Realtors who deal with raw space? (apartments, rent, lofts)

[mc33433]

My husband and I have casually been researching buying an apartment within the next two years. We currently rent rather cheaply in Queens, and also have an apartment in Manhattan that we sublet, but we have been very interesting in eventually owning. We have always been in NYC - I was born here and he has been here 20 years.

One of the things that we would be very interested in is buying a very raw space; as in space that we would eventually work on and construct to our own liking. We have friends that recently did something similar - bought two okay apartments uptown, one right above the other, and constructed a very nice duplex out of them. We are flexible in budget and location - although we would prefer Brooklyn or Manhattan. We would also like a safe neighborhood.

Does anyone know any realtors that specialize in these types of raw spaces? Doorman/luxury/renovated is the opposite of what we are looking for, but that is often what we are finding. We are fortunate that this is not a forced move so we are not on a specific time constraint, but I am trying to begin a more thorough research of our options.

Thought perhaps some people on this board might know. Thanks in advance for any input.

[mc33433]

Anybody??

[karhu]

You might want to ask this question on streeteasy.com

[mc33433]

Good idea, thank you. I will try there as well.

[modsquad81]

Unfortunately raw space denotes space without a residential C of O. Something that went out the window 30 years ago when the City started cracking down on LLs who were reaping all kinds of benefits from people moving into their broken down loft buildings and renovating illegally for residential use. If you want to buy space the building would have to have a C of O in place to sell residential. I manage buildings in Soho and Tribeca and people who buy these million dollar lofts treat the current build outs as "raw space". No matter how luxurious the place is they often gut the loft down to the brick and start over. Go figure.

[mc33433]

Thanks, modsquad81. Very good points. I have heard of people tearing apart already renovated spaces to create a raw space for their own start over. Wasteful in my opinion, and not the direction we are moving in. The more I look, the more I come to terms with there being very little of these types of "raw" spaces left, which is understandable. I guess we are looking more for fixer uppers. Thanks again.