building at 238 East 4th Street

I live on East 3rd between A + B. Don't know anything about this building, but I can say this block is definitely not sketchy. From A to the middle it is most if not all residential. Then from the middle of the block towards B you have 3 or 4 great little rest/cafes (I go with my baby to one of them often for dinner). I've lived in the n'hood for a couple years, walk everywhere with my baby often, and the only place I consider sketchy is Ave D; I don't go there ever. But between A + B is pretty nice, there are even some upscale shops on B now.

A little background;
http://ny.curbed.com/tags/238-east-4th-street

Apartment looks nice but like you said, the block is definitely sketchy. Im not necesarily adverse to the East Village but as a reverse commuter, my car is a must and the EV provides no acceptable parking options for me.

But let's see, 2700 interior, 1200 exterior(or like 600 int) = 3300 sq ft. I'd offer (3300 times $700 psq ft) $2.3m maximum.
And it's got 2 and 1/2 baths to it's 4 bedrooms, a bit on the light side. Question is how much can this rent for? 10K a month? If so,then I'd adjust DOWN to $2m.
This is not the West Village.

Truth - are you saying you basing your definition of "sketchy" on whether a block has has good parking? Just asking...since that is the way your post seems to read.

Tech
No,the parking is seperate.
I just find east of Ave A sketchy very generally. Everyone has there own tolerance,and you have to judge on a block by block basis. You living in the area provides more of an opinion than I ever could.
I just always felt Ave B is the fringe, the border, the mason dixon line, etc.

CKG
For comps, here's a new building a couple blocks away. It seems they removed the apartment #'s but I seem to recall the top floor had roof space.
You could combine the top 2 floors for near the same amount of space.
Asking prices are 1.475 and 1.080 to combine for around $2.5m. Again, these are asking prices.
http://streeteasy.com/nyc/building/229-east-2-street-manhattan

Thanks for the responses. Helpful. I wasn't considering the East Village, especially this far east, but the unit caught my eye. Price is just so crazy high to me for that neighborhood and as 'truthskr10' writes, this isn't the West Village. Thanks also to the poster with the baby as we have kids so your comment was really helpful. I noticed the restaurants on the block when I walked by and wondered if they were family friendly or just for 20 year olds from NYU. The comp for the place on East 2nd and the idea of combining the units for around 2.5 sounds great. Trusthskr10: How did you come up with a $700 per sq ft. as a measuring stick ? Thanks, very new to the new york real estate game.

Trulia
Neighborhood Jan - Mar '10 / 3 months prior / 1 year prior / 5 years prior
East Village____$880___________$981_____________$616_____________$747
http://www.trulia.com/real_estate/East_Village-New_York/5091/market-trends/

Like you reiterated, it's not the West Village.

Still more concerning to me is the rental market and it's ratio to the sales market. Again, I can't see this getting more than $10K per month. 200 times that (16.6 times rent roll) is 2m.
Look at the mortgage calcualtor at the bottom right of the page of the apartment. Plug in 2m. Type in 30% down. Leave the now unattainable 5% interest rate in the box. You come up with $10,328 per month cost.

There are really good inexpensive restaurants all around that area.

CKG - the one restaurant on 4th and B Tonda (kind of a trattoria/upscale pizzeria) is one of the most kid friendly places in the EV. And Truth is right, EV has many cheap great places to eat. One of my favorite secrets: from 5:30-7 every day the Mermaid Inn serves a lobster roll, fries, and Blue Point beer for $20 - and they have high chairs. The other great things about the EV for ppl with kids is the new Tompkins playground which just opened last summer, the library on 10th and A has a whole kids floor, and the 14th St. YMCA which has tons of kids stuff (although they have gotten a bit pricey in the past year). To be fair, I have no idea of how the EV compares to UES/UWS since I have not spent any significant time there or ever lived there, but overall I am very happy with the availability of things to do for kids in the EV.

Not versed on the kid friendly places but I love Lucien on 1st and 1st.

there's more info on this property on ev grieve.

http://evgrieve.com/2010/03/east-fourth-streets-novogratz-designed.html

Thanks for the additional info. Truhskr and Technologic. Very helpful. What or who is EV Grieve ?

Sketchy block? You're joking surely? There hasn't been a 'sketchy' block in the neighborhood in 15+ years. Is the place priced too high? Yep. About 15-20% too high, but what's new there, just like everywhere else.

A man shot in the face in broad daylight 2 days ago....what is your boundary of "in the neighborhood?"

http://www.ny1.com/5-manhattan-news-content/top_stories/117636/police-investigate-deadly-east-village-shooting

The shooting happened on Ave D....see my post above, i.e., Ave D is sketchy and I do not go there in broad daylight. That being said, you can't even compare A/B/C, to D. Its just a different world over there.

Tech
That question was aimed at Maudymay.

Saw the story about the murder. Very sad. In broad daylight it feels especially disturbing. Avenue D may be very different than a/b/c, but it is still a very short walk away to this condo in question as it was near 4th St. Maudymay, how do you come up with a 15-20 % too high number ? (Just like all city real estate or do you have a specific formula ?) Also, what boundary do you use for 'in the neighborhood' ?

Truth - I know, I just wanted to make the point about Ave D (shudder).