Santorini

I'm interested in this building and was wondering if any of those in contract can tell me if you can hear the subway rumble by 1 block away? Also, were any of you able to negotiate on the asking price? I'm in the process of selling my co-op so probably won't be able to seriously make an offer for about 6 months or more. Thanks!

hey so is this meeting open to the potential buyers/in contract? I'd like to attend as well, anyone have any additional information about this meeting?

Yes, open to everyone currently under contract. Going to happen today at 6:30 at Santorini

Hello All! Interested buyer here and I wanted to know how the meeting went with the construction manager yesterday. Any input would be appreciated. Thanks!!!

Do stories like this ever affect ability of finance for those in contract? Can some lenders who have already committed to people in contract walk away because of concerns about the delays in C of O? Would lenders be less willing to support this building?

Has anyone heard back from the construction company in ref to the TCO? I was expecting an answer sooner..

NYrkB - thank you for your response.
I attended the meeting last Monday; it was encouraging and hopeful... But I am wondering, will we be able to move in by October? While I understand that there was a hurricane, I am sure there are people who are starting to question this property and if there are other issues we are not aware of at this time. I am trying to remain positive yet can not help but feel a bit frustrated.

Redbullet64 (and/or LilG), you can email me at NYkerB@gmail.com and I'm happy to answer your questions.

I had to delete all my posts because I answered with my apartment number. So to repost what I originally wrote to you, LilG. I'm in the same boat. I share the frustration and want to get in quickly. All I can do is share my own experience with the DOB. I was on the board of my last building and had issues with the DOB dragging their feet--in particular when they felt we were "escalating" too much. DOB and their processes are not easy to deal with which is why there is a whole industry of expediters to act as intermediaries. The building has been inspected ad nauseam and as far as I can tell there are no major objections out there. From a market perspective, this is all a moot point once the building is "move in ready."

Matsui, my lender has said this is common for new construction and hasn't raised any concerns.

HI I spoke to the agent last weekend and was told the building will be ready for move-in in two weeks, was I given false information? Or I should not turn to the agent with questions like as he might not have the correct answer?
Thanks

mol3, no one knows for sure. The building is waiting for a Temporary Certificate of Occupancy. They were hoping to have it last week.

NYrkB - is there any way of knowing when the building gets the TCO? Is there a website that lists these? Or are we relying on the brokers for this information?

Greetings all, I see that, I the broker, am being made to seem, uninformed. But as those who were at the meeting can tell you, The what I have shared is exactly what I have been told and that the process has been mucked up by the DOB due to the limited opportunities to speak with someone. Delays are common in New construction and this one was just a bit more annoying because of the minor items that created major delays. I am glad that NYrk8 has had to deal with the DOB in the past and has shared the ridiculous process they but builders through as well as the lack urgency they exhibit. Not that they are bad people but they sure make the process daunting. Any how, I created a twitter account so I can share and disseminate up-to-date info as quickly as possible and to as many people as possible. Follow Santorini @SantoriniLiving

And for those wondering about the value of the homes at Santorini. All of the appraisals done thus far have come in at or above the contract price for the home. Please feel free to look around Astoria, nothing compares to Santorini thus givng an owner a disticnt advatage for future re-sale value. Isn;t it nice to be a rare gem in a competitive landscape?

I doubt anyone here has any worries about the appraisal value. We really need to understand what is going on in the DOB.

That is a question for the ages...If you ever figure that out, I have several thousand builders who would liek to pay you a lot of money...

New updates coming tomorrow....

Looking forward to the updates.

Well folks, sorry for such a late update: had some internet issues and was waiting for updates from my sources. So, All the paper work has been filed and as those who were at the meeting know it takes up to 48 hours for the DOB to update they systems/website. I will have my eyes peeled and my ears news perked for the official word. Here are some other important updates. All electric meters are in and gas meters
are scheduled to be installed Monday. They passed their follow-up plumbing inspection that caused the objection(great news).
So, sorry I can tweet the chant I am saving for when the TCO is official official tonight, but it's cued up for that very moment...
fyi...there is nothing else required for the TCO but for DOB to display it as granted.

For those folks needing to close I reiterate, please have your lending institutions have appraisals and such done.

Harold - Thank you for the update! Should we begin scheduling the inspection/walk-through and the signing of the contract at this point?

Holy crap, the TCO notice is up on the DoB website: http://a810-cofo.nyc.gov/cofo/Q/401/291000/401291641.PDF

awesome!! Brigitte thanks for letting us know about the update!!

LilG, when you say signing of the contract, do mean close or are you about to sign the contract? For anyone in contract, Please begin finalizing any financing, Title orders by your attorney(if you need a title company who can work quickly, let me know). Also, contact the closing coordinator to set up walkthrus and such as well as closing dates. Fyi...The 30 day notices to close will be going out this coming week. if you need detailed info and/or help, email me at hjv@mns.com

Did anyone else notice that the Santorini is now located in Long Island City instead of Astoria?

I went to see the Santorini building last week. It concerns me that some of the concrete on some of the balconies are already chipping...

Also,there are little things that bug me about the building, does anyone else feel the same?

It seems like they have been trying to sell this building forever and not making any progress. Can anyone help me understand why? Is it the economy or is there some major things that I am not seeing?

babuxnga - I did a lookup on http://gis.nyc.gov/, and tax block-and-lot 341/6 corresponds to "QUEENS COMMUNITY DISTRICT 1", which is Astoria - am I missing something?

Try doing A search on Mapquest. At least Yahoo! doesn't recognize the address to correspond to Astoria. However, it does show up for Long Island City. Very Strange. Should I tell people I am moving to Astoria or LIC?

Actually, I've tried this before on various map services, they usually put the boundary at 36th ave, so Astoria is your best bet. Personally, I am comfortable with either - LIC is growing, while Astoria already has a good reputation...

Does anyone have any idea when the closings will start? Per my lawyer, I just found out that
"The condo has submitted their paperwork to the bank only yesterday even though I was told last week that they were ready to schedule and had their paperwork.Additionally, the bank must certify the building which also has not been done yet". I thought things were ready to move along once the TCO came through, which it did.

I had my mortgage broker confirm whether we can move forward again (he called the building). He came back with a yes, and I am to update my bank statement and pay stubs and send to him at my earliest convenience. FYI - I was stuck at the mortgage commitment letter stage for 2 months before I received the notice we can move forward again yesterday. Hope this helps.

Redbullet, I agree. I am comfortable with either also.

I've had mortgage committment letter for 6 months now.

Is anyone else getting slight pushback from banks because of 50% occupancy loan rules / promises made by the sellers to the banks?

Wow 6 months is a while.. thank you for your help, I will contact my mortgage broker and see what the status is on that end.

actually, I take that back - it's an approval, not a committment. I was waiting for a TCO to get a committment... now, hopefully, I can do that

Redbullet64, the 50% is a Fannie/Freddie thing. This has been a concern of mine. There is a smaller bank (though not too small...they like to brag about something like they're the 3rd largest independent bank in NJ :) ). They have a location in Astoria and are doing my mortgage out of their private portfolio which doesn't require the 50%. It all depends on your financials. Reach out to Harold. He can give you any information.

According to my lawyer, the condo declaration was filed yesterday. It should show in ACRIS (hopefully) this week and then I can get a title--the last step. Looking to close (fingers crossed) in early October.

FYI...here's the link to ACRIS (yet another city system). http://www.nyc.gov/html/dof/html/jump/acris.shtml

On the LIC/Astoria question. I associate LIC with the 7 train. Once the N starts turning North I consider it Astoria. But doesn't really matter--not like the building physically moved. At least I hope it didn't... :)

I am hitting a wall regarding not enough presale. Mortgage company say he cannot close. Also, an appraisal can not be done because the fixtures are not in. Will update when I have more info.

OWN or RENT

Are people buying in this building to own or to rent? just curious....

Hi sharise, who knows. I'm looking to own and live there. There was a meeting a couple weeks back with the buyers and I got the impression that everyone there was looking to own also.

NYrkB - I am trying to locate the condo declaration on ACRIS but am not sure where to look, can you point me in the right direction?

Also, my broker indicated that we need the approval of the building by the bank but I am not exactly sure what this means... Can anyone provide some information on this?

It's not in there yet. Waiting for it to show.

As for the building's approval by the bank. I think that has to do with the bank you're using for the mortgage. They have to certify or approve the building.

Hello All, Those with mortgaqe issues because presales, please contact me at hjv@mns.com or 917-586-1096. I have a few lenders who will do fannie mae type loans with less than 50% pre-sold. A couple of the buyers are already using them with very good results

AS for the Location change, it seems to a glitch in the feed to streeteasy from our website. Santorini is definately at the border butdoes fall into an Astoria Zip Code.

Our status: our stuff is with the mortgage underwriter, so we should be set up to close pretty soon. Progress is a wonderful thing!

So far, making pretty good progress as well (both Leah and Harold's recommendations are better than the affiliated mortgage company). Trying to set up a close date before end of September...

The condo declaration is now in ACRIS--> http://a836-acris.nyc.gov/Scripts/DocSearch.dll/Detail?Doc_ID=2011091300772001

Lots of good info here on Santorini. For those of you in contract, did any of you consider Edge 31 during your search? I'm trying to do a comparison of the two buildings and am having difficulty making a decision. The units at Edge 31 are 670 sq ft not including the 2 balconies, plus there are huge storage spaces in the basement for each unit (about 75 sq ft each). There is also a shared roofdeck.

As far as prices go, Edge 31 is around $600psf not including balconies or storage, or $480psf including. For the similar sized units, Santorini appears to be around $640psf without storage. I'm indifferent to the location since they're both good (Edge 31 is near Broadway, and walking distance to Astoria Park). Can anyone who has seen both buildings give me their major pros and cons?

anyone closed yet?

Redbullet, I thought you would be the first to close. Did you hit a snag?
I'm in no rush to close so I intend to just sit and wait. I'm confident that the sponsor knows he/she better get moving otherwise contract deadlines with come and reneg's will surely follow. At this point, I hope my deadline comes and reneg for another 10-30k or move-in asap.

No closing here either - how would you go about renegotiating the price down if some contracts do go past the deadline? I hope this won't be the case but who knows.. it has been quite some waiting time

Is there a 220v set up for those who want to have a dryer installed? If not, does anyone know how much it costs to get that done by an electrician?

FYI folks... If your attorney has received the 30days notice to close, you have 30 days to close barring a reasonable reason to postpone. Also, there are closings already being scheduled for next week and several weeks following. Also, as I mentioned previously,appraisals continue to come in on the high side. So definitely no reason for the sellers to renegotiate any current contracts. Ask those who already tried. Also note that the sellers have hired a finishing crew, so as closings are scheduled the homes are completely finished. I look forward to handing many of you the keys to your new.

Oh they will negotiate if everyone starts walking.

My closing is tentatively scheduled next week. Unless there are issues with the corrections I asked to make, or with the financing (appraisal is coming in this week), I don't foresee a delay. Who knows, though; wouldn't be the first time this project is delayed.

babuxnga - what do you mean by renegotiating to "move-in asap"? Is your unit not in move-in condition?

Does anyone know how they are going about the order in which people are closing?

They just go by what you tell them. Work with your lawyer to set up the date.

Redbullet, I am using the preferred lender so I am safe from losing my deposit because it's their lender that can't get me a loan. I also have a deadline in my contract to be voided sometime in December. If that is the case, I can only imagine that the price can only go down (unless I missed the memo that the world economy has improved). I plan to definitely reneg for a discount of just hold-out until I get it. The units are not exactly flying off the shelf. I'm surprisingly comfortable with my situation now and no longer in a rush to move-in.

Harold, thank you for your help to date. Can you confirm if my previous statement contains any information that you deem untrue or misinformed?

Can someone tell me how much the common charges will be for the 1BR units? And how much will they be going up after the fitness center and common areas are finished?

Harold - I tried to reach you via email today in reference to required information from my lender. We have the commitment ready and are waiting on some documentation to be filled out in order to proceed further. Apparently there was some requested paperwork sent to Chris and our mortgage broker is waiting on this. What can be done to expedite this process? We would like to set up a closing date as soon as possible..

Just found this website and I am glad! I tried to renegotiate with no success. I am tempted to back out at this point and I have sure many people have already, which is the reason why there are still so many unsold units.

As babuxnga said, prices will likely only go down from here. Appraisal value doesn't really mean anything, it's the market value that matters. The fact that many units are still unsold would suggest that the price may be a little high or okay at the very best. There are also a lot of inventory in the LIC area, so that doesn't help the situation.

It sounds like many others are looking to renegotiate. The seller doesn't want to renegotiate (at least right now) because it will trigger a cascading effect where everyone else would want to do the same. If the sold rate doesn't go up quickly over the next couple months, I am pretty sure it will be a good idea to renegotiate or walk away. Unless the economy turns around drastically, they are going to have to lower the price to unload at least a portion of the units at some point, which will affect the value of the units sold earlier on at higher price points. Just my $0.02. Tell me if you think I am wrong.

Those appraisals that are coming in high -- are they from the preferred lender? Is it safe to assume that there's no conflict of interest there?

LilG, the paper work was sent to your mortgage broker, if anything else is required have him contact me asap

Harold - I sent your info to my broker. Also I emailed you (from work) with some questions.

As far as I've heard, only one buyer backed out...

Babuxnga, your welcome but let me further assist you: Have you in good faith done everything that the preferred lender has asked you to do to get a mortgage? if yes, you do have a mortgage contingency but until that December date you are required to continue, in good faith, to work with the preferred lender to get yourself approved for the loan. And if they do get you approved, you are obligated to close as soon as possible since the 30 days notices to close has gone out.

Now, as for you plan for waiting, as I said above, if you get approved, you have to close asap. If you stall the closing, you will be in default of your agreement and risk losing your deposit. As for your commentary on world economics, it plays some role but real estate is a Local market, and in this market, at this building, all of the appraisals have come in at the number and a large portion of them above their agreed upon price. Also, Since the announcement of the TCO, we have had at least 3 very good offers to purchase(one already accepted), and traffic has picked up at the open houses as well as requests for appointments. So, I ask you, if you were the sellers, and the prices you agreed upon are being appraised correctly or higher, more people are looking at the homes and more offers are coming in everyday, would you renegotiate a lower price?

feel free to contact me with any questions or need to discuss something outside of the message board

LeavingQueens: No, they have come from a different lenders such as Wells FArgo

FCFC: The reason the appraisals are coming higher is because compared to the homes that have closed in the area, Santorini is priced better. The appraisals are based on market value fcfcf. They used closed comparables from the recent months to support their numbers. Does that make sense? and Please note that the sellers have not budge in their pricing since day one, why? because the prices offered are fair market value pricing which has been confirmed by the independent appraisals done.
And FCFC how is it that you can say that appraisals don't matter? the majority of homes in any condo, let alone, city are financed. if the appraisal of those homes don't meet or beat the agreed price, there are major problems. Lenders only lend up to what is the market value for that local market, PERIOD! So, appraisals are the Market Value.

Also, for the prices the the homes are at, if you go around and comapare. there is a lot of bang for the buck. and I repeat now that buyers know they can take advantage of these lowered rates immediately, the interest has spiked up and the folks that were on the sidelines are now in the game. So, I look forward to helping more people home.

At the end of the day, you, as a buyer, must do what's best for you and makes you happy. If making The Santorini your new home does that then please feel free to contact me at hjv@mns.com or 917-586-1096.

if it does not then I wish all the best in your home search

Has anyone measured out any of these units to verify the square footage? Call me crazy, but the 850 sq ft units that I saw (B/E/K lots) seem to be quite a bit smaller than advertised. It might just be the layouts, but they felt more like 725-750 sq ft to me.

Tom88, Yes. I was just up there this weekend to measure my apartment. It was accurate (actually very slightly bigger). I think it's the layout.

Leavingqueens, I'm not using the preferred lender. Appraisals are done by third parties. The appraisal is ordered by the bank and meant to protect them.

I am also using a non-preferred lender.

I also had that suspicion at one point, but then I measured it, and it came right around the number

We had our walk through today and are scheduled to close on Tuesday. Anyone else closing next week?

Everything is set. I close a week from Tuesday. Need to schedule my walk through.

Congratulations to you, Brigitte and Steve! Also, to you NyrkB. There is another closing scheduled for Tuesday, as well. Possibly a 3rd.

FYI all, the Gas meters are in

We haven't set a date for our closing yet.. I am a bit confused. We were told that we are waiting for Wells Fargo to approve the building but apparently that has already been done. Anyone else just waiting and not sure why?

We closed today. Everything went smoothly, although there are still quite a few things on the punchlist that haven't been done. Seems like 2 other parties were closing at the same time. We're moving tomorrow. Phew!

Anne - are you using Wells Fargo as your bank?

Yes Redbullet64 I am using Wells Fargo as my bank, any insight?

Wells Fargo was our bank, too.

Brigitte, good to know. I am using them as well, and the only hold-up seems that the sellers sometimes take multiple days to respond with required documents. Most likely, due to the closings this week, and the holidays we are entering. My closing is tentatively scheduled on Monday, provided that all documents are in...

Ok so I am a bit taken back.. my mortgage broker is under the impression that The Condo project is not approved by Wells Fargo yet. That can't be possible if people have already closed with Wells Fargo. I did tell him this but I'm thinking there might be some miscommunication going on here. From the seller's p.o.v. I was told we are able to schedule a closing date. Anyone having similar issues?

I think your broker is confused. Wells Fargo just sent me a commitment letter, too. Looks like a Monday closing.

Interesting...I just talked to the bank representative again - my loan is all set, but they are also still waiting for the building to be approved. Will keep you posted.

We spoke with our mortgage broker and Wells Fargo representative (was a conference call) and I think that the % which you put down plays a factor in how quickly they review the financials of the project. I'm not exactly sure how that would be relevant at this point so the conversation really didn't clarify much. The rep didn't sound to be the brightest of the bunch but said he would "get on it".

Possibly ours went through bc we have an FHA loan...?

brigitte - we received the commitment, the only issue is now for the bank to approve the building/condo Project. was this the case for you too? or was the project approved quickly?

Just got the news, Wells Fargo approved it!

Thanks for letting us know.. I just emailed our mortgage broker, hopefully he will hear the news soon too

great, redbullet!
LilG - ours was approved pretty quickly. Huh.

I want to congratulate 5H, 3H, 3D, & 4M on their closings. WELCOME HOME!!!

All closed and moved in!

Moved in too? Great! We are slowly unpacking.

Congrats to 4A and 5G on their Closings. WELCOME HOME!

Other Neighbors to follow within the Week