We have said it before and will no doubt say it again: nobody covers real estate like the New York Times. [Nobody covers anything the way the Times does, but it’s particularly true of real estate.] Take today’s account of a documentary flimmaker’s descent into remodeling hell in Brooklyn.
Although warned against buying a dilapidated rowhouse in a sketchy corner of the borough [at what even in 2004 seemed like the ridiculously low price of $260,000], David Petersen did so nevertheless, and what transpired wasn’t pretty. His estimated renovation budget of $75,000 more than quintupled due to so many structural and spatial deficiencies in the original structure that what he ended up doing was building a new house on the site.
But in the end — after copious borrowing from family members, banks and credit card enablers — he was able to have the entire place refinanced on the basis of a $1.25 million appraisal, allowing him to wipe out all his credit card debt and, presumably, live happily ever after.