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August 15, 2006

House of the Day: 535 1st Street

house house
It seems to us that much of the anecdotal evidence for a cooling townhouse market has come on the lower half of the spectrum, though that could be more of a function of us paying more attention to the sub-$2 million homes. Anyway, if anyone thought that the higher-end props were immune, think again: This price on this house at 535 1st Street in Park Slope has just gotten an almost 15% percent haircut from the stylists over at Corcoran. Located just off 8th Avenue, the 4,500-square-foot Beaux Arts mansion's got seven bedrooms and architectural details out the wazoo. We can't recall how long this has been on the market, but it shows that wealthier buyers (for Brooklyn, anyway) are being more choosey.
535 1st Street [Corcoran] GMAP P*Shark




Posted by Brownstoner at 11:34 AM | Comments (28)
Categories: Properties

Comments

The last House of the Day on this block touched off a spirited debate about whether I-bankers and traders were willing plop down $3 million plus of there hard-stolen money in Park Slope. I was among those who thought they would, although I'm starting to have second thoughts.

According to Natefind, this property was on the market for 24 weeks at $3.5 million before yesterday's $400K reduction. Incidentally, the last HOT on this block was listed at $3.295 million several months ago, and remains unsold according to the Townsley and Gay website.

Posted by: MrLomez at August 15, 2006 12:08 PM

hahah @ hard stolen, I think I was the one who started that argument... which is why I knew it looked familiar!

Posted by: stuy blkbuttrflie. at August 15, 2006 12:11 PM

why was my intial comment removed?

Posted by: stuy blkbuttrflie. at August 15, 2006 12:41 PM

why all the animosity against traders and i-bankers? is it just envy? do you resent people who work very hard (100 hour weeks for years) to be able to afford a beautiful brownstone. Someone has got to make the money to support artists and keep beautiful neighborhoods beautiful. Struggling artists made a choice to do what they loved and forgo material riches in exchange for spiritual ones...who are we to criticize others who chose the other path?

Posted by: anon at August 15, 2006 12:41 PM

Anon at 12:41 - ha! We're talking about Park Slope here - where do the struggling artists come in? However, I for one never realized that traders were working long hours solely for the long term benefit of their fellow man. Thank you for opening my eyes to charitable desires of traders!

On a more serious note, the house is beautiful. Funny, but in speaking with my broker yesterday, she stated that the over 2 million market in the town in Southern Westchester where she works is the only area still moving (confirming that the lower end was dead), even to the tune of a few bidding wars. It's a different market to be sure, but strange how the high end is moving in one area and dropping in another.

Posted by: Anonymous at August 15, 2006 12:48 PM

I would like to let everyone out there know the market has come down a lot weather or not you believe it that is up to you. From May to the begining of August i searched for a a 2 to for family home in the areas we all love. I was watching sellers come down hundreds of thousand on there prices . I put in a few offers and i had accepted offers, but i could not pull the trigger knowing that my investment might be worth less the day after i obtained it. I think the market will continue to go lower and then straighten itself out. Also every house that i bid on is still for sale as of yesterday.

Posted by: ron at August 15, 2006 12:57 PM

Ron,

It's a good thing you don't need to know how to spell in order to buy (or not buy in this case) real estate.

Posted by: smith st. simpleton at August 15, 2006 1:18 PM

If this house was priced at $2.7 or $2.8 mil. it will sell.. It is still overpriced. The poor people who live there need to clean it up, have Greg's Express come in remove the rubbish, paint a bit. The market above $3mil. for a fixer upper is dead. The living room is small for a grand house and the mechanicals need an overhaul. If you are a contractor you can do the work for $500K, anyone else figure around $750K.

Posted by: Charlie at August 15, 2006 1:29 PM

7 bedrooms, but look at the size of the two on the top floor. Barely big enough to put a bed in, (check out that Corcoran arrange you furniture tool). For over 3 million, wouldn't you want bigger bedrooms?

Yes all the wood work fireplaces and big windows are swoon worthy, but it just doesn't feel $3 mil. Does it have new electric and plumbing, central air, etc.

Posted by: Anonymous at August 15, 2006 1:38 PM

does not matter if i can spell or not, that' what they have spell check for.

Posted by: Anonymous at August 15, 2006 3:31 PM

Will your spell check catch "weather" when you mean "whether"? Better buy a "literacy check" too.

Posted by: smith st. simpleton at August 15, 2006 4:33 PM

okay, wait a second my comment was removed (without explanation I might add) but irrelevant comments regarding literacy and grammar stand? wtf? you can't be serious...

Posted by: stuy blkbuttrflie. at August 15, 2006 5:06 PM

Hey smith st. simpleton,

Do you know how to spell “pretentious?”

Call it a hunch, but I bet you do.

Posted by: Anonymous at August 15, 2006 5:41 PM

I agree w/ stuy blkbuttrflie-- and I'm an English professor, so I care about the language more than most, but I also have a chance to see that there are a lot of smart people who just can't spell. Leave Ron alone.

Posted by: Anonymous at August 15, 2006 5:50 PM

O.k. let's leave Ron alone but as an English professor, surely you must object to your students using spell checks instead of bothering to learn to use English properly.

Posted by: smith st. simpleton at August 15, 2006 7:20 PM

Hey Mr. simple, I hope you don't use a calculator, since you should do all that arithmetic the way you were taught in school. While you're at, ditch the computer, you can do it all with an abacus.

Posted by: OE at August 15, 2006 8:40 PM

i grew up on that block - we moved there back in the early 1980s, so hold your tongue yuppie-bashers. anyway, both ends of that row of townhomes have been on the market for a while now (i'm assuming that the other one has not sold yet either). i've been inside 3 of them in my lifetime, and they were each split up in an awkward manner into multiple units. i also recall looking at a 4th that was on the market way back in the day either right before or after my parents bought (to be truthful, my parents actually dragged me along kicking and screaming - i was 7 years old or so at the time). the place was a big time wreck, which if indicative of the shape this listing is in now, would require north of $500K in renos.

Posted by: csk at August 15, 2006 8:55 PM

Hey, we're the i-bankers you love to hate. Can afford 3m+, but not 5m+. For that money, I'd shop long and hard for a small brownstone S. of 96th in Manhattan rather than move to Bk. Also, schooling is an issue. Unless we were zoned for PS32 in the Slope, forget it. Also, unless we had a lock on places in St. Ann's or Packer or Friends for our brood, also, double forget it.

Posted by: Anonymous at August 15, 2006 9:00 PM

Mr B,

Remind me again why you nixed registration.

Posted by: Anonymous at August 15, 2006 9:30 PM

Doesn't exaclty sound like a real estate depression when Price works out to $688 psf which doesn't exactly sound like. When I bought in 2003, I paid about $400 psf for a smaller lower quality house. Pretty small slice of the market looking for a 1 family houses at $3.0+ million. Monthly cost in the unlikley event the purchase was financed (80%) would be about $17-18K.

Posted by: Tony at August 15, 2006 10:18 PM

This house was overpriced the day it came on and is still so.. Why do these brokers from Corcoran take listings like this and promise their clients the sky? How about it Buchman and Neinast?

Posted by: Minette at August 15, 2006 11:09 PM

Gosh Minette, capitalism sucks, doesn't it?

Posted by: Ed at August 16, 2006 12:03 AM

anon 9:30 pm- quantity over quality

Posted by: Anonymous at August 16, 2006 12:29 AM

"Why do these brokers from Corcoran take listings like this and promise their clients the sky?"

In my experience that's how they get their listings. At least at the Park Slope office. Offer way over market value to beat out the other agencies and get the listing.

Posted by: Morkfrombrooklyn at August 16, 2006 10:03 AM

This thread is too funny! What did you say, StuyBBF? Try again! I wanna know!

Posted by: yente at August 16, 2006 10:33 AM

OE--I'm no Luddite. I just think people have become way too reliant on letting their computer do their thinking for them. I'm not against technology...just people devaluing the English language.

Posted by: smith st. simpleton at August 16, 2006 11:07 AM

for you Yente, I'll put my neck on the line and repeat my post registration risque commentary that was so rudely deleted (without explanation I might add) can you tell I'm not happy about this?
I said "wasn't this the HOTD before? I recall seeing it before." or something similar to which MrLomez responded about the HOTD that I was referring to which sparked the I-Banker convo. maybe it was a mistake, maybe they just didn't like what I said, whatever the reason I feel like there is a small obligation to readers and commenters who are obviously valued because if they weren't it wouldn't be a big deal that people weren't commenting as much after registration was implemented. if it was a mistake, thats fine but admit to the mistake if it weren't just say that and I'll make sure to avoid what it was that made my comment so offensive because I don't appreciate taking the time to input my opinion on this site only to be removed as if I were sparking up controversy. if people can't be comfortable offering their legitimate input here then what's the point of the comment option anyway?

Posted by: stuy blkbuttrflie. at August 16, 2006 11:43 AM

i-bankers, i-shmankers.

the uber rich someone that signed this BHS contract could buy 10 of the corcoran listing -

http://www.brownharrisstevens.com/detail.aspx?id=415871

Posted by: csk at August 16, 2006 12:41 PM

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