Jackson Heights Life

Frankly I do not understand what you are saying.

One by one you exclude the neighborhoods with similarly priced houses. Sunnyside histroic houses are too small. Comparable Kew Gardens and Forest hills are more expensive and further away. Other towns further away have much longer commutes withotu a subway. Then you conclude that the houses in JH should go for less for no reason. Puzzling.

My question remains: where can you find a historic house, of this size, so close to the city at a lower price?
The answer is nowhere and not "plenty".

Perhaps you can tell us where else people who can readily afford it can find a similar house (historic, size, semidetached, short commute etc). Name a few neighborhoods since there are plenty with more cachet.

I didn't say anything about masters of universe--you said it.
An attorney couple that brings 400K can afford to give 1.2 mil or more for this.
A paralegal couple that brings 200K cannot.
It is clear why they ask for that much--they have already the attorney buyers. Also if this goes for 1.5 mil, I don't think that the house next to it will stay this way for long.

We are being realistic.  We can love our neighborhood but still have issues with certain parts of it. 

JH is just not going to gentrify like Brooklyn. We've been hearing that it will for the last 10 years and while coop prices are going up, it's nothing like what's happening in places like Bushwick. The commercial rents are way too high and this is a middle-class area, not a poverty-stricken neighborhood with bargains galore to be found.

Sure but your comparison (Bushwick ) is not the right one. Prospect lefferts and ditmas Park are better examples. Not poverty stricken and middle class residents. What you hear the last 10 years is finally true. Prices in coops and single families have shot up everywhere in the desirable parts of queens. And this is only the beginning. It happened fast and caught people by surprise.

I am sorry but if YOU think that the house will bring 1.5 but not this year (so maybe the next) then it is not a bad idea to buy it now for that much. You are putting down the neighborhood but crammy supermarkets and bad schools are all over brooklyn but it did not prevent anyone to give millions to buy historic houses. People can wait if there is a promise of profit like your relative. that's why they are called gentrifiers. I am sure right now there is someone who has that kind of money and will offer 1.2 mil. You just need two to bid eachother and cough up the whole 1.5 mil.

The prices have gone up. The neighborhood is gentrifying. Just because you cannot afford it it doesn't mean that $$$ buyers from Manhattan and Brooklyn can't buy it. $1.5 mil buy nothing there. You are just being priced out. This house is not for you--it was always meant for wealthy individuals. Plus rates are so low real estate goes up everywhere.