Wednesday, May 19, 2010

Proof that there are a lot of suckers in this city

From the NY Times:

Last year, when many Park Avenue real estate matrons were struggling to sell their co-ops, Vickie Palmos and her business partner closed on 37 condos in Astoria, Queens, as if it were 2006.

Ms. Palmos credits her success in part, to the fact that she takes listings that other brokers sneer at because the properties suffer from real estate’s greatest sin: bad location.

On a recent afternoon, Ms. Palmos strode into a $270,000 third-floor studio at the Astor, a new condominium facing the N and W subway tracks on 31st Street, and swung open the terrace door as a train approached. Like the ominous slow-motion moment that precedes an explosion in an action movie, conversation ceased, everyone in the room froze and hairstyles rose and bowed in windy deference.

“Check that out,” Ms. Palmos said while stifling a giggle as the train thundered past. “You feel like you’re in the city.”

17 comments:

Anonymous said...

Picking people who lived across the street from fire house or the like is an interesting segment to be interviewed.

How do the other 98% of people that moved into these fresh slices of 19th century living feel?

Slum after slum has evolved right here in good old NYC under the blight of an elevated.

Anonymous said...

what suckers.

Anonymous said...

what suckers.

Anonymous said...

This community just upzoned from two or three story existing to six or eight permitted all along the '7 Line', opps, I mean 'N Line'.

Anonymous said...

"what suckers."

Talk to the local community leaders that OKed this and are not part of 'honest graft'

There's your suckers.

Anonymous said...

CB1 the community board from hell.

Anonymous said...

Someone needs to call Bellvue. Sounds like Ms. Palmos needs a checkup from the neck up. So does anyone else that buys into this money-making scam.

Anonymous said...

I don't know how the $270,000 price of these units compares to others in the neighborhood, but I assume it is lower due to the subway action.

And if so, then what's the point of all the sneering comments here? There always will be people looking to make some sacrifices to get into the neighborhood they want, and more power to them. (provided, of course, that they don't immediately start petioning the MTA to tear down the El, stop running trains at night, etc).

Anonymous said...

If people are fooling themselves into believing that having an elevated train outside their window is "like being in the city" then I dare the realtor to show me where there is an el in Manhattan these days.

Anonymous said...

$270,000 in Astoria is unheard of. Most of the units there are rentals and very few co-op's and condos. There are some in the mid 40's on Ditmars, but those are at least double the price, further from the train, and probably have the same building grade materials inside. Like a previous poster said, there will always be someone willing to pay it. Although I have to admit, I dont think many people have despite what the article says. I pass by there nearly every day on the train and all the units seem empty.

And I am pretty sure, that since this is right in front of the train, the builder used slightly better windows and doors and insulation to muffle the sound. After all....they DO want the units to sell.

Anonymous said...

And I am pretty sure, that since this is right in front of the train, the builder used slightly better windows and doors and insulation to muffle the sound. After all....they DO want the units to sell.


Dear Mr. Real Estate Broker:

All the buildings put up lately in Astoria are garbage.

Everyone knows that once they have been lived in for a few years, they will be turned over to speculators who will fill them with illegals and the like - 7 people hot bedding a unit.

What you have is instant slums.

Anonymous said...

And if so, then what's the point of all the sneering comments here? There always will be people looking to make some sacrifices to get into the neighborhood they want, and more power to them.

YOU ARE RIGHT BUT WHO WANTS PEOPLE FROM ASIA, AFRICA, OR LATIN AMERICA THAT WILL SETTLE FOR SHIT?

THE ARE TRANSIATORY AND HAVE NO ROOTS TO A COMMUNITY BUT WILL OVERBURDEN ITS RESOURCES.

8 STORIES WHERE THERE USED TO BE 2 - IN THAT NEIGHBORHOOD - WITH THAT POWER GRID? WITH ONE HOSPITAL?

FULL OF SHIT BUDDY, YOU ARE FULL OF SHIT.

Anonymous said...

Unfortunately, at some point in the 90's the word got out that "New York is safe now!"

Fucking transplants. A good old-fashioned crime wave might run off some of the riff-raff.

Anonymous said...

Big old rip off for those track apt\condo chain hotel looking things just feet away from the train. They have been empty for quite a while but boy those will sure drain the electrical grid.

$270,000 for those? Stupid.

Anonymous said...

$270,000 will buy you a huge house in Minnesota or Georgia, or so many other places. It feels like you're really living in America in those places.

Anonymous said...

It's kinda hard to determine why all you schmucks give a rat's caboose about the sale price of these condos and the motivations of potential buyers. You don't wanna buy? Don't buy. If someone else does, that's their business. They mind theirs, you mind yours.

And zoning along the N/W line has always allowed for higher densities, btw.

Queens Crapper said...

We aren't buying. High density has become higher density. The joke is the sales pitch, the bigger joke is the fool who buys it.