Broker Victoria Alexander opened Realty Collective in 2005, which has offices at 223 Columbia Street and 351 Van Brunt Street. While properties they represent can be found throughout Brooklyn, Realty Collective’s agents serve the needs of prospective buyers, sellers and renters for commercial and residential properties located in (but not limited to) Red Hook, Park Slope, Boerum Hill, Cobble Hill, Brooklyn Heights and Gowanus. Those agents generally handle properties in their own neighborhoods, according to Realty Collective’s website.
Alexander works with a lot of properties located in Red Hook and the Columbia Street Waterfront District because she herself lives in Red Hook. She also serves as a member of Community Board 6, County Committee, Resilient Red Hook, the 24 Hour Plays and several other organizations. Her values are to help people navigate the decision-making process in the challenging and stressful NYC real estate market, whether that be inheriting a building or wanting to rent/buy a first apartment for example.
In 2018 Alexander found Cora Dance a new home on Van Brunt Street, and did real estate transactions with local non-profits like Southwest Brooklyn Industrial Development Center, Red Hook Initiative and Extreme Kids & Crew.
As someone who is pro-small business and pro-mixed-use neighborhood, Alexander said she’s always speaking up for what she thinks is in the best interest of Red Hook – noting it’s not just what the highest and best use for property could be, but what the highest and best value for creating an equitable and just city could be as well. She added that proposed ideas like the BQX and another subway could change the neighborhood – saying it could become another Williamsburg, at the mercy of big corporations and developers.
According to Alexander, it’s currently a good time to be both buying and selling because interest rates have dropped.
“I think in the rental market the prices have definitely come down – I would say 20% from what the rents were historically in Red Hook, Cobble Hill and Carroll Gardens,” she explained. “That’s been really great for tenants that are moving into the neighborhood; they have a lot more leverage.”
She said that the general Red Hook market seems to be oversaturated with overpriced properties listed at the moment.
“We’ve seen in the last year that properties have sat on the market for 6 to 12 months, not moved and prices have slowly come down,” Alexander said. “And that’s because of speculation.”
In terms of what the real estate market could look like down the road, Alexander believes we’re not going to be in a seller’s market as much in the next two years – rather, people will have more opportunities to rent and purchase.
Top photo from Realty Collective
Author
George Fiala has worked in radio, newspapers and direct marketing his whole life, except for when he was a vendor at Shea Stadium, pizza and cheesesteak maker in Lancaster, PA, and an occasional comic book dealer. He studied English and drinking in college, international relations at the New School, and in his spare time plays drums and fixes pinball machines.
