• 28 Greenmeadow Dr
  • MLS#2020894
  • Two Bedroom – Two bath – Upper floor Condo
  • Asking $415K

I’m been very interested in the idea of living in a condo. I’m a renter now, but I owned my own house for 12 years and I’m in no particular hurry to get back into lawn mowing, snow shoveling and lawn maintenance. There are two condo developments that are walkable to the Babylon train station. There’s Whaler’s Cove and The Village Commons. I’ve written a short post about Whaler’s Cove, although I still haven’t seen a unit there yet, but I’ve been more interested in Village Commons.

Not many of the Village Commons units come on the market, but a couple weeks ago one did and this weekend was a scheduled open house. So I figured I’d show up and have a look see.

Quite frankly, I was unimpressed. This was a second floor unit with a skylight in the living room. The two bedroom condo was a bit bigger than my current two bedroom apartment. The condo did have a second bathroom and a small cubby with apartment-sized washer and drier, but everything seemed somewhat cramped. The master wasn’t all that big and the second bedroom was pretty small. The kitchen was so tiny, you could almost consider it a galley kitchen. There was some work done there, granite counter tops and the like, but it seemed almost wasted on that tiny space. The living room area was open and bright but not really tremendous, especially considering that you’d have to find a space in there for your dining room table.

Unfortunately, Village Commons is really unsuitable for our needs. There’s not nearly enough space and, despite a couple of desirable amenities, this would really be a step down from our current apartment.

A word on the price. I try not to harp on this so much, but I can’t let this go without making a comment. The ask for this condo was $415K. A look at some comps shows that the last two sales in this complex went for $375K and $392K in the first half of 2006. Does no one understand that prices have fallen from 2006 and that they should be asking less than comps from that period? Do the sellers think that a some granite counters in the kitchen and some faux marble tiles in the bathroom gets you a 10% bump from the most recent sale in 2006? The mind boggles.