Gothamist: Third Quarter: Manhattan Apt. Sales Dropped Up to 24%

NannyState

Fri, 03 Oct 2008 20:45:29 -0500

If a person earning $250k is living paycheck to paycheck (it happens), then that person is quite vulnerable. Not only does that person lack the savings to cushion the blow in hard times or save for a home, that person is a very fat target for downsizing due to the high upkeep. A motivated owner that finances the deal might accept 10% down, but these days, you'll need at least 20% down to obtain financing quickly. But why do it at all? Housing values are unstable and while every idiot on TV is calling a bottom, you never really know until it's already happened.Also, mortgage rates are too high for this market and will have to come down. The best advice is to remain a renter and maintain only a short-term lease so you can grab the inevitable bargains that will start popping up in a year. If you pay less rent, you can save more for a house. And those "foreign buyers" might poke around, but they are losing ground themselves. Look at the russian stock market. If 100,000 Wall Street jobs get swept away, there's really no replacement for that crowd. So those swanky condos and lofts are going to end up at auction. And while many rejoice in the news of these developers' downfalls, the sad truth is that no one will be building for some time adding to the tight supply, and since they were building upmarket, affordable housing will be tighter than ever. Unless you consider paying only $2.4 million for a $6 million loft "affordability".

JacqueMehoff

Fri, 03 Oct 2008 16:33:59 -0500

I'm sorry you took offensive to what I've wrote because it wasn't meant to be. I enjoy reading your views though I have found it to be slanting towards conservative lately but I've expected that. I hope you will get that house and make 250K someday. for me that's not ever going to be possible.

mihow

Fri, 03 Oct 2008 14:10:31 -0500

Oh, i need to add something else. My family? We make nowhere near 250 grand. I guess I was just wondering how other people felt about how NY might deal with Obama's suggestion regarding the tax hike. I know it won't really hurt most Americans, but in NY where the cost of living is higher, 250 doesn't go as far as it does elsewhere. Housing included. Anyway, sorry I got defensive. Also, I never claimed that 250 was poor. What I was asking was given that it doesn't go as far here as it does elsewhere, what might that tax do to the housing market. That's all. I'm truly not going to derail this thread any more than I already have. :]

everyAframe

Fri, 03 Oct 2008 13:46:10 -0500

@mihow, apologies for not recognizing raising family -- was basing my thing on own situation and hat is off to you in that situation. But for clarification, sure I would say what I said to a person directly. It wasn't as much harsh as just true (Again, at that point in actual face-to-face conversation you would be free to say something like, "Put down the fcking bong and playstation peter pan, I have a spouse and kids." ;-)

Larry

Fri, 03 Oct 2008 13:34:41 -0500

This is death to BKLYN. Manhattan will be propped up by foreign buyers and the convenience of living here.

JacqueMehoff

Fri, 03 Oct 2008 13:01:14 -0500

the people making 250k and above are not complaining about taxes, they sure are not paying half in taxes. I worked in a CPA office for a while. I'm just saying 250k is NOT POOR, Not woe is me poor, not poor EVER. don't believe this lie. just like changing the estate tax to death tax. I also performed fiduciary accounting. I wish I was making "only" 250K, I wonder how my parents did it?

Felix Hoenikker

Fri, 03 Oct 2008 12:52:12 -0500

Hard to compare NYC to BFE cost of living. Median per capita income in Manhattan, 2005 was 100K, prob a bit higher for families. Between fed, state, and city tax, kiss half of a 250K income good-bye.

mihow

Fri, 03 Oct 2008 12:49:37 -0500

Should read: as a first-time buyer. Not buying. Also, I never said two people making that in a household. 250 for an entire family is not what it may seem here. And I realize that it's high everywhere else in the nation. I am speaking solely about NY. Seriously, y'all. Some of the commenters here are so quick to just attack and come up with some witty bullshit they forget to actually think. It's tiring. How about we do something unheard of, have a conversation without calling people stupid?

mihow

Fri, 03 Oct 2008 12:44:38 -0500

Wow, you people are ruthless. And I highly doubt you would talk that way directly to a person. I was starting a conversation. Just because you may make much less than that, it doesn't mean my point is very valid. Going to back out of this conversation right after I say one more thing. You try raising a family in this city and buying a house (as a first-time buying) and saving for a downpayment (in this city) making only 250 grand a year. You need at least 10 percent down. Unless you want a house that's falling apart and in need of massive upkeep, you are looking at having to save at least 65 thousand for a downpayment. I am not a moron. I do not need to be gifted a clue. I have gone over this over and over again. If you don't already have equity or a massive gift from a family member, buying a house in this city is very, very difficult.

everyAframe

Fri, 03 Oct 2008 12:39:45 -0500

#12, If two people at 250k annual household can't save 50k each over a couple or few years and put 20% down on a 500k 1 bedroom, then they're never going to. If they have no savings at 250k, they're buying too many $12 cosmopolitans and expensive clothes. Open half the closets in Manhattan of people at that income level, look down at the shoe rack, and what'dya know: one half of a down payment! Look at the Restaurants and Bars category on the Amex statement and what'dya know: there's the other half of it! The only thing they need gifted to them is a clue.

JacqueMehoff

Fri, 03 Oct 2008 12:04:48 -0500

250K is still the top 1-2 percent of household income nationwide. 140k will put you in the five percent category. how bout we work on getting that percentage higher? if you're making 250K a year I think you can afford a house and getting three squares a day.

mihow

Fri, 03 Oct 2008 11:06:25 -0500

I was thinking about this last night... A question for anyone... Say Obama is elected. He wants to tax people who make over 250 grand—calling them well-off. Thing about that is, 250 grand is not really all that well off here in NY. I know some of you will think that's crazy, surely you can live on that here. But a family can't afford to buy a place making that salary unless they are gifted a downpayment. Rents are far too high here to save up enough to eventually buy a place. If you tax these people MORE aren't you putting an even bigger strain on the middle class here in NY? What is going to happen to this area? Will middle class families continue to rent? Move out? Will the area be filled with the very rich and very poor? And if that's the case, will crime continue to rise? I am an Obama supporter. But as a resident with a family who can't afford to buy here (and is therefore moving out of the area entirely) I really do wonder what his tax plan will do to NY. Just some thoughts I am having. I know very little about this stuff and hope there are smarter people out there trying to figure it out. ;]

schadenfreudian mensch

Fri, 03 Oct 2008 10:52:48 -0500

Brokers lie?!?!? NEVER!! You're a fool to believe in such nonsense. Next thing you'll be telling me is George W. was lying all along about WMD. Those hard working brokers are the backbone of this city by golly! She was just merely misinformed. Those Wall St. bonus and foreign buyers were replaced by doctors because doctors never ever bought property in NY before till now. Just look at what curbed said. http://curbed.com/archives/2008/08/28/doctors_are_the_new_bankers.php

arsguide

Fri, 03 Oct 2008 10:52:31 -0500

hopefully this credit crisis will end the disgusting over development in bklyn.

Dude69

Fri, 03 Oct 2008 10:41:41 -0500

But my RE broker keeps telling me that the Wall Street bonus season and foreign buyers would keep Manhattan RE afloat. Was she lying??

Kojak

Fri, 03 Oct 2008 10:19:37 -0500

Theres PLENTY of blame to go around splicer. Don't just blame the Republicans. In order for things to go this wrong you need a perfect clusterfuck which can only be achieved when there are multiple failures in the system.

Splicer

Fri, 03 Oct 2008 10:04:15 -0500

The whole thing was inflated by a bubble of speculation as certain sectors, who gained during the Bush years, decided that Manhattan was going to be their little island paradise away from those nasty middle class scum (what's left of the middle class, that is). Now that they driven out all the mom and pop stores and forced regular people to live in one room apartments for $2500, it's about time they saw the tulip for what it is.

spiritross

Fri, 03 Oct 2008 10:03:09 -0500

Yeah and this is bad news because?

Rocknrope

Fri, 03 Oct 2008 09:36:28 -0500

I guess the whole "housing crisis not affecting real estate in NYC" is over, huh?

Kojak

Fri, 03 Oct 2008 09:35:13 -0500

Alot of those condos ab_bklyn are turning into somewhat affordable rentals due to the downturn, so its not all bad.

ab_bklyn

Fri, 03 Oct 2008 09:29:58 -0500

And yet the developers keep building these glass-and-drywall "luxury" condos and it seems there's no end in sight.

whitecastlerock

Fri, 03 Oct 2008 09:29:30 -0500

Good...

woodendesigner

Fri, 03 Oct 2008 09:01:07 -0500

It's about time. The property market in this town has been way over priced for too long now. It's not surprising that the economy is so bad. There are too many things driving up property values here and it was bound to drop off considerably.