Update: Live-In Landlord Opportunity in NYC

Whilst browsing Sotheby’s the other day, as I am wont to do, I came across a rental listing for a New York City building that I featured back in May.

The building, if you remember, was a rent-regulated 6-unit West Village building. Listed for $4.5 million, it’s now under contract, and the owners are already trying to rent out the garden studio apartment for $2,500. Seems a bit steep for a tiny, dark apartment, but then again it’s been a while since I’ve dealt with astronomical NYC prices.

I wonder if the new owners will occupy the “Owner’s South Garden Duplex,” which looked nice based on the floor plans.

Word to the wise: it’s smart to start marketing your rental property ASAP, even if you’re still in escrow. Don’t get yourself into trouble by signing contracts, but it can’t hurt to start screening tenants. Everything takes longer than you think, so start making your money from Day 1!

Sustainable Building and Condo Breakdowns

How do I constantly find myself reporting on real estate gone wrong? Oh yeah, because it seriously happens, and I believe people need to weigh all the risks when making real estate decisions.

Today’s real estate disaster is rather epic in scale, and it’s also a tale of six degrees of real estate separation. Remember the Taos home from last week? The one built by the Mithun architect? Well, I was clicking through the Mithun site and came across a stunning condo building they did back in 2004-8. After further digging, I found out that the condo building–Seattle’s Mosler Lofts–was the subject of much drama, which was dutifully reported on by my blogger bud Matt over at UrbnLvin.

It’s not Kevin Bacon, but it’s still cool to make connections across the real estate world. The drama largely surrounded a lien that stuck around for years (a lien being a claim against the title of a home, meaning you can’t sell it). The lien was finally resolved in the spring of this year, and the owners are thrilled to be released from their lien-created prison. Even the developer himself is using the opportunity to sell his unit.

Dramz aside, the building was ambitious in scale and in sustainability goals. The developer, Mark Schuster, even wrote a book about it: Lofty Goals. It’s clear that the building was a true labor of love for Schuster, who named it after his grandfather. I don’t know how much dirt he’ll dish on the lien, but hopefully he’ll go for transparency rather than simple PR. Sharing real stories is a great way to learn from each other.

On to business!

Let’s check out the units. The developer isn’t the only one peacing out on this building. Here are the units I found currently for sale:

• Penthouse #1 – 2,398 sq ft – $1,970,000
• Penthouse #2 – 2,000 sq ft – $3,00,000 (this is the developer’s unit)
• Unit #900-901 – 2,035 sq ft – $1,395,000
• Unit #1007-8 – 1,546 sq ft – $898,000
• Unit #316 – 991 sq ft – $388,000
• Unit #311 – 697 sq ft – $224,950
• Unit #704 – 551 sq ft – $209,000

A true condo assortment!

You’ll have to click through to see photos of each unit (and I do recommend checking them out – they’re pretty diverse), but here are a few to whet your palette:

Sustainably Stunning in Taos

Sustainably stunning? Is that super lame? I can’t tell – that’s what the Internet does. It turns your brain to mush!

What I know ISN’T lame is this tricked out sustainable house in Taos, NM. (Disclaimer: I was born and raised in New Mexico so I have inside information about how awesome it is.)

The home is 3 bedrooms / 2.5 bathrooms / 2,300 sq ft and is listed for $749,000. [Full listing here.] Oh, and to answer your question, horses are indeed allowed.

Designed by Antonio Pares, who now works with the sustainable architecture firm Mithun, the home’s listing claims one can live “off the grid.” One must wonder what exactly that means, as there isn’t much detail about the exact nature of the home’s sustainability claims. But when we’re blissing out to Real Estate Porn, we don’t ask too many questions. We don’t ask why it’s been on the market for 3 years, or why there are no photos of the kitchen/bathrooms/fireplaces.

Just splurge on images:

Renting to Own Happiness and Avoid Clutter

I realize it’s ironic for a blog about real estate to advocate renting. The thing is, for many people, renting makes a lot of sense. The American Dream tradition of everyone owning a home served our country well…until it didn’t.

And now, people are increasingly questioning the value of home ownership. Some say it stifles creativity and innovation, which are vital to US economic growth.

But back to how all this theory impacts you in your individual life. A recent blog post by George Saines argues against home ownership and really any kind of ownership. Recognizing that he’s a 20-something startup founder whose priorities aren’t universally shared, Saines argues:

• Home ownership requires additional maintenance costs and time investment
• Owning a home makes it easier to accumulate Stuff
• Owning Stuff makes you less mobile and costs money and time
• Owning a pet requires expensive vet visits/pet sitters, and reduces mobility (I’d add that it also reduces your living situation options)
• Owning a car is convenient, but carries additional costs and stress over maintenance (“what was that weird sound??”)
• And my favorite: Owning very nice things stresses you out because you have to take care of them (this is why I avoid nice clothes or anything white)

In short, ownership means extra cost, less time, less mobility, fewer options, and more stress. Who wants that?

Similar to Saines, I’m a 20-something who has avoided getting bogged down with ownership as much as I can:

• I do own a condo in Portland, OR, but it pays for itself as a corporate apartment rental
• My boyfriend and I rent a small 1 bedroom apartment in San Francisco – we live in a central neighborhood close to public transportation
• I rent a furnished office nearby for my new business (more on that another time) with a month-to-month lease
• We don’t own a car; we rely on public transit, Zipcar, and a bike
• Instead of buying new furniture, we got nearly all our household items from Craigslist and thrift stores (not exactly renting, but our furniture doesn’t depreciate, so we can sell it later for the same price we paid)
• We get our music through Pandora and Spotify, our TV through Hulu and Netflix
• We don’t have pets, though I occasionally dog sit for relatives to get my animal fix

We cut out any and all overhead we can and rent wherever possible. This keeps us flexible in our lives and fluid in our careers. Sure, it’s a hassle to get around the city by bus. We can’t take road trips whenever we want. We don’t have a lot of space in our apartment, and we have to live with noisy neighbors. But the payoff in terms of life flexibility is priceless. Two years ago, on a month’s notice, I picked up and moved to Europe for a year for my job. Before that, I made two cross-country moves with less than a week’s notice, also to pursue work opportunities.

That said, if we were at a different phase of our lives, things would be different. People with stable income, who want to stay in one place, and who can afford all the costs of home ownership will likely choose to buy–and it makes sense for them. There is a lot to be said for pride of ownership, commitment to a community, and a sense of roots. But young first-time homebuyers would be well advised to really think about your priorities in life before rushing into home ownership.

Photo credit: I found the trippy photo on Buzzle.com

Update: Recovering from Renovation Wreckage

Remember the plight of Real Savvy readers Jocelyn and Kevan? The ones who bought their dream home, planning to spend a few thousand on minor repairs and ended up mired in four times the damage and expense?

To refresh your memory, here’s what the front of their house looked like after their contractor discovered massive termite and fire damage while doing a simple window replacement:

After two and a half months of take-out Chinese food and living with a construction crew, Jocelyn and Kevan are happy to report that their dream house is back in one piece:

Here’s one more shot to give the full effect. Can’t you imagine them collapsing on the comfy couch after saying goodbye to the construction crew for the last time?

If you haven’t yet, be sure to read their eye-opening full story, which contains a ton of useful tips for first time homebuyers. Here are my three favorite:

• Know your rights and advocate for yourself. You have to remember that it’s your money and your livelihood on the line, so you absolutely should be educated and vocal throughout the process. Don’t let anyone sweep your concerns aside.

• Trust your gut. If something doesn’t feel right, it’s probably not.

• Don’t buy up to your budget cap, and allow lots of room for incidental costs. This is one thing we were smart about–we bought a home $60K under our limit, which has allowed us to pay for the unexpected repairs without going into huge debt.

As we’ve learned, even the most harrowing of tales can have happy endings. Congratulations to Jocelyn and Kevan on their gorgeous new home!

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