than I can, but remember in 1997, $640,000 was a LOT of money. (Comparison: the prior year, I bought a large alcove studio with a view of the Empire State in a Chelsea doorman building for $65,000).

I speculate that that would not have been an art director buying a townhouse, but family inheritance money buying a townhouse.

Does that make you feel better?

ali r.
DG Neary Realty

Also, 10023, they have spent YEARS waiting for the tenants to leave, and there are still 3 tenants in place (2 on the second floor, which would seem to interfere fairly substantially with the "family" layout of the brownstone)

Yeah, I know. Not art director $. Still, 640k for a tenanted W. Village 24-footer was not bad in '97. The big jump in prices happened on the UWS from '97 to '99.

nyc10023 - must have missed it, but where did it say it's a 24 footer?

i married the wrong guy to end up with a story like that.

10023, or anyone - did you watch 9 by design on bravo? i haven't read up on the couple (whether they come from money and how they got their start), but their life is pretty incredible (err, wacky!).

uwsmom: there is a lengthy article in nymag about how six by design bought their first place. The husband has a rich HF brother, but there is no indication of extraordinary family $ other than upper-middle-class-college-paid-for-goodness. As for desirable spouses, IME, guys like that are major control freaks. Better to let ME be the somewhat-competent-carpenter.

ph41: i looked it up in ACRIS. Lot is not 100ft, maybe 87ish.

Actually I think that $640K for a W Village townhouse was a low price in 1997, although it was probably fair given the condition and resident tenants. In the mid 1990s a town house renovated as a two family (although I believe it went back to single family following the sale)sold for $1.5MM.

From Acris:

1) Sale recorded 8/31/1989 - 600k
2) Sale recorded 10/14/1997 - 640k

24' X 80' lot.

Too bad for the '97 seller. 30yrs or whoever was in the biz then: good deal or no? And was that a good price for '89 or a peak price?

According to BIS, 4-story bldg, 6 apts (1; 2; 2; 1)

I'll pop in to harp on price to rent as per usual. At $600k in 1989 it was probably 15x rent. In 1997 at $640k it was probably 9-10k rent.

I think it was a low price too. I know a guy who paid $1.5mm for a village townhouse in the late 1990s.

It sounds like apartments are RS, so the increase between 1989 and 1997 can't be that much.

RS? I think this is interesting. Easy to see only a modest gain in price from peak Q1 2008 through 2018.. What path price will take will be more interesting.