Live data from Hacker News

A rent-stabilized 1 bedroom apartment for $1,100 In NYC? broker's fee is $15K

gothamist.com

201–210 of 450 posts

Re: A rent-stabilized 1 bedroom apartment for $1,100 In NYC? broker's fee is $15K

#201

Earlier quoted context omitted.

I'm in Texas, a state with pretty high property tax. We've also seen a ton of appreciation in recent years. Booming economy, transplants from other states, then the COVID factor. We also have a near free market on rent; I've been a landlord and not aware of any limitations. There are a couple limits on property taxes (namely a cap of 10% increase per year on "homesteads", and an Agriculture exemption for rural proper…

There are ways to address this problem, but in any case this is still ultimately a very good problem for property owners to have. Their property value has increased dramatically. Being forced to move is inconvenient, but you do so with a large bag of cash.

That big bag of cash won’t buy a community where you know most everyone and have friends of decades or more whom you support and support you in return. Social connections take a long time to build and are hard to replace with cash.

Re: A rent-stabilized 1 bedroom apartment for $1,100 In NYC? broker's fee is $15K

#202

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Did you read the rest of the comment? How do you solve the problem of condo owners not maintaining a property and letting problems fester for a couple decades after which they might be dead or move out?

Condos are just a kind of appartement, right? There is normally a kind of owners assembly in which the various owners can take (binding) decisions or action regarding such problems or anything that concerns the building as a whole. It might not be mandatory in all countries I suppose, but it should be.

It's called a home owner's associate or condo board or similar. And a relatively common issue is underfunding it, so one of the things you have to be aware of if buying a "used" condo is how funded the association is, or you may find that the "deal" you got compared to others in the area is because you're going to be hit with a $50k additional assessment in a few years to fix deferred maintenance.

Extreme examples include: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Surfside_condominium_collapse

Re: A rent-stabilized 1 bedroom apartment for $1,100 In NYC? broker's fee is $15K

#203

Earlier quoted context omitted.

read the last paragraph ...

Ah, apologies! I got the "subleasing" directionality wrong. I thought you were describing how you kept the apartment (via subletting to someone else)

NP!

Re: A rent-stabilized 1 bedroom apartment for $1,100 In NYC? broker's fee is $15K

#204

When I see people complaining about never being able to purchase a house my response is always the same. move. $1,100 is considered "well below market rates" for a 1 bedroom apartment in NYC? That's _nuts_ to me. I'm paying $1,600 for a 3 bed, 2 bath 1800 sq ft house with a 2 car garage. Vaulted ceilings, my neighbor is a police officer and I'm on a corner lot across from a park. fire department is literally 3 blocks…

People move to dense areas because that's where job opportunities are. It's a vicious cycle. For software devs tho, you are right. Just get a remote job.

people are extremely bad at coordinating/advocating for their interests, ie. to get more housing built. it's learned helplessness, and crazy memes (like conservation of neighborhood character)

Re: A rent-stabilized 1 bedroom apartment for $1,100 In NYC? broker's fee is $15K

#205
post #76

Earlier quoted context omitted.

read the last paragraph ...

I also thought you didn’t answer the question but after re-reading it sounds like you first started living in the apartment by subleasing from another tenant. Then once another apartment became vacant, because you already lived there you were able to regularize your presence by terminating your sublease so you could lease directly?

yes, so it was mostly luck. but again, it was 225 square feet. I suspect most people wouldnt want to live in that small of a space for 8 years!

Re: A rent-stabilized 1 bedroom apartment for $1,100 In NYC? broker's fee is $15K

#206

Earlier quoted context omitted.

I'm sure it works for the residents of Stockholm, but not so much for all sorts of people who would move to Stockholm but can't wait in line 10 years for an apartment.

…and why should the current residents of Stockholm give a toss about the people who aren't there but want to move in and drive up prices?

Because of economies of scale, the incremental increase in tax revenue that a new resident provides is more money than it costs to have one more resident in the city.

Re: A rent-stabilized 1 bedroom apartment for $1,100 In NYC? broker's fee is $15K

#207

When I see people complaining about never being able to purchase a house my response is always the same. move. $1,100 is considered "well below market rates" for a 1 bedroom apartment in NYC? That's _nuts_ to me. I'm paying $1,600 for a 3 bed, 2 bath 1800 sq ft house with a 2 car garage. Vaulted ceilings, my neighbor is a police officer and I'm on a corner lot across from a park. fire department is literally 3 blocks…

There's a reason why low cost of living areas are low cost of living, and it's not because they're self-sustaining futuristic arcologies. It's because people who can afford otherwise generally don't want to live there.

I want to walk, not drive, out my front door, and be within 15 minutes, on foot, from entertainment and dining and friends and shopping and groceries and pharmacies and salons and cafes. And I want those things because I have social/communal living desires, not antisocial/isolated ones, and because I've lived in many different kinds of environments and seen just how much nicer it is to live in a walking city.

The problem is that many walkable cities continue to refuse to build upwards. NYC, Philadelphia, Boston...they're all vastly 2-4 story construction from 100 years ago. Paris generally goes up to 7 or 8, but has restrictions preventing much more. So they get more and more expensive. But they only get more and more expensive because they continue to be more desirable places to live despite the expense.

Re: A rent-stabilized 1 bedroom apartment for $1,100 In NYC? broker's fee is $15K

#209

For an $1,100/month apartment in NYC, a $15k fee is worth it, even if you have to take out debt for it.

A 15k personal loan at 12% (no idea what loan rates are now, but 12% seems high enough) with a payback period of 3 years would be an extra $600/mo. Heck at 1 year its an extra 1,332.73/mo - you would still come in under median.

Personal loans are like 7% right now. Or at least that's what Amex quotes me every time I log in.

Re: A rent-stabilized 1 bedroom apartment for $1,100 In NYC? broker's fee is $15K

#210

When I see people complaining about never being able to purchase a house my response is always the same. move. $1,100 is considered "well below market rates" for a 1 bedroom apartment in NYC? That's _nuts_ to me. I'm paying $1,600 for a 3 bed, 2 bath 1800 sq ft house with a 2 car garage. Vaulted ceilings, my neighbor is a police officer and I'm on a corner lot across from a park. fire department is literally 3 blocks…

> my neighbor is a police officer

What's the implication here? That you're extra safe? Or that it's a neighborhood that they would also choose?

Post reply on HN