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August 28, 2006

House of the Day: 197 Clinton Street

house house
Just over the border from Brooklyn Heights, this Cobble Hill 5-story brownstone at 197 Clinton Street looks pretty sweet. The owner's duplex on the bottom two floors is indeed, as the listing says, "pristine" and "architect-designed." And they're not kidding: It's a beautiful space. There are also three rentals on top, which will come in handy for anyone who pays near the asking price of $3.6 million. The listing doesn't say, but we'd guess the monthly gross on the rentals is around $6,000, which would cover, what, about $1 million of mortgage? Does that mean you're paying $2.6 million for a duplex?
197 Clinton Street [Prudential Douglas Elliman] GMAP P*Shark




Posted by Brownstoner at 11:41 AM | Comments (29)
Categories: Properties

Comments

Pricey, but so beautiful I am having a stroke. I love the color scheme.

If you have that kind of money, I suppose maybe you're paying for future use as a one family?

Posted by: Anon at August 28, 2006 11:48 AM

Gorgeous house! Wow, mucho expensivo! I love the garden. Brick pavement is my favorite!

Question about the stairway, don't you have to at least put a railing, or glass/plexi on the open side, or is that only if you have children in the family? Is it allowable?

Posted by: Crown Heights Proud at August 28, 2006 11:54 AM

I think they'll have a tough time selling this at this price because anyone who can afford to pay this is not going to want to be in the business of being a landlord for three rentals. I guess you could hire someone to manage it but why not just buy a one family then. If you're buying it to convert into a "supernova", add another $500,000 for conversion. You're right, Mr. B, the rentals would probably cover close to a mil of your mortgage but at 2.6 mil, there are some pretty fabulous one family homes on the market like the one you featured last week. So who buys this then? It's not totally clear who their target buyer would be here.

Posted by: west at August 28, 2006 12:03 PM

What's up with the "easy walk to houses of worship" in the description? Strange. More importantly, this house, while beautiful, is on CLinton Street which backs up with noisy traffic every rush hour, despite the copious $200 fine for honking signs.

Posted by: beckersny at August 28, 2006 12:53 PM

I think $6000 is a bit conservative on the rents. $7k to $7.5.
3rd unit rental is bit on smaller side.
Always coop potential too.
Been for sale awhile. But in this price range - fewer buyers.

Posted by: Anonymous at August 28, 2006 12:53 PM

At this price I think the assumption is that the buyer is an investor converting to condo, or private owner to convert to a one family. You are not buying this for rental income.

While Clinton Street near Atlantic does back up during am rush hour, it does not make the house undesirable. Good windows and bedrooms in the rear can make a big difference.

Also, by mentioning walk to houses of worship, it means that the house may make sense for orthodox and conservative Jews who attend synogogue in Brooklyn Heights or Cobble Hill.

Posted by: bored at work at August 28, 2006 1:03 PM

I love that people think they can bank on getting $6000/month rental income for the next 30 years.

Posted by: Anonymous at August 28, 2006 1:07 PM

only way this price makes sense' to me is if the buyer turns it into coops/condos.

Posted by: csk at August 28, 2006 1:08 PM

Bored at work--You're right about the Orthodox but they pay prices like this in Midwood and Gravesend. They're not exactly knocking down doors to live in this hood. Could it be that a Manhattan firm is not quite in touch with the Brooklyn market?

Obviously, I agree you about a private owner buying it from my earlier comments but the people who have that kind of dough and want to live in the area can buy any number of turnkey single family dwellings already on the market.

One question I have no idea is can some one realistically buy a building like this and turn it into condos and hope to make a profit in this climate? I'd be really interested to hear from someone who knows.

Posted by: west at August 28, 2006 2:09 PM

i was walking around this area over the weekend and found it delightful. I know that it's lacks trains beyond the F and G. I saw a lot of young people on Smith Street, and wondered how they afford such an expensive neighborhood. Can they really be owners? If not is a roommate situation typical for this area?

Posted by: anonymous at August 28, 2006 2:28 PM

anon 2:28

how does seeing alot of young people on smith street translate to them being owners..and did you forget that there is one huge expensive neighborhood on that island across the bridges filled with "young people" whatever that age my be

Posted by: Anonymous at August 28, 2006 2:37 PM

Unless perhaps they were dressed in black and walking to their "houses of worship".

Posted by: west at August 28, 2006 2:41 PM

Or they may have been wearing T-shirts with a quote by that very wise early 21st century American philosopher who said "I own, therefore I am."

Posted by: west at August 28, 2006 2:45 PM

Are there any comps out there for a 5-story, 4-family brownstone?

Posted by: Anonymous at August 28, 2006 2:53 PM

There's a four story, 3 family on Dean that's been on the market for a while at 1.985m.

Posted by: anon at August 28, 2006 2:55 PM

Transportation is easy in this area - nearly every line is within a 10 minute walk to borough hall.

Posted by: Anonymous at August 28, 2006 3:03 PM

I would far prefer the single family at 368 Pacific (which the group discussed on Friday) to this property. As a prior poster noted, if you got $6K-$7K a month in rent for the Clinton Street property's rentals you'd cover about $1.0 million of mortgage leaving you with a $2.6 million duplex. I'd rather have the single family at $2.4 million. I also think the Pacific Street house is on a better block. I lived on Clinton to 10+ years, but the Atlantic/Pacific block is not a great one. It's noisy + commercial and the Christmas Tree vendor camps our there for a month every year.

Posted by: Anonymous at August 28, 2006 3:21 PM

Nice home, nice area,thinking about moving soon, need to upgrade to picture windows

Posted by: cdp at August 28, 2006 3:30 PM

walking to borough hall means crossing atlantic avenue, and then walking 3 or 4 blocks there. This is not a good walk if you are already 4 or 5 blocks from Atlantic.

I was in the area enough to see many young people going into brownstones, apartment buildings, etc. and realized they lived there (and weren't just visiting).

Even if they are roommates it doesn't look like the bohemian roommates situation in Williamsburg, where the kids work at tower records, or have odd jobs bartending, and working retail with 5 roommates.

Posted by: anonymous at August 28, 2006 3:31 PM

no way this works as condos. you're looking a max of 1000 sq/ft per floor once take out staircases, elevators, etc. best case is 800, maybe 850 per sq/ft in condo market. that nets you 4.2 mill max. cost of constuction, lawyers, filing with ag's office, interest, closing costs, insurance you'd be losing lots of money at this price. this is for someone who wants a single family, cause if you can afford it, why would you want rentals. but there are planty of 4 families for under 2 mill that you can get and spend 1mill renovating and still come out cheaper than this. elliman also has 2 townhouses on clinton closer to degraw for 3 mill. no multi family house will sell for over 3 mill. again if you ahve that money you don't need or want rentals to help with the mortgage

Posted by: rog at August 28, 2006 4:42 PM

The owner is not very negotiable. Sitting since March. Definitely overpriced.

Posted by: Anonymous at August 28, 2006 5:11 PM

This neighborhood doesn't have good transportation, and parking is a real issue.

As far as young people, I agree, they are all over, spending disposable income, and are living there.

Posted by: anonymous at August 28, 2006 5:40 PM

I don't see it.
You can rent a better duplex for 60-70k/yr max -- financing a 2.5 million dollar duplex is going to run you 150k/yr + expenses.

No thanks.

Posted by: Anonymous at August 28, 2006 6:28 PM

If we think the young people can't afford to live there, and they are, maybe they can buy this place.

Posted by: Anonymous at August 28, 2006 6:42 PM

How about 50 25 year olds taking it? I think that's $72,000 each. A relative bargain.

Posted by: west at August 28, 2006 7:26 PM

don't forget the square footage...over 10 people per floor.

what happened to investment clubs? are there any still around, where people get together and buy property for investment.

If anyone knows of any, what are their names. There are many people I know who can't afford a certain neighborhood but would want to buy a share. It's like having roommates but instead of renting together you are buying together.

The thought doesn't seem so odd.

Posted by: anonymous at August 28, 2006 7:32 PM

Very nice building but I agree that it's overpriced. Perhaps the owner is just fishing and not truly interested in making a sale. I mean, he or she can't be serious, right? ;-\

Posted by: SuperAnon at August 28, 2006 8:08 PM

Not a long walk to Boro Hall station. I lived in this bldg for a short time 30 years ago -and Boro Hall was closest.
It is tough to price this size house.

Posted by: Anonymous at August 29, 2006 11:04 AM

Has anyone ever been inside the building? Can you give an insider's view on what it looks like? How is the owner (negotiable)?

Posted by: anonymous at April 11, 2007 5:00 PM

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