Yeah I'm crazy for Buying in this market...Evaluate my Purchase

Without knowing the specific unit, based on your description this sounds like a pretty good deal to me.

Congratulation!!

I know the exact apartment. My husband had been at a party there several years back and immediately recognized the the place. Sounds like a fair deal on the price. Some tight corridors as I recall, but the outdoor space is unique for the area and affords spectacular views. Enjoy the summer parties up there!

this sponsor unit (if its the one you write about) was on the market for $1595000. The owners accepted my offer this past summer for $1550000. During atty review, for a variety of reasons I can go into in a subsequent post, I backed out. I think you couldve gotten this unit for less

sounds like a reasonable deal

In the next 12 months a lot of people will realize they made a mistake. Sorry buddy. You should of waited. My guess you overpaid by $300,000. If you can I would back out and wait.

nohoho: What's done is done. Enjoy you new home, and don't look back. Who cares what we think?

How far into the financing process are you, and how's it looking?

BTW, is your apartment the one with the huge terraces on the second floor, off the bedrooms?

noonie - had my attny review for several months - and did uncover some things that needed to be significantly re-worked...but felt secure about everything once we got all that we'd asked for...if you wouldn't mind sharing your experience, please email me at nycspecialist@myway.com

West81st is spot on. Forget about the noise and enjoy your place. When your hanging on your terrace in June drinking wine with a bunch of friends, you won't even think about what you paid.

FWIW, if it's the unit I'm thinking of, a friend at BHS liked that apartment a lot. She said the problem, from the marketing perspective, was that one of those terraces needed to be off the living room to expand the entertaining space. Apparently, the layout works for you, so it really doesn't matter except as a possible resale consideration.

nohoho - i havent posted here before so dont want to come off as some expert. my atty uncovered a problem with the upstairs bathroom or washer dryer room (cant recall which) that leaked into the units below. in addition, there was a problem with the next door neighbor. if i remember correctly, the coop board had major problems with this tenant. also, i was frankly concerned that the maintenance fee seemed to dramatically increase. that said, the terraces are amazing and the unit is perfect for one person. i am a divorced dad with 2 kids and felt the 2nd and 3rd bedrooms were a bit small and the lack of closet space was a concern. also, at the time the current owners were feuding and that made it a more difficult process. i just know they accepted my offer at $1550000 8 months ago when the real estate market was in better shape. i wish you good luck and agree that you will enjoy those terraces this summer. if you would still like me to email you, i will.

Hey, everyone that knows it may have a problem with it but like Juice and West81st say, F-it, what good is it making $1.6 million interest and maintenance and taxes if you can't enjoy it anyway? Plus some one may come along and pay much much more for it in the future anyway.

Hey, everyone that knows it may have a problem with it but like Juice and West81st say, F-it, what good is it making $1.6 million plus interest and maintenance and taxes if you can't enjoy it anyway? Plus some one may come along and pay much much more for it in the future anyway. (sorry, realized the "pkus" sign didn't work on here after the post).

Well, since Manhattan sales fell the most in 18 years this quarter, I would say you are pretty crazy. Sales volume is understood as a leading indicator of what's to come in the real estate world, which is a fall in prices.

Since we just had the largest fall in Manhattan sales in 18 years, having a significant fall in prices is likely.

No need to look far to look for data and proof of this. Look at what happened around the country. Sales volume dropped. This was followed by record drops in home prices.

Guess what? Same this is happening here in Manhattan now. And no, it's not different here when it comes to economic fundamentals. Just like there was no 'new economy' during the Dot Bust.

MMafia: I'm a bear too; but even if we're ultimately right about the market, that doesn't make nonoho crazy. Maybe he loves the apartment, wants it now and can afford any plausible drop in value.

If he spent $300K to take his family on a once-in-a-lifetime trip around the world for three months, would you call him crazy? If he gave $1MM to his favorite charity, would you call him crazy?

People - especially affluent people - do different things with money. Some of those things are intended to increase the value of their portfolios. (We call these things "investments".) Others are intended to increase the total happiness of their lives, or the lives of others. Housing can be either - or both.

Choices that are wrong for you can be right for somebody else. Nonoho is going into this purchase with his eyes open. He reads the same newspapers, message boards and tea leaves we do.

Can't we all just get along?

A 3BR with huge outdoor space for $1000 sq. ft. sounds like a very good deal to me. The boo birds will always say you are stupid, but if everyone took their advice, not a single apartment in Manhattan would change hands for the next five years. They have been saying for 3 years the market is crashing - eventually they will be right. I could start saying the market is shooting up now and will eventually be right. We bought 2 years ago and our apt has gone up at least 10% based on the apartment right next store going to contract 2 weeks ago - so it is not all negative all the time. So, enjoy it for many years and don't listen to the negative feedback. Good luck.

Well, He/she asked for an opinion, and I gave my opinion.

And my opinion is: nonoho could have gotten better for the same money in the near future.

As they say, JMHO.

I think the floorplan could use some work. If you have or will have kids: no master bath, walking through bedrooms to get to the terraces. If you don't: make upstairs more suitable for lounging/entertaining. All doable. Congrats.

Just enjoy it! Be happy you're done looking for a place, kick back and soak up your new free time and energy! Oh and forget about all the nay sayers, there's a lot to be said for just living life and not worrying about the markets!

MMAfia, your "opinion" was that this person, who probably just made one of the most important (and eseentially unreversable at this point) decision in his life, is "pretty crazy." I think that part of your post is more of an insult than an opinion. Just my opnion though.

mafia, my opinion is that you suck. nohoho, as others of said, enjoy it, what anyone else thinks is irrelevant.

MMAfia = bitter renter

Come on folks- if you go to a public forum on the Internet, and ask what people think about something you did, AND you use the word 'crazy' in the subject line in a somewhat sarcastic way, what do you expect? The word 'crazy' is completely within the context of nohoho's original question to begin with.

Come on JuiceMan... Oh OK, I'll play along... just this one more time.

JuiceMan = Nervous Homedebtor

=D

Sorry MMAfia, I couldn't resist.

Serious question, do you have a % decrease in mind where you would be comfortable buying or are you in long term wait mode?

JuiceMan, I don't have a %decrease that would make we want to buy. What will make me want to buy is a re-establishment of an equilibrium in the markets for rent/buy, credit spread/mortgage, price/affordability-income...

What that exactly means in terms of a %decrease in prices is actually a mystery to me, because they are changing. However, even if they are changing, they can establish equilibrium. It could be 10% or it could be 30%, or as steve has mentioned, it could even be 50% (in real not nominal)... it's really quite tough to say.

In other words, I don't have a price-target. My mantra is that I just don't want to buy in a market that's out of whack. That's a risk I don't want to take.

That makes sense MMAfia and why I have such a hard time with steve's analysis. I agree that some prices, in some neighborhoods are way out of equilibrium and also agree that we will see some price correction. I highly doubt 30-50% (the later being an economic impossibility without a total global meltdown and a greater economic impossibility because equilibrium cannot technically be reached - it is an overwhelming buy signal) but your point of "even if they are changing, they can establish equilibrium", is what I've been telling folks all along. There are many levers that will change over the next few months / years, price being one of them, incomes, savings, spending etc. being the others. Call me a bull but it is impossible for me to calculate a reasonable scenario where all of those indicators will drive south quickly, and put Manhattan in a Miami like situation. It is just not going to happen.

JuiceMan: Those things don't all have to happen for real estate to fall substantially. The property market just needs to discount a substantial RISK of them happening. Then, if they don't all happen, the buyers who took that risk will be rewarded.

If those things DO all happen, we're all screwed. That includes even the "lucky" or "smart" die-hard renters, who will be free to walk away from their battered, beloved New York City, without direct financial damage from the real estate collapse, and go live in Montana.

The important macroeconomic question isn't whether the world will actually end. It's whether the risk of the world ending is increasing or decreasing. Once you conclude that the danger of systemic Armageddon is abating, then you can look at micro factors like supply and demand in specific market segments.