Listing of the Day: Van Cortlandt Village Fixer-Upper

3326 Giles Place - 5 bedrooms (?), 1.5 bathrooms - $350K

This semi-detached single family is priced right, but must need significant renovation. There are no interior pics and the listing indicates that it "needs work." The place does have a one-car garage, which helps. The listing also gives a range of bedrooms (5-6); I wonder how raw this space is?

The hood is a nice family-oriented nabe. You'd be close to Ft. Independence Park and Van Cortlandt Park, and be in walking distance to the Bronx Ale House (always a good thing).

Shopping is decent with the Target complex down in Marble Hill; Garden Gourmet is reasonably close; and you'd be proximate enough to Riverdale to poach some of the hill-dwellers' amenities.

Transportation is good with the 1-train at both 238th and 231st streets (you'd be kind of equidistant) and Broadway. For east side access you'd have a little further walk (but not crazy) to the Mosholu Parkway 4 train stop.

FULL LISTING

~ErLu

Listing of the Day: Van Cortlandt Village SIngle Family

3845 Bailey Avenue, 3 Bedrooms, 2 Bathrooms - $449,000

I've had my eye on this listing for a while, sitting, stalking, waiting in anticipation of a price chop. The chop never came, but the place still intrigues me.

You have to love the exterior of the house and the fact that it comes with an ever elusive garage. I'd certainly classify this as a fixer-upper. The interior looks nice enough, but it appears a kitchen thief absconded with the cabinetry, counter tops, and any post war appliances. While $449K is not that steep for the hood, you'd have to spend at least an extra $20K-$30K (minimum) to redo the kitchen and bathroom. I might do some wallpaper removal as well - it's pretty scary. If a low ball offer was accepted there's a lot of potential here.

The hood has some good things going for it. You are right near Van Corlandt Park, which in itself is cool for biking, running, using the pretty nice public pool, or just watching cricket and rugby matches. You could also pretend you have a lake front deck at Vanny's golf course's clubhouse. Or just play a round if you're an actual duffer. Proximity to Bronx Ale House would provide you with a pretty solid local.

Transportation in this part of the hood would be either the 1 train at 238th Street (super close) or the 4 train at Jerome Avenue and Mosholu Parkway (a little bit further, but not insane).

FULL LISTING

~ErLu

Bentley Pics

A BoogieDowner reader sent these photos of the Bentley and its surrounding area for your perusal. Thanks, Lora!

Listing of the Day: the Bentley is Nuts

3880 Orloff Avenue, 2 bedrooms, 1 Bath - $1595/month

BoogieDowner has been following this bizarre rental price fluctuation since December of last year. The price has been (in order) $1555/month, $1685/month, $1575/month, $1475/month, $1700/month and now $1595. In addition to the crazy price fluctuation the listings have tried to lure renters in with an ever changing array of enticements: a free month's rent, no fee, $500 off first month's rent, a free month's rent already calculated into the advertised price, and now a choice between no broker's fee or a month's free rent.

This very well might be a nice building ("on the outskirts of Riverdale" as the listing shouts), but there's something fishy about being unable to price the rental rates consistently. I'm no financial wizard, but if people aren't renting at a higher price, maybe you should try decreasing the price until people start renting.

Here's the Bentley's fancy ad material:
Does anybody live in or near the Bentley? Anybody have any info about how full it is? Please let us know...

FULL LISTING

~ErLu

Listing of the Day: Van Cortlandt Village Co-op

3362 Sedgwick Avenue, 2 Bedroom, 1 Bathroom - $199,000

This is a very well maintained and updated 2 bedroom unit in Van Cortlandt Village. It appears that the kitchen and bathroom have already been done. At 800 square feet, it's not small, but it certainly isn't massive. Some of the numbers are attractive, with only a 10% down payment required. Even though co-ops that take less than the traditional 20% tend to be on less firm financial standing, it's nice for a buyer to only have to come up with $20K, instead of $40K in this instance. The maintenance is reasonable at $630/month, with 56% tax deductible.

Van Cortland Village is nice little residential neighborhood wedged been its eponymous park, the Jerome Park Reservoir and the Deegan Expressway. Clearly Van Cortlandt Park is a nice amenity. I know there's a C-town near the entrance to the Deegan, but it doesn't look huge. I'm guessing most of your shopping would be done in Riverdale, at the Target in Marble Hill, the Jerome Avenue BID, or for the car-blessed city dwellers, up in Westchester.

The transportation in Van Cortlandt Village always presents itself as a draw back to me (although a commenter once left a comment calling it one of the nabe's selling points?) I guess it depends on what part of the hood you're in (or maybe I'm just a spoiled Bedford Park resident). From this unit you'd have a bit of a walk to the 1 train over on 238th and Broadway or a rather hearty walk to the 4 train at Mosholu Parkway.

FULL LISTING

~ErLu

Listing of the Day: Price Chop by the Week

180 Van Cortlandt Park South #5C, 2 Bedroom - $259,000

BoogieDowner profiled this unit exactly one week ago, when it was listed at $265K. We still think this is a nice unit in a cool little area just south of Van Cortlandt Park and just east of Riverdale, but who knows where the free market value will settle for this apartment (or any piece of real estate for that matter). I wonder what the bottom rung of an acceptable offer would be? Would they take $230K? $220K? How inspired are they?

This is a big unit (950 square feet) at the foot of one of the prettiest parks in the City. The building looks well kept - it even has one of those fancy Co-op names ("the Van Cort" - I guess brevity is their thing). This apartment is also right near Riverdale and all of its amenities.

The kitchen and bathrooms look like they've been updated and the apartment doesn't appear to need that much work. All in all, this is a pretty solid apartment for a pretty decent (and falling!) price (although you'd be crazy to pay the asking price for anything in this market). The maintenance isn't listed, so that is a kind of big X-factor. A super high maintenance could be a deal breaker; high maintenance usually means a poorly managed building and it's a monthly fee that in all honesty doesn't provide much (horribly regulated heat? a super?) and builds no equity.

The transportation is very nice with the 1 train a block or so away

FULL LISTING

~ErLu

Listing of the Day: Van Cortlandt Park South

180 Van Cortlandt Park South #5C, 2 Bedroom - $265,000

This is a big unit (950 square feet) at the foot of one of the prettiest parks in the City. The building looks well kept - it even has one of those fancy Co-op names ("the Van Cort" - I guess brevity is their thing). This apartment is also right near Riverdale and all of its amenities.

The kitchen and bathrooms look like they've been updated and the apartment doesn't appear to need that much work. All in all, this is a pretty solid apartment for a pretty solid price (although you'd be crazy to pay the asking price for anything in this market). The maintenance isn't listed, so that is a kind of big X-factor. A super high maintenance could be a deal breaker; high maintenance usually means a poorly managed building and it's a monthly fee that in all honesty doesn't provide much (horribly regulated heat? a super?) and builds no equity.

The transportation is very nice with the 1 train a block or so away.

FULL LISTING

Listing of the Day: Schizophrenic Pricing at the Bentley

3880 Orloff Avenue, 2 Bedrooms - $1575/month

This Van Cortlandt Village building is a rather curious case of of prices jumping up and down since December. When BoogieDowner first profiled a two bedroom in this building back in December it was listed at $1555/month with the offer of a $500 reduction on the first month's rent. Then BoogieDowner stumbled upon a new fancy pants listing that gave the building a name (the Bentley), linked to a foo-foo website (which is now a dead link), and boosted the price to $1685/month with the offer a full month free (The net-rate when BD ran the numbers at the higher rate with a month free, was $5 higher/month than the December rate. If you take into account the $500 reduction offered in December it would be $505 higher for the first month).

Now today, a two bedroom in this building is being listed at $1575 and being hailed as a $100 reduction in rent (it looks to BD that it's a $110 reduction in rent from $1685, but why quibble over $10). In BoogieDowner's view it's really just a $20 increase from the original December rent. No reduction in first month or mention of a free month remain. The listing mentions a gym membership fee being waived.

Not sure if the folks over at 3880 Orloff have read a newspaper, watched the news, or looked at their 401K statements lately, but the economy is a big poop burger. The rental price should be lower than it was in December and you should be piling on concessions and amenities.

Maybe if they would price the unit appropriately it would rent. Enough with amenity and concession voodoo. Don't give a reduction, but raise the rate in other ways to try to fool the renter into paying the same rate in the end. I'd say an even $1450-$1500 would be far for this unit, no?

All things being equal, the unit, building and hood are pretty nice. Maybe you can call and negotiate a better price. Who knows...just make sure that the Bentley has had its Thorazine.

FULL LISTING

~ErLu

Listing of the Day: The Curious Case of the Bentley

3880 Orloff Avenue, 2 Bedrooms, $1685/month

BoogieDowner first listed this back in December, when it was $1555/month, and before it had a fancy building name (the Bentley) and an even fancier website (it's worth the jump).

So what's so curious about the Bentley? Well in two and half months, the listing rent has gone up from $1555 to $1685, and the offer of a $500 reduction on the first month's rent has become a full month's rent free. Hmmmmm....

All in all the building provides some cool amenities, but shouldn't rent prices be coming down in the economy? I guess the $130 increase per month times 12 months gets you to $1560 (a little more than one month of the old December rent). In reality you'd be paying the equivalent of 12 months rent at the old rate. So, it looks like the Bentley moved money around to take away the $500 off the first month rent offered in December. In any case, here's the original post. Not much has changed, but the price (and the family stipulation seems to be absent from the new listings, although I'd ask about it if I wanted to share and wasn't part of a renting family):

Ok, this Listing of the Day is in one of those really pretty buildings in Van Cortlandt Village. The nabe is nice (even if a little far from transportation) and this unit comes with serious amenities: FREE gym, garage, laundry on each floor of the building, a rec room, and sun deck for the spring and summer. The listing even offers the first month free [was $500 off the reduced rent] and no broker's fee.

Oh yeah, and you'd also be super-close to Van Cortlandt Park.

There is a small caveat that two bedrooms in this building must go to families or shares. So a single guy with his Star Wars collection couldn't get this place. They also want 40x the rent (combined), so that means you and your significant other or roommate (combined) would need to grab north of $62K to qualify.[THIS ISN'T IN THE NEW LISTING]

If you do qualify and are in the market for a two bedroom it makes sense to take a look. It's hard to find these amenities elsewhere in the Bronx, or even the whole City for this price.

Transportation is a little iffy. You could go east and take the 4 at Mosholu Parkway and Jerome Avenue, or go west across the Major Deegan to get the 1 train at 238th Street.

FULL LISTING

~ErLu

Listing of the Day: Listing Stalker

91 Van Cortlandt Avenue, 1 Bedroom - $1100/month

So BoogieDowner has just frightened itself. We ran past an apartment that looked pretty familiar. It wasn't entirely clear why, and then it dawned on me - the weird cubical shelf things! BoogieDowner had profiled this exact unit back in September when it was for sale at $155,000. Back then they were still trying to call this Kingsbridge Heights, when it is clearly Van Cortlandt Village.

It was actually a pretty memorable posting because a lively debate erupted in the comment section about whether Riverdale residents use Riverdale, NY or Bronx, NY as their mailing address.

In any case what would have cost the buyer $1357/month with mortgage and maintenance (with a 20% down payment) now will cost the renter $1100/month. You would not get the tax benefit of writing off that mortgage interest and a portion of you maintenance. Nor would you get to build a little equity, but it's not a bad price for a decent apartment in a decent nabe.

Transportation is a little isolated with the 1 train across the Deegan at 238th or the 4 train at Mosholu Parkway and Jerome. Although, I will say it's nice to be close to Van Cortlandt Park.

FULL LISTING

~ErLu

Listing of the Day: Van Cortlandt Village Rental

3880 Orloff Avenue, 2 Bedrooms, $1555/month

Ok, this Listing of the Day is in one of those really pretty buildings in Van Cortlandt Village. The nabe is nice (even if a little far from transportation) and this unit comes with serious amenities: FREE gym, garage, laundry on each floor of the building, a rec room, and sun deck for the spring and summer. The listing even offers a $500 deduction on the first month's rent and no broker's fee.

Oh yeah, and you'd also be super-close to Van Cortlandt Park.

There is a small caveat that two bedrooms in this building must go to families or shares. So a single guy with his Star Wars collection couldn't get this place. They also want 40x the rent (combined), so that means you and your significant other or roommate (combined) would need to grab north of $62K to qualify.

If you do qualify and are in the market for a two bedroom it makes sense to take a look. It's hard to find these amenities elsewhere in the Bronx, or even the whole City for this price.

Transportation is a little iffy. You could go east and take the 4 at Mosholu Parkway and Jerome Avenue, or go west across the Major Deegan to get the 1 train at 238th Street.

FULL LISTING

~ErLu