In the meantime, Mr. Tong seems to be doing all he can to spur sales himself, even bringing in as a consultant a mortgage specialist, Debra Bock of Stanley Capital Mortgage, to counsel prospective buyers so that they can qualify for a loan. “About a third are having trouble,” Mr. Tong said. “But I would say that 100 percent of them would be able to buy in three to six months.”
Those leasing at Northside Piers in Williamsburg, as in other developments, must be prequalified by a mortgage company in order to buy a unit; prices range from $700,000 for a one-bedroom to $1.1 million for a three-bedroom. According to Mr. Von Spreckelsen, the Toll Brothers senior vice president, renters have six months to commit to buying if they expect to use all of their rent toward the purchase.
“After six months it trails off — they lose a month for each month they delay,” he said.
Jill Vegas, 37, an interior decorator and stager, and her husband, Michael Zimberg, 35, a director at BNP Paribas, a bank, have been mulling over that offer since their lease option at Northside Piers began in October. The couple have been eager to get back into the New York market, having rented since they sold their Upper West Side apartment at the peak around four years ago.
Yet while they are not necessarily concerned about qualifying for a mortgage, they are wary of the market and wonder how long it may take before all of its problems are sorted out.
“I think this building may hold its value,” Ms. Vegas said, “and when I look out the windows of my two-bedroom apartment I see beautiful, unobstructed views from the 23rd floor. But when I look down, I can count on every single block how many new developments are coming up and see thousands of new units, and that worries me.”
