Compound
About
This blog will follow our search for a home, and also musings on real estate, community, art, design+architecture, and other inspirations.
Things We Like
Ball and Chain jewelry Brooklyn Based Contemporist Gone To The Farthest Shore Inhabitat John Jacobsmeyer Katrina Balling Live Modern Michael Prettyman Red Hook CSA Red Hook BK RomanLeo Photography Transmaterial Word On Columbia
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Search
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“Our Offer Was Accepted!”Now the hard part starts for us…stay tuned!
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The cat’s out of the bag! We made an offer on a place!
We’ve been keeping the posts on our search somewhat vague because: a) we didn’t want to jump the gun, and b) we didn’t want competition on promising leads.
As of 6 weeks ago, we were all set to make an offer on a different property, but the longer we waited for our financing to come through, the less sure we were about the property. This place needed significant work, although not a total gut rehab. The location is less than ideal, but it is in Red Hook, where we all want to stay. It had 3 equal apartments that are sizeable enough, but no extra space for studios. The property had the option to buy an adjacent vacant lot, on which we could have built a studio building. However, the longer we thought about it, and the more we saw other places, the less promising it looked.
The building we made an offer on is a building we looked at in the beginning of our search, but eliminated mainly for one reason. We even wrote about why we rejected it in one of our earlier posts! Funny, isn’t it? After much thought and a second look, I have to say that this building has everything except one thing, and in the end, that one thing wasn’t enough to keep us from making an offer: it’s not in Red Hook. It pains me to say that, but we decided this building is unique enough that we are willing to leave the neighborhood I’ve come to love so much (we all have). It pains me even more because I think Red Hook could be so much more, and such a better place to live, if only there was a little more available housing. To the people who own vacant lots in Red Hook and won’t sell them: You are holding Red Hook back for your own selfish fantasy that you’ll cash in big one day.
So, without further ado, I introduce you to our house in Wallabout! (see photos after jump)
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Widening the Net
It’s been awhile since our last post…we are continuing our search, and may have found a potential building, but nothing is confirmed yet.
This is exciting news, but it’s also somewhat sad news for myself and the others since we’ve decided to widen our search outside of Red Hook. There just aren’t any available buildings that suit our needs and budget, and the myriad of vacant lots are rotting the neighborhood from within, like, well, rot. Owners are clutching onto their lots with the dream of scoring Big and selling to a developer for millions. They think the zoning will change to allow towers like Williamsburg or 4th Avenue. I have a secret for them: it won’t.
In the mean time, all the vacant lots keep Red Hook impoverished both economically and aesthetically. It’s a self-defeating cycle: the vacant lots prevent further development, but at the same time the lot owners are waiting for more development to raise property values before they sell. See the problem?
If I were in charge of things (and why not?), the NYC Finance Dept would seize any land that has unpaid taxes and auction the lots off in a lottery to residents of the neighborhood. No developers, no absentee owners. Allow appropriate residential and commercial growth, owned and built by residents of Red Hook for the benefit of the neighborhood. A girl can dream, can’t she?
After many frustrating attempts to contact land owners or find an existing building that works for us in Red Hook, we realized we had to start looking outside the neighborhood if we want to find anything. We are not in a huge hurry, but at the same time we don’t want to wait for a year, two years, three years or more to find a place in the neighborhood. The market is favorable for buyers now, but in a year or two, who knows?
We are still hopeful that something may turn up in Red Hook, but we are not putting all our eggs in one basket, even if they are Red Hook Poultry Association eggs (http://tinyurl.com/3xrtuxw).
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The Gross, The Bad, and the Ugly
Okay. We’ve been looking at buildings and houses for a few months now. We’ve probably seen at least a dozen, and folks let me tell you: it is not pretty out there. As with most things in life, especially New York Real Estate life, money buys you freedom and choice. And unfortunately, this is something we don’t have much of. Even by joining our finances together, the properties we can afford are generally at the margins of desirable areas, or just plain not in good areas. And there’s always a trade off: more space = worse location; empty lot = higher financial risk; good existing conditions = higher initial cost; fixer upper = lower initial cost but longer renovation time. It’s enough to make me play the lottery for the first time in my life.
Through it all, the group has kept an open mind and has been patient with each other, but there are occasional minor misunderstandings, and the nature of making a decision with 6 people involved is sometimes slow at best. The key to our success in making it this far is openness, respect, and trust. Too bad some owners and realtors don’t hold the same values.
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The Hunt: in the Zone
[by Allison. This may be a somewhat dry post, but I wanted to dive into some of the more technical aspects of real estate that we’re dealing with.]
After agreeing to focus on Red Hook several weeks ago, the group has been scouring the neighborhood for buildings or lots for sale. Our strategy has been a little scattershot, but in casting a wide net we’re hoping that something will turn up.
In our research, we have realized that the zoning in Red Hook is going to severely limit where we can buy and/or build, more so than we originally thought. The zones in Red Hook as determined by the Department of City Planning are as follows:
- R5, R6 (Residential)
- M1-1, M1-2, M2-1, M3-1, and MX-5 (Manufacturing)
- Commercial overlays C1-1 (mostly along Van Brunt St), C1-2 and C1-3 (on a few blocks of Lorraine)
The Red Hook Houses occupies approx. 50% of all R5 and R6 property, so the supply of available residential zoned property is extremely limited.
[Zoning map 16a, from NYC Planning Commission]
Red Hook is a somewhat unusual mix of residential and manufacturing zoning. The industrial nature of the waterfront often conflicts with the inland residential blocks and there is an ongoing struggle between business needs and housing needs. Red Hook was once a bustling, working waterfront, however starting around the 1950‘s, the shipping industry died out and left many warehouses empty. The abundance of these large industrial spaces is one of the factors that first attracted artists to the area in the early ’90’s. These large abandoned warehouses are also attractive to residential developers, but I believe there must be a balance between residential and manufacturing/commercial use in the neighborhood. As the neighborhood grows, it will be very important to maintain a vibrant manufacturing base where local artisans, builders, fabricators and other businesses can thrive.
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Vacant lot culture of Red Hook: Take 1
by John J
In Red Hook it is difficult to distinguish between a vacant unkempt lot and one that is being nurtured, cultivated, prepareded for development or used for storage. Because in Red Hook, there’s a culture of ’let it do its thing’ that permeates the neighborhood’s derelict buildings and gardens alike. As we search for a lot to build on, I’m hoping we can approach our green space with that kind of acceptance of accident, non sequitur and whim of nature. I just started these four paintings based on Red Hook lots. I’ve turned the architecture and sidewalks into pine plywood as though they were temporary constructions (as in construction sites or club houses). The next step will be to paint the lots’ wild foliage en plein air.
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Who We Are
As part of our search, we decided that it would be useful to know what’s most important to each couple and what they’re looking for in the new space. The one requirement that is the same for all of us is that the place must be affordable. Our budget limit is approximately $1 million, or $350,000 per couple. Beyond budgetary constraints, we all have slightly different needs and wants, so, here are our…(drum roll, please) Top 5 Lists!
John + Katrina
John is an artist and teacher, and Katrina is an artist and jewelry maker
They met at University of New Hampshire, and were married in Red Hook
John moved to Red Hook in 2000; Katrina joined him in 2003
They are the proud owners of Snorkel and Lucky
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