Eutrusca
04-12-2005, 17:33
COMMENTARY: OMG!!! A one bedroom co-op for $240,000.00??? To someone who will soon feel great relief at making his last $640.00 mortgage payment, this is virtually unimaginable!
On the plus side, the girl is cute as hell! :D ( Make sure you watch the video! )
Out of the Nest, Into a Studio (http://www.nytimes.com/2005/12/04/realestate/04hunt.html?th&emc=th)
By JOYCE COHEN
Published: December 4, 2005
TURNING 30 and still living with her mother - that was one milestone Marlie Hall did not want to reach. Ms. Hall had reasons for staying so long in the house where she grew up in Bay Shore, on Long Island. As an only daughter (she has three brothers), she was reluctant to leave her divorced mother. And, as a television reporter and anchor, she was aware that a job opportunity could arise somewhere far away.
http://img509.imageshack.us/img509/9642/nycstudio9cf.jpg (http://imageshack.us)
But as time passed, it seemed less likely that Ms. Hall - who by now was host of "Recipe for Success" on the Food Network - would move away. She started to hunt for her own place in Manhattan.
Her budget allowed for around $300,000 - more if the place had a low maintenance and down payment, less if it didn't. She didn't care about size, but did care about condition. A $240,000 listing for a small one-bedroom co-op on East 90th Street, with a maintenance of $500 and a 10 percent down payment, was seductive.
"I asked all the right questions and got all the right answers," she said. But her interest turned to annoyance when she showed up, accompanied by her mother. The maintenance was higher than advertised, and a 20 percent down payment was required. Nor did she know the apartment was a walk-up.
As they trudged up to the fifth floor, her mother declared she would never come to visit.
"They were showing her junk for a lot of money," said her mother, Marie Hall. "I though that was disrespectful for a real estate agent to show her that. You don't buy something for that kind of money, and then you are going to spend another $100,000 to fix it."
Ms. Hall decided to leave her mother out of it. "Knowing I was leaving soon, my mother was having separation anxiety, and became difficult and kind of overbearing," she said. "When I started to look at places, she was not that supportive."
The broker had other places to show her. Most were run-down or had an uncomfortably high monthly maintenance. One even had a bathroom outside the apartment. "I am not kidding," Ms. Hall said. "You physically had to walk out your front door to get to your private bathroom."
Last winter, though, she saw a tiny studio in a co-op building on West 57th Street. The size, 300 square feet, "was O.K. with me," Ms. Hall said.
The asking price was $239,000, with a maintenance of around $600. "It was awash in sunlight and was really cheerful," she said. "It had a window in the bathroom. I didn't think they would accept $220,000, but they did."
Yet, for some reason, she wasn't very excited about it. After a month, her lawyer still hadn't received the contract. "I speculate the seller was stalling to see if more buyers would show interest after the New Year so they could command a higher price," she said. "I never signed a thing."
While she waited, an agent with whom she had corresponded, Gavin Parker of Tungsten Properties, sent her an e-mail with a brief but intriguing listing: "Condo, financial district, $310,000." She decided to take a look.
Sales were just starting for the 90 condominium units in the building, on Pine Street, built in 1894 as an office building. "Such was the demand that the brokers were booked up two weeks in advance," Mr. Parker said. He figured the studios would be gone by then. After asking about cancellations, he snagged an appointment for the next day.
It was raining, and Ms. Hall didn't feel like going all the way downtown. She thought about canceling, but felt bad about doing so on such short notice. The building, a city landmark in the Romanesque Revival style, was beautiful despite a shroud of scaffolding.
"The sales office was madness," said the listing broker, David Wanamaker of Prudential Douglas Elliman. "That building sold out in less than three months."
The model studio was available for $355,000, completely furnished. Ms. Hall was prepared to take it. But a buyer of a $310,000 studio backed out a few hours later. "Marlie let us know she wanted something cheaper," Mr. Wanamaker said. "Luckily, something came back on and she answered the phone when we called."
Ms. Hall said, "I didn't think $310,000 for a studio was such a bargain." But amenities made up for it, and the monthly charges were only $470. She found herself much more excited about this one.
"There was every last thing I wanted and then some," she said. "Laundry on every floor sounds like not the biggest deal in the world, but I looked at places where you had to go a few blocks away."
Then she had to make the dreaded phone call, telling the broker with the 57th Street listing that she was pulling out. "I suppose I could have had my lawyer do it, but she had done a lot of legwork on my behalf, so I felt I needed to tell her voice to voice," Ms. Hall said.
"I said it's not something I planned and I feel really bad, but you know how the broker thing works," she said. "She was really dramatic and emotional. I was kind of feeling guilty about it but there was nothing in writing, I wasn't committed to her, and I didn't do anything illegal or unethical. It was ironic because, had she gotten me the contract a month earlier, we wouldn't have had this situation."
Still, months of construction delays ensued. During the wait, Ms. Hall traveled to Haiti with a doctor friend, shooting footage for a documentary, "Mission to Sassier," about a medical clinic in an impoverished Haitian village. She turned 30. She finished the documentary.
Last month, nine months after her purchase, she at last moved into her cozy, 430-square-foot studio. "I was feeling sort of anxious, because I was living with my mother my whole life," she said. "I had some apprehension, like, 'Will I be lonely?' The first night I slept with a blanket on the floor. It wasn't the most comfortable thing in the world, but it was special to me." By the second night, she had a new mattress.
Ms. Hall was among the first to move in. "It's kind of cool because I have the building all to myself," she said. Soon, she knows, "when I go to the gym there will be somebody on the treadmill and I'll have to wait."
Her mother approved of the condo, though she hasn't yet seen it. "She even gave me some money toward the down payment," Ms. Hall said, "so in the end she was really supportive."
On the plus side, the girl is cute as hell! :D ( Make sure you watch the video! )
Out of the Nest, Into a Studio (http://www.nytimes.com/2005/12/04/realestate/04hunt.html?th&emc=th)
By JOYCE COHEN
Published: December 4, 2005
TURNING 30 and still living with her mother - that was one milestone Marlie Hall did not want to reach. Ms. Hall had reasons for staying so long in the house where she grew up in Bay Shore, on Long Island. As an only daughter (she has three brothers), she was reluctant to leave her divorced mother. And, as a television reporter and anchor, she was aware that a job opportunity could arise somewhere far away.
http://img509.imageshack.us/img509/9642/nycstudio9cf.jpg (http://imageshack.us)
But as time passed, it seemed less likely that Ms. Hall - who by now was host of "Recipe for Success" on the Food Network - would move away. She started to hunt for her own place in Manhattan.
Her budget allowed for around $300,000 - more if the place had a low maintenance and down payment, less if it didn't. She didn't care about size, but did care about condition. A $240,000 listing for a small one-bedroom co-op on East 90th Street, with a maintenance of $500 and a 10 percent down payment, was seductive.
"I asked all the right questions and got all the right answers," she said. But her interest turned to annoyance when she showed up, accompanied by her mother. The maintenance was higher than advertised, and a 20 percent down payment was required. Nor did she know the apartment was a walk-up.
As they trudged up to the fifth floor, her mother declared she would never come to visit.
"They were showing her junk for a lot of money," said her mother, Marie Hall. "I though that was disrespectful for a real estate agent to show her that. You don't buy something for that kind of money, and then you are going to spend another $100,000 to fix it."
Ms. Hall decided to leave her mother out of it. "Knowing I was leaving soon, my mother was having separation anxiety, and became difficult and kind of overbearing," she said. "When I started to look at places, she was not that supportive."
The broker had other places to show her. Most were run-down or had an uncomfortably high monthly maintenance. One even had a bathroom outside the apartment. "I am not kidding," Ms. Hall said. "You physically had to walk out your front door to get to your private bathroom."
Last winter, though, she saw a tiny studio in a co-op building on West 57th Street. The size, 300 square feet, "was O.K. with me," Ms. Hall said.
The asking price was $239,000, with a maintenance of around $600. "It was awash in sunlight and was really cheerful," she said. "It had a window in the bathroom. I didn't think they would accept $220,000, but they did."
Yet, for some reason, she wasn't very excited about it. After a month, her lawyer still hadn't received the contract. "I speculate the seller was stalling to see if more buyers would show interest after the New Year so they could command a higher price," she said. "I never signed a thing."
While she waited, an agent with whom she had corresponded, Gavin Parker of Tungsten Properties, sent her an e-mail with a brief but intriguing listing: "Condo, financial district, $310,000." She decided to take a look.
Sales were just starting for the 90 condominium units in the building, on Pine Street, built in 1894 as an office building. "Such was the demand that the brokers were booked up two weeks in advance," Mr. Parker said. He figured the studios would be gone by then. After asking about cancellations, he snagged an appointment for the next day.
It was raining, and Ms. Hall didn't feel like going all the way downtown. She thought about canceling, but felt bad about doing so on such short notice. The building, a city landmark in the Romanesque Revival style, was beautiful despite a shroud of scaffolding.
"The sales office was madness," said the listing broker, David Wanamaker of Prudential Douglas Elliman. "That building sold out in less than three months."
The model studio was available for $355,000, completely furnished. Ms. Hall was prepared to take it. But a buyer of a $310,000 studio backed out a few hours later. "Marlie let us know she wanted something cheaper," Mr. Wanamaker said. "Luckily, something came back on and she answered the phone when we called."
Ms. Hall said, "I didn't think $310,000 for a studio was such a bargain." But amenities made up for it, and the monthly charges were only $470. She found herself much more excited about this one.
"There was every last thing I wanted and then some," she said. "Laundry on every floor sounds like not the biggest deal in the world, but I looked at places where you had to go a few blocks away."
Then she had to make the dreaded phone call, telling the broker with the 57th Street listing that she was pulling out. "I suppose I could have had my lawyer do it, but she had done a lot of legwork on my behalf, so I felt I needed to tell her voice to voice," Ms. Hall said.
"I said it's not something I planned and I feel really bad, but you know how the broker thing works," she said. "She was really dramatic and emotional. I was kind of feeling guilty about it but there was nothing in writing, I wasn't committed to her, and I didn't do anything illegal or unethical. It was ironic because, had she gotten me the contract a month earlier, we wouldn't have had this situation."
Still, months of construction delays ensued. During the wait, Ms. Hall traveled to Haiti with a doctor friend, shooting footage for a documentary, "Mission to Sassier," about a medical clinic in an impoverished Haitian village. She turned 30. She finished the documentary.
Last month, nine months after her purchase, she at last moved into her cozy, 430-square-foot studio. "I was feeling sort of anxious, because I was living with my mother my whole life," she said. "I had some apprehension, like, 'Will I be lonely?' The first night I slept with a blanket on the floor. It wasn't the most comfortable thing in the world, but it was special to me." By the second night, she had a new mattress.
Ms. Hall was among the first to move in. "It's kind of cool because I have the building all to myself," she said. Soon, she knows, "when I go to the gym there will be somebody on the treadmill and I'll have to wait."
Her mother approved of the condo, though she hasn't yet seen it. "She even gave me some money toward the down payment," Ms. Hall said, "so in the end she was really supportive."