TU has a story today and you really have to laugh uncontrollably and hysterically.


The owner bought the house in 2007, under dem party rule in the city for $240,000.

Today, because of the dems in the city/co/plex, the value of the house has FALLEN to a paltry $162,600.  And actually, we who are intelligent know that the market value is even less, because the homeowner grieved her assessment in 2011, it had been $229,000 and is now assessed for $200,000.   But since three years have passed since she grieved her assessment, so if she grieved in 2014, the assessment would be lower which would make the market value lower based on the equalization rate.  And since many of us are NOT "ignorant nayboobs", we actually know the facts that, based on home sale prices, the real market values are lower than the market values that appear on the assessment roll.

So, as one cheerleader claims the city is improving, I challenge the Democratic Voice Full of Poop to explain how the city is improving when someone buys a house and in 7 short years under dem party rule the house falls in value almost a WHOPPING $80,000  !!!!!!!!!!!!!!  



The "city is improving" when a homeowner has already LOST more than one-third value in the house?

If the owner were to sell, and sold for $150,000, she would have lost $90,000 -- and cheerleader for the city claims this is indicative of a city that is improving??????   Let's challenge him to buy a house for $240,000 and lose $80,000 to $90,000 in 7 short years!

Taxes exceed a WHOPING $9,000 a year for a house worth probably about $150,000.   You can buy twice the house for half the taxes in Saratoga for sure.

I'm not saying anything against the house, it is nice, and I'm sure there are people that absolutely love the style and that's fine.   But all around us in virtually the whole state, home values are increasing.   But the FACTS, the OFFICIAL RECORDS from multiple sources prove that the city is in massive failure.

Quoted Text

The Stockade is one of many up-and-coming spots in the Capital Region. Lush and lined with gorgeous brownstones, the Stockade may be the area that convinces you to move to Schenectady.

Franca DiCrescenzo's no tourist, though. She grew up in Niskayuna, and has lived in the Stockade for years. As principal broker at the realty firm Armida Rose, DiCrescenzo's an expert in great homes.

And her own Stockade 1700s brownstone is testament to that. (In fact, when the 2012 movie The Place Beyond the Pines was filming in Schenectady, a certain hunky, blue-eyed actor [who is not Ryan Gosling] lived at DiCrescenzo's brownstone for nearly two months, while DiCrescenzo stayed with her boyfriend.)

DiCrescenzo's taste centers on nature and the Buddhist principles of earth, spirituality and calm. She has dozens of Buddhas throughout the home. The walls — those not made of exposed brick — are painted deep, earthy reds, browns and golds.

"When I originally moved here, it was more cool colors. It was more Colonial, more Victorian," she says. So she repainted and added a touch of nature. "I'm obsessed with rocks and driftwood."

DiCrescenzo found this home when she was showing it to a client. "I walked in and fell in love with it immediately," she says. "I was like, 'Oh, my God, you totally need to buy this house!'" But ultimately the client declined to buy, so DiCrescenzo scooped it up.

The big project for DiCrescenzo was the back patio. She carried her Asian theme from the house into the garden area, adding waterfalls and painting cherry-blossom murals on the fence. In the summertime, she hosts beautiful and elaborate parties there.

"What I really love is bringing nature inside," DiCrescenzo says. "It inspires. There's truth and consistency in nature and the way things evolve and move."

Amazing a real estate professional would choose to buy something that would cause massive loss.

She had no downpayment at all.  She got two mortgages when she bought, one was for $192,000 and the other for $48,000, both from the same mortgage company, and they total the purchase price.

Rates were about 6.5% to 7% about that time.  Doesn't look like she has refinanced at all, though several mortgage reassignments

But even if she had a 5% rate at the start, the pay off balance TODAY exceeds even the assessed value of the house, so she is MASSIVELY UNDERWATER on her mortgage.

Being underwater on your mortgage to the tune of between $40,000 and $50,000  due to massive reduction of home values in the city -- remember, the Dem Voice Full of Poop stated the city is improving.   This would be his evidence.   And he will NOT address this evidence that proves him 1,000% wrong.  

We bought our house in Rotterdam, just over the city line, in 1991 for $97,000... I honestly don't know if I can get $120,000 for it now. I may be better off renting it for $1400 a month when the time comes and just be patient for a sucker to come along.

Quoted from 55tbird

We bought our house in Rotterdam, just over the city line, in 1991 for $97,000... I honestly don't know if I can get $120,000 for it now. I may be better off renting it for $1400 a month when the time comes and just be patient for a sucker to come along.

That's a shame.


And by the way, I just got curious, even if rates back in 2007 were just 4% back then, she would still have a payoff balance combined of about 187,000 today.   Naturally rates were not that low, and again there seems to be no refi.  Actually though, the owner's two mortgages, one for $192,000 was for 30 years and the $48,000 was for 15 years.  Gosh, with taxes the monthly payment is still over $2,000 a month.  I mean really, pay $2,000 a month for a house that massively falls in value!

But another interesting thing is that the owner got the mortgage from Countrywide.  Remember one of those companies that would lend money to people who were higher risk, etc.   Mortgages all went to Bank of America later.  Interesting.

M/C, it doesn't amaze me about the realtor at all, because so many realtors are just someone who thought it was easy money and have no idea at all what they are doing.
It's funny, I was just in the Stockade about a week ago, and I noticed what a difference there is between perception and reality. That neighborhood is a run-down dump for the most part. Sad.
55, just a word to the wise, I've known people who gave up and rented out their houses at a rent to cover the mortgage and taxes, which makes for a high rent, and they could find tenants willing to rent at an amount high enough that they could buy their own place for that. The trouble is, these people can't actually AFFORD that kind of rent, or if they can afford it on paper, they still can't manage to PAY it. So be sure to cover all your bases carefully if you go that route.

I'd also like to point out that you have to take any real estate articles in the newspapers with a grain of salt, because realtors run ads in the papers, so the papers write copy to support their advertisers.

Quoted from Madam X

... I've known people who gave up and rented out their houses at a rent to cover the mortgage and taxes,
which makes for a high rent, and they could find tenants willing to rent at an amount high enough that they could buy
their own place for that.

Traditionally you used to be able to buy a house and rent it out , and the rent would cover the mortgage, taxes,
maintenance and upkeep, plus a modest profit on the investment.

Nowadays people buying homes have very little chance of making a profit.

With the new assessed values, even if you own a home free and clear, renting it out with option to buy and owner financing,
plus taxes and insurance, makes renting with an option to buy, too expensive.

Home ownership used to be a good value.

It has become a poor investment where the only people who make out are the banks, and the tax and spend folks.

The Stockade property values are in total free fall like every other City neighborhood because of the DEM confiscatory county/city taxes. No one will pay more taxes than mortgage.
Yes, there is some action with a mandatory governmental schmear but that's it. The Stockade has no grade school, no grocery, is on a flood plain, last to be plowed out. On some small streets 4  houses
are for sale with no buyers. Flood insurance on top of the idiotic rising DEM taxes. Smart ones moved decades ago-try to rent until you can find a high tax lover buyer.

Quoted from benny salami

The Stockade property values are in total free fall like every other City neighborhood because of the DEM confiscatory county/city taxes. No one will pay more taxes than mortgage.
Yes, there is some action with a mandatory governmental schmear but that's it. The Stockade has no grade school, no grocery, is on a flood plain, last to be plowed out. On some small streets 4  houses
are for sale with no buyers. Flood insurance on top of the idiotic rising DEM taxes. Smart ones moved decades ago-try to rent until you can find a high tax lover buyer.

the county should just turn it into something like the farmers museum....

senders, you may have been joking, but you are probably right. The way we take care of the neighborhoods is to let the houses rot, and then charge the citizens to knock them down. Better to give up on the idea of the Stockade ever being a neighborhood again, while there is still something left of it. The slumlords are having their way with it as we speak.

I wasn't joking.....

Quoted from senders

the county should just turn it into something like the farmers museum....

Something like Williamsburg with people in colonial costume, blacksmiths, horse drawn carriages and tourist trap shops? LOVE IT. Move from residential to histo presto.
No one wants to buy property in a DEM tax hell. It's hard to blame anyone else when you have been pile driving the City for the past 40 years. But of course "this is happening in
every Northeast City" {like Newark, Camden NJ} and "we need candidates who understand the importance of high taxes".

Quoted from benny salami

Something like Williamsburg with people in colonial costume, blacksmiths, horse drawn carriages and tourist trap shops? LOVE IT. Move from residential to histo presto.
No one wants to buy property in a DEM tax hell. It's hard to blame anyone else when you have been pile driving the City for the past 40 years. But of course "this is happening in
every Northeast City" {like Newark, Camden NJ} and "we need candidates who understand the importance of high taxes".

EXACTLY...I bet the college/high school kids would love part time jobs doing that....it's historical...Schenectady county is a very
very small county with a very very small city.....why wait for a movie to be made 'place beyond the pines' when we could
have a living movie making $$$ for the county......

a casino will make garbage and crime and take away from the 'peopleness' of the county and it will continue to be a quickie
dumping ground of the state......

let's raise the bar and get out from under the state's thumb.....

we want to be cool....not a cliche'

for that matter GE could 'donate' a few of it's buildings so that when coming to schenectady one can go from the past and blast

right into the future......regardless of where they get their spirits/food.......although as an added idea the food of the period

can be served

stockade is 'food of the past'
GE is 'food of the future'

in between are the cliches