Rent, Buy, or Rent to Own Lux Living in Harlem
The Dover on West 123rd Street
Who would have ‘thunk’ it? Just two years ago the Harlem real estate market was hot, hot, hot! Muy Caliente! On fire! What a journey this ride is turning out to be.
I am going to give you the short and sweet version of where the market stands right now. I’ve been receiving emails, press releases, and inquiries from various marketers and developers. It is definitely a buyer’s market, if you can afford to make the move. Please chime in with your own thoughts in the comments section below.
- The Dover, two renovated brownstones converted to condos, is now offering buyers a rent-to-own option to first time homeowners.
- Halstead is now listing “affordable/income restricted” units in the following Harlem developments:
- The Beacon Towers, an 8 story brick building on 138th St.
- The Langston, a luxury condo at 145th and Bradhurst.
The Dover
Qualified buyers will be able to apply the majority of the rent to the principal asking price at the end of a twelve-month lease.
The rent-to-buy program was created to attract potential buyers who may not have the recommended twenty percent down payment or be able to obtain a mortgage in today’s lending environment. Many first time homebuyers are lacking the credit history and/or the large down payment that is typically required for a Manhattan home.
Potential buyers for The Dover who are interested in participating in the rent-to-buy program will be asked for a fully refundable three percent deposit on the asking price of the condominium which will be placed in an escrow account. For a two-bedroom, two-bath home that is being offered at $665,000, potential buyers would pay a manageable $2,700 per month in rent. At the end of a twelve-month lease, the buyer may apply the accumulated $24,000 to the offering price or receive a check for the same amount after closing. The sponsor will also pay the transfer tax.
Homes include skylights, exposed brick, a personal washer/dryer, granite countertops, Shaker wood cabinetry and oak flooring.
The Dover is offering oversize one-bedroom Penthouse duplexes, with one-and a half bath homes starting at $530,000 and two-bedroom, two bath homes, from $665,000. Two large 1,470 square-foot Garden Apartment duplexes with two and a half bathrooms, complete with its own private garden asking $825,000.
For more information on The Dover, please visit www.dovercondo.com or call Simon Shamilzadeh at 212-688-1134.
Halstead Affordable (…via TRD)
In two weeks, in a new section on Halstead’s Web site, buyers can browse among units reserved for those making less than a certain salary. That salary will be based on the median household income in the New York City area, which is $76,820.
Beacon Towers is an eight-story new brick building at 29 West 138th Street. Its 28 below-market units will be priced from about $300,000 to $475,000. Buyers can make no more than 225 percent of the median income, or about $173,000, said Halstead executive director Stephen Kliegerman.
Halstead’s site will also offer a few units in the Langston, a luxury condo at 68 Bradhurst Avenue in Harlem where units started closing in 2007, Kliegerman said, adding that affordable rentals may follow on the new section of the site soon.
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now what are the chances that i get a pad like this fully furnished at a sec 8 price? hmm lol
Dover’s Rent to Own offer is a gimmick reflecting desperation of the developer. The units could not sell at the asking price so this is a last ditch effort to still capture that wishful pie-in-the-sky asking price. The market outlook is so poor going forward the developer has determined left to the natural forces of the market these units will not sell over the next year, hence device a gimmick to increase the chances of getting a sale in 1 year’s time. The renter/buyer is the loser bigtime as they developer wants you to commit at a price point that the current market will not pay. Truth? The units could be overpriced by 5%, 10%, who knows, possibly they would need a 20% price reduction to sell today. The developer does not want to adjust or listen to the market and prob what price is needed to sell today, hence the gimmick. Furthermore in 1 years time, the value of these units might be 10% or 20% lower in 2010, than they are right now in 2090. Hence the developer wants you to commit now, at a price that’s over market value (they can’t sell at the asking price) to buy in 1 years time, a year that will very likely see a drop in current prices going forward. Think about it, you’re asking to commit to overpay what is a declining asset. You’re asked to “catch a falling knife” in getting into this gimmick.
Furthermore there are lots of first time home buyer’s programs out that that only require you putting down 10%, I bought a property in Harlem with an FHA and only put down 5% (years and years ago). It’s in fringe nabes where mortgage companies won’t offer a 10% downpayment mortgage product.
Banks, developers, and real estate firms exploited lots of first time home buyers in lots of ways, this Rent To Own scheme is just one more way. If a property needs a gimmick to move, STAY AWAY from it. If you can’t obtain a FHA or 10% mortgage from a bank regardless of the property, you don’t need to be trying to reach for a pie-in-the-sky gimmick like this. Most folks know the “Rent-To-Own” furniture, appliances, etc. business are only found in the ghetto, urban america, FOR A REASON. These are rip off business models that thrive off Black and Hispanic people, people on the fringes. These are rip-offs and everyone knows it.
“Rent To Own” (Furniture, Appliances, Property = RIP OFF). The developer in this case is doing anything it can than swallow lowering their asking price by 5% or 10%. That’s the real solution that the developer won’t accept. We’re in a declining market folks, in the next 365 days these condos will be worth less than they are today, might be 1% less, might be 10% less, might be more, however the trend in Harlem for the next year is not pretty and couple this with the fact that the inventory is piling up and lots of new properties will be on the market in ’09.