This weekend's real estate cover story in the Times examines the plight of folks who have to sell their homes now because of things like job relocations. Case in point: "Mr. Rogers, his wife, Gillian, and their two small children had been comfortably ensconced in a four-bedroom, 2,000-square-foot condo in Clinton Hill, Brooklyn. The couple bought it for $599,000 in cash in January 2006, after selling the Hell’s Kitchen apartment they had outgrown for $920,000 at the height of the market, and pocketing a profit that was three times what they had paid. They hoped to make a similar killing by buying into another gentrifying neighborhood. 'I used what I called the Starbucks index,' Mr. Rogers said. 'There were no Starbucks around in Hell’s Kitchen when I bought there, and when I sold there were four. There were no Starbucks here either when I bought.'" Fast forward to now, when Rogers has been relocated overseas, and we find the family unable to rent the condo or sell it for what they paid a few years ago (which would mean a loss of around $60,000 in transaction costs). Other hard-luck stories include a couple who have to sell or face housing their baby in a closet. The unifying theme: It's tough out there for sellers.
Gotta Move, Gotta Sell [NY Times]
Pic by AnnabelB.
