He Brownstoner, your map link points to an address in Brooklyn, Indiana. Not so convenient to lower Manhattan after all.

Posted by: Vanderman at July 22, 2009 1:46 PM in response to Condo of the Day: 30 Main Street, #4G

We had the same problem with our refinance, with Citi. I'm afraid the only way around it was to have the iron bars removed. cost us $125. The irony is that when the guy came to remove the bars, he said, "Yeah, I've been doing a lot of these lately. I come and cut the bars off, and then three days later I come back and put 'em back on." The problem is that in order to have safety latches, you need to essentially order an entirely new set of bars. So in either case you're going to have to have the existing bars removed. It was a pain in the a**, but now that we're closed and we have our new rate it was totally worth it.

Posted by: Vanderman at June 1, 2009 3:48 PM in response to Safety latches on iron grates

What the What ignores is that Mr. B has already paid down some principal in the first three and a half years of his loan. The new loan amount will be lower than his original amount, so although he's restarting the clock, it's for a smaller loan AND at a lower rate. When we refinanced our loan, we had already paid about $40K in principal. So our payments to the first lender were not flushed down the toilet; we are now carrying $40K less in principal over the life of the loan, which will save us a huge amount in interest. And we can pre-pay without penalty, which means we can pay down the loan faster than the 30 year term if we decide to. For now our carrying costs are much more affordable

And no matter what the math indicates, The What needs to take a deep breath and calm down. If these comments are going to create useful dialogue, they should be about bringing more light, and less heat. The What is all about heating things up without being illuminating.

Posted by: Vanderman at May 14, 2009 3:30 PM in response to Refinancing: How Sweet It Is

We just refinanced at 4.875, with no points. It was worth it. We'll make up our closing costs in less than two years, and we have no plans to move.

Posted by: Vanderman at May 14, 2009 3:18 PM in response to Refinancing: How Sweet It Is

"one of the most important pieces of Brooklyn's history may be destined for destruction"

But is it really one of the most important? By what standard? I agree that, in an ideal world, these buildings should be saved. But I don't think overstating the importance of Admiral's Row helps your case. It's sad to see any piece of historic brooklyn fall into the crosshairs of ta wrecking ball. But as preservationists, don't we have to choose our battles? we can't save everything. these buildings may have a special place in your heart, but the case for why they should be saved has to be more than an emotional appeal. It's not just that a supermarket serves a real need for the community; other than the nostalgic and romantic impulses behind restoring an old building, I don't see how these buildings would become a vital part of Brooklyn history. I felt the same way about the high line project in Manhattan. Seemed like a great deal of time and money and creativity went into restoring it, but given everything else that's falling apart in NYC, things that are actually vital to the way we live and interact, I didn't think the project made any sense...

Posted by: Vanderman at April 1, 2009 2:26 PM in response to Ugly Politics May Trump Reason in Admiral's Row Saga

You all have missed the point. Whether or not it deserves to be called a gastropub or just a bar, the place will have 16 beers on tap.

16 beers on tap!!!

That's welcome news for the neighborhood.

Posted by: Vanderman at February 10, 2009 6:14 PM in response to Dekalb Avenue "Gastropub" for Fort Greene

Um, I think you mean "flesh out the article". Unless they sent it down the toilet.

Posted by: Vanderman at December 19, 2008 1:45 PM in response to The Madoff Mess and Real Estate

"Why am I the only person on this thread who seems to be speaking positively about Brooklyn?" -- 11217

Maybe you're spending too much time on this thread, which if you ask me offers a really distorted picture of Brooklyn and the concerns of its denizens. Leave the brownstoner comment post behind and step out into the real world, there are a lot of people who love brooklyn and aren't leaving any time soon. I'm just one of them, but I also count many of the neighbors I know on our block, most of whom have never heard of Brownstoner.

Posted by: Vanderman at November 19, 2008 2:45 PM in response to Life During Recession Time: Schools

Is it really 19 feet wide? Looks narrower to me. can't quite make out the dimensions on the floorplan either.

Posted by: Vanderman at October 29, 2008 2:50 PM in response to House of the Day: 46 Cambridge Place

Hey DaveinBedsty, the stats for gun violence in the US are off the hook. Check out this passage from the Independent:

"In the US, there are roughly 17,000 murders a year, of which about 15,000 are committed with firearms. By contrast, Britain, Australia and Canada combined see fewer than 350 gun-related murders each year. And it's not just about murder. The non-gun-related suicide rate in the US is consistent with the rest of the developed world. Factor in firearms, and the rate is suddenly twice as high as the rest of the developed world."

Why not bring some sensible gun control to this country, to prevent the flow of cheap illegal handguns into the city, as our own Mayor has tried to do by closing loopholes and following through on interstate enforcement?

In any case, whatever you think about gun laws, "Love it or Leave it" is just a silly attitude.

Posted by: Vanderman at October 27, 2008 5:10 PM in response to Breaking: Shooting in Fort Greene

What about L'Epicerie, now that they've folded? That would make a great space for a bookstore, and it's right around the corner from Tillie's which sometimes hosts readings. They could team up and become the literary hub of F.G.

Posted by: Vanderman at September 19, 2008 10:46 AM in response to Fort Greene Bookstore Has Support, Needs Space

I had a similar experience with our renovation, three bids, with the low one coming in under $100K and the high one nearly double that, the third in the middle. In the end we went with the high bidder because we felt he was being the most honest -- and in the end, his bid was just about accurate, within $5K, which is not the sort of story you hear often. The lower bidders just seemed to be unrealistic, and even if we paid a bit more, the quality of the work was excellent, and we felt we were being dealt with fair and square. I don't think you can put a price on that

I don't know anything about All Reno, but you are right to be suspicious of the lowest bid. That's an old trick. Best to go with the team you have the best gut feeling about, since you'll be living with them for a while -- and probably for longer than the time they've estimated for your job.

Posted by: Vanderman at August 12, 2008 3:57 PM in response to wildly divergent contractors' estimates

I think this is a great thing for the neighborhood. The only Chase branch in the area is way over on Flushing, which isn't very convenient.

And by the way, I heard the Co-op was looking at spaces closer to the public transportation on Fulton.

Posted by: Vanderman at August 5, 2008 3:37 PM in response to Streetlevel: Chase Gobbles Up Myrtle Corner

I agree, johnife. I find the menus and flyers a minor nuisance to clean up, and an incredible waste of paper.

When I come home and find two or three of the same supermarket circular hanging from the upper and lower entrances of the house -- we're in a single family residence, but the guys they hire to distribute these must assume were a multi-family dwelling -- only to chuck them immediately into the recycling, it makes me a little sick at the waste of time, energy and paper. Not so much my own time, but the effort of the guys who plaster the neighborhood, and to what effect? I never look at anything that gets shoved under my door or left on my stoop. it always gets dumped right away.

They should offer a way to opt of the paper flyers and get the information via email. I'd gladly delete a few emails every night if it would prevent the needless waste of paper.

Posted by: Vanderman at August 4, 2008 9:52 PM in response to Closing Bell: Fighting Unwanted Fliers

There's one sentence in Sternbergh's article underscores how ridiculous his point of view is:

"Both Butler and The What have made their relative reputations by identifying and tapping into exactly the same thing: a borough seething with anxiety."

A borough seething with anxiety? I have no idea what he's talking about. And I'm certainly not losing sleep over The What or anything he/she/it says. The what's antics are laughable.

Maybe if in that sentence you replaced the word "borough" with "blog comment posts" you'd have something close to accurate, but even then I'm not sure.

Posted by: Vanderman at May 27, 2008 11:40 AM in response to Analyze This: New York Puts Brownstoner on the Couch

There's absolutely no way this place nets out to 3,000 square feet -- unless there's a finished basement that doesn't show up on the floor plan.

Posted by: Vanderman at April 16, 2008 2:24 PM in response to Co-op of the Day: 9 Pierrepont Street

The Fort Greene CSA link doesn't work. Would love to learn more about it -- how will the shares be allocated? By lottery, or first come first serve?

Posted by: Vanderman at April 9, 2008 12:06 PM in response to New CSA Action in Fort Greene, Ditmas Park

A. Malek does excellent work on facades. we did the rear of our house, which is all brick, four stories, 14" wide, and it cost us about $10K. This was a few years ago; I don't know the rates now. But now is a good time to get estimates, with the weather warming up.

Also check this out, a roundup of fix it people, and it lists a roofer:

http://brooklynbased.net/everything/the-fix-it-list/

Posted by: Vanderman at April 7, 2008 5:51 PM in response to Re-pointing & New Roof

Love that building, too, though I haven't been in that apartment. I think it wouldn't have a hard time fetching that price. They also have their own parking lot at that building, as I recall...

Posted by: Vanderman at April 1, 2008 12:59 PM in response to Co-op of the Day: 279 Sterling Place, #1B

Skip the bug, it's too cartoonish. you've got real vendors coming to this thing, you should have a design that's clean, professional, stylish. Better to do a shirt with just the words BROOKLYN FLEA, in my opinion, than to have something that can be criticized for looking silly. you also don't need the word "brownstoner's" if you ask me. why limit your audience to brownstoner readers? some people might be less inclined to buy a shirt if it's got a brownstoner logo on it. Brooklyn Flea has a come one, come all ring to it. it invites everyone, whether they live in a brownstone or not. keep it simple, you can't go wrong.

Posted by: Vanderman at March 27, 2008 5:53 PM in response to Flea Circus

What's the maker? How old? There are a few vintage pianos that are worth the trouble, but many, depending on the condition of the action and the soundboard, will never come back to their former glory, unless you were to essentially rebuild them from the ground up, and that's a major expense. The guy who tunes our piano is really competent; he may be able to tell you if it's worth the bother:

Mickey Finn
brooklyn_piano@doghouseNYC.com

Posted by: Vanderman at February 22, 2008 4:04 PM in response to Piano

11:03 What does "champing" mean?

Champ is an early English variation for the word chomp. the bit is the part of the rein that goes in the horse's mouth. for some reason the idiom has remained champ, not chomp, at the bit, though they mean exactly the same thing.

Posted by: Vanderman at February 15, 2008 12:33 PM in response to $50 Million McCarren Makeover Gaining Momentum

I don't think price per square foot is the relevant metric for renovation costs. We did a fairly extensive (and somewhat high-end) renovation on our house -- new electrical throughout, a new bathroom with a new hot water riser, lots of wood trim and doors stripped and stained, all interior walls repainted -- and in the end spent around $75 per square foot (now that I price it out; it never occurred to me to budget it that way). But half of our basement is unfinished and we left it that way. Without that factored in, it was still less than $100 psf.

But we also had estimates all over the map before we started. in any case none of the contractors who bid on our job thought in terms of overall square feet. it was a matter of pricing out the subcontractors for each part of the renovation. in the end, we ended up going with the highest bidder because he seemed the most honest, and it was the right call; we spent just a bit more than his estimate, but that was due to change orders that we pre-approved. and the place looks great.

the only way to get a real handle on the cost is to get a number of competitive bids (at least three, more if you have time) and then look at where the price is averaging out. also compare the costs of the individual subcontractors in each case -- if one sub comes in much higher than the others, tell the contractor about the rival bids and ask what he can do to lower costs. also beware of very low bidders, since they often bid low just to get the job and then the costs pile up once you're in the middle of the job.

Good luck!

Posted by: Vanderman at February 14, 2008 4:27 PM in response to Contractor price per square foot?

"What would you do with all the space in the columbia heights house? Take in boarders?"

Well, yes, that's exactly what you'd do. if you take a look at the floorplan, on Halstead, you'll see that each floor has its own kitchen. you could re-configure it as a duplex/triplex, or however you like, to generate rental income. And while I'll admit that the Joralemon house is pretty, that's a hell of a lot of dough, there's no way to justify $5 million, no matter how fancy the kitchen is etc.

Posted by: Vanderman at February 11, 2008 2:29 PM in response to House of the Day: 113 Columbia Heights

Interesting to compare this to 135 Joralemon, another prime historic Heights home, which has dropped its price yet again (to $4,950,000), bringing it a full $1 million lower than the original asking. The Columbia Heights location is stunning, and that's a lot of square feet, and even with the work you'd have to put into it, I still think its a better deal, given what they're asking over on Joralemon. I wonder if either of these will find a buyer given the state of the economy.

Posted by: Vanderman at February 11, 2008 2:10 PM in response to House of the Day: 113 Columbia Heights

Is it Mr. B who needs to get out of his so called blog bubble, or all you "guests" who snipe anonymously?

Let's all just take a deep breath and let the market sort out whether this place is overpriced or not. And it doesn't seem like a terrible investment, if you plan to stay for a while.

Posted by: Vanderman at January 17, 2008 6:14 PM in response to House of the Day: 242 Washington Avenue

Guest 2:11: "Lets say you're getting 6% after tax on your 400k in some pretty average hedge fund"

your numbers must come from some alternate universe in which the subprime mess hasn't been sending your "average hedge fund" into a death spiral. Not so easy to get 6% after taxes these days.

Posted by: Vanderman at December 4, 2007 5:21 PM in response to Co-op of the Day: 62 Montague Street

First, it all depends on where in FG you're moving to. Obviously, it will have more of an impact on properties nearest to the footprint. I haven't seen the shadow study you mention but I'd be curious to have a look.

In general terms, if it's property values you're worried about, I don't think you have much to worry about. If anything the density of people will likely bring a more robust economy and higher property values (and the downside: higher taxes)

If it's quality of life issues, you may want to read up more about the impact the development will have on Atlantic Yards Report and the DDDB site. I moved into Fort Greene three years ago, and I have vigorously opposed the AY project on many grounds -- it's insanely out of scale with the surrounding neighborhood, it will increase traffic in already highly congested intersections along Flatbush and Atlantic, and the city has yielded way too much in terms of tax breaks and project oversight. the abuse of eminent domain is a disgusting violation of basic property rights by a greedy developer.

while the ultimate environmental impact of the development is unknown, it's going to be worse than Ratner's study indicates. Whether the worst of the doomsday scenarios comes true, there's no doubt that it will be much harder to navigate the area once streets are demapped -- just getting from FG through the AY footprint to the Park and the rest of the Slope will be more of a challenge than it is now. Parking congestion and traffic in our area will be worse, and the arena itself will be a very mixed bag -- whatever it does for Brooklyn pride, it will also create bottlenecks, and the portfolio of businesses that spring up in its footprint may not be to everyone's liking.

That said, I still believe Fort Greene will continue to be not just a viable, but a great neighborhood to live in, for the simple reason that no development can strip away everything that made us want to live there. FG park will always be there. The beautiful Pratt campus will always be there. whatever gentrification ensues, the mix of people will always be diverse and interesting. there are families and businesses that have deep roots here and they're not going to leave just because of AY. I plan to stay at least until my kids are grown and move on ...

Posted by: Vanderman at November 20, 2007 2:43 PM in response to Fort Greene- AY impact

After I saw that our information was available online, I contacted Propertyshark directly about this very question. They were extremely unhelpful. Once the price has been made public there's no turning back. I don't know if there's a foolproof way to prevent it from going public in the first place, though given the number of properties that have n/a listed there must be a way. I would guess it involves paperwork filed at the time of the close requesting that the information be kept private. Perhaps your real estate lawyer will know?

Posted by: Vanderman at November 20, 2007 2:19 PM in response to I don't want friends and family knowing how much I paid for my condo

Thank you, everyone, for the helpful feedback. I also heard from a friend that the Antenna King, in Bay Ridge, does a fine job with rooftop installs, and he's reasonably priced. I just spoke to him and he seems to know what he's talking about. Here's the link for anyone who is interested:

http://www.antennaking.com/

Posted by: Vanderman at November 16, 2007 10:20 AM in response to Installing a rooftop antenna for HDTV?

What's the digital changeover, in 2009?

In any event, I also get analog reception now, with an indoor antenna, but my understanding is that for HDTV you really have to go to the roof. Unlike analog, with a digital signal, it's an all or nothing proposition -- either you're getting reception, or your not -- and with an indoor antenna, I'm told, you can't get a strong enough signal.

Posted by: Vanderman at November 15, 2007 4:58 PM in response to Installing a rooftop antenna for HDTV?

According to this website:

http://www.antennaweb.org/aw/welcome.aspx

the signals in my area of Brooklyn are viable, though we live fairly high up, near the highest point in Fort Greene, without major obstructions between us and where the signals are coming from. (plug in your own address on the site and try for yourself, it will give you a map with vectors for each channel, digital or otherwise) You can't get HDTV from an indoor antenna, however, it's got to be a directional antenna on the roof. Most of the major channels come from within a 15 degree spectrum, and apparently that's enough for a directional antenna to handle. I'm just wondering whether anyone has experience with different brands of antennas. My electrician says he doesn't do work "on the roof," so I may be tackling this project on my own.

Posted by: Vanderman at November 15, 2007 4:32 PM in response to Installing a rooftop antenna for HDTV?

How about a tutorial on how to wire and install a rooftop antenna, to pull in free broadcast HDTV? (Full disclosure: I Posted this question on the Forum today, but so far no one has commented...does everyone but me in this town have cable?)

Posted by: Vanderman at November 15, 2007 2:33 PM in response to Video: Reigniting The Boiler Pilot Light

I think the key is to choose a subway tile that has an off-white hue, or antique finish. We used subway tile in a new bathroom we built in what used to be a large closet and airshaft. The doorway has beautiful molding, which we stripped and stained to match the original, and we had the vanity base made of wood and stained it to match. The subway tile we found, at Stone Source in the city (highly recommend them) had a rustic warm feel to it. We loved the result. I'm afraid I don't have a photo handy, but it really goes well with the wood accents.

Posted by: Vanderman at November 15, 2007 11:36 AM in response to Warming Up Subway Tile with Wood?

I am a loan officer at Wells Fargo and I am having the same issues from our underwriters. I need to reference the actual fire or safety codes to show underwriting the error of their ways. If I can reference these codes, I will be able to stop them from any future harassment. Please feel free to contact me by email at joel.weingarten@wellsfargo.com. Thank you.

Posted by: jweingarten at July 30, 2009 12:32 PM in response to Safety latches on iron grates