House of the Day: 135 Westminster Road

Living in a martha stewart wet dream at $1.5m requires a special kind of family. One very house-proud, non-working mom, lots of kids to fill the 7 bedrooms, no rental income needed to pay the heating bills.

I think most $1m-$2m buyers in brooklyn are professional couples with one or two young kids, who prefer townhouses or sprawling co-ops a walk from yoga studios and good schools and lots of dining out options. So the market for this may be quite small. But it only takes two competing, to get near ask, of course.

Posted by: Anonymous at June 13, 2007 1:51 PM

itd

Posted by: Anonymous at June 13, 2007 1:54 PM

It's beautiful. And insane. 1.7!?

Posted by: Anonymous at June 13, 2007 2:01 PM

not sure i agree that 1.7 is particularly "insane" in this case as previous poster asserts. Beautiful house, lots of space, details intact, etc...

It's a lot of dough to be sure, but I don't know that it comes close to being "insane".

Posted by: Anonymous at June 13, 2007 2:09 PM

Have there been any 500+ psf sales of the larger homes in the immediate area so far this, or late last year?

Posted by: Anonymous at June 13, 2007 2:14 PM

I'm a working mom with more than 2.2 children. I need a home office and an au pair suite. I can afford the asking price without rental income. I believe in public education and send my children to public schools. If I didn't already live in the neighborhood, I'd be seriously interested in this house. The price is fair, given the current market.

I've got a driveway and a garage, so it's easy to load my gang up and head off in any direction we care to go. New amenities on Cortelyou Road, however, are keeping up closer to home as of late.

There are other families out her, similar to ours. Trust me, they will find a buyer for that house - fast. Above comments seem to be from posters who a) don't understand the lifestyle, or b) don't understand the neighborhood.

As for comps, the gorgeous Queen Anne in Ditmas Park, which was asking almost $2 million, is currently in contract - for the full price I've heard.

Want ridiculous? Look at the earby nhouse listed by Corcoran at 2.8 million. Don't know about the interior, but the exterior needs a ton of work. The above beauty's a bargain.

Posted by: Anonymous at June 13, 2007 2:58 PM

"New amenities on Cortelyou" = broker speak for "Did you hear? Connecticut muffin is opening! Did you hear? Connecticut muffin is opening!"

5th avenue gets a years worth of cortelyou rd action in almost given week :)

Posted by: Anonymous at June 13, 2007 3:12 PM

Sorry to disappoint, but I'm not a broker, and I couldn't give a toss, specifically, about Connecticut muffin.

I rather visit the congestion on 5th Avenue at my leisure than live next to it, thank you.

Posted by: Anonymous at June 13, 2007 3:17 PM

I couldn't actually immagine living in this "Little Red Riding Hood" house, but I could imagine seeing it in the Brooklyn Museum.

Posted by: Anonymous at June 13, 2007 3:29 PM

love the kitchen appliances, but with all of the accents it's a bit over the top country casual for my taste. would remove the curtains, wall paper, ruffly frou frou-ness for a cleaner retro look.

Posted by: Anonymous at June 13, 2007 3:30 PM

Mea culpa, re: location of Connecticut Muffin. Obviously I don't spend enough time congesting the streets of Park Slope.

Posted by: Anonymous at June 13, 2007 3:47 PM

Enough with the Park Slope as center of the universe bickering, and back to the important stuff.

Whether or not it's to your personal taste, this house will sell at or very near ask, and will sell quickly. The market here is hotter than ever and there are comps that have sold for significantly more. Houses with unpainted period detail, in PPS, and which have been carefully maintained are few and far between. This house has the whole package and is asking much less than others currently on the market in need of TONS of work.

Posted by: Anonymous at June 13, 2007 3:51 PM

Agreed, given what else is out there, this seems 100K underpriced. I am also amazed how many couples are going for 3 kids around me so this would be a nice homestead. I give it till the end of the open house on Saturday to have a few offers on the table and week after to have an accepted offer.

Posted by: Anonymous at June 13, 2007 4:24 PM

Oh for heavens' sake there are houses like this all over the united states.
Big deal, a family lives in a big house all by themselves without renters to help pay the heat bill.
New Yorkers are such dingbats.
Such low expectations.

Posted by: Anonymous at June 13, 2007 5:02 PM

Well here in Victorian Flatbush aka Ditmas Park etc...we can move along on Cortelyou without getting bulldozed by the stroller brigades!

Posted by: Anonymous at June 13, 2007 5:12 PM

"I rather visit the congestion on 5th Avenue at my leisure than live next to it, thank you."

Another argument for permit parking.

I'll walk to 5th Avenue, thank you. And you can stay home, admire your driveway, and visit the same restaurant on Cortelyou--it's really pretty good, considering!--over and over and over...

Posted by: Anonymous at June 13, 2007 5:39 PM

Gee, since I have a driveway and a car... I'm pretty much free to go wherever I want, whenever I want. Which means I can stay put in Flatbush, or go and prop up your neighborhood by spending my cash there... Or any other neighborhood for that matter.

Oh, judging from your supercilious tone, 5:39, I'm assuming you OWN a one family brownstoner, sans renters, on lets say, Montgomery Place...?

Why do you sound sothreatened, if living in the epicenter of Brooklyn without a care in the world?

Posted by: Anonymous at June 13, 2007 5:51 PM

Anon 1:51pm

I would not assume that most people with 1-2 million to spend are professional couples with 1-2 children who would prefer townhousesnear yoga classes. My husband and I could have afforded a Manhattan condo or "townhome" but chose Victorian Flatbush specifically because I wanted my children to have the benefits of living in the city near amenities (Park Slope or elsewhere) but I also wanted a neighborhood with a suburban feel (yard, driveway, grass.) My children enjoyed skateboarding, bike riding and swimming right in our yard! I was even able to rent a pony and a space jump for a birthday party. I've hosted numerous gatherings, some work related with upwards of 75 people and the lack of space was not a worry. This area was a great option for us. We could have easily afforded a "townhome" or condo in Manhattan but are extremely happy with our choice. As for schools, both of my children were in private schools as a matter of preference and we would have kept them there regardless of where we lived. The families moving into the neighborhood now are probably better situated financially than the people buying here ten years ago. However, I recognize that people have a variety needs and lifestyle choices and I can respect someones decision to raise their children in a townhome or co-op without making baseless assumptions.

Posted by: Anonymous at June 13, 2007 9:01 PM

So creepy. It would cost a bundle to make this look like something other than a funeral parlor.

It doesn't look like the electrical or plumbing has been updated in the last 50 years.

Posted by: Anonymous at June 13, 2007 10:03 PM

This chain of posts is very odd to me. A lot of hostility brewing. It reminds me of the posts about park slope (especially the ones about houses between 5th and 6th avenue) when this site was first started. I feel like some of the above posters are people who have been priced out of the area, can't believe they can't afford it and are becoming bitter and lashing out. This always seems to be the reaction on the board when a neighborhood is really starting to get more expensive. Honestly, when I moved from Manhattan a few years ago and thought I was taking a big step down coming to Brooklyn, I was bitter about the prices in the changing areas of Brooklyn and shocked that I could hardly afford them. I wised up after a while and realized some people (including me now) prefer Brooklyn and what it has to offer and that I am no pioneer so if I am looking at a neighborhood, there is a good chance a lot of other people have also discovered it and prices will be driven up due to the amount of interest.

This neighborhood isn't for everyone, but I have lived here for a couple of years now and I could not be happier with my choice. I like having both yuppies and working class people in my neighborhood. That should be the norm, as in Europe, but often isn't in this country. I disagree with the above poster that yuppies are not welcomed. This is a very welcoming neighborhood with a true sense of community and all income classes and tastes seem to mix very well here, in my experience.

By the way - these houses have been assessed by the city at over a million for a couple of years now, so it seems a little silly to be shocked that they are selling for over a million.

Posted by: Anonymous at June 14, 2007 9:56 AM

Please tell me what is freakish about giving a kid a pony ride on their birthday? It's not just rich yuppies that do this. I have lived here all of my life and I love the diversity that this neighborhood now has. Yuppies included. As far as working class old school Brooklyn and keeping it that way; I remember my brother's "old school" friends chasing Black kids down Rugby Road into the train station where the Black kids damn near had to jump in the tracks to keep from getting beat up. I remember my "working class" neighbor who would get drunk on Thursday and not sober up until Sunday night and then sit out on his porch with his fly open! I remember kdis that I grew up with smoking crack, selling crack and stealing from my house to buy crack. I welcome the rich yuppies and anybody else who chooses to live here, so speak for yourself.

Posted by: Anonymous at June 14, 2007 9:56 AM

This neighborhood may have been "working class" for many years.... But do you really think these homes were built for the working classes? That the working classes could really maintain them over the course of say, thirty years?

Yes, people with more money are buying in. Yes this means the neighborhood is becoming more eclectic. But it also means that people are resurrecting homes that not all, but many, previous owners, couldn't really afford to maintain.

New blood, with new money, has to have a knock on effect on the local economy... More stores, with premium goods.

I think yes, we do need to find a way to keep families who have been here for many years in the community, keep services that they rely on, etc... but there's some truth to the notion that Victorian Flatbush has come full circle: money (mostly white) took flight 30-40 years ago for the suburbs. Now money is returning, and not all of it is white this time. I know more than a handful of well-off famlies of color who have chosen to live here and have paid big money to do so.

Posted by: Anonymous at June 14, 2007 10:27 AM

OK, let me try to be objective here. I hate this style of house and decor; I wouldn't feel comfortable living here without wearing a dirndl, or big buttons made of pink frosting. But--just like with house done to my modernist tastes which posters here often hate--that doesn't matter. What matters is it's a very well-done house in its own style, and it'll be bought by someone who appreciates that style. Someone who thinks it needs $200K to be updated will just spend their money elsewhere, as I would, but there's plenty of room in Brooklyn for all tastes.

Posted by: Anonymous at June 14, 2007 10:47 AM

Bravo, 10:47...

And I'm a Tudorphile.

Posted by: Anonymous at June 14, 2007 11:23 AM

10:24 a.m.: I'm the poster of the "permit parking" post above. I don't have any animosity toward the neighborhood, even if I chose to buy a house elsewhere, nor do I think the house is overpriced.

What I do have animosity toward is people who have this my-home-is-my-fortress attitude, who buy up houses in neighborhoods like this one but don't support the local schools, don't work to build up local institutions and clog up the streets in neighborhoods (like mine) because they want to lead a suburban life of driving elsewhere for entertainment, then returning to Fortress Victorian to park their big-ass cars in the driveway.

(As for the argument that they're "propping up" neighborhoods like Park Slope, I'd actually be delighted if permit parking closed some of our trendy restaurants, etc. by keeping them out. We could lose half of them and still have plenty to do in PS.)

By all means buy one of these awesome houses in Victorian Flatbush if you want, but do like people have done in other neighborhoods and work to build up your own neighborhood and support your own businesses. (As it sounds like you do, 10:24, and good for you.)

Posted by: Anonymous at June 14, 2007 11:41 AM

11:41 -

You have an overly inflated of both Park Slope and your own vaunted place in the universe.

Residents of Victorian Flatbush are delighted to see more and more businesses opening up on Cortelyou Road. That doesn't mean we can't venture out of our homes to eat or shop in other neighborhoods. I guess you never dine out or purchase anyhing in Manhattan?

A lot of people are sick of Park Slope and the overwhelming sense of entitlement that people like you espouse.

I used to live in Park Slope and people like you are one of the reasons I left. It's got none of the edge of Manhattan and all of the offensive attitude.

Posted by: Anonymous at June 14, 2007 12:12 PM

This house is a treasure, and the woodwork and details are lovely.
If you don't agree, then don't even think of buying the house and doing something like painting the woodwork and/or removing the period details.
*you, put that paint brush down NOW*

If this are not your style, then move along, nothing to see here.
Leave the house to someone that loves the period details and will treasure them and preserve them.

Posted by: Anonymous at June 14, 2007 5:15 PM

11:41/Parking Permit or whatever,

I reside in Victorian Flatbush and patronize local business but I do look forward to new businesses opening in the area. However, I see all of Brooklyn as my home town and I also drive, take the train or at times ride my bike to areas other than Victorian Flatbush for goods and services, Park Slope included. Park Slope is not your personal fortress and you don't get to choose who can visit or park there.

Anyway, This home seems to priced about right. It is in PPS historic district I think the kitchen should be featured in Old House Interiors or Old House Journal but I wouldn't want to live with a kitchen like that. I would have to renovate it.

Posted by: Anonymous at June 14, 2007 6:25 PM

I'm not convinced the kitchen is so dire, although clearly not to everyone's taste. There is a whole industry out there which refurbishes vintage appliances. The cabinets, I know, are the original ones. Same configuration and style I've seen in a number of other houses in the nabe with original kitchen carpentry. I have to say, I like the original cabinetry, and I like kitchen's which aren't "fitted", but rather use pieces of actual furniture - an approach which would work really well in this particular kitchen.

I could do without the skirt on the sink, and if I was staying with the vintage look, I might want to go for an Elmira stove... But I wouldn't need an expensive reno to make it work for me.

Posted by: Anonymous at June 14, 2007 9:32 PM

"Park Slope is not your personal fortress and you don't get to choose who can visit or park there."

Actually, with the momentum and power behind the parking permit plan, it looks like we will. So enjoy your driveway. And you'll be welcome to visit if you're willing to pay for the space your car takes up.

Posted by: Anonymous at June 15, 2007 6:19 AM

6:19. Your just an asshole. Plain and simple. If there are more like you out there, the streets of Park Slope will be desolate in no time, despite the plethora of amenities.

Oh, by the way, there are people in Ditmas Park, who like me, have plenty of money to pay for parking. Anywhere we like.

By the way, how's that pristine one family you're enjoying on Montgomery Place. Or is it a cramped one bedroom - all that's left after you rented out the entire place to foot a morgage you can't afford in the real world?

Posted by: Anonymous at June 15, 2007 10:06 AM

Double Ditto 10:06.

Permit Parking is just a dream right now. If this option makes it through the red tape, parking by permit will probably be made available to any Brooklyn resident who chooses to purchase a permit to park in Park Slope. Remember that there is also a movement against this and people like you are helping the anti-permit faction, so don't be overzealous.

Posted by: Anonymous at June 15, 2007 12:25 PM