Northern

Wouldn't miss it! As part of the team at Trulia, I'm looking forward to putting a face with a name and getting to know our Voices community. Pravda you say? What a perfect spot to host your first-ever-get-together...See you there! - Thu Aug 30 2007, 06:49

Wouldn't miss it! As part of the team at Trulia, I'm looking forward to putting a face with a name and getting to know our Voices community. Pravda you say? What a perfect spot to host your first-ever-get-together...See you there! - Wed Aug 29 2007, 06:44

Dan-o,

Great question. As you know, the NYC housing market is a beast, especially with the new listings in the market completely out of range for the majority of recent comers to the city. With that, qualifications for low-income housing are very strict and require great time, effort, and patience. This, however, should not dissuade you from trying.

My recommendations would be to peruse the following sites:

http://home.nyc.gov/html/housinginfo/html/home/home.shtml

In addition, there is the Mitchell Lama program which offers limited equity ownership and also subsidized rentals. Contact HPD, NYC Housing preservation and development, although there are lotteries and waiting lists up to 10 years.

http://www.nyc.gov/html/hpd/html/apartment/lotteries.shtml - Mon Jul 30 2007, 10:07

Joanna,

As you know, there are many factors that determine market value within a certain location. What I can tell you however, are the statistics that can help you identify whether or not the real estate you are about to purchase for investment is in line with the estimated values of surrounding properties.

In Outagamie county, for example:

Estimated median house/condo value - $147,185
Wisconsin - $152,600

In fact, another great resource are the Trulia Heat Maps, which will help you visually compare prices & popularity by state, county, city or neighborhood. These maps can be a great indicator of whether or not there is strong interest for people seeking homes in a given area.

I have included the link below, and wish you luck on your investment. - Wed Jul 25 2007, 06:36

In short: It seems there are strong markets all over New York. Residential rental projects will do well throughout the city. Residential condo projects probably do better in more established neighborhoods like the Upper West Side, Murray Hill, and Battery Park.

The Long:
This should be viewed just as you said it, an 'investment'. One needs to have patience in this market, as rents should continue to rise, albeit slowly. Patience is the name of the game because current returns will be low. New York is such a competitive market that as soon as one asset class delivers outsized returns, prices increase and returns become moderate.

As far as specific neighborhoods of NYC that will see the best return on investment right now?

Lower Manhattan: there is 7 million square feet of office space under development and tenants are largely committed to taking space. Underserved neighborhoods in the outer boroughs are also good places to look because there are no national retail chains and few quality office/residential developments.

I hope this is of help! - Tue Jul 24 2007, 08:02