09/30/2014
Buying a House Close to Crown Heights
With prices of houses climbing in the neighborhood as Crown Heights becomes more of the “in” place to live, prospective buyers should not lose hope. My wife and I bought a house on the Southern Edge of the community ten years ago. Our case was different because I had been a general contractor (though at the time I had another job), so I could manage a good portion of the restoration work that needed to be done before we moved in. But having construction skills was not enough to get over the monetary hurdles we encountered.
Right after we moved in, erev pesach, after spending 100 thousand bringing our former HUD house up to code, came the floods. Every time it rained we had a swimming pool in the basement, which we had planned to rent out. Also, after flushing the toilets a few times we discovered that the line from the house to the sewer was full of tree roots from the massive trees on the side of the house.
With hashem’s help we made it through. Another family took us in for Pesach. Our funds exhausted I was able to get a loan from my parents to put an epoxy liner in the sewer line. It took us time to find stable renters. I found a way to channel the gutters so we didn’t get floods every time it rained.
Now that I own a construction company again, my crew has been busy finding clever, money saving solutions for new homeowners. Most of our jobs recently have involved changing the configuration of rooms and hallways. We put up new sheetrock to cover damaged ceilings, but we are also unafraid to patch and skim coat plaster to save money.
We have also been working to waterproof houses with clever drain applications, coating the inside of basement walls with waterproofing and mold preventing materials. We have also been using epoxy on cracks and outside leaks to avoid having to dig up the whole foundation.
But it all begins with finding a house. Take walk in neighborhoods on the outskirts of Crown Height. That’s how we found our house. Actually, we had a deposit on a little house close to where we now live. My wife and I both thought that the other liked this house. Finally, we admitted to each other that we did not want the house. We decided to go for a walk and look at the property one last time. On our way there we saw a for sale sign on a corner house. We called the realtor. It was erev shabbos. He came late. We decided on the spot that we wanted the house.
“OK, he said,”come after shabbos and put down a deposit.”
“No,” I said, “I want to pay now.”
Turns out, three other people offered to by the house, but because we had a deposit, and the broker was honest, we now have a home. At the time, we thought lots of Yidden would buy near by. Now, ten years later we have another Jewish family on our block. By the way, we had been looking for a house for two years. Walk around the neighborhoods. There are probably lots of deals on houses between Empire and the hospital. Enjoy the chase, the hunt for your home.
