<p>I love to watch the show Selling New York on HGTV. They show some fabulous apartments for sale, and in HD quality, some of these just look incredible. Yet…most are still fairly small of course, when compared to many areas of the country. But very fun to watch and dream.</p>
<p>This amazing apartment is actually in Brooklyn, but WOW!</p>
<p>Knocked down to only $895,000 is this castle–built as an armory in 1895-- in Amsterdam, NY, outside of Albany. Originally, listed at close to two mil it has been lowered several times. Originally, built as an amory you get a fully renovated residence with 36,000 square feet, two towers, 134 windows, a gymnasium, a $13k utility bill, and $17k taxes. </p>
<p>If you don’t want to buy you can spend the night. The couple that lives there with their three children feeds the beast by running it as a B&B. </p>
<p>This is a story of people who had been successfully flipping houses they lived in until they got caught with this one in the middle of the bubble.</p>
<p>Those Sunnyvale houses are typical of the area. I rented a similar house (3br/2bath, 1900 SF) that sold last year for nearly $1.2 million. The same house in Mountain View or Los Altos would be more like $1.5 million with multiple offers. All you’d get for $1 million in Mountain View now would be 2br/1bath, 1000 SF on a 5000 SF lot, if you could persuade the owner to sell it to you.</p>
<p>Here’s one–located on Nantucket Island–an island located 30 miles from Cape Cod, MA. There isn’t much in this price range; I had to look hard to find something right at 1 million. Fair number of properties below (although not much below), a few lots at this price range and a condo. Lots of properties in higher ranges. So here’s what 1 million dollars will get you on Nantucket. This property isn’t waterfront property, but it’s near town, which is a plus for some people. </p>
<p>“This is a story of people who had been successfully flipping houses they lived in until they got caught with this one in the middle of the bubble.”</p>
<p>I don’t think this has anything to do with being caught in the middle of the bubble - there was no bubble in Amsterdam. It’s an run down mill town and no one in their right mind would spend that kind of money to live there.</p>
<p>Here’s a 3 bedroom, 1.75 bath, 1900 sq. ft. house with a pool that recently sold for $1.05 million in La Canada Flintridge, a very nice suburb north of downtown Los Angeles:</p>
<p>and here’s a 4 bedroom, 2.25 bath, 3000 sq. ft. house with a pool that recently sold for $1.02 million in La Crescenta, adjacent to La Canada, but less expensive overall:</p>
<p>This old Tampa waterfront home on Bayshore Blvd sold for just under $1 million recently. It’s located 2 doors south of Tampa ‘socialite’ Jill Kelley’s house.</p>
<p>These people were not babes in the woods: “She and her husband, Manfred, had been flipping real estate in zip-zip fashion since the mid-1990s, and had made a killing each time.”</p>
<p>There was, by the standards of 2005, a fair price for the castle at $800,000–in Amsterdam.</p>
<p>vballmom, yup, MV is definitely more expensive. We were out in CA last fall when S and DIL were apartment hunting. Their rent for a 1BR is several hundred more than our mortgage, and we are in the DC area, which is not exactly cheap!</p>
<p>I’ve enjoyed all these links, but I’m perplexed about the decorating I’ve seen. Seems like first floor homes have hardwood floors and very small rugs. Second floor rooms have wall-to-wall. Help me out here: why so few area rugs, especially on the first floor?</p>