Where to begin with the Daily News' deconstruction of the growing real estate mess in Brooklyn? Park Slope? Greenpoint? Sheepshead Bay? Bushwick? Hmmm. Part of the story deals with working class neighborhoods so, we'll start with an overall quote about how f'd they are before moving on:
The perception that New York largely dodged the housing bust bullet may be true in Manhattan, but in the working-class outer boroughs, house sales are falling faster than the Dow. A look at housing sales in the city's two biggest boroughs, Brooklyn and Queens, shows sales of one-, two- and three-family homes - the backbone of city housing - fell off a cliff.
Now that that's out of the way, we'll look at some nabes:
1) Park Slope: You are not seeing things: It's "a buyer's market in Park Slope." Particularly for some of the new condos that haven't even sold a single unit.
2) Greenpoint: The smell of death (and it's not from the huge sewage plant on Newtown Creek) is starting to permeate the neighborhood. Here's one family's tale of woe: Last February, they put their condo on the market at $549,000. Then, they PriceChopped it $499,999. Several buyers couldn't get mortgages. They may be close. Hey, all they want to do is get the hell out of Greenpont and go to Westchester.
3) Sheepshead Bay: So, here's a family that bought a house for $600K in 2007 and is now "a victim of the times." House sales in the nabe are down 44.5 percent from the peak of the market. they put the house up for $699,000, but took an offer for $500,000. The deal died when the buyer asked for a shower in the basement and a separate gas meter (?). "Recently, a neighbor told Rita his sister was interested in the house but would wait until it fell to $300,000."
4) Bushwick: If you want to see a real horror movie play out, come here. Six months ago a woman put her house on the market at $800,000 (which is threatened with foreclosure). You want to talk PriceChops? The price is down to $540,000 and still "Everybody has been trying to low-ball" the price. Plus, the tenants aren't paying the rent.For more stories from Curbed, go to curbed.com.
