Simply put townhouses must now be sprinklered when doing a major rehab of the building. Parts of the 2008 code said you didn’t need sprinklers, but other parts said you did. The parts that said you did need sprinklers have won. However, not only does the building need to be sprinklered, but all major rooms need to be sprinklered - not just egress areas as was common in the past.

The only exceptions are 1) areas with less then 65 square feet, 2) bathrooms with less than 80 square feet, and 3) stairwells. In a lot of older townhouses (e.g. SROs) you’ll see stairwells sprinklered, but over the years they found that sprinklers in stairwells were a bad idea since they created a slip hazard as the water cascaded down the stairs. (However, they do still want hallways adjacent to stairs do need to be sprinklered).  As a result townhouse owners have to sprinkler everything except bathrooms, closets, and stairs.

We’ve heard horror stories about what fully sprinklering a building will cost - $100K+ according to some. We’ll find out soon what it will cost in our case, but there are two things that will bring down the cost for us…

First, sprinkler systems in small residential buildings that have 30 or fewer heads can be fed off the domestic water supply, IF the supply is large enough. Our building requires 29 heads, so we just barely sneak in under that provision. We have to find out whether our existing water main connection is sufficient. But at least we won’t need two connections to the main.

Next, thanks to an architect and Harlem townhouse owner who commented here on the blog, we found out that you can have a wet sprinkler system with CPVC piping (”BlazeMaster” brand) in small residential buildings. I’ve heard a number of architects say PVC is prohibited in NYC due to it giving off toxic gasses in a fire, so it’s somewhat ironic that it’s allowed to be the piping for the sprinkler system that fights the fire. A CPVC sprinkler system should be an enormous cost savings since the only other alternative is cast iron pipes - they won’t even allow copper for the sprinkler system since copper melts easily (you’d think plastic would melt even more easily).

The other issue that’s related to fire is that egress areas need a 1-hour fire rating. This means the stairwell, and the hallways connected to the stairwell, must have a 1 hour fire rating. A 1 hour fire rating is stringent, but not terribly difficult to achieve. Basically it means you need thick, solid wood doors off the egress hallways, and the walls around the stairwell (and egress hallways) have to be built a particular way (two sheets of fire-rated sheetrock, etc.)

This means you can’t have an open floorplan where the stairs are open to the rest of the floor, even though the entire building is sprinklered - at least not without special approval. We were able to get a “reconsideration” that’s allowing us to have an open floor plan on the parlor floor - the bottom floor in our unit. To get the reconsideration we’re having to put in a 1 foot “smoke baffle” around the stairwell. So there will be a 1 foot “wall” coming down from the ceiling in that area. That smoke baffle will prevent smoke from going up into the stairwell. Since fire and smoke spreads up, I think reconsiderations like that would only be granted on the bottom floor of a unit, but I’m not sure.

All in all, the fire code has gotten a lot tougher for townhouse owners. Not having a sprinkler system is not an option. And just throwing a few sprinklers in the egress areas isn’t an option either. But luckily the more extensive sprinklering is balanced by being able to use CPVC piping… We’ll see in a few days what all that will cost…

Generally I find there are two groups of townhouses - 1) ones that need $500K+/- in renovations, and 2) ones that don’t (at least not right away).

On the high end…

The very first one, 226 Lenox was a bit of a special case - it’s probably at the high end of the ones needing around $500K in renovation. Among the others you can see the trend is generally up (slightly). The standard price seemed to be $1.65M (no matter what the size, oddly), but now that’s been broken and prices are just under $2M.

On the low end…

The first thing to notice is that this is still a great time to buy a townhouse shell in Harlem. There’s over a million dollar difference between the price of shells and the high end places, but you can renovate a shell into a high end townhouse for about $600-$800K, so you’re likely to net between $300K and $500K on the renovation.

Price per square foot is tricky with shells. Taking our place as an example - officially it’s 4 stories and 3605 sq. ft. However, in actuality it’s 5 stories and 4500 sq. ft. Oddly, I thought the number of stories would get fixed as we went through the DOB plan approval process, but I saw the plan examiner look right at the plans and call it a 4 story building. However, they are now billing it as having 4,500 sq. ft. - at least that much is getting corrected. What this means is as you look at townhouses you need to calculate the real square footage and determine your own price per square foot.

The bottom line is, like the upper end, there is an upward trend in prices for shells. Not counting the fully occupied SRO (which you wouldn’t want to touch with a 10′ pole unless you wanted to be a landlord, not a home owner), our place was pretty much the low price on a price per square foot basis at $117/sq. ft. The others since that time have been more money on a price per square foot basis (which is how you really need to price buildings like these). Assuming the recent ones are 4 story buildings misclassified as 3 story buildings - that means the actual price per square foot for shells is now in the mid-$140s.

Well, months passed and then someone at Eggersmann found my previous blog post mentioning them. They contacted us and asked if we had made a choice yet. Thanks to problems with DOB, we hadn’t. They noticed that I had mentioned that their last price was too high, and offered to design a lower cost kitchen. Our kitchen design and layout had changed somewhat since their last proposal. The biggest change was moving the coat closet further into the building - across from the stairs rather than across from the kitchen. The other change was getting rid of the upper cabinets and taking the cabinets at each end to the ceiling (which is 10.5′ tall). The net result was a 1/3rd savings in cost. We need to see where the other numbers come in, but we’re thinking we just might be able to afford an Eggersmann kitchen, which is quite exciting…

Dan and I had gone through several rounds of kitchen designs but hadn’t been 100% happy with anything we came up with. Many of the designs reminded us of our last kitchen and we really wanted this one to be different. Finally I proposed a layout one day and Dan liked it. That’s the layout Eggersmann laid out (and improved slightly). Here are some 3D renderings Eggersmann did for us…

Instead of having coat closets across from the kitchen, we’re going to have a bench where people can sit and talk. This will essentially be the view from the bench. The door to the right is the front door. The upper panels in that door will be glass. The column to the left will house a Sub Zero 736 TCI fridge. At over $6,000 it’s our one huge extravagance in the kitchen, but we loved the 700 TCI we had in our last kitchen… The shelves in the center island will be used for wine and cookbooks. Dog leashes and the like will go in the cabinets below.

This shows a few of the details more clearly. We’re envisioning Corian (white) counter tops, a stainless back splash. The range is a compromise. We’re going with a 30″ Electrolux when Dan would really love a 36″ Wolf, but it costs nearly $4,000 more. The range hood was one of our challenges. The shape of it will probably be a bit different than what you see, but luckily we can exhaust directly out the wall, so no chimney is needed. We’re also thinking of put lighting on the top of the shelf as well as the bottom so the wall isn’t so dark.

Seen from a different perspective… The wall to the right will be exposed brick, and the front doors will have glass in the top panels. The window looks huge as it is, but looking at it now I realize it wasn’t drawn big enough. It’s 4 feet wide, 7 1/2 feet tall, so it will be another foot higher (at least). It won’t be one huge piece of glass. Instead it will look a bit like a french door (two vertical casement windows).

This last one shows how we’re hiding the microwave in a nook with additional cabinets. Up by the ceiling, above the cabinets, will be the A/C. We’re going with a “mini-spit ductless” system and that location gives us a nice place to hide the unit. (Not going with concealed units is another budgetary concession). The large wall will be exposed brick, so while the cabinets will be white / off-white, there will be plenty of color and warmth in the kitchen.

The other thing I’ve realized looking at these renderings is that the radiator we were going to put under the window will conflict with opening the cabinets. Dan and I are debating where the radiator should go.

So we’re crossing our fingers hoping we can get the Eggersmann kitchen. It’ll be really wonderful. Their sense of design is really special and their fit and finish is incredible.

Anyway, it’s over and we’re now on to getting a final bid from our contractor, and getting everything ready to apply for the mortgage. Hopefully, after all this, we’ll be able to afford the renovation we want to do. Knocking wood…

I know I’ve neglected the blog lately, but the last 3 months have felt like purgatory. We were just sitting and waiting. Honestly, I didn’t want to focus on it too much because it would have just been frustrating. It’s a good thing we weren’t buying the building with a rehab loan. If we had closing would have had to wait until all of this was done. As it is the house isn’t costing us that much to maintain right now - just taxes and paying a guy to keep it clean so we don’t get violations.

The benefit of the wait was that our architect had time to do more detail drawings which will help clarify things with the contractor. And the biggest change was that we decided to swap the floor plans for two floors. We’re going to have the home office one flight up from parlor and the master bedroom two flights up from parlor (instead of the other way around). It should result in less stair climbing and we get a laundry shoot in the master bedroom, which will be nice. When we get the electronic versions of the approved plans I’ll post them here.

In the future one or both of us with go with our expediter when he needs to get changes approved at DOB. Lesson learned. 

The first thing that was rejected was the energy review. Our architect did this complex analysis using a web-based program provided by the federal government where you enter all the characteristics of the building including wall types, window types, light fixtures, etc. and it confirms compliance with the 2010 standards that are in effect for New York State. But the plan examiner rejected it because NYC is still on 2007 energy standards and the 2010 standards aren’t being phased in until later this year. They literally told us to come back in 24 days, on July 1, since they’ll accept our architect’s energy analysis on that date. So we got rejected for showing compliance with a more demanding standard that they’re going to use in less than a month. Go figure.

Second major item was the sprinkler system (again). This time the plan examiner wanted documentation that there was sufficient pressure in the water main to support the sprinklers being on the domestic water supply despite the fact that the code specifically states that sprinkler systems with 30 or fewer heads can feed off the domestic water supply. He also wanted all the pipe sizes and sprinkler heads specified, but that’s typically done when the sprinkler system is certified - it doesn’t need to be done at this point and requiring it now is just being difficult.

The biggest issue that he raised is that he’s insisting we do a pressure test on the water main to do the calculations to determine the sizes of pipes that are required for the sprinkler system. It takes 4 to 6 weeks to get DEP to do a flow test, so that means we can’t go in for a plan review until that’s done. Again, the flow test is typically done after DOB approves the overall plan - he’s just being obstructionist IMHO.

At one point the plan examiner insisted that we needed 2 hour fire rated walls around the stairwell, not 1 hour walls. Our expediter stuck to his guns and then it took the plan examiner 10 minutes of searching the code to realize we were right and he was wrong. Why do they have people doing plan exams who don’t know the code? If the code is just horribly complicated then why not have plan examiners specialize in certain building types? If we had someone who really knew the code issues for townhouses then maybe they’d know the code well enough to do their job properly.

Then the plan examiner was telling our expediter that he saw errors in the “I-Cards” for the building. I-Cards were the predecessor to Certificates of Occupancy, which came out in 1938. So in other words, he was holding us responsible for errors previous building owners made dating back to 1938 or before. I mean please… The whole point of our rehabbing the building is to bring it up to code and get a C of O. How can inaccuracies on the old I-Cards matter when the point of the exercise is to make them obsolete by getting a C of O?

Next time Dan and I will go to the plan review to prove the point that we’re not some nefarious slumlord trying to build a crappy substandard building. We’re just regular guys. Plus, with the enormous workload that DOB is under right now I just don’t understand how it’s productive for them to keep having us come back over and over again for stupid little things.

Now imagine if we were trying to purchase the place with a rehab loan and needed to get approved plans to close the loan. Obstructions like this can really hamper redevelopment of blighted buildings - for no good reason because they can tank deals. And it’s the reason why it can take FOREVER to close when the buyer needs financing to purchase. I’m sure more than a few deals have gone bad because DOB took too long and the contracts expired.

Last year I thought the comp for it was it’s sister townhouse around the corner - 883 St. Nicholas Ave which sold in July ‘09 for $1.04M. Thing was, 883 was recently renovated and in better condition, so we figured 413 would go for less than that - probably under $1M.

Aging bathroom needs renovation

413 West 154 had had a day care center in the ground floor which was an English basement, so not completely livable space. The English basement was a bit of an issue for us since Dan wouldn’t have had a cellar to use for an art studio and we didn’t really have the option of a rental apartment on the ground floor unless it was a studio apartment. Despite being it being 21 feet wide, the rooms weren’t that wide because there was a structural wall running the length of the building. The top floor was a one bedroom “mother-in-law’s apartment” - so not legally rentable, but still an independent unit with it’s own kitchen, etc.

The other negatives were that it was a 1/2 block from a large housing project, and while it’s literally “around the corner” from the subway it’s just the C train - and it’s a long walk to express trains.

What 413 West 154 had going for it was that it was incredibly solidly built and completely livable. It looked like it had been renovated in the 80s and everything seemed like it was in working order, though the renovations were looking dated and needed a lot of updating. We knew if we moved into it that we’d want to spend $200-250K on bathroom and kitchen renovations. We never bid on it - there was just too big of a discrepancy between what they were asking and what it was worth to us and the layout didn’t really meet our needs.

Here are some pictures to give you an idea what it was like…

Basement level looking out to garden (previously the day care center)

Living room with spiral staircase up to master bedroom

Back yard with basketball hoop

Back wall showing building was in great condition

So, if you’re in the market for a townhouse, realize prices are starting to go back up. You’ll need to bid higher than you would have a 6 months to a year ago. That’s good news if you’re trying to sell or if you just bought. We’re not talking a huge jump in prices, but enough to be noticeable.

As I was writing up this post I got a call that our plans were not approved (for the 2nd time) and the issues were largely due to changes in the 2008 code. (Today is definitely a day when it feels like we’re ‘beating upwind’…)

Sprinklers

Possibly the biggest change in terms of expense is that most townhouses now require a full sprinkler system. Apparently the new code conflicts itself - part of it says 1 and 2 family homes require sprinklers, another part says they can be exempt. At one point I found the FDNY’s ruling that said that if the townhouse was being restored back to it’s original 1 or 2 family use then sprinklers were not required at all. However, once a DOB plan examiner says they want sprinklers (as in our case) there’s no way FDNY is going to overrule them and say they’re not necessary. Here are the part of the code that were cited by our plan examiner:

903.2.7 Group R. An automatic sprinkler system shall be installed in Group R fire areas. An automatic sprinkler system shall be installed throughout buildings with a main use or dominant occupancy of Group R.

Exception: An automatic sprinkler system shall not be required in detached one- and two-family dwellings and multiple single-family dwellings (town houses), provided that such structures are not more than three stories above grade plane in height and have separate means of egress.

Here’s a summary of the code in graphical format…

(Source)

So we’re now stuck having to put in a sprinkler system. I’m not sure why, but our architect and his expediter were reading the code only the egress had to be sprinklered so he drew up sprinklers on every stair landing and between the stairs and the front door using “water walls” between the stairs/corridor and the kitchen and the living room. But as I was writing this I got a call saying the plan examiner wants the entire building sprinklered (which is consistent with the part of the code he cited). That could be cost prohibitive for us - so it’s potentially very bad news…

The reason why any sprinkler system is so expensive is because sprinklers have to plumbed with cast iron pipe. Copper melts in a fire. The problem is our connection to the water main may not be big enough to support the demand put on it by the sprinklers. So that means we may have to upgrade our connection to the water main or get a dedicated connection to the main for the sprinkler system. That’s major money because it requires tearing up the sidewalk and touching the water main for the street.

We need to get estimates, but the sprinkler system the DOB plan examiner wants will cost WELL over $100K. Now we have to figure out what can be cut so we can afford the sprinkler system. So we’ve hit a pretty major roadblock.

Smoke Detectors

A more minor point is that all smoke detectors in the building now have to be interconnected - so if one goes off they all go off (great fun when what you’re looking gets a bit smokey).

Egress Stairs

Another change is that the 2008 code now requires that the stairwell continue up to the roof. Typically the way townhouses were built was to have a hatch going up to the roof. Now you need a bulkhead with  a full 3′ wide staircase and a door.

27-375(i) (1)(b) - “Buildings exceeding three stories in height shall be provided with one stairway at least three feet in width enclosed in fire-retarding partitions with a fire resistive rating of one hour protected by FPSC doors leading directly to the street and to the roof bulkhead.”

That’s less of an expense than a sprinkler system, but if you’ve got original staircases the question is how to match the style of the current stairs on the staircase going up to the roof. And what happens if you’re staircases aren’t a full 3′ wide? That could be a bit costly - or you’ll have a different type of staircase going the last flight.

There is one good thing about requiring bulkheads - if you put south facing windows in the bulkhead it’s better than having a skylight. The problem with skylights is that they don’t capture much of the low winter light (when you want as much light and heat gain as possible) and they capture too much of the high summer sun - making the building hot and increasing your air conditioning bills. Bulkhead windows get the maximum amount of winter sun and heat (lowering your heating bills) and capture less sun and heat in the summer (lowering your air conditioning bills).

Energy Considerations

Another frustration that relates to the 2008 code is that the plan examiner wants a crazy amount of detail on the energy usage of the building. The code is pretty clear that there are multiple ways to prove energy efficiency. Our architect did one of those ways (using a goverment program that calculates energy efficiency), but the plan examiner said that wasn’t good enough. He wants details on every window, exterior door, and light fixture.

If Your Buying A Townhouse…

If you’re in the process of building a townhouse that needs a lot of work (or already own one) - realize the 2008 code will impact you greatly, as it’s affecting us. The townhouses you may be seeing that are renovated were typically renovated under the old, 1968, building code. You have to meet  a much more demanding standard now.

If you can find a townhouse that has plans that were approved under the old building code then you can use those plans provided the permits have been kept current. But if the permits expired make the current get them renewed before you purchase the property. But realize you’ll be able to make minor changes to those plans. Talk to an architect and an expediter to make sure you can build under those plans. If the owner can’t get the plans renewed, lower your bid price substantially to compensate yourself for having to meet 2008 code.

If you’re buying a townhouse without approved plans (the norm) make sure you overestimate your renovation costs to compensate for things like full sprinkler systems. It can get expensive to meet 2008 code.

During our search we went through the one 2 doors down - 7 West 119th Street. It was fully renovated with some high end finishes (Sub Zero fridge, but just “better than rental” cabinetry). It wound up selling for $1.0983M. It’s hard to figure out the square footage of #7. Officially it’s 2,794 sq. ft. so it officially sold for $393/sq. ft. However, the City has it’s length at 47′ when all it’s sibling neighbors are officially 38′. I don’t remember it being pushed out in the back and the permit they pulled said no enlargement was proposed. It’s on a lot with a diagonal back line - one side it’s 54′ deep, the other it’s 58′ deep. I remember the back yard basically being a small deck, but it the short side was definitely more than 7′ feet long. So I really think the square footage of #7 is smaller and more inline with it’s neighbors. On top of everything else they did a double height living room so it was probably under 2,000 of real square feet. If it were 2,000 sq. ft. then the price per square foot would have been $549/sq. ft. which is way over what the other comps support. By comparison the incredible one on Strivers’ Row went for $505/sq. ft.

11 West 119th is a SMALL townhouse that shouldn’t be made into more than a single family home (#7 was made into a 2 family with a tiny studio apartment and I think it was a mistake). It’s not not in a historic district (though it is literally adjacent to a one). It’s steps from East Harlem where values are somewhat lower. It’s across the street from (relatively nice) public housing. So I’m not seeing how the property commanded $188/sq. ft. But with both #7 and #11 selling way over what the comps support — apparently they’re smoking really good over at that end of West 119th Street! 

No matter - this is a great comp for those of us who own townhouses. Be happy! And for the new owners of #7 and #11 West 119th Street - the values will go up in the coming years and they’ll still make money when they sell.

But honestly - if you’re looking to buy a Harlem townhouse shell - get a damn good real estate broker and a subscription to Property Shark that includes comps and really get to know what things are actually selling for (as opposed to what they’re listed for). A Property Shark membership is WAY cheaper than overpaying for real estate.

There are two big things the building has going for it. First, location - it’s practically in the heart of all the redevelopment and buzz that’s happening in South Harlem. Walk across St. Nicholas Avenue and you’re in the middle of everything that’s hot and trendy in Harlem - Nectar wine bar, Moca Lounge, etc. And it’s also close to the A,B,C and D trains at 125 - so it’s just 1 stop from 59th Street.

The second thing the building has going for it are its development possibilities. You can (and probably should) invest a $1 million in this building, and when you’re done it’ll be worth more than you put into it (if you’re smart about how you spend the money). Because most of the lot is within 100 feet of St. Nicholas Ave, it has a FAR just under 6 (which means you can expand the building far bigger than you can other townhouses that have a 3.44 FAR), and it’s got a C1-4 commercial overlay, so you can have the option of a commercial tenant on the ground floor (but it has to be one that services the immediate neighborhood).

It’s currently a 4 story building. If I were buying the building I’d push the back wall back to maximize square footage and add two partial floors on top. I’d configure it with three units. Because the building is only 17 feet wide you don’t really want to make it more than 3 family. The basement would be one unit with the possibility of a commercial tenant. The parlor floor could be a two bedroom apartment, and the top two existing floors plus the two floors I’d add would be a large quadraplex. You could step back each of the additional floors and allow for outdoor terraces making the quadraplex an incredible space with tremendous outdoor space…

In the picture above you can see that there is an alley along the west side of the building. There are a number of existing windows in that wall. The rules about lot line windows apply, but it’s a great to have windows in your bathrooms and a wall you can exhaust vents out of.

As you can see the façade and the stoop need a lot of work. But as you move inside the original floors and a some original details are still intact…

(click on any image to see a bigger version of it)

I have to say going through the building was a bit unsettling. There were clothes and sleeping bags left over from when homeless used to live in the building. The staircase was a bit rickety, and there was a dead cat in the basement. But all of those things are easy to fix.

While you can buy this building and not expand it beyond it’s current 3,400 sq. ft. it’s best if you plan on making the building substantially larger. The construction will be pretty expensive given that you’ll want to add two floors and push the rear wall back, and you may need to reinforce the foundation to support the additional floors and you might want to lower the floor in the cellar - none of which comes cheap. But given the area, you can spend the money and have it come back to you.

In terms of price it’s currently at $795K. Townhouses typically sell for around $200K off their asking prices, so I’d guess it’ll sell for around $600K, maybe a bit higher. $600K would be $176/sq. ft. which is high for a shell, but the location and development possibilities explain why it’s at the high end for a shell. Even if you spent $200/sq. ft. renovating it (no expansion) you’d still be under $400/sq. ft. which is supported by the comps. If you want to expand the building I think you’ll find that cost effective as well.

I should also say something about the tax situation. The taxes are quite high - $9,664/year. Most townhouses pay about 1/3rd that amount. The current owner sorta messed up. He should have pulled a permit to convert it to 2-3 family, started construction, and gotten Department of Finance to reclassify the building and bring the taxes down. This is actually a good example of what I was talking about in the previous post - you don’t want to convert this building to 4 (+) family because the taxes will remain high and the additional rental income may not cover the higher taxes. 2 or 3 family makes a lot more sense in this case. If you can get it reclassified as 2 or 3 family, then the assessed value will drop to $10,200 (6% of the market value of $170K), which is far lower than the current transitional assessed value of $72,990. The taxes on $10,200 would be $1,745 - nearly $8K less than what’s being paid now. DOF will up the market value because you’re doing work on the building, but you’ll still pay substantially less than what’s being paid now.

It’s probably worth mentioning that we bid $575K on it back in November 2009 and it was rejected - we were told we weren’t even close. I would have gone up to $600K and possibly a bit higher if we had access to the money, but the ‘no’ was so resounding we never went back with another bid. It wouldn’t surprise me if the owner currently feels a bit firm at $795K, so it could take some negotiation to get the price you want…

Whether you get this building or another I recommend you have a real estate broker who’s an aggressive negotiator. Norman Horowitz (the listing agent) is a good guy, but I wouldn’t go to him directly since you will be wanting to negotiate a significant amount off the asking price. If you’re looking for a tough negotiator who really works for her clients, we recommend Maria McCallister of Barak Realty - she’s proven herself to us in both the sale of our apartment and the purchase of our townhouse.

Well, the article came out, and thank god our picture wasn’t used… The article is titled “There Goes The Neighborhood…” and then continues to complain about the demographic changes that are going on in Harlem.  It makes it sound like white people are taking over Harlem, when we’re actually just 15% of the population (in Central Harlem). The article in the NY Times earlier this year was far more balanced and objective. White people aren’t taking over Harlem, if anyone is taking over Harlem, it’s Latinos and Asians.

Here’s one snippet from the Observer article that gives you an idea of where it’s coming from…

It is no surprise that the changes in Harlem anger some. Tarik Haskins, 61, makes a living by selling CDs from a stall on 125th Street … He is furious at the changes he sees around him. “It is a threat to the indigenous people. We do not have the same salaries as these new people. Our choices are more limited,” he said. What is the answer? “We have to organise,” replied Haskins, who proudly wears a Black Panther badge.

The “indigenous people” comment is laughable. Harlem was built for white people and initially occupied by white people. One of our (white) neighbors found out that her grandmother was born in Mount Morris Hospital which used to be down the street from where we are. When she gets snide comments about her not belonging she loves to bring up her grandmother and tell the person she has as much right to be there as they do.

The other problem with that statement is that if you go over to “SoHa” (centered around Frederick Douglass Boulevard south of 125th Street), where the gentrification is most dramatic, you’ll see the bars and restaurants are filled with “buppies” - hard working, educated, successful BLACK 30-somethings. Sure there are some high-income white people buying places, but the far bigger trend has little to do with race and everything to do with economic class. Harlem is gentrifying and getting more expensive. That’s going to change things, but it’s more likely that a higher-income Black or Latino will be displacing the lower-income Black, than a white person. Most of the white people I’ve met in Harlem bought (and often renovated) long-vacant townhouses and displaced no one in the process.

Personally, Dan and I aren’t displacing any poor black people - our house has been vacant for at least a decade and, by New York standards, we’re hardly rich. While we’re not black, we are an interracial couple, and being gay we’re both minorities. I’m sure some people might resent me moving into Harlem, but I’ve got nothing to apologize for and in time they’ll get used to it.

That said, I do completely understand that systemic and deep poverty are still real problems in Harlem and that the poverty is strongly correlated with race. You’d be hard pressed to find many New Yorkers who don’t understand that. But leaving Harlem a run down ghetto is hardly the way to fix the poverty problem.

One of the things I learned early on about New York is to never complain too much about change. Change is a constant in NY and the City would stagnate and die if it didn’t change. Change is usually good.  It’s a good thing, not a bad thing, to see Harlem get cleaned up, vacant, burned out buildings get rebuilt, and fancy new condos go in.

We still need to take care of those who are less fortunate and to that end our back yard abuts the back yard of some brownstones that are being turned into affordable housing, and catty corner across Adam Clayton Powell Jr. Blvd is an 11 story housing project. The Harlem of the future can and should accommodate the needs of a diverse group of people - black, white, Latino and Asian; rich, middle class, and poor. People shouldn’t be scared of diversity - hell, that’s what makes New York a special place.

Big Differences In Taxes Between 1-3 Family and 4+ Family

The first thing we noticed as we got to know Harlem townhouses was that there was a huge difference in how taxes are calculated once you hit 4 or more units. To the point where it can make no sense to have the 4th unit - it’s better to stick to a 3 unit building in many cases.

Let’s say you want to buy 1990 Madison. It’s a huge ark of a building - 20′ x 54′ x 5 stories. That’s a whopping 1080 sq. ft. per floor, and 5,400 sq. ft. in total. You probably think it would be great as a 5 family building… Let’s see if that’s right…

The current appraised market value is $673K. That’s going to go up after you do renovations on the place. Let’s say you do $100/sq. ft. in renovations and spend $540,000. Typically people don’t report the entire cost of renovation to the City since the building permits are priced based on the cost of work being done, so let’s say you report 1/3rd of that amount ($180K) to the Department of Buildings. The Department of Finance seems to be in the habit of picking up the renovation amounts and adding them to the market value, so your market value will wind up around $850K.

Next, the City takes 45% of the market value to determine the assessed value which comes out at $382,500 for buildings in tax class 2 (residential with four or more units).  However, the City has what it calls a “transitional assessed value” to ensure that if property tax values fluctuate rapidly that actual taxes only go up at a rate that people can deal with. Right now the transitional assessed value is on that building is $243,990. Since that’s lower than $382,500, you’ll pay based on the transitional assessed value rather than the actual assessed value. The owners have some tax exemptions, but we’ll assume you don’t have any since you don’t know whether you’ll get the same exemptions they get. You then apply the tax rate of 0.13241 to the (transitional) assessed value and you come out with taxes of $32,307/year.

Now, let’s see what the taxes would be if it were a 3 family… Start with the market value of $850K but instead of taking 45%, you take 6% to determine the assessed value because you’re in a different tax class - tax class 1 instead of tax class 2. That comes out to an assessed value of $51K. That’s WAY lower than the transitional assessed value of $243,990, so you’ll pay taxes on $51K instead of $244K… However, the tax rate is higher on 1 to 3 family homes - 0.17088 instead of 0.13241, but even at the higher tax rate the taxes come out to $8,715/year instead of $32,307/year! In other words, you’ll save $23,592/year having it as a 3 family instead of a 4 or 5 family.

So, you’ll be losing $2K/month just in taxes and that will get worse as time goes on and the 5 unit scenario loses the benefit of the transitional assessed value and starts paying market rate taxes like the 3 family scenario was paying all along. Imagine taking the top 3 floors and making them into a triplex. If a single floor went for maybe $2,000/mo, the triplex could easily go for $4,000/mo and you’d be ahead because the taxes situation would be on your side as time went on.

In 5+ family buildings it’s often hit or miss in terms of which will do better - a 3 family or a 5 family. But in most cases a 4 story building configured as 3 family will be more profitable for the landlord than the same building configured as 4 family. In other words, you pay more in taxes than you get in additional rent with the 4th unit. However, because many buildings have low transitional assessed values, developers continue to configure them as 4 family. But when the transitional assessed value goes up and gets near the actual assessed value it’s smarter to reconfigure them as 3 family buildings.

I should mention that there are egress issues if you put in duplex or triplex units. The main staircase is usually the egress stairs so all units share it so they have access to the roof in the event of a fire. You can’t block that staircase and give it to the top unit and a second staircase would take up valuable space. The object is to give every unit two means of egress. The garden unit has front door and garden. The top unit has front door and roof. The problem are any units in the middle, so the solution is to put a staircase down from the parlor floor into the garden. Which means all floors above parlor need to be one unit. If you have a 4 story townhouse, that means a duplex. If you have a 5 story townhouse that means you’ll have a triplex. For developers that want to add a 6th floor to maximize their F.A.R. (maximum buildable space) there may be a problem since there may not be a big enough rental market for quadraplexes in Harlem, but by the point you get to 6 units the additional rent may very well easily cover the additional tax.

Significant Differences In Fire Code Between 1-2 Family and 3+ Family

We didn’t realize until recently how big of a difference there was between 2 family and 3 family. One of the big difference is the sprinkler system - generally, 3+ family buildings need them, 1-2 family buildings don’t. It may not sound like much, but among other things sprinkler systems have to be piped with cast iron piping (copper piping will melt in a fire) - they don’t come cheap. That means a sprinkler system will add at least $50K to your budget if you need one - possibly as much as $100K if you need to sprinkler the entire building. That’s a big chunk of change and will be a big part of any renovation budget.

Correction: We’ve found, by submitting plans and having them rejected, that most townhouses require full sprinkler systems - even 1 and 2 family homes.

The bigger issue is that 3+ family buildings are “Group R-2″ where 1 and 2 family units are “Group R-3″ (which are the same as the older “J-2″ and “J-3″ classifications). Things are just more lenient all around if you’re R-3 which means it’s less expensive to build a 2 family than it is to build a 3 family (not even taking into consideration the extra kitchen and bathrooms).

Of course, if you’re a landlord you may eventually recoup the cost of the sprinkler system with the extra rent from the 3rd unit. Plus your building may come with a usable sprinkler system. However, you just have to realize that you’ll be judged by a more demanding standard when you file for building permits and when you revise your C of O.

Smaller Differences In Building Code Between 1 and 2 Family

So far it seems the differences between 1 and 2 family aren’t all that big. In two family you need things like fire protection between the units, but that can be achieved by using two layers of drywall instead of one which is a pretty minor detail.

In my mind 2 family is a bit of a sweet spot - you get some extra income but don’t get slammed with major expenses upfront for construction or down the road in taxes…

The Expensive Options

There are a lot of options. One of the more popular ones is forced air. With a forced air system you get heating and central air conditioning pumped through duct work. It seems forced air systems start at about $60K and can get much more expensive as you add things like zoning, air exchange handlers, humidifiers, air filters, etc. Plus they tend to blow dust around the house and NYC air is dirty enough as it is…

Another option is to have smaller zoned forced air systems throughout the house, typically in a dedicated closet. This basically takes the forced air idea and puts several smaller units throughout the house that handle only a floor or two. We went into some houses that had them and they’re quite noisy, and also pretty expensive.

One person suggested PTAC units which are hotel style thru-wall, combined heating and cooling units. But those generally use electricity for heating which is absurdly expensive in NYC or they require plumbing gas lines into every room (also expensive). And they’re noisy and not as energy efficient as other solutions.

Then there are decentralized heating and cooling units which are supplied with heated or cooled water and blow water over fins attached to the pipes to heat and cool the room. But their cost is pretty high.

The Consensus Solution For People On A Tight Budget

However, what everyone seems to agree is pretty effective and inexpensive (and what we’re going with) is having a boiler that powers radiant heating and combining that with a “mini split system” for cooling.

Radiant Heating

On the heating side, it turns out that hot water is more efficient than old style steam - but the concept is pretty much the same… You pump something hot through a radiator and it warms up the room - just as they’ve been doing in New York for over a hundred years. These days the plumbing is done with high quality plastic (”PEX”) tubing and it’s quite popular to make the floor the radiator and have “radiant floor” heating, but that costs substantially more than simple radiators. If we had the budget, we would do radiant floor heating since it’s the most pleasant form of heating to live with. But our budget is tight, so we’ll stick to normal rads.

Mini Split System For Cooling

On the cooling side we’ll have 2 or 3 condenser units on the roof that will pump refrigerant to small units in each room. That means every room is a zone which is great for keeping cooling costs down since we’ll only be cooling a few rooms in the house at any given time. Also, much of the noise is relegated to condensers on the roof and the units in the room are pretty quiet. The units can also act as heat pumps. However, since we’ll be positioning them near the ceiling they probably won’t be as effective at heating as the hot water rads will be. Still, if we want to take the chill out of a room we can do it without turning on the whole boiler.

The mini spit systems have three types of units for in the room. The standard is a wall or ceiling mounted unit that’s just under 3 feet long. It’s not the most attractive thing, but it can be very efficient. The the other highly efficient option is a “ceiling cassette” however, they don’t fit between 16″ joists, so you have to plan ahead for them. In our case they’re 10″ deep and our joists are only 8″, so we’re not going to use them since we’d have to create some sort of bump down in the ceiling. The last option is a ducted version which can be put in a nearby closet and then you run a short duct to one or two rooms. However, you lose some efficiency in the duct work. The most efficient mini split systems combine one condenser with one room unit and they can get up around 25 SEER, which is excellent. You can also have one condenser power multiple room units - up to 4 at a time. Though the more room units you power the lower the efficiency and SEER ratings. There are condensers that power two room units that get as high as 18 SEER, but typical SEER values are more like 15 or 16 for the multi-room systems.

A/C Sleeves In The Rental

Of course there are air conditioning solutions that are less expensive than mini split systems… In the rental unit we’ll go even simpler and put air conditioning sleeves in the sidewall. Unlike most townhouses we do have a sidewall that’s all ours (not a “party wall”). The A/C sleeves are less expensive than a mini split system and more than adequate for a rental.

Uptown vs. Downtown

One thing we’re noticing is that a lot of the good contractors usually work on projects downtown that have big budgets. One construction manager two days ago kept throwing out the number $2 million when he was discussing a budget. That’s nearly 4 times our budget and the fact that he kept using that number over and over and over again to us meant he just wasn’t right - he’d probably never understand our budgetary constraints.

Then there was another contractor who seemed to have rich clients that kept changing their minds. To him the design was fluid and he expected it would change substantially while it was being built. In contrast, we know we have to get it nailed down as much as possible before contractors give their final bids so there are as few change orders as possible. I’m sure he’s great with rich clients who really don’t have budgetary limits and want their every whim to be indulged, but we do have budgetary limits and we need the contractor who understands that.

One of contractors who’s made it onto our short list was a guy who came in with his partner who does structural work. One of the first things they asked was how much we paid for the building and how much we thought it would be worth when we were done. They then threw out a number that was close to our budget and understood that we needed to come in near that number.

Large Projects vs. Small Projects vs. Townhouse Guts

The other day we had a contractor in who we had wished we had gone with for our apartment renovations (he was too expensive). He does incredible work. He came into our townhouse and was clearly overwhelmed. He told us he could only bid on the project once we had floors in place so he could get a sense of the scope of work. The structural work completely freaked him out. We explained it was being funded with a rehab loan and it was an all-or-nothing package deal.

Then there are the guys who only work on huge projects. The mechanical engineer our architect had us sit down with just didn’t understand (initially) that you don’t need the same level of heating and cooling systems in a townhouse as you would a commercial space with the same square footage. It took him a while to think small. The same goes for some of the contractors who work on larger buildings and are used to huge HVAC (Heating, Ventilation and Air Conditioning) systems. They just think big and big comes with big price tags.

Another guy came in and he seemed like a good guy who would do a great job. But he was used to doing commercial work where everything is spec’d out in incredible detail by the time he gets called in. He said he wanted absolutely everything spec’d before he gave a proposal - the HVAC system, structural, the windows, the doors - everything. In contrast our goal in bringing the contractors in early was to understand the ways they would do things to stay on budget. We didn’t want to spec a system that could be done more cheaply. I felt a little sorry for him ’cause it was clear he was used to working on buildings that were much larger than ours but he said at the moment he’s just doing a few little jobs and that our project was substantial enough that would keep him going for a number of months. I mentioned that other contractors were giving us estimated budgets with allowances for materials that hadn’t yet been spec’d. A light bulb went off in his head and he said “Oh, I could do that”, but then he never did get back to us with a proposal.

NYC vs non-NYC, Harlem vs. Other Neighborhoods

Then we’ve had some contractors who’ve come in from places like Long Island who seemed freaked out by the City. One was shocked that he got a ticket one time when he left his car for 5 minutes while he was giving out pay checks. Experienced NYC contractors have guys watching or sitting in their cars while they’re at the job. The ones outside New York also don’t seem to know how to deal with NYC Department of Buildings. They complain about how long it takes to get approvals and inspections. The experienced NYC contractors talk about their expediters, and how they’ve done enough work in particular neighborhoods (Harlem) to get to know the inspectors and the types of things they look for.

Then there are others who just won’t work in Harlem because there tend to be theft problems in Harlem (e.g. tens of thousands of dollars worth of copper piping getting stolen). Compare that to a contractor who does a lot in Harlem who said “Yeah - I just put in a temporary alarm system - when there’s a break in, the police are called and my partner and I are called.” He knew how to deal with the neighborhood - it was no big deal to him.

Developer vs. Homeowner vs. Flippers

Yesterday we had a contractor come by. He and his partner were great guys who were extremely nice to deal with. They flat out asked our budget, we told them and they said “Wow - that’s exactly the number we were thinking when we did rough cost per square foot numbers yesterday”. HOWEVER, when I looked into the projects he’s worked on there were a lot of large apartment buildings (50+ units), and the townhouses were all chopped up into floor-through rentals. Property Shark had interior photos for some of the brownstones he’d worked on and they all showed low-end “builder’s grade” materials.

When we did the renovations of our bathrooms and kitchens in our old apartment we went with a guy who mostly worked for people who were flipping apartments. We learned that was a bad idea. People who flip come out with places that look great, but they don’t care about long term quality. The foreman he assigned blew up at me when I told him green board couldn’t be used in showers. I pulled the product spec sheet and showed him that it specifically said it couldn’t be used there and his response was “I’ve used it in million dollar homes” as if that mattered.

Simply put, homeowners want different things than people who are developing for renters or to flip. A developer/landlord wants something that’s cheap and functional. A flipper wants something that looks good and doesn’t care how long it holds up. A homeowner wants something that looks good and will stay looking good for a long time. Each of those types of customers need a different type of construction and hence a different type of contractor.

Contractors Who Finish vs. Those Who Don’t

Another criteria we’re starting to look at is whether the projects the contractor works on ever get their Certificates of Occupancy. A remarkable number of townhouse projects never actually get a new C of O. They may get a couple temporary ones, but then just never finish off the final details to get the final C of O. Since you need a C of O to legally rent an apartment it’s something we’re looking at pretty closely.

General Contractors (GCs) vs. Construction Managers (CMs)

Going into this we knew what a GC (General Contractor) was, but had never heard of a CM (Construction Manager). One CM came by to do a pitch and in the process they explained how they’re different than a GC. What it boils down to is that a GC hires all of the sub-contractors and is responsible for them. You pay a GC and he pays the subs. If you have a problem you have it with the GC. A construction manager is a consultant who takes a percentage as a fee. They’re not responsible for the sub-contractors instead they try to help the owner choose and manage the subs.

While I think a construction manager is a perfect solution for a busy executive who has more money than time, in our situation we want one person who’s responsible for the project. If the plumber is interfering with the work of the electrician we don’t really care - we want one and only one person who is ultimately responsible for making sure everything goes smoothly.

“Just Right”

So, after quite a few contractor interviews we’ve finally decided we want someone…

• Who has worked on a lot of townhouses
• Who has worked a number townhouses in Harlem
• Who can deliver significantly better than “builder’s grade” finishes
• Whose projects get C of Os when they’re done
• Who is comfortable with structural work without overdoing it
• Who knows how to do work on a tight budget

Luckily we do have a few options who seem to meet many of those criteria. We’re still vetting them - calling references, looking at previous projects, etc. The short list is taking shape and should be in place by the time we’ve got all the specs ready.

Our place is a 5 story townhouse that’s a narrow(ish) 15′ in width. It’s attached to sibling townhouse to the east (to the left as you look at the front of the building), but there’s an alleyway to the west between it and the apartment building next to it. The windows look off center because one sidewall is shared (and hence our portion of that wall is narrower which throws off the symmetry).

We’re still working on the window situation. What’s drawn is a casement window over a fixed pane transom. We need to do some measurements this weekend, but it may turn out that only double hung windows fit the current window openings since they’re wider than 3 feet. If we’re going to do casements in the front we have to make sure they’re in before the block is landmarked - apparently there are people who want to do it and there’s even a meeting about it tonight. Landmarking will help the value, but restrict what we can do in terms of development including what windows we can put on the front façade. Just for reference, the window next to the front door is huge - 4 1/2′ wide by 7 1/2′ tall! The window next to the door in the back (parlor floor) is 3 1/2′ wide by 8′ tall. We’ll may have to narrow the back windows to 3′ since that’s the maximum width for casement windows before you get into expensive custom “architectural” windows. We could also do double hung windows back there, but I’d really rather have casements.

The back side is south facing, so tons of light. The front faces north.

One thing that we loved as we were looking at townhouses was the quality of the light as you went up in the building and got light from the skylight. We’re not actually doing a skylight, instead we’re doing a bulkhead with south facing windows - just as you see in a lot of European factories. This should improve the quality of the light since it will reduce the light at noon in the summer when the sun is high in the sky, and increase the light in the winter when the sun is lower on the horizon. We’re devoting an bigger area than normal to the stairs and wrapping them around a “light well” which will bring the wonderful light down deeper into the building.

As you can see in the section view the house is basically a 6 bedroom owner’s unit over a 1 bedroom rental unit that has “accessory space” in the cellar. It may seem odd to have a 6 bedroom place in Manhattan, but if you think about a family with three kids - that’s three bedrooms for the kids + a master bedroom for the parents + a home office + a playroom/lounge for the kids. Even at 2 kids it makes sense - then they’d have a spare bedroom for guests.

Most townhouses are 4 floor buildings. We’re lucky to have a 5th floor. Dan’s a sculptor who’s never had enough space to do his work. One of our objectives in getting a townhouse was to give him space to do his art in a place where he could make as much noise as he wanted to (apartment buildings have lots of rules about noise). Initially he thought he’d take the cellar for art, but when this building had a 5th floor we decided to give it all to him for his art. In the back he’ll have a “dirty studio” which can get as messy as he wants. In the front will be his “clean studio”, and gallery space (if he can get people to walk up all those flights to look at the art). The dirty studio faces south so it will have tons of light and the gallery will get flooded with light from the bulkhead windows. However, FDNY may make us put a wall up between the stairs and the studio since it’s a bit of a fire hazard to have an open room at the top of a stairwell since fire spreads vertically. If that happens we’ll put a big window in the wall. In the middle will be a “utility room” that can easily be converted to another bathroom. It will have a slop sink, a small kitchenette, and some storage. The ceiling height on this floor will go gradually up and taper with the slope of the roof. In the back it will probably be about 8′, and in the front more like 9′.

One floor down will be my office. The fact that I’ve been self-employed for 9 years now (and for 3 years in the early 90s) is another reason why we needed more space. I need a proper office and that’s what will be in the front of the 3rd floor. Any street noise there might be won’t bother the office, unlike the guest bedroom which we’ve put in the back of the building. In the middle is a bathroom with an attached laundry room with a stacked washer/dryer. There will be exposed brick along the wall with the hallway. The other three walls will be insulated and sheetrocked since they’re exposed exterior walls. The ceilings are a nice 9′ high on this floor.

The next floor down is the floor just over the parlor and is traditionally called the “master/mistress floor” because the husband would have a bedroom in the front, and the wife a bedroom in rear and in the middle would be connecting dressing rooms. That let each spouse have a separate bedroom, but let them discretely go between the rooms as they desired.

We’ll have our master bedroom in the rear and a 2nd guest bedroom / den in the front. Since there wasn’t room for a second bathroom on the floor we’re putting in a pocket door so we can share our master bathroom if we have a lot of guests. The bathroom is smaller than some might want, but it’s plenty big for us. We opted to have a bigger master bedroom and a smaller master bath. I should mention that each of the bedrooms has about 10′ of closets - which we’ll really enjoy. There is a wood burning fireplace shown on the plans. It doesn’t use the existing chimney (which is on the opposite wall). It was just easier to put in a new fireplace and a new chimney. However, chances are the fireplaces will get cut due to a tight budget. But they’re something that can be done almost as easily at a later date.  The ceilings are a whopping 10′ on this floor.

The parlor floor is always the most grand floor in a townhouse. Ours has 10 1/2′ ceilings, though we’re considering raising the floor 6″ (which would lower the ceiling height) to give more ceiling height in the apartment on the floor below. Historically the kitchens were a floor below and they had servants that would bring the food up. There would have been a sitting room in the front, a dining room in the middle and a living room in the rear. In most modern layouts the living room is in the front, the kitchen in the rear and the dining room in the middle. We’re changing that around and putting the kitchen in the front because we want the living room in the rear where it’s quieter, more private, and more connected to the living space in the back yard. Ultimately we’re going for an open concept loft-like space on this floor. When you come in the front door we want an unobstructed view to the back.

One of the objectives in buying a townhouse was to have a back yard, so there are stairs going down so we have use of the back yard. We could have put in another rental unit on the parlor floor pretty easily and made it into a 3 family, but then the only outside space we would have had would have been the roof deck. The back yard isn’t huge - just 15′ x 26′ (390 sq. ft.) but it’ll still be really nice to have it.

It was tricky fitting a bathroom on this floor. The thing is you don’t want people using a bathroom next to where you’re making food, and you don’t want to think about someone else using the bathroom when you’re in the living room, and you definitely don’t want it to be an issue when you’re eating. The best solution was to tuck it under the stairs and put a privacy screen between it and what will be the dining area. We’ll just have the rule that if you need to use the bathroom during dinner you need to go and use one of the bathrooms on the upper floors.

The rental unit will help carry the cost of the (rather large) mortgage we have to get on the place. So it’s important that we have a nice rental apartment so it will rent quickly and for a good price. We’re including 1/2 of the cellar in the rental as a “accessory space” (see floor plan below). You’re not legally allowed to have a bedroom that’s fully below grade, but renters can use it as a media room, artist studio or home office. There will be about 725 sq. ft. on the main ground floor and another 225 or so in the cellar - so it will be over 1,050 sq. ft. The tenant will have access to the back yard, but we want the back yard to primarily be ours. So how much they’re allowed to use it will depend on how we get along with the tenant and how much we find ourselves using it. Ceiling height will be at least 8′. We’re thinking about raising the floor above and taking 6″ from the parlor level and lowering the floor in the rental 6″ in the living/kitchen area. Those two things would give 9′ ceilings in much of the rental and over 8′ ceilings elsewhere.

The one odd part about the building is that there are two entrances under the stoop. There’s a 3′ wide staircase down into the cellar, and a 2′ entrance to the ground floor. The 2′ entrance is not up to code and we doubt we can get it grandfathered, so we’re thinking we’ll need to make what was once the window into the legal door. The tenant can use either, but we’ll put french doors on the legal door so it can read visually as either a door or a window.

We have a “C2-4″ commercial overlay on the property which means we can use the ground floor (and even the parlor floor) for commercial purposes. In regular economic times a commercial tenant would be better since they’d probably pay as much or more in rent and only be there during the day. We’ve done the layout so if you take out the kitchen it’s a viable office space or small store, hair salon, etc. However, we won’t be trying to get a commercial use specified in the C of O. We’re amending plans for 2 family building the prior owner got approved. If we went the commercial route it would cost us a lot more money. Down the road we can think about changing that - but not now.

Here you see how the tenant gets half of the cellar. There’s a mechanical room in the center and storage for us in the front. The townhouse is unique in having a “vault” under the “front yard”. Usually the utilities are brought in under the stoop, but since there are stairs under the stoop they created a little stone walled room with a rustic arched brick ceiling (that’s having problems). It’ll make a wonderful little wine cellar or dungeon - depending on your proclivities

So there you have it - top to bottom… Hopefully in a year we’ll be living in it!