Don't let the door hit you on the a...

The New York Times reports that recession pricing and lenient landlords are drawing former Brooklynites back to Manhattan. One newly minted Manhattanite claims to have sacrificed half his living space and the luxury of a sink in the bathroom. "Concessions must be made," he says. 

Let's hope the next round of concessions come from Brooklyn landlords. While I don't mind losing the folks who would rather be in Manhattan anyway (all joking aside, I'm happy for them), I certainly don't want those of us who aren't interested in trading our monthly Metrocards for a 300sf studio to feel like suckers. Can I get a no fee rental and a free month's rent, Carroll Gardens landlords? You know who you are...

A tale of two houses: Sutton Place & Brooklyn Heights

Price chop alert?: Brooklyn Heights Townhouse 

First listed by Corcoran in January 2007 for a whopping $5,800,000, the sellers switched to Brown Harris Stevens, who raised the price to $5,950,000. The sellers are working their way through the brand-name brokers, and have given the listing to Halstead for the bargain price of $4,895,000. So, what's the new marketing strategy? "LOSING MONEY! Seller's loss is your gain, selling @ less than the cost." 

OMG! That's like having a big wad of housing Bubblicious, and, like, it popped and got stuck in your hair in the middle of homecoming and all the popular kids tried to get it out with peanut butter but you're totally gonna have to just cut it off and look like a new waver till it grows back.

Now, let's say you take your nearly five million dollars, and ferry it across the river to Sutton Place? You could buy a slightly smaller townhouse for $4M and build it out with the remaining $895K. 

Yeah, but then you'd have to live in Manhattan.