park ave south and vicinity

Gramercy is nice but expensive.

You can find good deal outside of Gramercy but really noisy, a lot of polution (no real park around) and not for kids. If you are single might be ok if you like the city night life.

citygrad:

Did you look into Ft. Greene market. What's going on with'it now.

rb345 - i didn't look into ft. greene - only brooklyn heights, cobble hill. i want to remain close to manhattan plus fort greene doesn't seem to have much inventory either unless you count new development, which i am not interested in.

switel - i assume when you say outside of gramercy you mean east. is that right? doesn't sound very appealing.

what is going on with manhattan sales in general? in brooklyn i have been outbid multiple times after having offered asking price or more. are things different in manhattan? this is really what i am trying to get a read on. i am looking for a home, not an investment, but if i find something i like i don't want to overpay simply because i didn't have a good sense of the market. brooklyn has tainted me!

Citygrad:

I follow part of the Manhattan market. Right now the studio market seems extremely different from several years ago in terms of price relationships, with many seemingly inferior units posted on SE
by brokers from established firms asking substantially more than nicer and better located apartments
located south of 23rd Street. What size/type apartment are you loooking for?

rb345 - i'm looking at 1 bedrooms with dining space. (i was looking for a 2BR in bklyn, can't quite afford a 2BR in "downtown" manhattan, even if i try to pretend 34th street is "downtown"). do you know anything about the current demand for this type of unit? are things closing for 5% less than ask? 10%? should i not expect things to be soft at all?

I'm no expert and haven't been keeping too close an eye on things there, but my impression is that among the prewar apts things aren't moving except occasionally in 220 Madison.

I don't know anything about the postwar set.

And I'd like to hear others' responses on this.

Citygrad:

I dont follow the 1-bd market here in Manhattan. My understanding, gained from common news
sources, is that cheaper under $1,000,000 were moving reasomably well.

Buying involves a lot of legwork. I would start by looking for buildings with large ##s of 1-bds
for sale. Puts pressure on sellers to compete mpre aggressively on price.

We've been looking at a similar range of apartments, also primarily in Brooklyn, but now we're shifting our focus to Manhattan. There are better values to be had there, especially in areas like Murray Hill, LES, East Village Chinatown, some parts of the UWS and some parts of Gramercy. Forget about the west village, Tribeca and Soho. (who wants to live in a millionaire's ghetto anyway!) And the UES is downright cheap, but inconvenient and somewhat dull.
We've seen some very nice apartments, and most Manhattan brokers are MUCH more willing to negotiate than their Brooklyn counterparts. They have more competition, often within the same building, so they know they have to negotiate to sell. We haven't pulled the trigger yet because it's a major adjustment for us - we love Brooklyn - but unless that market shifts over the next several months, we could end up in Manhattan. It'll be an interesting few months ahead.

Stf62:

Did you look in Clinton Hill and Fort Greene> If you did., I'd appreciate
your letting me know what yoru thoughts about those areas are.

rb345, we've been concentrating on Brooklyn Heights and Cobble Hill - we've been renting here for 10 years and would like to stay. Clinton Hill and Fort Greene have some great possibilities and better prices than BH, but can't match it for convenience and proximity to Manhattan. If you can deal with the commute, they're certainly worth looking at. I have friends that live in those neighborhoods, and they're pretty happy. (unless the conversation turns to the G train)

I know about the G train. Personally I like it because I own an apartment at Clinton & Lafayette and
use the G to get to and from the L back to Manhattan.

If you like Brooklyn, check out the Upper, upper west side. We moved to Morningside Heights a few years ago and really love it. Similar vibe to Brooklyn and Riverside Drive is beautiful.

That is a great, often overlooked area. But I work downtown, so it would quadruple my commute time.