House of the Day: 277 Prospect Place
Why do people continue to hire brokers who have zero presence on the Internet? It’s absolutely crazy. Take the owners of this place on Prospect Place. Maybe a slight stretch at its asking price of $1.5 million (“negotiable,” according to the broker) because of it narrowness, but they might as well be asking $3 million…
Why do people continue to hire brokers who have zero presence on the Internet? It’s absolutely crazy. Take the owners of this place on Prospect Place. Maybe a slight stretch at its asking price of $1.5 million (“negotiable,” according to the broker) because of it narrowness, but they might as well be asking $3 million given how little exposure the place is getting. In addition to not even having a basic website, the broker has not, as far as we’ve noticed, put any ads on Craigslist or the NY Times online. When we asked whether there were any photos of the interior anywhere on the web, the broker responded, “Not at this time.” What a joke. So for the six percent the $90,000 or so they will end up paying this woman and her firm, they are getting a $30 sign in their front yard. Sounds like quite a value! This broker doesn’t deserve us even printing her number. Go knock on the owner’s door and offer them $1.3 million directly instead. We bet they’ll take it. GMAP P*Shark
On comps: offering 1.3 isn’t such a bad idea. There was a weekend open house pick here about six months ago, at Sterling and Flatbush. 16 feet wide, just like this one, 4-story 3-family. Some nice details and a nice renovation in the top duplex, and a huge yard thanks to being on a 131-foot-deep lot.
I liked it a lot, and almost bought it. But I’m pretty sure it sold below its $1.375MM asking price, based on the way the broker hounded me as it got closer and closer to contract. So insofar as this house is on a similar lot and of a similar width and with similar details (some but not all), $1.3MM is probably about the right price.
In fact, I may have to go look at this during the weekend. Anyone know how many units there are? If it’s 3 or 4 I might do just what Brownstoner suggests…
5.05 am — interesting re: L. Nelson & Associates. They also have a “For Sale” sign on a brownstone on Macon between Stuy and Malcolm X — sign’s been out there for a month now and only this past weekend has anyone been out to look at the house…
273 was sold, may not ahve closed or been recorded yet.
http://elliman.com/Listings.aspx?ListingID=809230&rentalperiod=&SearchType=houses
I think you’re all missing the point here – the small broker/no adv. is great for
the bargain-hunting buyer but the seller
is not doing well out of this – which
was Mr. B’s point.
I agree. I would never use a broker who doesn’t have a website or advertise on-line. Local Fort Greene broker, L. Nelson & Associates, is horrible. I went with them once in 2001 and they had no website and would not advertise in the NY Times. Our listing lingered for months. We finally pulled the listing from them (after a huge battle) and went with another broker (the Evil Empire) and the property was in contract within a week. I thought L. Nelson would have learned a valuable lesson (they now have a crappy website) but they still don’t advertise in the New York Times!
They have the listing for a beautiful property in Stuy Heights (408 Stuyvesant Avenue – offered for $1.6M) that no one in the world knows is on the market because they refuse to advertise in the Times. If I was the seller, I would go with Corcoran, Prudential Douglas Elliman, Halstead or Brown Harris instead. When selling a property it’s always best to go with a major firm who can successfully market the property on the net and via thousands of brokers. I’m looking for the highest price within the shortest period of time – for that I will gladly surrender 5%!
Dear Bob 999, Maybe times are a little different now, but when I was looking for a house, I was in many multiple bid situations, everywhere it seemed the usual way to find good properties resulted in these pile ons. I was interested in talking to the smaller brokers which did not attract so much attention. That was my point. Being cool has nothing to do with it. I am doing OK, thank you, putting food in my mouth and all that and I got a good deal. Not that that is for everybody, but looking for a house is a job; I never trusted brokers to represent me either.
Babs, the “preparation” of our house by the broker is a thigh-slapper. Our house was a tumbledown filthy “garbage house” crammed with so much crap that the house inspector couldn’t get to the foundation walls to examine them. The broker seemed to hold the property and its owner in contempt (as, perhaps, even scuzzier than he was)–although he was quite willing to take his money!
Well, this thread sure has degenerated into a complete Stupidpalooza. Jesus Christ. I hate to be uncivil, which is not normally my thing, here, but it is completely ridiculous to defend (let alone to be) a broker who can’t even be bothered to place a listing in the NY Times in this market–which does not have a real Multiple Listing Service the way most cities do, and for which the Times is the closest facsimile–let alone to not have a useful web presence. Whether they’re getting a 6% commish, or 1%, or whatever. There’s a broker who won’t be a broker for long. Brownstoner is completely correct. One poster here seems to actually be arguing that the best, or coolest, or realest (or something) way to find a house in Brooklyn is to walk the whole fricking borough looking at For Sale signs–I’m surprised a person like that is able to feed himself, let alone manage to buy property. If this seller had a cell left in his/her brain, he would just go For Sale By Owner and pay NO commish to anyone. Why pay commish if no service? Fer crying out loud.
why so much hate mr. brownstoner?
the internets is not the best thing in the world
many things get done fine without internets
you truly are an elitist slob