Brooklyn

The flier for this house caught our eye for two reasons — the old wooden cornice and the $450,000 price tag. In reality, there are a few houses on the market for less in Brooklyn, but they are further out in places like East New York and Canarsie, not the increasingly-popular Bed Stuy. Nor do they have the potential to be restored the way this one does. Since the listing’s not on the Massey Knakal website yet, we emailed the broker to get our hands on some pics, which confirmed our suspicions that the house has some salvageable architectural charm, renovation choices from the last several decades notwithstanding. The location is fairly central Bed Stuy, though the Fedders house to the right does not bode well for the character of this block. And, to be fair, at 1,260 square feet, this ain’t a huge house. The upside of its diminutive size is that it wouldn’t be particularly expensive to renovate, meaning you could have a charming, fully renovated house for under $600,000. We hope that’s what happens, as opposed to a schlocky developer tearing it down and maxing out the FAR with a POS like the one next door. To that end, we convinced (okay, we didn’t exactly have to twist his arm) the broker to hold a Brownstoner-only open house. It’s tomorrow (Saturday) from 11:30 to 1:00 at 461 Quincy Street and you won’t see it listed anywhere else. How much cooler would it be to buy this than some cookie-cutter one bedroom condo? And how great would it be for someone who cared to buy this place and fix it up than for a developer to tear it down? Oh, and don’t forget the secret handshake and password. (Hint: Seven letter word for an architect who’s lost his self-certification rights.) GMAP P*Shark