From the Atlantic:
A $6.2 Million Apartment for a 2-Year-Old? Such is NYC’s Luxury Housing Market
Talk about investing in the future. A Chinese woman recently purchased a $6.5 million condo in the One57 building in Midtown Manhattan, which is to be New York’s tallest residential tower when it’s completed next year. She wasn’t buying the place for herself, she explained to her broker, but for her young daughter. Her very young daughter. From the Daily News:
“We’re running around the city looking at things, and I finally said, ‘Why exactly are you buying?’” broker Kevin Brown, of Sotheby’s International, told CCTV News. “She said it had to do with her daughter, who was planning on going to Columbia or NYU, maybe Harvard, so she needed to be in the center of the city, and that is why she was picking this one particular apartment,” Brown said. “I said, ‘How old is your daughter?’ And she said, ‘Well, she’s 2.’ And I was just shocked.”
Shocked he may have been — although the One57 pad was kind of low-end compared to the $88 million, 6,700-square foot Central Park West apartment that Russian fertilizer mogul Dmitri Rybolovlev bought for his (18-year-old) daughter’s alleged use in 2012. In truth, the Chinese millionaire’s forward-thinking purchase was hardly unusual. The high-end real estate market in North American cities such as New York, Miami, and Vancouver has been dominated by foreign investors for years now, with buyers forking over huge sums of money to buy deluxe apartments that they or their lucky offspring might intend to occupy for a few weeks here or there, or in the far future, if ever.The trend has left some upscale urban neighborhoods feeling hollowed-out.
In New York, luxury ghost apartments have been steadily proliferating, with certain parts of Manhattan especially devoid of life According to a 2011 New York Times article, in the chunk of the Upper East Side where the Chinese woman bought her little girl a future dream home, “about 30 percent of the more than 5,000 apartments are routinely vacant more than 10 months a year.” Census figures from 2010 show that since 2000, there was a 70 percent increase in absentee-owned apartments in Manhattan, which jumped from 19,000 to 34,000, with the wealthiest neighborhoods seeing even more pronounced gains. The trend, which reversed briefly after 2007 because of the recession, has been building again — to the point where real estate blog Curbed made fun of the Times for even taking note of it in yet another piece earlier this year.
Some wealthy residents of these lonely luxury abodes, reports the Times, report feeling isolated. And while it may be hard to feel much sympathy for well-heeled people who find themselves rattling around the hallways with only an attentive building staff to chat with, the effect on the surrounding neighborhood is real.
Frist
Good Morning New Jersey
3rd, good morning from china.
Morph [prev thread];
Not sure. Besides that rental there were a couple of houses in my neighborhood moving recently, some of it was up last year. Can’t speak to relative pricing, though. If Zillow is to be believed, my Zestimate is down 1.9% since I bought. I’m not putting a great deal of faith in that number, besides,it may just be circular — CSI says down ~2%; when that is applied to the made-up number they had on my property last year… what do you know, its about 2% lower!
I guess schools will have to replace their Spanish classes with Mandarin soon.
Hot money from Japan in the 80s same story with China and..Russia this time.
who was planning on going to Columbia or NYU, maybe Harvard
Agent who sold her the place didn’t have the heart to tell her that Harvard is not in New York City.
Grim [6];
She can commute on the Acela… or a private helicopter (can’t take the shuttle, traffic from Logan is a b!tch).
[TIC]
I thought I remembered people here recommending marble.com as a good place for counter tops, but a search of the site turns up nothing. What happened to that disscussion Grim?
We got our countertops at All Granite and Marble (marble.com), my sister just recently got her countertops for kitchen and wet bar. They do a nice job and selection can not be beat, anywhere. I got a dozen recommendations for chop shops around Northern NJ, and while prices were good, their selection sucked. I suppose if you aren’t picky, you might find something cheaper somewhere else. Our big challenge was that we were looking for “honed” or “leathered” granite, and that’s not very common (glossy but not mirror polished). We thought the pricing was very reasonable and they went out of their way to edge-match the seam on our island (required two slabs to cover). Not only did we get to pick the 4 or so slabs we needed, but we got to choose the specific parts of the slabs for which to make the countertop sections out of.
Hell, it’s worth just going out to Ridgefield Park and walking their lot.
It is not just the rich Chinese coming here. There is Chinese woman begging by the entrance to Rt 1-9 near the Holland tunnel exit at least one a week. She has a sign that says HELP I have two kids.
The foreigners in my neck of the woods are now are nearing I am guessing 40% if the local population. Lots and lots of Brits, French, Russian, Chinese etc, all had kids here making them anchor babies in-case the NYC finance job ends abruptly. I have a cousin from England who just landed a nice Job on Wall St. She has a very fine English upbringing and accent to boot. She struggled for a while after a layoff in 2009 but is back in the saddle again.
It’s a Bull market in Equities if you listen to the MSM on Bloomberg this morning they said even the little guy is is buying stocks and housing has making a rebound.
11:
“It is not just the rich Chinese coming here. There is Chinese woman begging by the entrance to Rt 1-9 near the Holland tunnel exit at least one a week. She has a sign that says HELP I have two kids.”
I think that’s the same woman from the subject article.
Is this the next head of state to flee to London or the US?
http://www.enetenglish.gr/?i=news.en.economy&id=481
I hear they are now saying anyone left with money remaining in Cyprus may face losses of up to 60%.
Good Morning All. Long time lurker here. I am looking to buy single family home in West Windsor area. Can anyone recommend good RE agent in mercer county?
#14
I know a house that is not in the market yet.Owner is thinking of putting it in the market,maybe knock on the door and save everyone commission.
5 Stuart lane West
http://www.zillow.com/homedetails/5-Stuart-Ln-W-Princeton-Junction-NJ-08550/39039660_zpid/
Thanks for the lead, Yome
The interminable hell of baseball starting again.
Makes me want to puke. Truly a degenerate sport.
…although not as degenerate as football.
Baseball returns to the Home Office for 2013 beginning today.
http://mlb.mlb.com/assets/images/8/1/0/43023810/cuts/yankeestadium640_4axgnr4x_qri76f83.jpg
18 – explain what you mean exactly by degenerate
Teach kids Mandarin? Why, they can order takeout just fine…
From CNBC:
Junior Plans to Milk Parents a Little Longer: Survey
If Junior has his way, there’s a good chance he’s planning to be on your dime until his mid-20s, while simultaneously believing his financial future is brighter than yours, new research shows.
About 29 percent of those surveyed expect to be 25 years or older before they are financially independent without their parents’ help, according to a survey from AllState and Junior Achievement USA.
That’s up from 27 percent last year, and a large increase from the 16 percent who felt the same way just two years ago.
#9 and 10: Thanks for the heads-up on Marble.com. A friend of mine used them and was thrilled with them, so I’m happy to have yet more testimonials since I was leaning towards using them when I finally redo my kitchen.
Funny how there are only 3 types who are housing bulls:
1. People in their 50s who made out like bandits during the bubble. Of course real estate was a good investment…in 1992.
2. People who bought in 2010-2012 claiming they hit the bottom. All those spreadsheets had to be right.
3. All pundits, realwh*res and mortgage demons who need it to be so..
Regular folks with eyes open are not seeing this recovery. No one I know is buying.
Fannie Mae executives are due this week to release the company’s earnings report for the last quarter of 2012, a filing delayed by an unanticipated problem: The Washington-based mortgage financier is making money and expects to remain steadily profitable.
Fannie Mae and McLean, Virginia-based Freddie Mac (FMCC), once thought to be the only financial-crisis bailout recipients that would generate a net loss for taxpayers, are poised to begin funneling healthy quarterly revenue back to the U.S Treasury as the housing market rebounds. The reversal of fortune is creating political and administrative headaches in Washington, where few expected the turnaround and the future of mortgage financing remains undecided.
http://www.bloomberg.com/news/2013-04-01/fannie-mae-and-freddie-mac-face-new-problem-profitability.html
Fannie Mae and Freddie Mac buy mortgages from lenders and package them into securities on which they guarantee payments of principal and interest. They’ve drawn $187.5 billion from Treasury and have sent back more than $50 billion in the form of dividends, which count as a return on the government’s investment and not as a repayment.
Mrs. Watanabe just arrived in the US, and currencies? That’s soooooo 2012. From MarketWatch:
Bubble-era home-equity strategies are back
Lenders say a growing number of luxury homeowners are turning to a prerecession tactic of withdrawing equity from their homes. And just like during the housing bubble, many of these affluent borrowers aren’t using this cash to renovate their homes. Instead, they’re pumping it into investments, including the stock market, other real-estate purchases or even using the money to purchase art, which they expect will generate large returns going forward. In other cases, they’re choosing to use this cash to pay for their children’s college tuition or other expenses that they’d otherwise finance with higher-interest debt.
23 – So which group am I in? 2 or 3?
More money for Mortgage Modification?
Fannie Mae said it expects to report “significant net income” for the quarter that ended Dec. 31. Freddie Mac reported in February that it earned $11 billion in all of 2012, compared with a loss of $5.3 billion in 2011. Fannie reported profits of $9.6 billion for the first three quarters of last year
re # 23 – Bystander – The wealth effect is again in full effect, markets are up and that is all that matters. If you think that we are going downhill like Europe where Real Estate is down 70% in some areas you are forgetting that the Fed will print until the cows come home even if it is another 10 years. Case Shiller is about as flat as it is going to get. We have been bouncing along the bottom and will continue to do so.
The only thing that will change the outcome is another recession, none predicted in any forecast I can find.
Even the GSEs holding most of the foreclosures is turning a profit
Bystander is just pissed off that his landlord jacked his rent up
Buying a house today doesn’t mean you’re a bull, it reflects an understanding that people don’t live forever, or that people are at different points in their lives, or that quality inventory at bargain prices will not materialize any time soon in this area, or that people have strong cash positions and can weather bad times for many years, etc, etc.
Also: “No one I know is buying.” Isn’t that generally the best time to buy?
I am buying and JJ is buying. We are both Bulls only difference is I have a bigger horn.
re: # 30 – re GSEs isn’t everyone left going to get their Pony too?
Rumor is Edward DeMarco is being replaced, if that happens mass principal reductions?
34-
three months of non payment, modification without verification. I bet it will include no closing cost.
Under the initiative, mortgage finance firms Fannie Mae and Freddie Macwill no longer require documents on personal finances or paperwork that records financial hardship from homeowners who are at least 90 days delinquent in order for them to receive a mortgage modification. “This new option gives delinquent borrowers another path to avoid foreclosure,” said FHFA Acting Director Edward DeMarco in a statement. “We will still encourage such borrowers to provide documentation to support other modification options that would likely result in additional borrower savings.”The program will only be open to borrowers with loans backed by government-controlled Fannie Mae and Freddie Mac. The two firms finance about two-thirds of all new U.S. mortgages, but account for a far lower portion of delinquent mortgages.
http://www.reuters.com/article/2013/03/27/us-usa-housing-mortgages-idUSBRE92Q0L420130327
re # 36 – What is a few hundred billion between countrymen?
Grim,
I feel guilty calling you a #2 but you are a #2 :-D
I would never lump you in with the third group. Your blog has been sanity over the years. We just disagree on timing. Spring will be good but summer cliff. People talk about pent up buyers?? How about pent up sellers? Some folks are listing for a third spring. No new correctly priced inv. will kill the market.
grim says:
April 1, 2013 at 3:47 pm
23 – So which group am I in? 2 or 3?
http://www.dailymotion.com/video/x4p4bk_ivan-putski-vs-luscious-johnny-vali_news
JB – “The wealth effect is again in full effect, markets are up and that is all that matters. ”
– your right, the nominal effect is so annoyingly (is that a word?) strong. Too bad people can’t connect the dots.
JB – “The only thing that will change the outcome is another recession, none predicted in any forecast I can find.”
– which is why I am terrified.
Actually Brian, I live in a high-end CT town and pay $1600 for a 2 BD and walk to train. My landlord had not raised rent in over 2 years of living here. She watches my pets for free. No yardwork, snow shoveling or extraneous expenses. Jealous yet?
Smart money has traded dollars for bitcoins.
Your breath smells like pierogi…..
My mother in law has tenants she charges $800 a month for an apartment she could easily get $1,500 a month for, she could probably get $1,750 if she wanted to wait a week or two to find a tenant. She feels bad for them because they lost their house in foreclosure. Tenants she had before that paid even less, they left when they couldn’t pay much of anything at all. Expect the same of this crew, the husband doesn’t even bother to work anymore (why would you with a sweetheart deal like that?).
Sure, she might be racking up the karma points, but at what cost? ($11,400 per year is the cost)
CT? Don’t you guys have to pay a vehicle tax to your municipality?
http://www.ct.gov/dmv/cwp/view.asp?a=814&q=245268
Definitely not jealous of that. Also not jealous of your fuel taxes.
Didn’t they just increase your taxes on alcohol too?
http://www.middletownpress.com/articles/2011/04/23/news/doc4db2edc55f044466203497.txt?mobredir=false
I guess it’s cool that you guys can buy fireworks though.
Btw, seats on the bus are way more comfortable than the train….at least in NJ anyway
Shouldn’t you be on the CTrereport website? Oh that’s right CT sucks.
Bystander says:
April 1, 2013 at 5:42 pm
Actually Brian, I live in a high-end CT town and pay $1600 for a 2 BD and walk to train. My landlord had not raised rent in over 2 years of living here. She watches my pets for free. No yardwork, snow shoveling or extraneous expenses. Jealous yet?
Put in an offer for a sfh in the same town we are living. It will be 2nd rental we have in town. Seller countered, we will hold our line while vocationing overseas. Price does increase some, as my estimated case flow on this new deal is not as good as previous one. That 20k difference makes or break the deal on our book.
#21
I know kids who are staying home to get their Masters. Some of the parents are paying for it as well even though they payed for undergrad for four years. Also know people whose kids have been working and are living home. Why leave if you have it easy? Maybe the tables will turn and those same parents will have to live with kids when they are too old to work and have no money left.
Anyone got a mold reccomendation? Inspection came back with mold in the attic.
2nd floor hvac is in the attic. Ask for $$?
This will all seem like a happy little conversation after the necronomy collapses and we’re wandering the countryside in armed packs.
All the little sheep are being led to slaughter. Once the slaughterhouse is full, the doors get shut.
No one will be spared. No one.
Hey, yome, if the GSEs are in such great shape, why are they being forcibly shut down?
Scrapple – please dust off you hat and give me a mold recommendation. 3nd floor attic was done around 8 years ago, HVAC is up there for second floor, lack of ventilation or cleaning of the vents etc. Pictures don’t look bad, it’s black but not like it is growing exponetially, the homeowners getting their own mold inspection. Anyone even ever get back $$ on attic mold?
re # 42 – Grim Bitcoins? They will shut it down, I am surprised the Secret Service hasn’t moved in yet.
Except they have and will.
http://silvervigilante.com/richest-man-in-bitcoin-realm-secret-service/
Brian,
Born in NJ, owned in Brigadoon (as some know) for years…you are nuts if you think NJ is somehow cheaper than CT. You pay 4-5K less in property taxes on a decent 1600 sq ft home with 1/2 acre in a good area. You pay no tolls and sales tax is slightly less than NJ. Yes, personal property stinks but even if you own a very expensive car, it is $600 for year. Metro North is light years ahead of NJ Transit – no comparison. I took Raritan line for years and it was completely unreliable. Talk trash all you want. CT has many issues but nowhere near NJ levels (yet).
250K:
went with NJ window and siding. I believe they are soft lite windows with 50 year warranty. These guys really took their time to install the windows: at least 6 days.
juice (51)-
All houses have mold. You just don’t want the kind that stops your breathing. If the homeowner has a reputable guy clean it up, I’d call it a win.
FWIW, the homeowner should also install a fan and properly vent the attic so that the mold doesn’t grow again.
I’m only interested in the kind of bitcoin that comes out the business end of a .357.
Make my day, mf’er.
Thanks Scrapple. I don’t want to tank the deal. I will be sure to pay a visit and buy a case before I head off into obscurity.
23: so I am a now bull?
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The trend of wealthy Chinese and Russians buying flats in upmarket areas will continue, because they have money to spare and the US dollar is going down fast in relative terms.