Flipping out in Bed Stuy

Turns out that George Chappell flip at 271 Jefferson Avenue we wrote about Friday wasn’t an anomaly. This area of Bed Stuy is, architecturally speaking, one of the finest in the borough, with buildings by noted architects Montrose Morris, Amzi Hill, Chappell and others. Developers are snapping up elaborate (or formerly so) houses in the proposed Bedford Historic District for middling prices and turning them around for more than a million dollars, doubling their money — sometimes in only a month, leading us to wonder if they did any work. Take 221 Jefferson Avenue, for example (pictured above). We passed up covering this house earlier because the listing has no interior photos. But then we saw a post about it over at BK to the Fullest. Turns out a rehab company bought it last month for $500,000 and now it’s back on the market for $1.2 million. Don’t be so sure they won’t get their price. Brownstoner HOTD 106 Hancock Street was also flipped and is already in contract after only a month, as BK to the Fullest pointed out. (It was asking $1.1 million.) All this leaves us with several questions: Did these houses not qualify for mortgages, thus keeping the (all-cash) price low? Or do sellers not know what their houses are worth, perhaps because the market is moving so quickly? If so, how long can this go on before sellers raise prices and cut out the flippers? Does anyone have any insight?
Bed-Stuy Flip (Again): 221 Jefferson Avenue [BK to the Fullest]
George Chappell House Survives Flip, Sells for $1.2M [Brownstoner]
House of the Day: 106 Hancock Street [Brownstoner]
Photo by Christopher Bride, PropertyShark