Harlem Shells

16 fter now asking almost 1.5 mil

more than 20ft asking about 2 mil, just the shells

caonima is such a fucking liar, I hate him/her in every thread. You can buy FULLY FINISHED re-done townhouses in harlem for those prices. Shells are more like 800k-1MM. Sorry no examples but you are on a site where you can search for such things. See the "sales" tab above and include things in contract and closed.

A good website to check out is beatingupwind.com, which is a blog by the owner of a Harlem brownstone that chronicles his experience of buying a shell and doing the full gut renovation. A fairly recent post lamented that while a couple of years ago you could get a shell in the area for $500K-$600K, the range now seems to center around $800K-$900K. He listed a few comps with some analysis, which is listed below:

Here are the class C4 & C5 buildings that sold for less then $900K in the past 6 months south of 125th

319 West 112th $875K, 2/10/12
53 West 119th $250K, 2/13/12 Too low to be a real sale, probably a partial interest
254 West 121th $895K, 4/2/12
326 West 113th $720K, 4/24/12 This seems to have gone through a recent foreclosure. A shell a few doors down is listed at $1.4M and has multiple offers, so I think this sale is a bit out of the ordinary and not a true comp either.
133 West 119th $830K, 4/27/12
164 West 123th $618,400, 6/25/12 Two doors down from me. The owner knew it was worth more. Last I knew he either wanted to bring in someone to help fund the development or he wanted to sell it. I suspect the new LLC is a combination of the old owner and a new investor who is funding redevelopment, so it is not a true sale either.

Thanks guys. Do you think houses off of Lenox are more or less value able than houses west of FDB? The lenox houses seem much larger and have better architecure, but some of the 16 and 17 foot wides houses west of FCB have sold at high values.

jason10006 will conduct a hate crime in less than 3 years, let's see

Long term I think off of Lenox. The west of FDB ones benefit from current proximaty to Columbia and the FDB corridor mini-boom of the past decade. So I think their is less room for appreciation.

I agree with jason. there is greater price weakness and more potential off of lenox. timing is tough, although I confess I haven't looked in the last year or so, at that time there still seemed to be a lot of owners going under.

Don't forget, it's not all about appreciation value of homes; the home is a place to live, not a place to gamble with. If you have doubt the value of your home is going to dip, renting is an option. The housing market in NYC is volatile, and a lot of dooms day forecasters have been proven incorrect. Also, don't set your mind on shells in Harlem. I have an idea why you want a shell, but what if you can get a finished home with all specifications to you're liking in Harlem?

Good points. I'm a big fan of the lenox area - better values, nicer houses, great transportation, nice people. I think values are headed up - ~$2.0-$3.0 million for a nice, finished house near lenox. That is approx 1/2 to 1/3 of the cost of decent places in the 90s and 100s.

Did anyone look at 240 Lenox or 246 Lenox? Big places in poor condition. 240 sold for $1.9 million, but needed a ton of work. Amazing property, but I can't figure out how a developer got comfortable with that value for a shell.

"but I can't figure out how a developer got comfortable with that value for a shell. "

the "developer" may not really want to make money from working on this shell

for example, the 53 West 119th some one posted above. the former flipper bought it for $1M, but took out a total of 1.4M mortgage, then walked away and short sale it at 250K. a profit of about 400K and 5 years of free living

I found Harlem Shell on west 139TH Street.
I picked it up and held it to my ear.
I heard sirens.

lmao.

oh, that flipper even deadbeat on nyc property tax too

thank you obama, from the bottom of heart of all the deadbeats and flippers

falcogold1, that wasn't a shell, it was a petrified condom. It was petrified because West 139th Street is scary scary scary.

I played Harlem Shells once. Lost $40. Never again.