The Morning After: Open House Download

452 Prospect is the same yellow house (they called it a "transplanted farm house") that was listed here a few months back listed by Brooklyn Bridge Properties for 1.275 million. we went a few times and liked the place, loved the parking spot, were concerned about the tiny "bedrooms" upstairs, were depressed by the drab block without character, with 2 lane traffic, a linen factory, and no character. And the zoned elementary school is not yet a good school, so it means lots of dough on private school. so i'm not surprised that its been reduced, which it was by 10%. now reduced again to 1 million...you figure some one would snap it up because its a lot of space and a cute house at that price. maybe something is structurally wrong with the place?

Posted by: Anonymous at October 2, 2006 10:25 AM

Went to Brooklyn Property's Web #46 (239 St James Pl, Fulton/Lefferts). Decent listing. Overpriced like everything else but I like the 22' width, level floors and new stairs as it is being offered mid-renovation (can't tell from pics). Upper two rentals look nice. Only thing I didn't like was triangular backyard due to Fulton's angle to St. James. Decent opportunity to takeover reno. Interesting one to watch as market slows.

Posted by: Anonymous at October 2, 2006 5:01 PM

Two little anecdotes

--we went to see an open house for an apt in the old ex lax building on Atlantic and found that there were actually four running at the same time...someone told us there were "never" any apts for sale in the building, it just so happened that these four were all selling at the same time. Hmmm.

--Saw two other buildings, one a new construction one a new renovation, was told before we asked that there was some "flexibility" on pricing for both of them.

Posted by: Anonymous at October 2, 2006 6:37 PM

Right on, 5:54!!!

From all the elitism and obsession over PS 321, it really seems the parents of the kids there believe their children are guaranteed to have great lives and great careers, simply because they went to PS 321. These parents are in for a rude awakening when they find out years from now (i.e. too late) that academics are only one part of the formula for happiness and success in life.

Also, a huge sense of entitlement, like the kind one gets growing up in an elitist community and school, only cripples a person. They have no resilience and no ability to deal with failure when it happens. I went to an elitist high school in another part of the country. The kind where we were always told outright we were more special than all the other kids in the area. At my reunion, all the most popular kids, the most likely to succeeds, were total losers the majority of them. Never did a damn thing after high school.

Posted by: Anonymous at October 2, 2006 8:48 PM

jeez - when did it become elitist to have an opinion about schools, or anything else for that matter. you're happy with it - congrats. my opinion was expressed perfectly respectfully too. you just don't agree with it, and cause your kid goes there, you're insulted. I WORK AT THE DEPARTMENT OF EDUCATION in a position that involves assessing schools, but even if i weren't an insider, i'll think what i want about your area school. sorry if its "unhelpful" to you.

Posted by: Anonymous at October 2, 2006 10:46 PM

Re: Prospect Ave property -- You've got the wrong school. The house you are referring to is zoned for PS 154 in Windsor Terrace. PS 154 has had a strong reputation for quite awhile and families from elsewhere have often sought to get variances into this school. (Some recent feedback on 154, however, has noted that the schools new leadership hasn't gone over well with everyone.)

PS 10 is widely seen as one of District 15's up and comers -- in much the same way that PS 107 had a rennaisance a few years ago. (I'm an education insider as well.) I don't have kids in the schools yet but have visited PS 10 and can say I was beyond pleased with what I saw going on there. To me, private school doesn't need to be the go to option in the Prospect Ave area or most of the rest of District 15 -- there are several extremely strong schools -- many of which are open for variances or lotteries.

Posted by: Anonymous at October 2, 2006 11:26 PM

I know that neither of you meant it, anon 10:25 a.m./10:46 p.m. and anon 5:54, but your exchange gave me one of the biggest laughs of my day. Of course, that occurred during the 10:46 post, specifically the all caps section.

In general, most of the postings on this site seem to have degenerated to a battle of elites v. proles on every topic, from house prices to neighborhoods to development to preservation. It's not productive for either side, and it's growing pretty tiresome, imo.

Posted by: Anonymous at October 2, 2006 11:28 PM

PS 321, by the way, has wonderful educational and extracurricular programs -- and incredible parent and financial support. It is wildly overcrowded, though -- an issue that will likely grow more acute with the high rise apartments going up on the parts of 4th Ave that are zoned for 321.

Posted by: Anonymous at October 2, 2006 11:30 PM

11:28, it's 5:54 here...

you said: "In general, most of the postings on this site seem to have degenerated to a battle of elites v. proles on every topic, from house prices to neighborhoods to development to preservation."

Please take a step back and look at the big picture. What is wrong with these types of exchanges? I find them to be much more interesting and paramount to the future of brooklyn than discussing bosch appliances and 10% price cuts by FSBO's...the brownstoner thread, in general, does in fact celebrate material wealth - we really ought to admit to ourselves that we live in a culture that worships money, and this way of life does in fact have social consequences on the community.

Consider this: when I moved to brooklyn several years ago, one thing I quickly learned is that longtime residents in brooklyn neighborhoods understandably resent those with wealth that move into neighborhoods as purchasers but not really "denizens," if you will. I'm talking about people that buy a brownstone or condo somewhere and then ship their kids off to a private school. What kind of community interaction is that? It's like you just want the appreciation in a piece of real estate but you don't want to invest in the neighborhood. That's just plain wrong, and a strong argument on the side of those that resent gentrification in general. The thing that makes cities like nyc vibrant and healthy (and a healthier paradigm than the rest of the U.S., I believe) are the multitude of cultures that interact, learn and grow with, and, hopefully, learn to appreciate one another.

I love 100 year-old pier mirrors and transom windows and harbor views as much as anyone - but I want my kid to live amongst, learn and play with her school peers in our neighborhood.

What's so funny 'bout peace, love, and wanting everyone to be non-judgmental about public schools in brooklyn?

Posted by: Anonymous at October 3, 2006 9:45 AM

What is going to happen when there is no more room at the inn/private school? The private schools have a finite number of seats. What is going to happen if the DOE implements its new gifted program policy and younger siblings are not automatically granted a variance unless they too test in? District 15 has a lot of great elementary schools - it's the middle schools that are the problem although that is changing but not soon enough for me.

Posted by: Anonymous at October 3, 2006 10:16 AM