Houses-The Size of Things

Hoboken houses range in size from 12-1/2 feet wide on Willow Terrace to 25 feet wide on Castle Point Terrace. Most houses are from Hudson Street to Willow Avenue, or on side streets from 1st up to 13th and east of Willow.

House lot depth can run from approximately 50 feet deep to 120feet deep. The Willow Terrace houses can be as small as 950 square feet with the original floorplan or 3,000 square feet on Hudson St or Castle Point. Houses on the side streets have shorter lots. The problem for many prospective house buyers is that the layout of the brownstones does not allow for three bedrooms on one level. The original floorplans on many of the main streets of Bloomfield, Garden, and Park, technically have three bedrooms but most people combine the two very small back bedrooms to make one room. Houses that are 13.5 and bigger, particularly the houses 15 feet wide, have two bedrooms on the second level and two on the third, usually with a bath off the hallway on each floor.

Larger houses have a parlour floor, and two floors above, with a basement below the garden level. Kitchens can be on the ground level or on the parlour level. Some people dig out their basements to create greater ceiling height, below the garden level, for additional space....though this can cause problems.

Many people can only afford about 1 million, but unfortunately, in Hoboken, this buys you a house that needs substantial work or is far to the west. There are very nice one and two family homes on the side streets that can be purchased for somewhere between 1.1 and 1.3 million that do not need huge amounts of work but you will have to sacrifice the yard or space.

Large houses of 18 feet and wider with 90 feet lots or better exist on Hudson St., Castle Point Terrace, and the 900 block of Washington (known as Doctor's Row). Houses, one or two families or converted three families, of that size can be found on Garden between 10th and 11th. Individual random homes on Bloomfield, Park, Garden or Willow also exist. Houses of this size command a sales price of 2 million plus unless they are in need of substantial renovation. The most expensive finished houses on the Hoboken real estate market are now in the 3 million range. range.

Fourth Floor Walk-Ups

In the current buyer's market, walk-ups have been suffering. With more properties available in Hoboken, buyers are more reluctant to deal with the top floor walk-up. For what is considered by many to be the best locations (the streets of Hudson, Washington, Bloomfield, Garden, Park, and Willow), we are finding that buyers don't seem to mind third floor so much. However, they are balking at the fourth floor or above. Of course, this is even more true for walk-up condos further west. Sellers can and have overcome this problem. Fourth floor walk-ups can overcome the stigma of the additional flight of stairs with substantial upgrades such as stainless steel appliances, granite, marble in the kitchen or bath, newly refinished floors, central air or new installed a/c wall units, and washer/dryer in the unit. Sometimes, it requires all these upgrades. Buyers feel these properties should be negotiable unless they are completely tricked out in all the high end upgrades. We are seeing that people will pay for high end upgrades, even if top floor walk-ups.

The good news for buyers is that many of these properties are the best deals available in Hoboken. In the Sunday real estate section, The New York Times recently ran an article on the deals to be had if you buy a fourth floor walk-up in the New York market. They have great light and you have no one "walking on your head." You can get more square footage for the money, and sometimes, more in upgrades. The downside is that it will usually take longer to sell your unit and sellers will rarely get the same price as just the floor below would, even for an identical unit with similar upgrades. On the other hand, when selling a top floor unit, upgrades and good staging can make a big difference.

The MLS and Pictures

The best way to list your property is to use a reputable real estate office, hopefully one with good business ethics, to represent you. And a good real estate knows the value of the MLS and will use it to your benefit. That includes writing a detailed description that will interest your prospective buyers and quality pictures that will lure the buyer into coming to see your property. Pictures are of the utmost importance. Listings that do not have good pictures in the MLS fail to draw the same number of buyers. Pictures of a well-staged home. Obviously, if your place is a mess or your tenants of your property are piggy and cannot be prevailed upon to straighten up, you are better off without pictures. But overall, pictures are the greatest marketing tool. Pictures on the MLS listing, pictures on the flyers, pictures in the window of the real estate office for browsers to view. Before signing with any agency, ask them to send your their MLS listings so you can see if they put multiple pictures on their listings. Ask to see a flyer during the marketing presentation. And above all, insist that your listing is on the MLS and the keys are readily available at the front desk for other offices to show the property. Beware offices that want to hold an "exclusive" and run from offices that do not have top-notch pictures on MLS listings and good looking flyers. Marketing tools are often simple enough, but the quality will reflect on your property.