Please register to participate in our discussions with 2 million other members - it's free and quick! Some forums can only be seen by registered members. After you create your account, you'll be able to customize options and access all our 15,000 new posts/day with fewer ads.
Hello! I joined this site because it seems extremely useful, so I hope some people can be of help to me.
I have lived in Youngstown, Ohio all my life. It's a town filled with dead steel mills and high crime rates. I am finishing law school and have a 5 year plan to move. Because the cost of living here is cheap, I plan to save $20,000 a year for the next 5 years as a $100,000 downpayment on a Manhattan apartment.
It seems to me, the Upper East Side may be my place as I want to be by the park and (maybe) have a glance of the river. I don't want to be on the outskirts too much. I am willing to sacrifice square footage for location.
That given, my research tells me the average lawyer makes about $85,000 a year. So I figured with a $100,000 downpayment, I can only afford a $350,000 home (that's BEFORE the downpayment).
I see a few apartments that are on the Upper East Side for $350,000 and around 500 square feet- how is that possible? I thought you couldn't touch a 1 bedroom for under $700,000? Am I wrong? Can you get an OK 1-bedroom on the Upper East side for around $350,000?
Also, can someone tell me from personal experience which is better- condos, co-ops, etc? I am afraid of ever-rising monthly fees but don't see a way around it.
Thank you for your time and comments. I've gone as far as I can with Google and need your help from here!
500 sq ft is a very small 1 br apartment. I live in a prewar bldg and the studios are 600 or 650 sq ft and the 1 br's are 750 to 900 sq ft. So the ad you saw is probably for a studio that had a wall put up to create a br or a very small new construction 1 br. If you think you can handle that size apartment you can probably find one for 350,000 or so though it won't be in the best of neighborhoods and might be a "walk up "
I have heard that lately banks are in some cases refusing to finance apts that are less than 500 sq ft... i.e, it is the absolute minimum with some.So make sure it's not really 490 before you get involved.
There are other threads on this board that have dealt with the coop v. condo issue.
[quote=bluedog2;7809839]500 sq ft is a very small 1 br apartment. I live in a prewar bldg and the studios are 600 or 650 sq ft and the 1 br's are 750 to 900 sq ft. So the ad you saw is probably for a studio that had a wall put up to create a br or a very small new construction 1 br. If you think you can handle that size apartment you can probably find one for 350,000 or so though it won't be in the best of neighborhoods and might be a "walk up "
quote]
But could $350,000 get you (even a small 500 sq ft apartment) on the Upper East side? Location, location, location for me. And I suppose, I ought to ask, I thought any place in the Upper East Side was good, so when you mention that "it won't be in the best of neighborhoods", what do you mean?
The upper east side is a large area.It is all considered pretty good but some areas are still much better than others. In that price range you will probably be high up ( the upper 80's or 90's) and or pretty far East by 1st ave or York Ave. These are generally fine neighborhoods but not in the center of things and not as convenient to shopping and transportation( subways).
Some day there will be a subway on 2nd ave which will make things better but i am not sure when the completion date is.The prices will go up if the subway gets finished.
Thanks bluedog- and thanks for mentioning that many banks won't loan for under 500 square feet. Where the heck would I EVER have found THAT out other than you? It's those sort of things that us out-of-towners are clueless about!
You also need to know that co-ops have minimum down payments required. In Manhattan it ranges from 20% to 50%, but some buildings (mostly on Park and Fifth Avenues) don't allow mortgages at all and require 100% cash.
It's not something I think they paid too much attention to until recently.... post bubble.You can probably still find a bank to finance under 500 sq ft but it will be harder and you might not get the best rates,etc.They have tightened up on everything !
You might find some useful info here. //www.city-data.com/forum/new-y...n-condos-coops.
Did I understand correctly - you plan to buy five years from now? Who knows where the prices will be at that time. You will have plenty of time to read up on New York real estate, differences between coops and condos, rent vs buy ratios. I don't know if I'm allowed to recommend other websites here but you could start by reading the NYC talk section of streeteasy, for example. Besides, why not start by renting for a year while you figure out which part of the city you want to live in.
The other caveat about the UES is that there are distinct areas within it. There is no subway east of Lexington avenue, which does tend to be reflected in price. Also, you need to see what type of building in which the apartment is located, since walk-ups will be lower cost than elevator buildings. Lower floors are also less expensive than comparable units on higher floors, and units in the back of the building can be more expensive as well, especially if the building has its own garden.
Views will add to the price, provided you want a view of Central Park. You could get a view of a patch of green with Carl Schurz Park which is in the east 80s at the river, and there are neighborhood parks and gardens throughout the UES that does provide a patch of green view. Central Park commands huge premiums, as do full river views.
I agree that 500 square feet is small for a 1BR, since it's only slightly larger than a two-car garage. There are some in Tudor City, for example, that are about that size, or a little larger, depending upon building and plan. There are also tiny studios in the 300 square foot range in Tudor City as well. While Tudor City is not the UES (it's Midtown East), the complex is vintage (1920s), hence why I used it as a comparison, since there are trade-offs in terms of size and storage space, but it's a great location with its own gardens and some river views, though most units have city views because First Avenue in the 1920s was a derelict industrial district.
Continue to research the areas you like and see what's available in terms of price/space to see what you would like. Some people would find a 700 suare foot 1BR confining, while others would find it spacious.
Exactly 4 years ago (yes...pre-boom & pre-bust), I was seriously looking at a "1 bedroom", which was really a studio with a constructed wall...you could only fit a small futon into the "living-room" and a full or queen bed (no other furniture) into the bedroom. It was tiny. Apartments like that were going for a little over 200K. They are not that far away in price now...same ones are going for about 250K.
For a "real" one bedroom...I think the prices are much higher. But if space is not your issue...you can more quickly afford a studio.
The ones that are on the market are mostly coops. Upper East side is nice because you do get the park & river not far away.
Good luck. Who knows!
Please register to post and access all features of our very popular forum. It is free and quick. Over $68,000 in prizes has already been given out to active posters on our forum. Additional giveaways are planned.
Detailed information about all U.S. cities, counties, and zip codes on our site: City-data.com.
Please register to participate in our discussions with 2 million other members - it's free and quick! Some forums can only be seen by registered members. After you create your account, you'll be able to customize options and access all our 15,000 new posts/day with fewer ads.
$350,000 housing budget for the Upper East Side
