Garden Level Apartment Discount

Also, the entrance of the apartment is one level down from the lobby. Do people feel weird about going down rather than going up for their apartment.

If you care about resale, don't do it. People will argue that an appropriate discount should take care of it, but in my experience, resales of ground floor even with outdoor space (unless you're talking about TH garden floor) in the frothiest of bull markets take longer.

I agree nyc10023. I am planning to add 1 year worth of carrying cost as a liquidity discount ~7.5%. Wondering what additional discount for the lower floor - going down rather than up from the lobby, less sunlight compared to higher floor apartments.

That pos on 72nd and cpw???!!!!!!!!!!! Ha ha ha, omfg. Financial retard meet your new apt. Don't worry about having to climb down the window from the living room, your guests will think it 'kool'. Flmaoz.

w67, did not get your joke. the apartment faces the inside of the building. No security or noise issues.

Check your local flood maps.

Water, surrounding walls, rats....you do the math.

Ratatouille II, Surf Safari

As an inmate, what my cell lacks in natural light and views it more than makes up in security.

It is safer in case of a nuclear attack

Keep it coming. It is giving me a good feel of what people think about garden level apartment.

rats, bugs, flooding. Other than that it's sweet.

Hey 300, on a serious note, my apartment searches have been limited to units with some decent outdoor space. Ive come to eliminate all ground floor apartments and no longer click on them anymore.

It's not because of security risks, drainage issues, vermin/bugs, and whatever I missed that goes to lowering ground floor apartment values,
I came to realize, for me at least, the lack of any type of view made it a non consideration anymore as seeing these apartments highlighted without a view I may as well buy a house in Queens.

Thanks. I had not thought about rats issue. Can we very real. Flooding is a small risk which I can take with appropriate precautions and checks. Keep the negatives coming!! Positives in my view is personal garden and very high ceilings.

Also curious why townhouses are so desirable. Granted they will have more light but the flooding, rats, no view and security issues are the same.

they have more than one floor.

"The apartment is in large doorman building"

My brother has an acquaintance who used to have large outdoor space in a large building. He used to have to clean it weekly because of flying or out of neighbor window debris. At least 100 cigarette butts a week.

300 Mercer, I've looked at a number of ground floor and "duplex" apartments. None of them were discounted nearly enough to account for the fact that it feels like you're walking into a cave. If you find a place that has super-high ceilings and you can afford to light it up like a Christmas tree, maybe it's worth it. I can't imagine that being enough to compensate, though. Sometimes you can find a first floor unit that is raised off the ground, which is substantially better.

I continue to talk to buyers who tell me "no ground floor apartments." They won't even look or discuss.

However I don't think walking a few steps down from the lobby is an additional issue unless there is evidence of flooding. I easily rented an apartment like that this summer.

IMHO you can't overdo the lighting in the interior. Lighting on the floor, up lighting, or lighting low can be very effective--depending on your budget, you can go with Ikea or very high end cool fixtures.

With autumn coming on if it were mine to sell I would really light up that back yard and make it a focal point, an enchanting place to look at from a window. If you're handy you can do rope lighting yourself, I would go so far as to have an electrician put an outlet out there to make lighting easier. This does not have to cost a lot of money.

I hear you on the matter of townhouses, I think the answer may be that there are just a lot of people out there who love the old-fashioned charm and see the dimness as romantic. And though they may be dark, often the windows are just very interesting in themselves and compensates somewhat.

As far as "discount" compared with units in your building higher up, I kinda don't like the psychology of thinking of it that way, if you're the seller, which it sounds like you are. I would rather look at comps with secure gardens, if possible, and go at it from that direction.

Karla Harby
Rutenberg Realty
kharby@crrnyc.com

TH garden apts are different - you have more light as the building itself is usually max 6 stories, you are more likely to have a yard backing onto other TH yards, so the outdoor space has a completely different feel. And you are owning a piece of a TH, which is perceived as more desirable than a ground flr of a larger building. Same issues with rodents & flooding.

Thanks. Karla, I am a buyer.

There can be issues with mold which is a pretty nasty thing.