Big bucks, tiny apartments (For the right price, you can own your own closet, er, studio co-op)

New York Daily news ^ | 8/3/03 | Tracy Connor

[austinTparty]

Abolish rent control...

[Ronin]

Ha!

Come to Japan and I will show you some small apartments! My first place was 4.5 tatami's. Bed? Forget it, I used futons. When I laid down I could stretch out and touch both walls at the same time.

Price was a mere 35,000 yen per month.

[July 4th]

160 square feet is bad...but 250 is definitely livable. I've lived in apartments not much bigger for the 7 years I've been in school. And most of them had killer views, which made up for the cramped feeling of the apartment. For those who were dropping huge $$$ on high rent, finally having something to own makes a lot of sense.

[StatesEnemy]

Ahhh... Cityfolk.

Such idiots.

[Mark Turbo]

The kitchen is a refrigerator, stove and sink sandwiched into the hallway

I thought I had a small kitchen. I actually have my microwave in the living room to save counter space. Thank God I don't have to be in New York.

[Noumenon]

Yep - we've got a 6000+ square foot shop/hangar/residence and a 40x60 barn/stable on five acres. Price: $155,000.

It's tough making a living, but at night, the only thing you hear is the wind in the trees.

[teech]

funny, we think the same of the country cousins :)

[TheMole]

Did you notice those "maintenance" payments? About $500 a month for these chicken coops? That's not part of the mortgage. Then there will be property taxes, which in NYC won't be going down any time soon. They add up to something near $10k a year forever. That and the joy of negotiating with your co-owners or buiding managers or whatever (these aren't detached single-family homes) should set you right up for life in cement city.

[brianl703]

Have you ever noticed that the areas with the most ridiculous housing costs tend also to be the ones infested with liberals?

[lowbridge]

Then there will be property taxes, which in NYC won't be going down any time soon.

Recently raised 18 percent by the mayor and the city council.

[ErnBatavia]

Perspective...the standard (In California anyhow) two car garage is 400 square feet.

We gave up on L.A. to move out to what had been our weekend place - small lot (50 by 130), but the back view, which is why the rear of the house is virtually all window, blasts into perpetually preserved open desert and mountains.....not one damned Manhattan Island taxi in sight!

(Check my profile page for a peek of our security system)

[Hank Rearden]

Morons.

I'd rather live in my car than live in New York.

[brianl703]

Even an attached single-family home (townhouse) doesn't require $500 maintenance fees, negotiations with building managers or co-owners if it's not a condo (most around here are not).

Negotiating with the HOA might be a different story, but that can affect detached single family homes too.

[Noumenon]

Very nice! Most blue-zoners can't handle the nature that they claim to worship. One of the more amusing features of northern Idaho is the number of 'for sale' places that pop up after the summer California move-ins get a load of our winters. I just finished a StarBand installation for an engineer type who's moving up from San Jose to a place he just built across the runway.

Eyeing the long roof line, I made a comment that he could look forward to a sizeable snow berm by the side of the house as the winter wore on. He announced that he would just use a snow blower to keep his windows clear. Ain't gonna happen.

There's a reason why we all own heavy equipment out here. Our 35 HP John Deere is just adequate for snow removal and management. Oh, well - he'll figure it out...

[umgud]

Where I live, you can still buy a 1,500 sf single family home w/attached garage for less than $125,000. I wouldn't be a city slicker, even if I could afford it. I even have enough room to have a pool and park a semi-truck and trailer beside my house (even though I don't have one).

[brianl703]

Even out in Fredericksburg,VA (50 miles from DC, 50 miles from Richmond), they're building townhouses which start at $150,000 (two level, no basement). 2-3 years ago that bought you the same thing 20 miles closer to DC.

[BudgieRamone]

Wow, I pay $300/ month, mortgage, taxes and insurance and have a nice modest 900 sq ft home with a full basement (not inc. in the square footage). Where I am, $150,000 will buy a very nice house in a very new neighborhood. This article is frightening...to me anyway.

[KellyAdmirer]

Notice the loft ceiling in the 250-foot apartment. Makes an apartment seem much bigger. I lived in a small loft apartment once and, let me tell you, the high ceiling is a great thing to have. Mine was creative, with a built-in closet with a nice big bed on top (you'd have to see it to appreciate it).

Btw, maintenance usually included property taxes. Any maintenance under about $600/month these days can be considered "cheap."

[vpintheak]

Its the liberals and every other form of unneccesary, unneeded government regulation or program that is causing this insanity. It's the reason that folks in the city are so pissed all the time.