Tuesday, September 9, 2008

LIC condo sellers say 'Let's Make a Deal'

How does having all of your closing costs covered sound? What if they threw in a pile of cash to buy down your mortgage rate a point? What if you offered 10% below ask and they actually take it? Well, a variety of these scenarios are playing out in a number of buildings in LIC. The market is slow and the developers are acutely interested in moving product.

Market Update: Unadvertised Bargains Abound In LIC!

So, you ask, why aren't they putting huge ads in the NY Times to call attention to these deals? The answer is simple. In order to officially reduce price (and then be able to legally advertise it), you have to file an amendment. If you file an amendment, all of the exiting shareholders have to be notified - and you end up with a whole bunch on unhappy shareholders. So, they just wait for prospects and then talk turkey when they have them one on one.

The long term value proposition is hard to deny. NYC is a very expensive place to live and LIC, a hotbed of culture and character, has more and more to offer as time goes by.


That last line produced a round of guffaws at Casa del Crapper. (Notice how Monty's tacky suit jacket blends in with the LIC landscape...)

58 comments:

Anonymous said...

He does blend in well, or his jacket at least.What a solid community of sharks over at the steal the neighborhood, new hunters point condo,"smart"investor land. Get the word out about their deals and let the stock holders or investors think twice.
What a vapid corner suburb trying to be a little city.Makes about as much sense as an expensive hotel on the other side of the Queensboro bridge on Vernon south of the Queensbridge houses.

Anonymous said...

"...and LIC, a hotbed of culture and character, has more and more to offer as time goes by."

That line alone would seal the deal for me. That area is way too risky to invest big money in. Again, money could be more wisely spent elsewhere in Queens.

Anonymous said...

I see you forgot to quote this part: "This is not happening in all buildings, I should note. Just look at Star Tower. The apartments at Star are selling like hotcakes and they have amended prices up numerous times. A new development priced right will sell right out of the gate."

Thankfully, no intelligent person is making real estate decisions based on any advice from "italian girl" or Crapper.

Anonymous said...

Higher income people who work in Manhattan will buy in LIC, but not "elsewhere in Queens." You just don't understand the market. People who look at LIC are not looking at other parts of Queens, they are looking at DUMBO, Park Slope, Jersey City, and Manhattan.

Anonymous said...

"Thankfully, no intelligent person is making real estate decisions based on any advice from "italian girl" or Crapper."

Obviously they are or developers wouldn't have to be so creative to move these shoeboxes, um excuse me, units.

Anonymous said...

"Higher income people who work in Manhattan will buy in LIC, but not "elsewhere in Queens""


then they should stay in manhattan. better investment even if you have to spend more. lic is trash.

Anonymous said...

What Fine and you forgot to mention is that Star is marketing and selling to the Asian community, a different demographic than what the other condos are targeting:

"In Long Island City, a high-rise condominium being built by a Korean-American development company seems to have put the area on the map for the Korean-American community. Star Tower, a 25-story building billed as Long Island City’s “tallest luxury residence,” is the latest project for the Roe Development Corporation, a real estate business started by B. J. Roe, a Korean immigrant.

“He’s a famous person in the Korean community,” said Julie Yi, a Douglas Elliman agent. “And now because of Star Tower, many more Korean people know about Long Island City.” She said she had fielded many more requests from Korean clients asking to visit Long Island City properties since Star Tower started advertising in the Korean media a few months ago.

Anonymous said...

"Higher income people who work in Manhattan will buy in LIC, but not "elsewhere in Queens"

So who owns the luxurious homes in Forest Hills Gardens, Douglaston Manor, Hollis, etc? Archie Bunker hit the lotto? This LIC realtor has his head up his ass.

Anonymous said...

"In Long Island City, a high-rise condominium being built by a Korean-American development company seems to have put the area on the map for the Korean-American community.
----------
That seals it.

The UN is sending their staff into LIC. It is to become an ethnic slum like the rest of the boro.

Anyone ready to make noodles in their bathtub?

Anonymous said...

Funny, all the upscale Koreans I know are moving to places like Ft Lee or Clifton New Jersey.

Anonymous said...

It looks like Monty Hall/burro hall
are desperate to high pressure some Rubes into buying into the LIC myth!

Prime property available
(if anybody wants it) located in
Asthma Alley along Cancer Creek!

If that crap doesn't move soon,
Beep Marshall won't be getting any "favors" from her real estate pals!

Anonymous said...

Actually high income people are buying in landmarked Douglas Manor (about a speedy 26 minutes on the LIRR from Manhattan) and other nabes in leafy northeast Queens.

It's YOU who don't know the market!

Only newbie transient dopes can be lulled into buying into an almost Manhattan dream, that will morph very shortly, into an investment nightmare!

Go back to real estate school
for a refresher cousre
(if you can afford it after your commissions start dwindling)!

Anonymous said...

Hey....move into LIC.

We don't want you jerks spoiling
northeast Queens.

P.S.
Sloan Kettering is just across the river should you ever require their services.....G-d forbid !

Check the DEC's air quality test results before you buy there.

Anonymous said...

Some "breathtaking" (heh, heh) views of Keyspan's energy plants (choke) there !

Anonymous said...

"We don't want you jerks spoiling
northeast Queens.

P.S.
Sloan Kettering is just across the river should you ever require their services.....G-d forbid !

Check the DEC's air quality test results before you buy there."


ROTFLMAO

Anonymous said...

To be able to afford an $800K condo on an honest mortgage with income, job and asset verification, you need annual income of about $200K. With that income the sound decision is to rent in Manhattan instead of buying into a collapsing market and ending up with negative equity in five years.

Anonymous said...

Douglas Manor?? Oh boy. Believe me, high income Manhattan earners don't even look twice at Douglas Manor. You are comparing half an hour to Penn Station to a 5-minute train to Grand Central? Keep trying.

Sure, you geniuses are right - brand new buildings on waterfront property, with midtown skyline views, and a 5 minute ride to midtown at 60-70% of comparable Manhattan prices, that's just a terrible investment.

As for your comments on Star Tower, thanks for starting up the ignorant bigoted remarks. LIC is appealing to a large demographic, including Asians. What is wrong with that? I have news for you all - lots of people with different ethnic backgrounds work in Manhattan, make very good incomes, are buying in LIC, and are not interested in "elsewhere in Queens."

Anonymous said...

"I have news for you all - lots of people with different ethnic backgrounds work in Manhattan, make very good incomes, are buying in LIC, and are not interested in "elsewhere in Queens.""

Keep telling yourself that. In the end LIC will amount to nothing more than a transient area.

To the buyers in LIC:

You want Manhattan? Buy IN Manhattan. Your investment will pay off. Don't listen to these developers/realtors who want to rape you. Anyone who's lived in Queens knows better.

LIC = Money down the drain

Anonymous said...

Many of these gullible yuppies buying in LIC will soon realize when they have their kids that the schools do in fact suck over there. And a condo, no matter how luxurious, is no place for kids to play. Every kid needs a yard. And no, the local park is not enough.

Time to move east!

It's the same story time and time again just different demographics.

Anonymous said...

"Douglas Manor?? Oh boy. Believe me, high income Manhattan earners don't even look twice at Douglas Manor. You are comparing half an hour to Penn Station to a 5-minute train to Grand Central? Keep trying."

Douglas Manor is one of the most elegant areas in NYC in addition to Bayside Gables and Malba.

I'll go even further than that. Many, many people with high incomes are buying in those areas and further east in Great Neck and all the areas along the Port Washington Line. Have you ever been to Plandome? So LIC is the epitome of luxury to you partly because of a short train ride into Manhattan? That's just silly.
Many of the buyers in LIC today will be gone in 10 years time. Trust me.

Anonymous said...

The realtors also don't want you to know about the high rates of buyer's remorse that the LIC condo owners feel. They're already "up and going" now that the economy is headed down the shitter and they realize the "up and coming" nabe is going into hiatus for a long time.

Anonymous said...

Great Neck and Port Washington are not in Queens. High income Manhattan workers who decide to leave condo living for suburban life are not looking at Queens. They are looking at Westchester, parts of Jersey, Long Island and possibly Connecticut.

Anonymous said...

So funny. I predicted this years ago. I'm a friggin' Nostradamus.

Anonymous said...

"Great Neck and Port Washington are not in Queens."

No kidding. But they are pretty much an extension of the very desirable northeast Queens. But in your book, LIC is where it's at.

"High income Manhattan workers who decide to leave condo living for suburban life are not looking at Queens."

High income Manhattan workers who want subusrbia are looking EVERYWHERE wherever it suits them including northeast Queens. Some of the reasons that section of Queens is so hot and has been for years is it's great school districts, short train ride to the city and close proximity to just about everywhere. So, to say that wealthy people snub northeast Queens is just, well..... stupid.

Anonymous said...

I hope the LIC market drops. Than I will buy there and turn rental profits

Anonymous said...

When you rise out of the tunnels near QP, what do you see? Projects or graffiti. Yes, I want to move there and spend millions in the process!

Anonymous said...

It ain't a 5 minute ride to Grand Central unless you've been "puffing"
and lost track of time!

Stop jerking us off now fella!

I take that train!

(You forgot to include the delays, backed up trains, equipment failure, ad infinitum that usually interrupt a smooth seamless ride)!

Anonymous said...

High earning people who work in Manhattan ARE BUYING IN MANHATTAN
and not in an ersatz version of it like Queens West!

You're talkin' through your hat!

I hear that Rockrose Development is putting up a brand new "luxury" building in LIC called
"Almost Manhattan Towers"
(ha, ha, ha)just for the wannabees!

Anonymous said...

Yeah....and as "time goes by"
so decreases the equity in your Queens West "investment"!

But if you can't afford the big "M"island, I guess you're forced to considered its poor "Q" cousin on the eastern shore!

The sales reps wouldn't be offering these discounts if their condo(m)/crap was moving!

AND WOULD BE BUYERS KNOW THIS !

Anonymous said...

Yeah....eventually building sod shanties on America's great plains
turned out to be good investments for settlers(after 50 years or so had passed) but in the meantime a lot of families lost some loved ones in the Indian raids!

There's a hell of a lot of crime
still left in LIC and the existence of some local ("Indian") tribes, like "The Bloods" gang etc. don't exactly add up to a good quality of life for residents around Queens Plaza!

But if you like hookers and drugs
stop near that donut shop just
south of the QP elevated tracks
or go over to Van Dam St.

Anonymous said...

Never trust a used car salesman
or a Queens West pitch man!

Anonymous said...

Douglaston (and Douglas Manor)
ARE LOCATED IN QUEENS
you myopic parochial bung hole!

We're not talking about Great Neck
or Port Washington.

You don't even know
your f-----g New York City geography...must have just jumped right off the boat

Anonymous said...

yes, right off the boat and into lic where all the rest of the clueless dopes end up.

bitter, much?

Anonymous said...

Do you all even know how to read? You do realize this isn't the 1980s anymore? Tell everyone in Tribeca or the Meatpacking District how their areas would never be desirable. Ha!

Anonymous said...

A true story:

Yesterday someone who works at 25 West 43rd Street left their apartment near Queens Plaza and was 20 minutes late for work because of "PROBLEMS" on the #7 Line.

Then there's the more typical, sluggish N & W train service he's accustomed to.

So much said about an easy 5 minute commute to Grand Central versus a clean 23 minute ride on the LIRR from northeast Queens.....h-m-m-m !

LIC is for transient pseudo hip newbies who can't afford Manhattan.

These "yupsters" don't put down any roots which make for a stable community or a sound long term real estate investment.

No jealousy here folks.

I could more than afford to move into LIC (even into Manhattan if I worked it out right) but why trade my million dollar home surrounded by old growth trees for a walk to Astoria Park and a whiff of Keyspan's smokestacks?

Well, to each his own!

Anonymous said...

A lot of "hip" art galleries aren't doing as well as they should in this recession and are closing up
shop around Manhattan's meatpacking/Chelsea district.

Only the REAL BIGGIES are staying
....a barometer of things yet to come.

There are also a lot of residential vacancies due to a slew of yup/newbies no longer being able to afford their overpriced digs!

H-m-m-m....maybe some shyster can talk these emmigrants into moving over to Queens West (ha, ha)!

Nah, that condo sharing bunch are more likely to go back to Nebraska with their tails tucked between their legs!

Anonymous said...

Tribeca moms are currently screaming and you can read all about it in their local weekly papers.

THERE AREN'T ENOUGH SCHOOLS
FOR THEIR KIDS!

Tsk, tsk, tsk....what to do?

I guess it's private school adding to their already high living costs
for the cramped quarters their families are forced to occupy
for the sake of status!

H-m-m-m, over development seems to have outpaced the lousy existing infrastructure!

The same goes for LIC plus an added bonus of POLLUTION !

Anonymous said...

Notice how not one person here provides any factual support for all the clueless claims they make against LIC? Check MTA records - the 7 train is one of the most reliable in the system. Compare its reliability to the LIRR, and the 7 comes out way ahead. From the Vernon/Jackson stop to Grand Central, you are on the train for 5 minutes.
Keep hating all you want, it won't diminish LIC's popularity and growth.

Anonymous said...

I don't know why
these newbie "hip" LIC aficionados keep on putting down the eastern Queens "suburbs"
(as they so often seem to refer to them).

They're "burb/boobs" themselves!

LIC is nothing less than a Manhattan suburb without all the leafy green stuff to cleanse the air!

You all,
breathe deep while you sleep!

Anonymous said...

Why rely in statistics when you can listen to first hand accounts? I used to bus to the Hunters Point station and would have to let multiple trains go by before I could board. Then I switched to the Ely Ave station and found the same thing, unless you took a V. Taking a V meant switching again in Manhattan. The commute ain't all its cracked up to be and they don't tell you this shit in condo brochures!

Anonymous said...

H-m-m-m....
a lot of the LIC condo sales force
must have a lot of free time on their hands to follow "Queens Crap" so closely!

I wonder why?

Maybe sales are down or it beats playing "Solitaire"!

Anonymous said...

I take those trains all the time. I hardly ever need to let a train go by because it is too crowded. Those trains run so frequently during rush hour that I always get on.
Who put down eastern Queens? Show where someone insulted those neighborhoods? The market for LIC is different for the market for eastern and especially central Queens. A higher income, younger demographic are buying and looking in LIC, but not considering other areas of Queens. That's a fact of market demand, not a put-down. The only one insulting people here are the small-minded commenters who feel the need to hate on LIC.

Anonymous said...

Methinks they doth protest too much (like trying to shore up a shaky "gold mine" in danger of imminent collapse with rotten timbers) !

Anonymous said...

THE YOUNG ARE ALSO MOVING FURTHER EAST.

THEY ANTICIPATE HAVING FAMILIES AND THE SCHOOL SYSTEM IS FAR SUPERIOR OUT THERE!

P.S.
You're LYING about the efficiency of public transportation around the QP
neighborhood (sales agent)!

I LIVE THERE TOO!

Anonymous said...

OH....LIKE WE'RE EXPECTED TO BELIEVE THOSE "GUCCI-FACCI" MTA RECORDS!

Yeah....right....the tooth fairy is on her way!

I understand a lot of MTA mid level employees live in "City Lights"
(for instance , h-m-m-?)!

Anonymous said...

If anyone is considering buying into the LIC "dream" I'd suggest holding out a little longer.

Maybe they'll hold an auction soon
and you can scoop up a fire sale bargain.

I might even go for one myself.

Anonymous said...

I think you LIC condo sales agents have shot your load for the day.

Maybe giving it a rest for awhile will give you some fresh ideas for tomorrow.

These guys are so-o-oh desperate to quickly unload their load of lemons.
(They could also be a little scared
that would be buyers are consulting "Queens Crap" for some tip offs).

Anonymous said...

Calling all INTERNATIONAL buyers:

Better check "Queens Crap" for the REAL SKINNY on Queens and not the brand of lies that the
"Kweens Klubhouse KRAKERS" (KKK)
puts out via PR firms like the "Parkside Group".

They're nothing but a bunch
of closet racists !

Anonymous said...

Thanks for a bunch more low-brow incorrect statements with no factual support whatsoever. You all make me laugh with your LIC hating.

By the way, I don't work in real estate. All the people who point out how ignorant your statements are do not necessarily work for an agent, developer, politician, consultant, etc. You just show more and more how out-of-touch you are when you make those dumb accusations.

Anonymous said...

And who are you, the friggin' fact keeper of LIC? I lived in LIC my entire life and those condos are not selling as quickly as these developers and RE agents anticipated. Flooded the market, with more to come. Like Miami in the 80's. Too much coke on the street, and the prices dropped dramatically. the only difference is that coke doesn't leave hideous monstrosities in your neighborhood that could possibly one day be sold to the gov't and turned Section 8?

Anonymous said...

You live in LIC, sounds like you are just bitter that your neighborhood is getting cleaned up and popular. Most of those condo buildings have sold very well - it's all public info.

Anonymous said...

"bitter that your neighborhood is getting cleaned up and popular"

That makes absolutely no sense. No one would be bitter if that were the case. Unfortunately, it's not. The streets are filthy, every other lot is a construction site and they'll be left half built if they even get started. Those who moved in got sick of waiting for the "up and coming" neighborhood to start paying off and now they are headed for the hills. Those buying now are using these as investments, not living there and subletting. What you end up with is a temporary community with no soul.

Anonymous said...

More false information with no factual support, thanks for that.

Anonymous said...

you are very welcome

Anonymous said...

The more that these guys (real estate salesmen, "Parkside"...whoever)
keep counter posting against the "low brow" truth spoken here by LIC RESIDENTS who know better....
the more they reveal their desperation.

Otherwise they'd simply ignore Queens Crap.

Ah....but they can't risk Q.C's
message getting through to any
would be buyers!

P.S.
You don't sound particularly
high brow yourselves.

A bunch of angry clubhouse bigots
maybe...trying to ethnically cleanse a neighborhood!

Anonymous said...

It's gotta be
Krowley's Klubhouse Krakkers
(the Queens chapter of the KKK)
fermenting all this LIC urban renewal (people of color removal) crap!

Euphemisms like "improving the area" won't hide their real motives.

In the end it might eventually
prove out that the Queens Democrats are the worst of all the racists!

Anonymous said...

More false information with no factual support, thanks for that.

Sure, the factual information the residents see does not jibe with the 'factural information' the borkers and newspapers write about.

Anonymous said...

NEWS FLASH!

On NPR radio this morning it was just announced that Lehman Brothers is declaring bankruptcy and Merrill Lynch is being taken over by Bank of America!

WOW!

How do you suppose this will be affecting the already fire sale deals being offered on these shoddily built LIC "luxury" condos?

We see an awful lot of "for sale"
signs being replaced by "for rent" signs in the area...not a very good sign of the times!

October is the deadline for a further market fall predicted by
many savvy financial mavens (including former Fed chief Greenspan).
That's just 16 days away!

I'm glad that the bulk of my investments are in conservative insurance equities instead of the rocky condo/real estate market!