I hear people bitch and moan all the time about all the new folks moving into the ‘hood because real estate prices are cheap enough for folks with some long family money to buy shit. I’m sure that all the white buying property in Bed-Stuy and Crown Heights didn’t make their money from owning slaves. Some of these folks had to get rich by selling their Indian reservations, er, rather their mid-western property claims to a Wal-mart of a mega-church while some folks simply raided the bank accounts of the Chinese that were forced into internment camps during the Depression.
What I’m saying is that you shouldn’t hate these new fangled inner-city pioneers the same way you shouldn’t hate on their forefathers that settled the midwest and gave smallpox-laden blankets to the injuns. I don’t know too many people of color with at least the brains of a pair of sneakers that would look to live in Brooklyn one block west of Utica Avenue.
Use this handy map from Open Accessible Space Information System to look at the location of the luxury condominiums that were developed for the new millenium urban colonists.
1) Luxury Condominiums
Who would have thought about LUXURY condos appearing on St. John’s Place between Schenectady and Utica Avenues? Has Brooklyn become Bizarro World? Not so much.
A huge selling point for those prison like facade condominiums is the outpost settlement of an active fire house directly across the street.
2) NYC Fire Dept. Installation
Almost as secure as a police station, this is one of the beacons of the ‘hood.
But wait, what is that diagonally across the street from the fire house?
3) Tha’ ‘Hood
I’m not sure how much those luxury condominiums are priced at, but if you thought that being across the street from a fire house was a benefit you need look no further than fifty feet away.
Give some credit to those rich fools who still thought this was a good investment.
Once money starts moving into the hood………….
You can best believe that the black, er… poor folks will be getting displaced.
Don’t forget the Nets will be moving there soon ……….
So people get ready there’s a change a comin’
D, Cosign.
D, best thing I’ve read all day. Really appreciate your trend/Real Estate insight i’ve seen over the weeks and months.
I’d be interested in reading CJ’s comments on this as well. I’ve never been to this neighborhood, but I might as well have how well you spell it out.
Overall, how the A and VA?
I’m in RE too, commercial too.
Where’s my doom shyt? oh, a ninja gotta pay. I see, I got mouths to feed son!
dameSTATUS
how was your trip to the A. my bad.
it was a good investment because all they are doing is taking it step by step to eliminate all blacks in the area…picture thats what they doing in new orleans too…the gentrification has started…and donald trump gonna be building those same type of “luxury condos”
I grew up in this neighborhood, Lincoln between Albany and Troy. ’70’s and 80’s. I know those pictures above. Very well. Shit was so bad, especially on Utica, Troy and Nostrand Avenues that by the time I went off to college, I wanted nothing more to do with the hood. Was brainwashed AND sick and tired of ducking bullets. Came back from school and moved to a very diverse Park Slope in ’90. Copped a 1 bedroom apartment on 7th Avenue between Lincoln and Berkeley for $600 a month!!! Prime real estate for a single dude, blew many a back out in that joint. MANY! ’96, got married, had 1st son, then ’98 had 2nd son, so had to get a bigger place. Realized that Park Slope prices had tripled, forced to cop a duplex for $2,200/month (in ’98). Started getting mad nervous glances from white when coming home from work late. Had to slow my pace down or get accused of trying to run a jux. It hit me like a brick in ’01 when I woke up one morning and realized my neighborhood slowly became 99.9% white. I was no longer wanted in that hood. Went to about 5 realtors to find a new crib, filled out mad applications and shit, didn’t receive ONE effin return call!!! Moved over to St. Mark’s and Vanderbilt, ’02 for $1,700/month, across the street from Foxy Brown. Loved it for the fact that many of those beautiful structures were Black owned. ’06, Black landlord sold the fuck out and sold our building to white and was forced to move, now with three sons. FUCK!!! Hated having no effin financial power nor real estate clout to fall back on. Only place we were able to find that was affordable was a Crown Heights duplex 2 family joint on Bergen between Brooklyn and New York Aves for $2,200/month, with parking. Place was dope, right around the block from the Brooklyn Children’s Museum. Was hesitant at first b/c of bad memories of Nostrand Ave, one block away. Wifey, who came from a more privileged background cried at the fact that we were moving into Crown Heights. Amenities fucking suck, nothing but quarter waters and pork rinds, but BEST place to still cop loosie cigarettes whenever wifey and I are beefing. Past 2 1/2 years, two white families moved on our block, values went up and block was land marked for the fact that renovation of Museum will be complete next year. White flocks to the Museum with their privileged white kids in tow. Started seeing more and more dog walkers and joggers running up and down the ‘hood. Felt like the beginnings of Park Slope all the fuck over again. Last year, landlord told us he was selling the bldg, we had to move and shit. Thought long and hard about it, tired of white moving me the fuck from the very effin neighborhood I effin grew up in. Sick and tired of being displaced like an effin piece of New Orleans chattel. Got my grind and hu$tle on, sued a major corporation for playing that “racism doesn’t exist in New York” crap, settled, brought the damned building myself in November ’07.
These past coupla months, mad police presence on damn near every corner. Still gotta do the majority of shopping at the Park Slope Co-op for organic foods and soy milks, shit like that. Still hear random gunshots at night, niggas done had themselves an effin ball squeezing off this past New Year’s eve, midnite. Have a fourth child now, my precious baby girl. Last week though, smoked a one hitter at midnite, took a drive around the hood. Saw SEVERAL white walking up and down Nostrand Avenue like it was 7th Avenue. Stopped in my regular deli and almost passed out when I saw they were now stocking soy milk.
Price of paying a monthly mortgage: EX -effin- SPENSIVE!
Price of having white pay me $2,200 monthly rent AND being able to say I not only came back home but that I now own a piece of my home. PRICELESS!!!
True effin Brooklyn success story. People, by hook or crook, please claim your stake in our overpriced beloved urban jungle. White is coming for that ass, HARD!
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Great work, DP and CJ.
CJ — COSIGN LIKE A MUTHA!!!!! Still tryin to get my of the apple, but shit is str8t up banannas. Recently wifey and my youngest son moved to SC cuz I can’t have him around all these wanna be bloods, and moving to any where remotely near NY is (pardin me) FUCKIN RIDICULOUS!!! When we moved to Staten Island 9 years ago we thought we was good in the hood, until they started gentrifying (sp?) shit again…..now my corner of the hood is overun with cheap housing and way too many people for ‘amenties’ that it provides. One effing store that closes at 9:30, 3 miles to the closest supermarket, but get this or 3 or more liquor stores in a 1 mile radius…..
word to the young…dont eff up your credit cuz you will never get it back, ieven if you make 90+ per year…….
Combat Jack,
At the end of the day you ain’t neva lie. Ppl need to stop they bitching and buy something.
^great thought in general. You might want to
read opinions on the internetes of those who say real estate is still in a bubble, when referencing 100-200 year history of the ratio of the cost to “own” vs rent a home.
With a 30 yr mortgage, you pay some multiple of the cost of the home as is, like 3X with all interest payments over the 30 yrs. Now, if the home price crashes from 1X, to like 0.7X or 0.5X, you still owe the full X now, or 3X+ over the 30 years. That would be fugazi than a mofo.
Not sure how NYC would be different than “regular city, USA” such as Mpls/Atl/Phx/etc in a home price crash. On 1 hand, many people “will always” need & want to be on that small island, maybe that would limit the extent of a crash. OTOH, the housing is already way overpriced relative to generic US city, so maybe it has even further to fall in a crash.
Hopefully job offshoring does not get too extreme. If it does, NYC prolly has more risk than generic US city. Ironically, massive job offshoring might make housing actually affordable to more people in NYC.
EGC,
When niggas like CJ, LM and me talk about buying that piece of dirt it aint for to flip shit in 100-200 years. It aint for all those numbers you mentioned which are important to some. It is all about having a place to live and establish roots. To let the children know there is always home.
It is all about home first and foremost. Everything else is secondary.
Dallas said “It is all about having a place to live and establish roots”. Of course I understand that, respect that, & feel the same way.
I’m just saying be aware that it might be a bubble, & that it’s good for one to READ about that from MANY SOURCES before making any decision like a house mortgage, which is kind of like a form of intentured servitude.
CJ, that’s a crazy story. You just shut down a bunch of notions in my head. I’m not mad at gentrification because I never really experienced at all . . . so I can’t really say shet. But I definitely still have issues with those who devalue a community unconsciously or consciously. My rent recently went up, but I’m on my budget. Yeah, my neighborhood now have more police presence, soy milk and healthier products in the bodegas, and a real health food store. Outside of the luxury apartments that have been built up in the last two weeks . . . that’s more than enough indication that your neighborhood is being gentrified. Man there are even a couple of freaking art galleries and small bars popping up —- so there’s going to be fresh new poo-tang for the locals.
EGC,
You’re right but just breathing air means you owe GOD first.
You owe your family and then you owe your community.
Fuck the usury of man and the money changers. I say that shit after I know that my mortgage payment was accepted.
D, you hit it right on the head. If was still living dolo, I’d probably be spending my cash on mad consumer products. Having been displaced several times with young soldiers in my care, I felt like a dick in my son’s eyes. The move was mos def not about me, it was about empowering my kids.
^”OTOH, the housing is already way overpriced relative to generic US city, so maybe it has even further to fall in a crash.”
If the crash comes, I’ma handle it like a man. Mind power is crazy El. Sometimes we gotta turn off all that negative news stories, meditate, read books like “The Alchemist”, cop DVD’s like “What The Bleep Do We Know?” Don’t let the powers that be covert us to sheep. The revolution isnt necessarily about overthrowing the government with guns and shit, it’s about tapping into that infinite universal power that we all posses.
combat jack just made me wanna just say no to the next pair of designer jeans and rethink my disposable income while I’m bullshitting and renting!
Damn. This is a damn good post and also has an amazing comment thread. As soon as I can afford to move out of my mom’s basement I’m buying a house in my shitty neighborhood, maybe a couple of blocks over!!!
Nice photos as well.
Still, I’m always hassling the local gentrification squad in my hood. Call it the cost of living.
Finally, Combat Jack’s urban real estate success story was NICE. Making white people pay for poserism = Priceless.
These is one selling point to gentrification: white bitches in the hood. Shalom
Great topic and CJ….you know I grew up in your hood too. My Domincan salon is right next to that luxury condo on St.John’s. (Midwood btwn Utica and Schenectady, represent).
I grew up in that area. Nobody owned a home….even in our own neighborhoods.
When I got married and moved to Philly….my only goal was to buy a house. Now that I have one, my next goal is to buy another as an investment property near Temple or in West Philly near the park.
My kids need to graduate college as educated property owners. This isn’t about me…..it’s about them.