Dumbo NYC

Notes from the DUMBO, Brooklyn NY neighborhood


Dumbo’s $2million+ Listings (and 202 and 204 Front St)

March 12th, 2009

While its true that people in the real estate business say that newly gentrified neighborhoods, where prices have boomed until last year are falling hard, Dumbo doesn’t seem affected too much, at least not yet, according to a few who work in Dumbo real estate. Prices in areas such as Williamsburg, LIC, Harlem, and even parts of lower Manhattan have seen reductions of 10-30%+. According to one Dumbo broker, who requested not to be named, said to us, “Dumbo’s condo prices have lowered somewhat around ~5%, it seems to be weathering the economic downturn due to its proximity to Manhattan and the fact that the neighborhood is very small.” (I realize that 5% number is anecdotal, but I’m still researching for hard facts.) To be fair, Williamsburg is also close to Manhattan, but the inventory of condos outpaced demand and real estate marketing seemingly expanded the boundaries of the neighborhood to attract buyers. It could also be that Dumbo sellers are holding onto their properties until the market for sales improves.

According to Street Easy, there are 88 listings for Dumbo with a median price of $890,500 (median size 1,100 sqft) and median price per sqft of $878, which is high relative to the other neighborhoods in the borough.

There are 10 listings above $2 million, all of them condos at 1 Main, 30 Main, and 70 Washington Streets, except for one townhouse listing (sold as a pair) in Vinegar Hill (though marketed as Dumbo).

The two townhouses on the market (shown above and below) are 202 and 204 Front Street at $1,620,000 and $2,250,000. The townhouses sold as one pair is a 7 unit investment property, both a 3 story brick house. 202 Front (Corcoran listing) has 3 units and 204 Front (Corcoran listing) has 3 two bedroom apartments in the front house and there is a rear 2 story carriage house with 2 bedrooms.

Two questions that can’t be answered yet are: How much will the Dumbo condo prices go down until there’s a recovery? Will the Vinegar Hill townhouses sell at these prices?

Filed in Front Street, Real Estate at 11:00 am
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  • BrooklynLove
    "I personally know eight people who are desperate to sell in Dumbo and keep dropping prices three of which are about to go into foreclosure"

    link the listings. otherwise i'm calling your BS.
  • stopped renting 12 years ago
    renters. up market or down, always trying to justify paying someone else's mortgage. whose mortgage are you paying diarrhea boy?
  • bh
    The "realtor" that was interviewed is high... I personally know eight people who are desperate to sell in Dumbo and keep dropping prices three of which are about to go into foreclosure...

    Dumbo started out fantastic, the rentals were great... Now they are maintained so poorly it is sick. The neighborhood is loud and the "Two Trees" people are flat out greedy...

    Sad, it was so nice.
  • Possibly, very possibly some good news for people living under an unregulated lease in a renovated space. If this goes down, you'll be on top instead of your LL. If you go to NYC.gov, punch in J 51 you can search for your building. Don't say loose stool never did you a favor!

    http://www.nytimes.com/2009/03/15/nyregion/15st...
  • loose stool
    BrooklynLove, Well instead of jumping off the top of J Condo they could walk into the ocean. Either way it's a win win!
  • BrooklynLove
    but according to you housing values are going down from here so the value of any loan against that house will only decrease. plus safe bet that tuition will be rising and borrowing rates will be higher due to masasive inflation. decreasing collateral value plus higer cost of borrowing and higher cost of consumpiton doesn't bode too well for your plan.

    better off selling crack and robbing tiffany and biff.
  • loose stool
    Keep you kid in public school through the middle grades, testing indicates there is little difference between (a decent) public and private until high school. By then you could take out a home equity to pay for the last 3 years at a private. You just have to find out who to blow for a scholarship for Tiffany and Biff.
  • BrooklynLove
    Poly Prep, that's funny. Slight differential between the tuition there and public school.

    Grades 5–10: Tuition $28,000
    Grade 11: Tuition $28,350
    Grade 12: Tuition $29,075
  • loose stool
    BrooklynLove,
    Poly Prep with the Guido hammerheads.
    heavy flo,
    Something to look forward to. Ten years from now when the Witnesses' hole is still here and the J Condoites have moved to the burbs, renting their precious airless condos to the overflow of section 8s from Farragut things will be back to normal. The more things change, the more they stay the same. (I made that up)
  • heavy flo
    I long for the days when the only neighbors there were the artists, rats, and industrial tenants. The commercial amenities shall only get worse once Two Trees realizes that they will never be able to develop the density necessary to support and sustain residents and end their subsidized leases.It will be like Butler's wharf in London - corporate rentals. Who knows, it may devolve back into a post-industrial neighborhood with affordable large spaces.
  • BrooklynLove
    Bay Ridge is good if you work in Staten Island.

    Would you send your kids to that fine public academic institution otherwise known as Fort Hamilton High School?
  • loose stool
    True enough Bottom Feeder. The only incentive to buy in Dumbo was the possibility of getting in on an up and coming neighborhood. The economy has only exacerbated the negatives. Surrounded by poor people, no amenities, people who live here actively discouraging new development. Oh did I mention the envelope of noise that forces extra building expenses in new construction? 600K would be better spent in a neighborhood like Bayridge, especially if you have kids going to public school. PS 8 is not a lock for the crop of toe heads sprouting in the environmentally abhorrent J Condo. Better to spend money erecting a sidewalk bridge around that building for the wave of jumpers in the near future. Enjoy!
  • Bottom Feeder
    One good example of prices falling is unit 5A at 84 Front St (block 00051 Lot 1019) bought for $605,000 in Nov '06 and sold for $610,129 on 2/26/09. Sellers expectations are unreasonable. They don't realize that if they sell now, they may be able to get what they paid for their unit. If they wait, they're under water by the end of the year.
  • NO CO on 202. That's fine if it is left as is. If one of you Land Rovers wants to boot the rent stabs out and make it nice for the visiting parents then it'll be a full blown reno. Let's see at $200 a sq. foot (gives me a headache).
    204 is interesting. COs are there but an active DOB vio exists from 1998. That's when it was "newly renovated". Judging from the look of the $50 vanities, circa 1998 sounds right. I forgot, getting rid of the riff raff will set you back 6 months to a year, depending on how much spine they have.
    Loose Stool predicts these prices will drop drastically.
  • The Home Depotesque renovations will leave anybody who can afford 2M flaccid.
  • Anon
    Wait a minute... At 202 Front...A front loading stacked washer and dryer between the fridge and entertainment center?
  • vh
    A little staging will go a long way. Just sayin'...Those units are also rentals, so they may not have time to clear up some things before taking photos.
  • Wow, those photos are godawful. Both places look gross. You'd think for 2 million they could have at least "picked up" a little (?!) What the hell?
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