What are all the Chinese signs on 46/14 in BP?

amother

Denim

Wed, Dec 25 2019, 9:02 pm

Many churches have become shuls
My local Chabad lives in shul /home
ThAt used to be is church
In Scranton the shul called ohev tzedek used to be a church but has been a shul for over fifty years

amother

Wed, Dec 25 2019, 9:05 pm

amother [ Denim ] wrote:

Many churches have become shuls
My local Chabad lives in shul /home
ThAt used to be is church
In Scranton the shul called ohev tzedek used to be a church but has been a shul for over fifty years

Buying a church to convert it to a Shul is the opposite direction of selling a Shul (that housed Sifrei Torah) to someone that wont use it as a Shul.

amother

Oak

Wed, Dec 25 2019, 9:05 pm

From the pictures on Zillow it looks like the owners put in a lot of money probably 40 years ago. Even though the house is fancy for 40 years ago it's very dated for 2019. Any Jewish person willing to spend 5 million on a house could buy the same size house for 2 million and redo it for another 3 million.
It reminds me of the mansion in Monsey that was the talk of town 30 years ago when it was built because it was so gorgeous. These days it's only worth the property because a middle class family can't afford the upkeep and a rich family could build themselves a beautiful custom house for that price.

It seems the owners put a lot of money in to these houses and they can't fathom that the next owner will redo it.

amother

Aqua

Wed, Dec 25 2019, 9:08 pm

I don't know, but I remember the owners as very good people.

The original owner passed away years ago, and I heard that he left in his will that they should keep a minyan going in the shul (maybe for as long as his wife was alive?). They kept the shul open on shabbos and yom tov. I heard they paid people to daven there at times so they would have a minyan, even when the family wasn't there. There were many times that the family was there, the married children would come to visit. After the wife/mother passed away, it seems that's when they closed the shul and put the homes up for sale. She lived above the shul. The house in back is directly behind the shul. The house next to the shul had people living in it, I don't know if they moved out.

The owners were very good people, from what I remember. I don't know what's going on with selling it.

amother

Aqua

Wed, Dec 25 2019, 9:18 pm

The shul was on 46th street. That listing is not the shul. it's probably the house behind the shul, which I heard was owned by the same family.

amother

Aqua

Wed, Dec 25 2019, 9:28 pm

Also, it was a family shul, but they welcomed anyone that wanted to daven there.

It was free for anyone to daven there, Rosh Hashanah, Yom Kippur, all holidays.

They had kiddush and offered everyone cake and drinks too. and they had extra machzorim they gave people to daven.

They were such nice people.

amother

Brunette

Wed, Dec 25 2019, 10:20 pm

It's possible that it's being advertised for sale to foreign Chinese (NOT US citizens or permanent residents of Chinese descent) investors who are looking for a place to park money and speculate on rising housing prices. This is common on the west coast and devastated Vancouver's housing market, driving prices up so high that people struggled to be able to afford homes.

https://www.wsj.com/articles/w.....94587

bnm

Wed, Dec 25 2019, 10:21 pm

amother [ OP ] wrote:

If anyone Chinese pays 1 1/2 times what the going rate is, which is insanely high these days, are doing it to rent every room to another family and share kitchen priveleges Not palatable to the BP people living there.

Chinese people who can afford those prices for a house for themselves, for ONE family to live in, would no doubt be happier with a big house in Nassau County! Who are we kidding? A purchase like this is for room rental!

There are cheaper houses between 8/9 avenue with an 8 in the address which they value and are sitting there because they won't pay above a certain price.

amother

Wed, Dec 25 2019, 11:34 pm

bnm wrote:

There are cheaper houses between 8/9 avenue with an 8 in the address which they value and are sitting there because they won't pay above a certain price.

So why do you think theres Chinese interest in these houses, and the owners seem to be in on it?

amother

Denim

Wed, Dec 25 2019, 11:42 pm

My old neighbor sold their home for a million is the 10583 zip code
The new owners knocked the house down to the beams and waited a year for permits they rebuilt the entire house and knocked down the beautiful trees that separated our homes two years later they r still working on it it looks like a black barrack they covered the windows on the sides of the house even thou our homes are far apart it’s an eyesore for the neighborhood

forgetit

Thu, Dec 26 2019, 12:47 am

I'm not from BP so help me understand this. Someone mentioned that Chinese have a ton of money to pay these insane prices. How are they loaded? Do they have special luck? Or are they extremely skilled? And what do they see in Boro Park? With a million dollars in my pocket I'd go to many other places before Brooklyn. Let alone 5M.

amother

Thu, Dec 26 2019, 1:09 am

forgetit wrote:

Chinese millionaires have ZERO interest in living in BP. From what I hear, the houses in BP that are inhabited by Chinese, are rented by the room, and many people partner to buy these houses, for investment to be able to milk and rent to as many tenants in one house, as possible. Why these very wealthy homeowners want that in their parents' old neighborhood (especially one house that had a Shul in it), is beyond me. Something doesnt add up.

forgetit

Thu, Dec 26 2019, 1:15 am

amother [ OP ] wrote:

This doesn't make much sense to me either.
1. You're going to need a nice amount of people to have a nice amount of money to pay 1-5M down.
2. Isn't it going to take like forever to make their money back?
3. Why do they need to be in BP at these crazy prices? I know there's 'China Town' in Brooklyn, but that's not exclusive to BP.

amother

Yellow

Thu, Dec 26 2019, 7:43 am

amother [ OP ] wrote:

Ha ha. Do you think Jewish people don't purchase investment properties in areas they don't want to live in.

I have no idea what the story is with the owners of these homes - but lets not pretend Jewish people don't know from Real Estate investment.

cbsp

Thu, Dec 26 2019, 10:47 am

amother [ Blue ] wrote:

selling to Chinese in a Jewish neighborhood is
נבל ברשות התורה

I "get" the sentiment (full disclosure: my grandmother and aunt live directly across from the house(s) in question) but what is the owner supposed to do when no one else is willing to buy?

We actually had asked my grandmother why the signs were in Chinese and her answer was the same - they're trying to sell and no one is buying.

amother

Oak

Thu, Dec 26 2019, 10:52 am

cbsp wrote:

Sell at the price people are willing to pay. From seeing many houses in Boro Park I'd say this one is worth probably about 2.5 million - 3 million. There are many houses in Boro Park not getting sold because the owners and realtors are stubborn and are trying to keep the prices high.

Rosemarie

Thu, Dec 26 2019, 11:08 am

cbsp wrote:

They are asking for way above market value. The size and condition of their house ie not worth 5M. It's probably half that. But they refuse to budge from that price. They have a fantasy that they will sell at their asking price. Its not rhat they are trying to sell and no one wants tp buy. Many want to buy, just not at 1.5-2 times the value, so now they hope the Chinese will be willing to overpay. (The poster above who wrote that they then live/rent to one family per room is correct. That's how they make such houses worth it.)

amother

Blue

Thu, Dec 26 2019, 11:10 am

cbsp wrote:

There is a neighborhood in BP that is actually right next to China town that has people who were willing to forgo more money and sold to Yidden.
Being frum has different meanings to different people.