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I have been living at Mariner's for 14 months now and absolutely love it. There is nothing I am unhappy with. The interior is wonderful without doing any upgrades. Renaissance staff are great to work with. As for Oyster Bay, I could not be happier living here. I lived in Bayville so I was already familiar with this area.
As far as a home for $400,000 in this area, I don't think so.
If you have been living in that complex for 14 months then you have seen the asking prices on units similar to yours fall dramatically and this trend will likely continue for the next 14 months and the 14 months after that.
That being said, the interior of those units is really pretty. They did a good job with design and construction. You will not get as fancy a look out of the numerous sub $400,000 units available in that area. For example, a comp is asking $369,000 (MLS 2013988) within a block or two of the Mariner's Walk apartment complex. This comp is older and less fancy, but in the end that unit will sell for less than $300,000. A quick search of MLS reveals no fewer than 19 houses LESS THAN $400,000 within a short walk of the Mariner's complex. In fact, there is no shortage of cheap housing within a very short walk from that area. Make sure your doors are locked at night. That stretch of highway 106 that the apartments are located on is fairly seedy.
Marwal, I do not know why you are surprised there are sub $400,000 houses in that area. Did you consider MLS # 2112603? That unit is asking $160,000 and the seller would probably be lucky to get $120,000 for it. This unit is a very short walk from Mariner's, and this is a given because all the low-rent housing in that area is within a few blocks of Mariners.
Don't get me wrong, the Mariner's appartments are very well done, very high end. If they were lifted up and transplanted in the heart of Great Neck, I am sure they would get well over $700,000 a unit. But one cannot forget the 4 L's of real estate, they are location, location, location, and location. Fancy new construction does not start with "L".
But nobody has to take my word for it, one need only listen to the market. These houses have been for sale since 2006 and only a few have sold.
My advice to you Marwal would be to sell that apartment NOW while you still have a chance. Undercut the asking price of the developer by 10% and get out quick. You will lose some money to be sure, but in a few years you will have lost much more if you stay.
The housing market does not crash as fast as stocks, but eventually the end of easy credit and loss of high-paying jobs on Wall Street will catch up with the market. And when property values decline, the houses that are hit the hardest are condos, especially when located in rundown neighborhoods. If you had the oportunity to go back in time and sell your stocks when the Dow had fallen from 14000 to 13000 would you do it? Well guess what, thats the position those condos are in. They have already dropped the asking prices from the high $800,000s to the low $600,000s and the worst is yet to come.
Thinker,
where are you getting off on saying that certain areas are seedy and unsafe in oyster bay. OB is one of the few places left on Long Island where your kid can still walk to and from school every day, SAFELY. and that includes sections of 106 you are referring to. And anyone who really lives in oyster bay, doesn't need to "look into it a little further" to know that Wang tried to buy up a majority of the town and worked to build Mariner's Walk. He also arranged the construction of the HSBC accross the way, the kiosks in town, and has bought up a good deal of the waterfront property towards Commander Oil. anyone with a pulse in the area knows this and has known it for years. losing credibility, thinker, one thought at a time....
and Johninwestbury, you of all people shouldn't be talking. The apts up by the train station are legal 2 family houses and while there is an influx of legal and illegal immigrants, there is no increase in crime, gang-related or otherwise. and every time i go to Roosevelt park (atleast once a week if not more) there is no evidence of an increase in "vagrants". Please think before you type, it'll save us all a lot of work and headache.
As for Mariner's walk, from what I understand, Rennaissance owes over $1 million to the construction company they had hired, which it can not and will not pay, on the grounds of poor construction (cutting corners with the frame work and the roofing, according to sources).
Danielle, I am sorry to hear that you have crossed Oyster Bay off your list. good luck with your search.
Ok Mr. Furyous, I will take the bait and answer your questions.
The reason I think Oyster Bay is seedy is because I have walked north 1 block from Mariner's Walk on 106, made a left turn and then walked another block and found that I was in a poor neighborhood. You can save your speech about how judgmental it is to say that all poor neighborhoods are unsafe or seedy, but for me, I do not want to pay $700,000 for a 2-bedroom apartment in a poor neighborhood, and I do not want to walk the streets of a poor neighborhood at night. Maybe I have seen too many movies, who knows. You can live there if you'd like. I would not feel comfortable doing so.
Wang did buy up property in town in a failed attempt to revitalize the are. It is not the first time a guy thought that he could buy up a bunch of land in a rundown area and turn it into something nice. No disrespect to Mr. Wang, he is a brilliant man who has proven himself to be a competent pioneer of computer software. Sometimes people should stick to what they know. Michael Jordan was not such a good baseball player but that doesn't mean he is not an incredible athlete. Wang playing real estate mogul is like Jordan playing baseball.
But now you are telling us that the Mariner's Walk apartments were poorly constructed and have problems with the frame and roofing from what you have heard. This is yet another reason to stay far away from the place.
But nobody has to take my word on it, I am just giving my opinion. If you are interested in reading it fine, if you are not, I understand.
Hi Danielle,
Mariners Walk is a great place to live.
There are 9 units sold and 3 leased with an option to buy. 2 units are in contract and it has been decided that no more are to be leased.
The financials are solid which is why I DECIDED TO BUY. We will not be assessed for the unsold units. The property owner is financially solvent.
Don't take my word for this. Get a copy of the prospectus and show it to youe attorney. He or she can explain why. The real estate can provide you with a copy of this for a refundable fee.
The prices do vary between 589,000 and very low 800,000 s.
The reasons:
size 1812 to 2500 plus square feet
elevators some have and some have not
a couple of the units are being sold fully furnished and decorated
some have crown molding and custom upgrades
The CO FOR MOST OF THE UNITS came through in SEPTEMBER of 2009.
You can't sell something that has not been completed.
Lastly, the owner bought the property 11 years prior and finally got his variance about 3-3.5 years ago.
The community is very nice and if your still considering it you might want to go to a couple of open houses. 400,000 S range gets you a 12 to 20 year old town home in need of many upgrades or a much older single family home 50 years average in need of many many many more upgrades.
You can't sell something that has not been completed.
Actually, developers make deals on unbuilt houses all the time (maybe not in this market now though) - think of all those McMansion houses out east in the Three Village area like the Three Village Club - people came in from Nassau County for the very low prices and contracted to have a house built based upon only the models that were shown. It was about another 1.5 years before the houses were finished.
Teala,
Danielle has already indicated that Mariner's Walk and Oyster bay have been eliminated from their search for multiple reasons, but I will say what I have to say for the benefit of anyone else reading this. First off, I appreciate you input, as an owner you are in a good position to judge the quality of those apartments, of course you are also more than a little biased and what you now say may be based on trying to prop up the value of the apartment that you bought or may be based on trying to rationalize your purchase.
Either way, as I stated before, those apartments are very pretty, and it was mrfuryous and not I that alleged that the apartments were poorly built. My problem with Mariner's Walk is the quality of the neighborhood and the unrealistic asking prices. You can get a real house in Oyster Bay for what they are asking for those 2br apartments. In my opinion, those units would be perfect for singles and small families starting out, unfortunately such people do NOT have $550,000 to spend on a house. That price is nearly 8 times the average household income for Nassau County and by all measures, only the County's upper-middle class and rich should be able to afford such a purchase. Unfortunately those sorts of people prefer large detached houses in nice neighborhoods with nice school districts, they do not want some 2br starter apartment.
Mariner's walk is a relic of an age when tons of money was handed out indiscriminately to home buyers who would never be able to pay it back. Only a fool would pay 10x income for a house. You should only be paying 2.5x household income for a house or you will not be able to adequately save for retirement, live a decent lifestyle, and save up 6 months living expenses for a rainy day. Bottom line is, unless you family income is over $220,000 you have no business buying such an expensive place. And if you made a family income over $220,000 I do not think you would want to live in a 2br apartment in a seedy area, even if there was an elevator. And really, what is this an assisted living center? That space would be better used as a closet. If you are healthy enough to get down one or two flights of stairs then do it yourself.
Bottom line is, those apartments would make great starter homes for young people at HALF the asking price, but the LOCATION and SIZE of these units makes them decidedly LOW END, no matter how fancy they are inside. They simply over-built for the area.
Of course everyone is entitled to their own opinion, but I would not be happy spending BMW money to get a Ford Focus.
Just wanted to add my 2 cents. Mariners Walk is a lovely community and I'd be very happy to live there. My daughter recently purchased there and couldn't be happier. While visiting recently I toured the entire town and was pleasantly surprised with what I saw. There aren't many places that are pedestrian friendly, but this is. It has a true small town feeling. I had also been apprehensive about a community built right on 106 but her unit is as quiet (with the windows open) as my home built on a golf course in a suburban area. I think it's a lovely area and compared to the rest of LI I would still consider it a sound investment.
Ok Mr. Furyous, I will take the bait and answer your questions.
The reason I think Oyster Bay is seedy is because I have walked north 1 block from Mariner's Walk on 106, made a left turn and then walked another block and found that I was in a poor neighborhood. You can save your speech about how judgmental it is to say that all poor neighborhoods are unsafe or seedy, but for me, I do not want to pay $700,000 for a 2-bedroom apartment in a poor neighborhood, and I do not want to walk the streets of a poor neighborhood at night. Maybe I have seen too many movies, who knows. You can live there if you'd like. I would not feel comfortable doing so.
Wang did buy up property in town in a failed attempt to revitalize the are. It is not the first time a guy thought that he could buy up a bunch of land in a rundown area and turn it into something nice. No disrespect to Mr. Wang, he is a brilliant man who has proven himself to be a competent pioneer of computer software. Sometimes people should stick to what they know. Michael Jordan was not such a good baseball player but that doesn't mean he is not an incredible athlete. Wang playing real estate mogul is like Jordan playing baseball.
But now you are telling us that the Mariner's Walk apartments were poorly constructed and have problems with the frame and roofing from what you have heard. This is yet another reason to stay far away from the place.
But nobody has to take my word on it, I am just giving my opinion. If you are interested in reading it fine, if you are not, I understand.
Well how do area such as Garden City, Glen Cove NY's 96th street, New Rochelle maintain their high real estate values when they can be a block away from a low income area?
So it looks like 3 years after we first started this discussion, there are still three remaining units for sale and 1 for rent. The asking price for the units are 2 in the mid five-hundreds and one in the mid six-hundreds. Thats a long way down from the initial asking prices in the high 800s. Other condos in the immediate area are asking in the mid 100s which speaks to the calibre of the area.
To answer the question of 1nevets, Garden City is very close to a bad area but they have their own police force and they do an excellent job of protecting the area. Also, Hempstead may be close, but they do not share a school district. The low-cost housing close to Mariner's is within the same school district. Therefore, the difference is that Garden City and Hempstead are close together but they are not the same town.
Glen Cove has some expensive houses and some low-cost houses but they are not intermingled, they are contained within distinct sections.
Im not saying Mariner's Walk is next to a low-cost area, I'm saying its in a low-cost area.
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Mariner's Walk at Oyster Bay
Mariners walk in oyster bay
