10/31/2007

Crazy...

Got word this week that 241 Monroe was sold, again. This time for $13,055, last month.
IMG_6801
Brand new, this single family home - two short blocks around the corner from Sycamore Village - first sold for $69,100 in May, 1993.

Current assessment - $52,000.
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ArtspaceBAVPAWoodlawn Row Housesfaqmy flickr
the creativity exchangetop ten or eleven

9 comments:

Anonymous said...

A shame to say the least. I think this definitely sheds light on the misguided practice of building suburban style homes in the inner city. However, one could also argue that this is evidence that investing in housing on the East Side is in itself a poor investment. An article in the Journal of American Planning Association from a few months ago did research on the impact that "new urbanist" design has on the property values of subsidized and low/mid income housing. The findings were not overly convincing, although it did suggest a correlation b/w good design and property values for this housing market. As far as Syc Village is concerned, I personally would not invest in the area and am highly skeptical of the return on investment that these homes will yield, even though they do subscribe to some "new urbanist" tenets.

fixBuffalo said...

bflobr...

toss us a link to the apa article...thanks

Anonymous said...

This is not a bad looking house design; an attached garage with a concrete driveway is a plus in any neighborhood.

This house could catch six-figures in a more gentrified neighborhood; unfortunately, it is located in-the-hood.

The real estate agents are correct; location, location, location….

Anonymous said...

Fix Buffalo...

I don't have a link, because I read the paper in its hardcopy form. I looked it up and this is where it can be found:

Valuing New Development in Distressed Neighborhoods: Does Design Matter? by Brent Ryan and Rachel Weber. JAPA Vol. 73 No. 1 p.100 (Winter 2007).

A quick google search provides an excerpt at the following link:

http://tinyurl.com/3ynthx

While the research is interesting, the analysis was done in distressed neighborhoods of Chicago. Real estate research from a city like Chicago can be difficult to apply to a weak housing market like Buffalo. Regardless, I think you will find it interesting.

fixBuffalo said...

bflobr...

Thanks. Good read!

Anonymous said...

The builders of these urban treasures don't like to put many windows in them, do they? Compare with a colonial built in the 1920's... These "vinyl victorians" have an almost prison-like quality about them.

Chip

Anonymous said...

This is the new all time low for a resale of a newbuild.. The record was formerly held by 66 Chester in the 14K range( Its been flipped 2X since)

Anonymous said...

Very Disappointing.

Small porch is terrible, I think it would almost be embarrassing to sit out on such a small pad.... and for one chair. Windows look terrible, Cmon they couldn't put in two nice bay windows? "Almost prison like quality" one wrote, wow whatta comment.

On other houses, I always hated homes with those steel security doors with bars, I really believe it makes people passing by feel an element of fear, and has a slight impact to devalue housing. Bars on windows are just almost stupid.

With the city of Buffalo striking 1100 parcels of property to the city, at the auction 2 weeks ago, (I remember like 512 buildings last year), and the recent news of a plan for the city to raise 100 million TO DEMOLISH 5000 HOMES, it makes you wonder if we should have a complete STOP to ALL new construction, till this excessive level of vacancy is addressed.
Plus how many Seniors, or 1 - 2 persons per house are out there?, In the last decade when we started building these massive senior citizen apt complexes, that left maybe hundreds of these properties abandoned. (Maybe the largest group of slumlords out there - Senior Citizens?)

I ran into a Demo contractor awhile back, said he demolished a house on Best street, It was 5 years old. Said it was due to water damage, something clogged, or water keep running. My Theory is the wafer board plywood sucks that water right up, where as an older home might have been able to take a hit like that.

On Nov. 1st at 138 Townsend, New Built with NO Basement. Perimeter was doug out about 4 ft deep and the concrete was poured, for the foundation. Other than maybe some habitat homes, this I believe is the 1st major development to start rebuilding an area with no basements. The initial plan of 20 has jumped to 200. I was against this nonsense, dont think you should be making new builts cheaper by eliminating a major building standard. You should take some pictures.

Dave, truely admire your dedication to this site.

Ron Mondry

Sean Brodfuehrer said...

What do you expect when you have a crappy design with crappy material. Why would anyone want to live in a house like this, in this neighborhood, when you could live in a house like this somewhere else. We need to learn to play off the strengths of our neighborhoods not try to be something we can't and shouldn't be.