House of the Day: 118 South Elliott Place

Unless I'm misreading the floorplan, the owner's duplex has the parlor floor with kitchen and the garden floor which has one bedroom and a family room with another kitchen. The photos bear that out, too. That doesn't work at all, unless you're just a couple. The rentals look fine, but to make the owner's unit more than a one bedroom, you'r need to do some major work.

I think the garden floor has an office from the photos, off of the the "Family Room". I don't think there is a second kitchen. The floor plans make it look like there may be a sink in the office area or something. Only two bedrooms for the duplex though...

Strange layout for the duplex. And it doesn't look that nice. Parlor looks good, but the rest of the house looks cramped and kind of shabby. For 1.65, I'll pass...

I dunno, given recent sales, it might *still* go for 1.65 in the near future. I'd put the rental income at a little over 3000...

More like 21X41x4 = 3360 + 10'ext on garden leven adds another 210 = 3580.
Look at other props on market. This is priced well and very lowest would be $1.6.
Very convenient location. As long as block is nice - I think they'll get it.

Gorgeous block, and in this area of Fort greene, they will get lifted in a nanosecond i bet. The minor details of the duplex are easily changed.

Yes, fort greene is comparable. More expensive than carroll gardens or boerum hill on the prime blocks (s. elliott, s. portland, s.oxford, cumberland, etc)

You're underestimating cobble hill. Cobble hill has listings over 3million for some properties, and over two million for many.

Fort Greene has kind of a split personality when it comes to real estate prices. There's the prime are (really pricey) and the other area (really reasonable). So you'll see these wacky price differences literally from block to block.

An unrenovated..needing much work 4 story 20x40 bldg in Carroll Gardens would be priced about $1.6. Fixed up would be closer to $2. And this would be off Smith.. not the nicer Clinton Street.
Prime Cobble Hill would be higher.

FG has had a few over $2MM listings sold and has a north of $3MM listing on the park right now I think. Plus there is the old mansion and adjacent lot that just sold for $13MM, but that is more connected to the development rights of the lot.

Then there's the "other" fort greene that has gorgeous italianate brownstones for $1.3

Maybe some over $2 in many neighborhoods but the persons question
was regarding price per sq. ft.
Wide variety in size of buildings.
So compare homes of roughly same size.

Wait, which "other" fort greene is that? Between park & flushing maybe-- but is that still fort greene? Not to get all semantic, but I thought that that would be the navy yard-- and that there are no gorgeous italianate bstones for 1.3 anymore.

I'm sure I saw one recently. It's not showing up on this site's listings engine. But here's something close.
$1.395 Landmark block, though admittedly not italianate:
http://www.vlshomes.com/listings/listing.cfm?in_listing=5266741&bgcolor=FFFFFF&
class=yes&frame=yes&CFID=45498&CFTOKEN=58746612

The pricey FG seems to be on or just south/east of FG park. That's only a few blocks, I know, but the prices are way higher there -- St. Felix, S. Portland, S. Elliott, S. Oxford, Cumberland. Then soon as you go a little farther east / north to Vanderbilt, clermont or Adelphi, prices drop a lot. But all this is changing fast. This just seems to be the case on the market, right now. And I have been looking hard around here.

It is extremely difficult to find a nice brownstone or other townhouse in Fort Greene or in Clinton Hill around $1.3 million that does not need a fair amount of work to restore it. I'm not sure about the price per sq. ft.. Also, FG and Clinton Hill for that matter are very small neighborhoods.

5.45pm. "drop a lot" is relative. Over $2million in a big place on the park versus $1.7 million or more on Clermont or some other non-park block - still big bucks.

Show me that $2 m place on the park. PLEASE!

The townhouse on the corner of South Portland and Lafayette (not on the Park but huge - but needed work) went for over $2million in late 2004 or early 2005. I think Roslyn Huebener of Aguayo and Huebener bought it.

The large place on the corner of South Portland and Dekalb (which is on the Park, though a busier street than Cumberland/Washington Park) is on the market for over $3million. Who knows if they will get it. I think a place on Cumberland facing FG Park went for $1.85 a little over a year ago.

Actually, the one I remembered as $1.85 was listed at 1.975 and went quickly, for over asking if I remember correctly from A&H (I was looking at the time too). The last row house on FG park - a 4 family close to Myrtle and the projects listed for $1.6million. I understood it needed work and the location was not great. That freestanding frame house on Clinton between Park and Myrtle was listed at $2.1 million and went quickly. My point is, the prices are very high just a year or so ago and don't seem to have come down, just gone up a little more.

I agree 7.27. For the price of the places, the brokers don't always do the best job. Guess they are selling themselves so they don't have to.

7:24 pm, yes, I agree. That's why I said, "show me the house for $2 mil on the park". And pretty much all these places need another half million renovation.

I second the poor quality photos rant and add that the floorplan is almost unreadable because of poor copying. Assuming a 5% commission perhaps split to 2.5%, they'll see about 40k for their quickie setup. It's hard to get good service. When we sold our place I took the pictures and did the floorplan for posting. I think it is the only way to go.

Brownstoner should have a section for FSBO's.

Next time I sell, I'm going to ask the broker to run all adds and web pages by me for approval before release to avoid typos, bad pics, poor quality floor plans and other inaccuracies...

barbara, you are indeed scary (just not in the way you think)

I'm thinking of putting my house on the market and I'd definitely FSBO. I expect my place to sell for $1.5MM or more and I can't see what a broker brings to the table for 6%.

I might feel a little different if Brooklyn was a robust multiple listing environment, but the ugly reality is that every serious buyer is working with 4-6 brokers at any given time. Then, to top it off, everyone still needs an attorney. The brokers do none of the paperwork as is customary in other real estate markets.

If I decide to sell, I have no doubt that potential buyers will see my Times ad, check out my website, and call if they are interested.

Brownstoner, it's probably too much of a hot potato, but an FSBO section would be fantastic.

Barbara, you are paranoid. And for very good reason. THere was an article published recently, (in the Times? can't remember) about the paranoia of agents with respect to the internet making them obsolete.

I understand your fears. It sucks to be at the aging end of an industry; but perhaps you too can benefit, by finding a new way to work in real estate?

I'm sorry I mentioned the FSBO idea to begin with, considering the buttons it has clearly pushed, but I do hope it comes true. My only fear: Brownstoner will be pushier than ever with certain favorite neighbs. Please don't change, Brownstoner, be fair to all the areas, even those not selling houses by the dozen!

Barbara, are you an arsonist as well as a real estate agent?

I think this "Barbara" might be a JTLeroy-- a pseudo-Corocoran. Would a real real-estate broker get so incredibly nasty in such a cliche way? Methinks maybe not.

A professional in any field who provides a viable and valuable service wouldn't need to resort to silly-sounding threats to preserve her share of the market.

Right? She sounds like Cruella DeVille. Real people don't talk like that.

Babs: them's fighting words. I am FSBO'ing my house this very second just to bait you into a bloody duel. May the best b*tch win.

The ants will support our b*tch against theirs! Go Team! FSBO!

I had an excellent experience with my real estate agent recently; I would not have found the house without the agency listing, and I may not have had the nerve to ride the waves of initial problems/fears in the purchasing process had he not been so patient and careful and diligent.

harrr. kudos to barbara-- she pulled a fast one. but just because we're paranoid doesn't mean that the real Corcorans aren't ready to smash us like a buncha bugs.

Sellers don't always divulge what is wrong with their properties. Some don't know or are afraid to let their agent know.

I think that I have been in this house for a party recently. And all I can say is, is that it will require no work once you move in. I too am a BSer(ha, isn't that a funny acronym) and the one thing that eally blows is that there is NO light on the garden floor. This back br is FLOODED w/ light.

Yeah, I have been here I recognize the white marble fp in the "kitchen" area. Downstairs is not a kitchen, it may have been at one time but there is no evidence of a stve. The sink is tiny, I think it may have been a wet bar once.

Its a pretty nice place. In way better condition than our PS BS when we moved in. The price? Who the fcuk knows what these dollar amounts even mean anymore. One other thing, the kitchen looks to be a pretty easy (damn easy given my experience) tear out which can be a great thing if you want to put in your own. It also looks as if the parquet is undisturbed there as well.

and reg. what could be wrong. I don't care what anybody says, when houses are this old you will always have a problem, and if it wasn't there before, whatever contractor you hire to put in a new kitchen/br whatever will give you a few ongoing ones as departing gifts gratis.

I say it goes for w/in 10% of asking at least-do I have any takers? And what's up w/ Barbara was she writing during the Sopranos new season premiere?