trying to figure out if we should sell our apt now assuming it's lost about 1/3 of value or wait, risking it losing even more...
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Anonymous
Sep 23, 2020 · Edited: Sep 23, 2020
I was just able to negotiate a price decrease of about 1/4 on an investment property that I will rent out; this was off a price that was already about 1/5 off of an October 2019 price...so I think if your property is well-located, you can price it at 1/3 off, and expect to get offers of a less than that. Another property I was considering was already priced competitively due to its unrenovated status went for its asking price. Incredibly well-located and great co-op building.
If you don't need to sell now, I would absolutely not sell. The market was already soft before Covid, and now it's in a (temporary) freefall. I suggest waiting until next fall when hopefully schools will reopen full-time and office workers will be expected to come back. Do you need to sell now?
I don't see anything that looks like free fall. Prices seem to be holding fairly steady and I know two people who were recently able to sell for close to asking price.
I'm looking to upgrade and I have not seen places drop by so much. Also, I'll say it and say it again: there hasn't been a uniform price impact across all housing levels. If you have an apartment that is $6 million or $1.5 million or $700k, the impact of COVID on your price will be different.
I would love to upgrade now too, but DH thinks it's a bad idea to own TWO apartments when the market is so uncertain. Do you think you'll pull the trigger? Would you sell your existing place or try to hang onto it until market improves?
@anonymous I actually just refinanced my current place this week, so I guess I'm hedging on whether I'll actually be able to upgrade. However, with the refinance, our current place has really really low carrying costs now (which is how I've managed to save up for an upgrade).
@Anonymous Out of curiosity, what's the price range you're looking at? I'm browsing at $3-4M (bought our current place for $3M at the top of the market, but certain it's worth less than that now). But I doubt I'll pull the trigger so this is more of a pipe dream.
Same I'm in queens and rentals are a.mess but asking prices to buy haven't dropped. I wonder for the good yes school districts like ps 6, are prices down or holding ?
No idea, not planning to sell. If you don't need to sell, I would not do it now. Market has been soft for a couple of years and not better now for sure.
Lol at you all expecting apartment prices to be up 20% in a year! covid has exposed a bubble in pricing that would have popped worse if not for near zero interest rates. pricing is already supported by these low rates. How will pricing react to higher federal taxes, state tax city tax and property tax? Who is going to pay for UBI in New York and the Federal level and pay for all the international charity we are now recommitting to while printing trillion dollar deficits? Hope is not strategy. I see no reason for apartment pricing to go up 20%
when NYC is increasingly
uncompetitive and is a piggy bank for politicians at the same time.
I’m not suggesting it’s going up next year but the “who would want to live here?” question has been posed many times and ny always thrives. Don’t bet against this city.
May be counterintuitive, but the best real estate move has been to use a downturn in the market to upgrade. Yes, you'll get less for your place but you'll save even more on the more expensive upgrade. Hard for people to get comfortable with this though!
FWIW, people are buying when sellers become realistic - we are! We’ve been renting forever, saving carefully, and are finally able to buy what we want as covid has brought prices down 20-25% for the area & type of apt we want. Sure, the market may go down further, but we are not buying to time the market. After a year of being sardined with young kids in a tiny apartment, we needed more space and we can finally actually buy what we want within our budget. We plan to stay in this apt forever so it wasn’t about timing the market...obviously would not have bought for the short term.
A few areas are. The ultra luxury market (think 3K+/ft is down at least that). Midtown and Fidi are whacked (no kids to keep anchored here). I have seen areas of Tribeca/West Village down that much. UES 3BRs in good areas are flat-to-up! I think market is stable here though and won't go down for now. I wonder what happens when stock market pops though or what the tax increases look like when they happen.
We own in downtown Manhattan and would make money if we sold now. We bought in 2003 and then combined with a neighboring apt in 2007 and could probably still get more than $2M for ours. I've been looking though and can't find anything better than what we have in the $3-4M range in our neighborhood. All the new construction is loft-like or too small down here and it doesn't seem like prices have come down yet. People keep talking about them falling but I think that's more in the 1-2 bedroom market.
We bought 10+ years ago, no idea what apt. is worth and don't really care, we're looking at refinancing instead of moving. The interest rate on our mortgage is already super low (we have an arm that adjusted down last fall) but we want to lock in a low rate and pay down some principle. Eventually something on a higher floor in our building will open up, for one reason or another, and we'll be ready.
I was just able to negotiate a price decrease of about 1/4 on an investment property that I will rent out; this was off a price that was already about 1/5 off of an October 2019 price...so I think if your property is well-located, you can price it at 1/3 off, and expect to get offers of a less than that. Another property I was considering was already priced competitively due to its unrenovated status went for its asking price. Incredibly well-located and great co-op building.
If you don't need to sell now, I would absolutely not sell. The market was already soft before Covid, and now it's in a (temporary) freefall. I suggest waiting until next fall when hopefully schools will reopen full-time and office workers will be expected to come back. Do you need to sell now?
I don't see anything that looks like free fall. Prices seem to be holding fairly steady and I know two people who were recently able to sell for close to asking price.
@anonymous Look at how long inventory is sitting on the market. The market is not healthy.
I'm looking to upgrade and I have not seen places drop by so much. Also, I'll say it and say it again: there hasn't been a uniform price impact across all housing levels. If you have an apartment that is $6 million or $1.5 million or $700k, the impact of COVID on your price will be different.
I would love to upgrade now too, but DH thinks it's a bad idea to own TWO apartments when the market is so uncertain. Do you think you'll pull the trigger? Would you sell your existing place or try to hang onto it until market improves?
@anonymous I actually just refinanced my current place this week, so I guess I'm hedging on whether I'll actually be able to upgrade. However, with the refinance, our current place has really really low carrying costs now (which is how I've managed to save up for an upgrade).
@Anonymous Out of curiosity, what's the price range you're looking at? I'm browsing at $3-4M (bought our current place for $3M at the top of the market, but certain it's worth less than that now). But I doubt I'll pull the trigger so this is more of a pipe dream.
I'm in the outer boroughs and nothing has dropped here. Prices are still trending up.
Same I'm in queens and rentals are a.mess but asking prices to buy haven't dropped. I wonder for the good yes school districts like ps 6, are prices down or holding ?
I was just going to say same.
Same, and quicker sales/higher prices for places with outdoor space. Dec-Feb is always a trough, no?
No idea, not planning to sell. If you don't need to sell, I would not do it now. Market has been soft for a couple of years and not better now for sure.
If possible don't sell now. I am expecting about 10 years till we can sell for a profit. Sad but true.
Lol at you all expecting apartment prices to be up 20% in a year! covid has exposed a bubble in pricing that would have popped worse if not for near zero interest rates. pricing is already supported by these low rates. How will pricing react to higher federal taxes, state tax city tax and property tax? Who is going to pay for UBI in New York and the Federal level and pay for all the international charity we are now recommitting to while printing trillion dollar deficits? Hope is not strategy. I see no reason for apartment pricing to go up 20% when NYC is increasingly
uncompetitive and is a piggy bank for politicians at the same time.
I’m not suggesting it’s going up next year but the “who would want to live here?” question has been posed many times and ny always thrives. Don’t bet against this city.
I did not say no one would want to live here. I do. I don't think that means real estate prices only go up, there are other variables in play.
"If you don't need to sell, I would not do it now. Market has been soft for a couple of years and not better now for sure."
so when should one sell?
When you actually need to move?
May be counterintuitive, but the best real estate move has been to use a downturn in the market to upgrade. Yes, you'll get less for your place but you'll save even more on the more expensive upgrade. Hard for people to get comfortable with this though!
FWIW, people are buying when sellers become realistic - we are! We’ve been renting forever, saving carefully, and are finally able to buy what we want as covid has brought prices down 20-25% for the area & type of apt we want. Sure, the market may go down further, but we are not buying to time the market. After a year of being sardined with young kids in a tiny apartment, we needed more space and we can finally actually buy what we want within our budget. We plan to stay in this apt forever so it wasn’t about timing the market...obviously would not have bought for the short term.
Which area and how many bedrooms did you buy?
What area are you in where prices are down 20-25%?? Not NYC
A few areas are. The ultra luxury market (think 3K+/ft is down at least that). Midtown and Fidi are whacked (no kids to keep anchored here). I have seen areas of Tribeca/West Village down that much. UES 3BRs in good areas are flat-to-up! I think market is stable here though and won't go down for now. I wonder what happens when stock market pops though or what the tax increases look like when they happen.
@Anonymous OK, but the op has a family and is clearly looking to rent family-size apartments...
We own in downtown Manhattan and would make money if we sold now. We bought in 2003 and then combined with a neighboring apt in 2007 and could probably still get more than $2M for ours. I've been looking though and can't find anything better than what we have in the $3-4M range in our neighborhood. All the new construction is loft-like or too small down here and it doesn't seem like prices have come down yet. People keep talking about them falling but I think that's more in the 1-2 bedroom market.
We bought 10+ years ago, no idea what apt. is worth and don't really care, we're looking at refinancing instead of moving. The interest rate on our mortgage is already super low (we have an arm that adjusted down last fall) but we want to lock in a low rate and pay down some principle. Eventually something on a higher floor in our building will open up, for one reason or another, and we'll be ready.