Boutique Real Estate Agencies Flourish in Bed Stuy, Victorian Flatbush

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Small real estate brokerages are doing well in brownstone neighborhoods in Brooklyn, according to the Times, where buyers seek their local expertise and deep connections. In Bed Stuy, Evans & Nye is becoming known for having sold some of the most beautifully appointed and highest priced brownstones in the neighborhood, many just under $2,000,000. In April, the firm sold a limestone by Magnus Dahlander at 242 Decatur Street, above, for $1,700,000.

Firm co-founder Ban Leow is a long-time resident and owns the furniture and antique store CasaBAN across the street from his real estate office on Tompkins. It also helps that one of the firm’s agents, Morgan Munsey, is a walking encyclopedia of Bed Stuy architecture and seems to know every resident of the area. Over in Victorian Flatbush, the 93-year-old Mary Kay Gallagher has flourished for almost 50 years by charting a similar path. She is famous for her deep knowledge of the area, where she also lives. Her three-person family firm sold a colonial on Westminister Road for $2,000,000 this past fall, a record.

If you are buying or selling, do you look for a big name or a small one?

Small Brokerages Hold Their Own [NY Times]
Photo by Evans & Nye

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