I didn’t want to jinx it by mentioning it, but now that my offer has been accepted, inspection is done and I’m about to go into contract, I think it’s safe to tell you about the new house!

After looking in The Rockaways in bad weather then deciding to search upstate for a few months, I got discouraged with “the country”. Yes, there were houses in my price range. Loads of them. And I looked at them all. Only, none of them made too much sense. After travel time and/or living away from home most of the week, high taxes and the amount of work these places needed, I decided to give it one last shot locally.

I caught this house on Craigs and the agent actually did her job (unheard of in NYC in my price range) by returning my call and showing me the house. Not only that, but she has followed through on everything with this deal.

Location is pretty darn good even if it’s not on the beach. It’s actually located on the bay side of the peninsula with a view of the water. The parks department bought the property across the street on the bay and it will be a park with an area to put in kayaks and such. At the rate they’re going, I’ll be finished before them. This is in the high Beach 80′s, close to Thai Rock and within walking distance to the hip beach area. Like 4 blocks walk to beach.

The house is not much to look at. New vinyl siding. Hate it! But since I gotta keep costs down and I don’t want to put all that vinyl in the dumpster, I’ll try to purdy it up best I can with some molding to take away from the fugliness.

The 1920′s house probably never had any detail to begin with and it surely doesn’t now. There is actually wood flooring under that carpet, but who knows what I’ll find behind that drop ceiling and wall paneling? I’m thinking of going with Hollywood Regency style to spice it up.

It’s a legal 2 family of about 1000 square feet and I’ll keep as two units. I figure that rental income is never a bad thing. When all is said and done, the house should be fairly affordable to moderate income buyers. Even if someone just purchases it as a second home or two parties want to split it, the two apartments, although small, make sense.

The kitchens will get face lifts as will the entire house. What is NOT getting ripped out? Hello….

So, here’s where this blog will take another turn. Look for info on The Rocks (Yeah, gross term, I know. I said it to make you puke in your mouth alittle.) in the upcoming months. I’ll be posting design tips and DIY videos once the renovation starts.

If you follow me on Pinterest and you’ve noticed me creating boards like “Siding options”, “Tiny Back Yards” and “Hollywood Regency” now you know why. Let the fun begin! (In about a month when I close.)

  posted @ 6:34 am Comments (6)

The first time I went to check out The Rockaways and look at houses was during the winter. It was a gray, rainy weekday. Miserable. I was totally uninspired and that’s when I started looking upstate.

Well, over the weekend I saw a Rockaway listing that could work for what I want to do and I visited again. This time it was a sunny weekend and people were out. With dogs! And bikes! And frisbees! I walked along the beach and thought….yeah, I could deal with this.

It would mean I can commute from home while I’m working on the house. If I do upstate, I’m up there on my own for the better part of the week.

It would mean I’m not strictly in a second home area (Yeah, I know, people live upstate full time). Buyers who move there can take the A train to work. Granted, it would take them just as long as driving from upstate, but it’s a $2.50 subway ride.

It would mean less taxes.

It would mean I’m not paying thousands for gas to drive up and back while working on the house.

Drawbacks? Well, The Rockaways are still very rundown. The part I can afford, anyway. FYI, I’ll tell you that this is between Beach 86 and 100 Street. It’s totally risky.

Do I like taking risks? Yeah. Kind of.

If you know of any reason I shouldn’t do this, speak up now!!

  posted @ 8:46 am Comments (4)

The Kings County public real estate auction is coming up this month. To be clear, there are auctions every Thursday but the annual one is a bit less risky, IMHO. The opening bid prices are listed on the government site and you can preview the properties prior to the auction. Download the flyer from their site for pictures and more info on each home.

163A Halsey is up for auction again. It sold for $400k last year with a starting bid of $325k. Obviously, there were multiple bidders. Wonder what happened?

  posted @ 7:05 am Comments (0)

Not being too familiar with Sullivan County, I contacted buyer’s agent Joe Addeo at The Rural Connection to show me around yesterday. What a luxury not having to set up appointments, navigate and drive from house to house!

We saw a bunch of homes that were in pretty decent shape. None of them would have worked for my flip purposes, but it’s definitely a buyer’s market over there. That part of Sullivan County near the Delaware River is beautiful but quiet. Don’t go expecting a scene, man.

Anyway, on to the houses! Find info on all of them here.

The farmhouse pictured above is a steal at $175k. Great piece of property on 5 acres with a pond near Jeffersonville. The house doesn’t need much work at all, which is why it didn’t suit my own purposes. One can just move in and enjoy. I saw some unfinished molding. That was about the extent of the work IMHO.

This lovely cape was in decent shape also. It’s very close to Jeffersonville and the Villa Roma Resort, which is like an Italian version of a Borscht Belt resort. A sausage belt resort, if you will. The house could use some updating or you can overlook the drop ceilings and dated kitchen and just enjoy your summer. Not bad for $139k.

This Cochecton house was pretty sweet for $89k and would have worked for me had the neighboring house not been so close (close by country standards). On the plus side, the neighbors have horses. Unfortunately, that’s a negative when you have dogs. Anyhoo, great bones, good location. Price is unbeatable!

Oh, this was a good one too! Another not-much-to-do house. The exterior looks worse than the interior. I remember that this one had a great kitchen with aluminum cabinets and an old drainboard/sink and the floors were in perfect shape. $139k in Cochecton.

The city girl in me appreciated this one simply because it was within walking distance to civilization. The village of Kauneonga Lake isn’t very big but has 4-5 good restaurants that overlook the lake. This is the perfect retreat for lake lovers, even though the public access is some ways from the house. There’s a hot tub in the back. Who doesn’t like a weekend place with a hot tub? $109,900.

Finally, this lovely Cochecton farm house belongs to my buddy Sal, an antiques dealer in Callicoon. The house is about to hit the market at under $200k. When it does, I’ll let you know all about it…as well as the cool vintage trailers he’s selling. But for now, consider this your head’s up.

  posted @ 7:29 am Comments (1)

Who knew it would be more difficult to find an investment property than to find a place for oneself? I’m lovin’ a whole lotta things that I see, but unfortunately, when I do the math on them, they don’t make financial sense.

The house above is on Wittenberg Road just outside of Woodstock in Bearsville. There is not one but two homes on the property. I thought that this was The One until I got home and reread the MLS sheet. It’s apparent that both structures need work but what’s not visible to the eye is that the bungalow isn’t on the well and septic. That would put me over my own budget, but it’s still a good investment. Stay in one house and rent out the other.

The exterior siding needs some work and the top floor shows some leaks but the main room looks in really decent shape.

How cute is this kitchen? The same wonderful vintage wallpaper is in the bungalow too.

The property is listed at $115k and sits on .68 of an acre.

This 1910 stone house is also on .68 of an acre. It’s located on Maverick Road and sits a wee back from the road. It’s adorable but you can’t get away with a $124,900 price tag in Woodstock without needing to do work. There is some settlement on the house to an extent where the slant made me dizzy when I walked in. This is stuff that can be resolved with a decent structural engineer.

The “slanty” room is in otherwise good shape. I would a)resolve the sag problem in the basement first, then b) carefully take up that wood floor to level the joists and put that same floor back.

The kitchen is located in the basement. Gotta love the log beams.

The problem with a small house with a basement bathroom is that it shares the space with the mechanics. Actually, they look to be in decent shape and surely they can be hidden.

This house was on Sawkill Road, which is a busyish road, but the house is set back far enough for it to seem private.

The home needs a total update but it’s not a scary amount of work like some of the other places I’ve seen. What do you expect for $110k on .5 of an acre?

The most impressive thing about the house? This sink. I’d buy the house just for that sink which is hidden in the basement.

Ok, I lied. Not all under $200k. This sweet red house on nearly 4 acres in a great area is a whooping $219,500. The difference is this is ready to move in. We’re not talking high end materials, but it’s clean and ready to go. If you don’t want to worry about renovations, here is an affordable house in Woodstock.

  posted @ 7:51 am Comments (1)

Broken Angel, the famed former private residence of artists Arthur and Cynthia Wood, is hitting the auction block once again this Thursday. The Woods bought the Clinton Hill home for $2000 back in 1972. No, I didn’t leave off a zero. The house itself became their work of art until it was declared unsafe in 2006 as a result of a fire.

The couple defied the vacate order and were arrested. They lived with their pets in a car outside the home after they were thrown out. Cynthia died of cancer in 2010 at the age of 72.

The house, which was featured in Dave Chappelle’s Block Party, has lien of $2,663,376 against it.

  posted @ 7:54 am Comments (1)

Image is from Hoarders.

I’ve been looking for a house for longer than expected now (Yeah, yeah, I know. 2 months isn’t a long time.) and I’m starting to lose it. It’s bad enough that brokers sometimes do their sellers a disservice by not properly marketing their homes, but when a seller decides to go it alone you would think they care about the sale more than Joe Broker who’s out to make a quick buck.

There are owners selling their own houses that do an awesome job, but I’ve encountered some doozies on this search. What should a good For Sale by Owner look like? I did a FSBO checklist waaayy back when I started this blog. The same still holds true.

Here’s a list for you remedial FSBO’s whom I’ve been seeing on Craigslist. If you want to sell that house, you have to take it up a notch. I mean, really. Come on.

1. An address would be nice. Ok, you don’t want to post your address? How about telling us what town the house is located in? “Dutchess County” is big.

2. Pictures. It’s awful, awful, awful that you cannot post a single image of the exterior of the house. Your description reads “House is green.” Ok, I’ll buy it based on that! And when I email you to ask if you have photos, don’t respond with “No.” Get off your fat lazy ass and take some friggin pictures! WTF???

3. How about a reply? I suppose I should give kudos to the sellers who actually respond to my questions with a “No.” At least they respond.

4. When are you going to show it? Simple question. If you work full time and can’t set up appointments or open houses, how do you plan on having people look at it?

5. Clean that mofo! You know, nobody wants to see your dirty dishes in the sink and cigarette butts lying around. And certainly, nobody wants to step in dog shit in your yard. Too much trouble for you to get rid of your clutter and stage? Fine. But at least clean. Please.

Ok, I think that’s it. Thank you for hearing me out. I feel better now.

  posted @ 7:11 am Comments (0)

I drove for countless hours yesterday just to look at three properties. I’d like to share two of them with you because I’m passing on them. The third one is a possibility so that I’m keeping to myself for now.

The Staatsburg 1940 cottage (above) is listed at $74,500. It’s well worth it. The listing says it needs work but honestly, I don’t see it needing anything more than some updating and a paint job. If you’re unfamiliar with Staatsburg, that’s the area north of Hyde Park and south of Rhinebeck. Not bad, huh?

So why am I passing on it? Well, the 2 bedroom, 1 bath bungalow is only 691 square feet. Although I did want a small, easy project to work on, I don’t believe that I can make a killing on this house as an investment because of the size and location. It’s more local than weekender, not that there’s anything wrong with that.

If I lived in the area and didn’t have to drive 2 hours to work on the house and if I had cash that I wasn’t going to miss while I’m waiting to sell, it would be worth doing.

Anyway, as you can see, it’s a cute little house. For $74,500, how can you go wrong? Especially with that awesome wallpaper!

This bank owned Red Hook house is listed at $84,500. It’s on a not-so-busy road across the street from a lake. There are some trailers and multiple-pick-up-trucks-in-the-driveway households nearby. Yeah, so I’m a city snob. So be it.

That didn’t bother me so much. One problem is the flip job. The guy lost his house due to some bad decisions (I got some background from a neighbor up the road.) so I don’t want to add insult to injury by knocking his renovation, but some flip jobs just scream Home Depot and this is one of them. The house was built in 1912. Personally, I’d rather restore a beat up 1912 home.

Don’t know if you can see from the photo but this is new parquet tile over what looks like a decent oak floor.

Since I’m a recycling maven, I reaalllly hate to renovate an already renovated property. I’m sure this stuff can be donated, but it bothers me to rip out new work. So that’s why this is a pass.

Well, there is one more thing. After seeing this, I left without going down to the basement. I don’t know what it’s from but I didn’t want to encounter it in the house so I ran out. I did look in the basement and saw mold and a water line on the wall.

Don’t know how/if the water problem can be remedied, but hey, the house is $84,500 and the upstairs is clean and livable.

  posted @ 7:57 am Comments (0)

I’m about three weeks into the home search now. Guess what I’ve discovered? It’s not really a buyer’s market. Don’t let anyone tell you otherwise. Yes, prices are lower than pre-burst and the rates are low. It’s still a good time to buy, but be prepared for some competition.

The Hyde Park house above is the one that got away. Well, that’s the Hudson River view from the house. Little did I know that it was all but gone when I looked at it. It had been on the market for a looonnng time, starting out at $325k and going down to $199k. It was taken off the market for awhile. My bet was that it wasn’t mortgageable with some extra apartments in the basement and attic and some perhaps illegal extensions.

Well, fast forward to me seeing it listed as “continue to show” and calling the list agent to find out how serious the offer is. Turns out it was the original deal that fell through and contracts are already drawn up. Ack, it was too good to be true for me anyway, that I find an awesome house after such a short time.

The house is right on the water and around the corner from the Vanderbilt Mansion. I pulled up two comps that weren’t exact comps because they were larger properties in better shape, but the prices were in the $600k’s and over $1m. Well, at least the people who got the place aren’t greedy investors like me. They intend on living there. I’m putting in a back up offer just in case the deal goes south again. Hey, ya never know. Gotta be in it to win it.

Then there was the ranch that smelled like dog shit within walking distance to the Village of Rhinebeck but still a very private country setting. This is something I still may consider. Obviously, it will need to be renovated. The problem is that it’s a short sale and that could drag on forever. In fact, I’m trying not to look at the short sales because I want to be working on something this summer, but there are a lot out there.

Looked at a bunch of other places in Rhinebeck. Mostly ranches in need of updating. One place for $140k in Red Hook/Milan that was a bit too far from civilization. The others were all too close to busy roads.

This Cold Spring short sale seemed perfect. A great farmhouse on 3 acres. What could be wrong? Right next to the recycling center which is on the premises of the old dump. That means on Saturdays and Sundays, half the town lines up to get rid of their bottles and cans.

The bargains are out there, my friends. You just can’t be so fussy like I am.

  posted @ 7:42 am Comments (0)

You have $200k to spend on a home within 2 hours of NYC, including renovations. Where would you look?

As mentioned before, I’m in search of a flip. I could put myself into debt for a year and not be able to afford pet food or even human food but I’d rather not, so I’m sticking to a budget of $200k. Yeah, I know. It ain’t gonna be in Brooklyn. Not even split with a partner. Not even a one bedroom apartment in a fringe neighborhood.

After searching for about a month, here’s what I’ve learned…

You want to own a home in the boroughs for $200k? It’s possible. There are homes in crappy parts of Bushwick, Jamaica and East New York. Actually, pretty difficult to come by houses for under $300k, but short sales exist. If you’re purchasing a short sale, be prepared to have it drag on for close to a year.

Saw a couple of listings out on The Island. Riverhead and Central Islip. A friend from The Island wasn’t too impressed with those locations. Saw quite a few listings in Jersey City and Newark, especially Newark. No, the JC listings were not prime JC.

So, what’s the best bet for finding a home for under $200k (Oh, did I mention that INCLUDES renovations?)? Upstate. Whether it be commuter location or second home, the houses exist. Saw a bunch in Rhinebeck and one in Hyde Park that I may put an offer on, but it will only be back up as someone got to it first. Bastards.

Today I’m heading up to Warwick. That’s a commuter area and there are about 4-5 listings to look at. It’s promising.

So, you want a house on a small budget? You can do it. As long as you’re not a whiny douche like this guy.

  posted @ 7:53 am Comments (6)

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