For those of you who don't live in NYC, let me tell you that here apartment-hunting is an obsession for some. I personally haven't seen any bad apartments when looking to rent, but I do have friends that have seen some horrible apartments commanding outrageous prices.
To give you an idea what rent is like, I'll throw out some numbers. In my neighborhood, the undesirable location of Washington Heights (which some people not-so-lovingly refer to as "the ghetto"), the average 700-square foot one-bedroom apartment rents at about $1300 per month. These apartments are usually quite old and not in the best condition. In a more desirable neighborhood like Chelsea or the West Village, a similar apartment will cost you about $2500 per month, but probably more as most apartments are smaller down there.
As a result, many people are always on the lookout for a new apartment: one that is cheaper, in a better location, and in better condition. (I have more than one friend who has moved every year while in NYC.) Those who can afford to buy (and plan on staying a while) do so because then you aren't throwing your money away on rent.
But buying an apartment brings its own problems. The average apartment in Manhattan goes for $1.3M. Of course, that is not the median price, as there are many apartments/townhouses that cost in the tens of millions of dollars. (There's one on 5th Avenue, aka Central Park East, that is going for $70M.) The median apartment probably costs $700,000 or so. That means that exactly half of the apartments on the market cost $700k or less; I'd imagine that ~75% cost <$1M. (For the record, the average apartment in Washington Heights probably goes for ~$300k. Three hundred thousand dollars. For an apartment. In the ghetto. Think about that.)
For most apartments in desirable neighborhoods (the Upper West Side, Chelsea, the West Village, the East Village, SoHo, Tribeca, etc) you can expect to pay at least $1000 per square foot when buying an apartment. Prices of $1300/sqft aren't uncommon for luxury apartments in desirable neighborhoods.
Which is why I wonder WTF people in London are thinking when something like this comes on the market: a 77 square foot apartment for $335,000. Excuse me? I'm bigger than 77 square feet! (OK, maybe not, but the surface area inside my lungs is.) That's 7.7 feet wide by 10 feet long. Mmmm, bed?
The article mentions apartments in NYC that go for $5300 per square foot. I'd like to see those places. Even that one on 5th Ave can't be more than $3500 per square foot. Either way, what a ridiculous waste of money. Perhaps if I were a single 40-something-year-old self-made billionaire I would buy an apartment like that to entertain the ladies, but even then I still doubt I would do something so vain and frivolous as spend $5300/sqft.
As for the London apartment, well, some people are idiots. Let them live in closet-sized London apartments. Literally.
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same old adjective, brand new citrus.
4 comments:
I saw an apartment listed on craigslist earlier this week on the UWS that was 95 sq ft. That's really small. Can't remember the price.
When I was trying to move a few years ago, I had a really tight budget, so I only saw mediocre at best apartments in sketchy neighborhoods. Hyunmi got an eye infection from viewing one of them with me, so what does that tell you? Thank God I held out and got my current apartment.
95? that's pretty poor.
i remember the eye infection story. my readers would probably also like to hear another story about that apartment: while going through the kitchen with you and hyunmi, alison opened the fridge. alas, the broker yelled, "don't open that!" too late. for the split second the door was ajar, all that could be seen was blackness. it turns out, that "blackness" was a carpet of cockroaches completely covering everything inside the fridge - food, walls, everything.
woe is the person who moved there...
Man that was so gross. That was a week before my wedding too.
I remember hearing the doctor talking to another doctor outside the exam room and the doc said to my doc, "just give her antiboitics even though it's prob. conjunctivitis. I mean, there is little we can do in a week."
That really freaked me out.
As far as apt. hunting goes, I too am obsessed. Mike and I keep looking, but the 20% down on the 450K apt with enough assets to cover 2 years of payments makes finding a place so hard. Plus a two bedroom is out of the question in Manhattan. So either we continue with Brooklyn (outer borough!) or have out children grow up in the closet. Hard call.
But I have seen some pretty bad apts. The worst (aside from the roach experience) was the one two blocks from where we live now that had a loft for a twin bed and a hot plate and mini fridge as a kitchen and a bathroom. One closet. It was the size of my bedroom at Columbia for 1600 a month. Crazy.
craziness that people will pay $1300 per sq/ft in nyc...that is more than i pay for my 3 bed/2.5 bath home mortgage AND home insurance together!!! gotta love the south!
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