have you thought about buying?
if you can come up with a down payment
your budget of $2500 should get you
a home in a nice part of the heights
with a garage for one car and driveway
for the other. imho that beats renting

Quote:

Thanks Kitten! I didn't know about trolley car bar. I just read what is opening in the heights from that JCHeights website and everytime I see something like this opening I think we are going backwards - Reference Photo:



From the reviews on Yelp, Trolley Car Bar sounds great

I read this entire thread and was laughing out loud while reading it! Especially the comments from Vindication_15, and while everybody else here loves to hate him. V15 is right. Yes, He is right. And I will say it.........

I bought in the Heights because I couldn't afford the same thing in Manhattan. Now you all need to go ahead and say it too. Go ahead and say it along with me: We bought in the Heights because we couldn't afford the same thing in Manhattan.

In my case I bought a Mixed Use Building on Central Avenue in 2005. 435k I paid all cash. I wanted to be ground floor in the next Hoboken or Williamsburg. I was thinking the same thing all the other dreamers were thinking: this place is the next big thing.

I remember reading an article right at the same time saying that this is a real estate bubble and the safest place to buy in a Bubble is the most prime real estate such as SOHO. I thought what a crock of malarney. SOHO is already way overpriced. Today SOHO is higher and the heights is down. Lesson learned: Prime real estate is much less risky.

When I look at the prices in the Heights today, I just can't believe how cheap it is in comparison with other neighborhoods of comparable demographics and commute distances. $200 psqft for a condo in the Heights vs $500 in Hoboken $450 in DTJC. $1,000 in prime brooklyn, $700 in OK brooklyn, and $500 in Ghetto Brooklyn. $2,000 in SOHO/TRIBECA. The heights seems like a great value. But I thought the same 8 years ago, and it seems like we are still the first ones here.

I don't know why people aren't flocking to the heights and buying those $200,000 1000 sq foot condos or $300,000 houses with yards. But they aren't. And I think the best that we can really hope for is that the price gap from DTJC and the heights narrows a little. I don't think the heights will ever be worth more than DTJC.

I think the Heights has 2 main problems has been holding it back from Mass Gentrification. The fist one is the hardest to overcome. A massive physical barrier. The cliff. That cliff breaks the gentrification wave completely. The elevator helps a little but not enough. IMHO If the cliff wasn't there, it would have already happened a long time ago. The gentrification goes right to the cliff and then stops.

The other problem, is the lack of interesting retail businesses. There is nothing but 99 cent stores, We Buy Gold, and "Pollo a la Brasa" in the Heights. You can't have a cool neighborhood without some cool cafes and nice restaurants, but you can't open one of those businesses without having the clientele who will be willing to go there. Seems like a what came first the chicken or the egg problem.

I just finished a total gut renovation of my building. I about to start redoing my facade and try to make the building and storefront attractive for the type of business I would like to see as a tenant. But sometimes I am afraid I am wasting my money and the renovation is just lipstick on a pig.

If you already own in the heights, fix your place up. Raise the standards on the minimum income that your tenants must have in order to rent the place. My number is $75,000 minimum. If that became the minimum income neighborhood wide property values would go up.

And don't hate V-15 for pointing out the ugly truth. You can hate him for his lack of appreciation for the arts though.

can someone post a pic please?