Open House Picks

So the question is, is Crown Heights the new Prospect Heights, and is Prospect Heights the new Clinton Hill as Clinton Hill becomes the new Fort Greene while Prospect Lefferts Gardens looks anxiously for an opening somewhere?

Posted by: Anonymous at June 15, 2007 1:22 PM

What's with that house on Macon for $550k? I couldn't even find a house for that price 2 years ago when I bought in that area.

Posted by: Anonymous at June 15, 2007 1:43 PM

1:22 and 1:34 All these areas are still pretty sketchy to me.

Posted by: Anonymous at June 15, 2007 1:46 PM

Darned. I thought Ft Greene was the new Brooklyn Heights.

Park Slope's such a dull place to want to be the new version of.

Posted by: Anonymous at June 15, 2007 1:47 PM

As a parent, I've looked at all theses neighborhoods and have yet to find a good school (K-5). Am I mistaken.

Posted by: Anonymous at June 15, 2007 1:49 PM

anon 1:49, sadly you are not mistaken. i hear PLG has a good pre-school thing going on, but nothing else. i'm sure the folks here will correct me if i am wrong though.

Posted by: Anonymous at June 15, 2007 2:04 PM

If heading to the Macon Street open house this weekend, there is another one on both Saturday and Sunday at 315 Decatur between Stuyvesant and Malcolm X. Very poorly publicized/marketed, but looks nice from the outside (I live on the block). There are also flyers on the gate of the house with pictures.

newyork.craigslist.org/brk/rfs/348239659.html

Posted by: Anonymous at June 15, 2007 2:17 PM

the rutland road home suggests that is is in the historic manor- which doesnt allow the homes to be chopped up into multiple family dwellings... if that's the case, how does can it be marketed as a possible conversion to a two family?

Posted by: Anonymous at June 15, 2007 2:19 PM

PLG = the new Lefferts Manor

Posted by: Anonymous at June 15, 2007 2:19 PM

Does everyone think Park Slope is dull because it's fairly safe, has a nice housing stock, nice schools, access to a world class park, good trains, and tons of good restaurants and stores?

I live there. I think it's dull too. Just wondering.

Posted by: Anonymous at June 15, 2007 2:48 PM

2:48, actually, I left Park Slope about 4 years ago because it was too crowded, not because it was dull. Whenever I go back now to visit friends, I can't believe I lived there. It's a different neighborhood than it was 13 years ago when I bought my house. Back then, I never would've lived in Brooklyn Heights because it was too staid for my tastes and I felt out of place. Well, that's the way I feel about Park Slope now. So I guess Park Slope = the new Bklyn Heights.

Posted by: Anonymous at June 15, 2007 3:03 PM

yeah, i don't get what is wrong with "dull". what is not "dull", gunshots?

Posted by: Anonymous at June 15, 2007 3:15 PM

. . . and Ditmas Park = Old Ditmas Park

Posted by: Anonymous at June 15, 2007 3:15 PM

Cobble Hill/Boerum Hill = the new Park Slope/Brooklyn Heights

Posted by: Anonymous at June 15, 2007 3:18 PM

Does anyone have info on the brick house on 14th St in the S Slope that Corcoran has at just under a million? I thought there would be another open house this weekend, but looks like no. They can't already have an accepted offer -- can they?

Posted by: Anonymous at June 15, 2007 3:26 PM

I put an offer on the 14th street house. I was told best and final by Thurs AM. I think they had multiple offers at the open house. I'm certain it will not be anywhere under a million when it's sold. Since I never heard back on my offer, I imagine I didn't win it either... I got the feeling that they priced it 2-300K undervalue.

Posted by: Anonymous at June 15, 2007 3:36 PM

I'm not the original one who brought up the dullness of PS, but I thought my response @ 3:03 to 2:48's question was honest and lacking in snarkiness. I was giving a reason as to why the neighborhood simply isn't for me. Was there something wrong with that? You are just proving my point. It's not the amenities that are dull...it's the people. Why is it so terrible for someone to differ in opinion? I prefer to live in a neighborhood that's ethnicly and economicly diverse, where people can state their opinions without being thought of as an idiot. Trust me....no jealously here. If you read my previous post, I owned my house and made the decision to leave. Nuts, huh?

Posted by: Anonymous at June 15, 2007 3:47 PM

park slope is one of the most AMAZING neighborhoods EVER. used to be even better with the puerto ricans though.

all broklynites are jealous of it.

i grew up in clinton hill and everybody just new that park slope and brooklyn heights were BEAUTIFUL. cg too.

Posted by: Anonymous at June 15, 2007 3:59 PM

Seems like there are a lot of very sensitive Park Slopers on here today.......

Posted by: Anonymous at June 15, 2007 4:02 PM

14th st basic condition 3 floors for 995k went for "considerably over ask", today.

I don't think it was overpriced. You'd have to put 200-300k into it to make it quality, and wait a year. But 2400 sq ft of quality on 14th is not really worth much more than 1.5m. Market still bubblicious.

Posted by: Anonymous at June 15, 2007 4:17 PM

The thing about the 14th street house is that you could really just paint it, and fix up one of the bathrooms, and BAM, you have a two family with an instant rental that would have net around 1500/month. All of a sudden you have a house with income math situation in Park Slope where it actually makes sense for someone who wants to put around 1/3 down and doen't have 6,000/month to spend on a mortage. It was an attractive deal- as it offered more of an 'old park slope' way of living (i.e., you could move into somethign that you would fix up slowly, and you'd enjoy the creakiness and charm of your run down, but nice house.)

Once the bids were considerably above ask, that whole fairy tale disapears.

Posted by: Anonymous at June 15, 2007 4:33 PM

The other way to think about the 14th street house is:

14th street house between 5th and 6th in dull park slope. Probably went for 1.2 or so...

Sterling Place house between Franklin and Bedford for 919K- probably will go near ask. They are both similar house probably in terms of size and style. Sterling doesn't look like it needs that much work. So the difference between similar houses in Crown Heights vs. South Slope is only 300 or so Thousand? Which side is that bubble on?

Posted by: Anonymous at June 15, 2007 4:39 PM

I think the answer is definitive.

Park Slope is the new Park Slope.

Brownstoner posted houses in bed stuy, crown heights, and PLG.

But all the comments are on a house he did not post...in Park Slope.

By the way, I don't live in Park Slope or even like Park Slope.

Posted by: Anonymous at June 15, 2007 4:51 PM

Everybody knows that Cobble Hill is the new Brooklyn Heights and Brooklyn Heights is now just the outskirts of MetroTech.

Posted by: Anonymous at June 15, 2007 4:52 PM

Park Slope isn't dull. It's "recent" inhabitants are generic. But that's to be expected. They were generic when they lived in the UWS too. 6-7 years ago, it was still one of my favorite places.Now - not so much. Then - there were still so many truly wonderful, inspiring and fascinating residents. Many are still around, but as someone has already mentioned, it's become overcrowded after the migration...so they appear few and far between.

At this point, Westchester's ilk is comprised of far more unfeigned and authentic individuals.

Posted by: Anonymous at June 15, 2007 5:01 PM

5:01 PMs comment is baseless and impression-based. Anyone can write something like that.

Provide some definitions of 'unfeigned and authentic' then provide hard facts to back up your opinion. Provide some migration patterns that prove they all came from the UWS. I've not met anyone who came from there.

Provide some linkage between the UWS and people being generic. That flies in the face of the UWS stereotype anyway.

Talk about the open houses. Leave Park Slope alone. It's the reason that these other neighborhoods have started receiving interest from people like you.

Posted by: Anonymous at June 15, 2007 5:20 PM

I used to live in Clinton Hill, but I got mugged too many times and got tired of seeing all the drug addicts everywhere. When we had kids we left Clinton Hill. Nice architecture though.

Posted by: Anonymous at June 15, 2007 5:39 PM

Can someone please explain to me why there is so much good housing stock east of Flatbush Avenue? Why are so many of these homes stacked with so much more details then homes west of Flatbush Avenue. I was under the impression that all of the rich and wealthy back in the late 1800's and early 1900's settled in areas like Park Slope, Cobble Hill and Brooklyn Heights. Am I mistaken? For example, why would the Pfizer family build homes in Clinton Hill? I don't get it.

Posted by: Anonymous at June 15, 2007 5:53 PM

We thought about living in Clinton Hill, mostly because after reading this blog it seemed like such a cool place to live, but after walking around the neighborhood for a few weekends we found that we just didn't feel safe. We saw two fist fights in one afternoon. And then there was the lack of amenities and the schools were terrible. In the end we found that Clinton Hill just didn't live up to the hype. Perhaps some day though...

Posted by: Anonymous at June 15, 2007 6:03 PM

There's a lot of "hype" about Clinton Hill on this blog because the owner of this site lives there. It's certainly not the only place in Brooklyn where things are happening.

I don't think Clinton Hill is so "unsafe" per se, unless you are living the "Bed-Stuy" portion of it, which is certainly edgy. But that's changing too. I've found that people living over there like to downplay the fact their neighborhood is more like Bed Stuy than Clinton Hill proper.

My biggest complaint about Clinton Hill is that the nice parts of it are only accessible by the G Train - which doesn't go to Manhattan.

Posted by: Anonymous at June 15, 2007 6:15 PM

"...didn't feel safe " How would one define feeling safe? Lord knows a fist fight could break out in Brooklyn heights, Park Slope, Mayberry, or Madison Square Garden.... But it wouldn't dictate whether or not I felt safe. If someone was camped out in front of my house every night "casing the joint"... that may make me feel unsafe.

I just wish that houses could get posted, people would actually go to the open houses, and come back with comments and postings about the quality of those homes and the feasibility of those homes getting their respective asking prices.

everyone has different tastes, tolerances, and preferences. So it's not so important to voice your perception on whether or not a neighborhood is ready to be habitated.

Just an FYI, people are already there!

Now, about that Macon house. I think the price has something to do with the footprint. It's a bit narrow and a bit short... on a shorter lot.18X42 on 18X80. maybe that's it.

Posted by: Anonymous at June 15, 2007 6:22 PM

For all of you who say Park Slope is dull, I've got news for you: I was bored by a guy in Clinton Hill in broad daylight not two months ago. A friends of mine was bored on his front stoop twice in Lefferts Manor.

And don't drag out the statistics. We all know most people who get bored, get bored by people they know. That has nothing to do with your or my danger of getting bored ourselves, anywhere. People who really know a neighborhood know where the boring parts are and where you can walk in the middle of the night and be entertained. You just have to use common sense.

This is the big city, people. You can get bored in Park Slope, in Brownsville, in midtown or on the Upper East Side.

Posted by: Anonymous at June 15, 2007 7:23 PM

Anon at 7:23--I love you! Just when I felt like I was going to be bored in the privacy of my own home, you rescued me!

Posted by: Anonymous at June 15, 2007 9:14 PM

To expand on 8:54's concise and I believe correct account--there was a lot of wealth post civil war, and rich folks wanted large estates. New York and Brooklyn were mostly unpopulated back then, so these were lovely, bucolic areas in which to build--Brooklyn Heights was first suburb, had the most ferries, and spawned exurbs behind it--Carroll Gardens, Park Slope, etc. So these nabes had developments on spec--lavish, but less so than your own private mansion. If you wanted a lot of undevelped land, you had to head across Flatbush. Then there was a huge depression in the 1870s and the era of those great mansions passed. By the time development started up again, tons of immigrants had arrived and housing needs changed.

Posted by: Anonymous at June 15, 2007 9:21 PM

I wish the folks who live Clinton Hill would quit trying to annex Fort Greene, i.e. Adelphi Street. I can see why. FG is very desirable. Even b'stoner had to have a post tour meet up in a FG restaurant. So, while Clinton HIll will continue to try to be FG...just leave us and our streets alone.

Posted by: Anonymous at June 16, 2007 9:45 AM

7th Ave in Park Slope is pretty boring. 5th Ave is a bit better. But this "I'm cool b/c I hate Park Slope" attitude is worse than boring - it's stupid.

Posted by: Anonymous at June 16, 2007 1:59 PM

"and a suffocating sense of entitlement"

how do you actually KNOW this? sure there are stroller pushing moms but most appear to work in order to pay their mortgages and many moved from the UWS or whatever because it got too crowded, or too expensive, or they feel the slope has a more eco-conscious attitude than the rest of the city and its the last chance before they give in to suburbia.

So how do you know what their sense of entitlement is? What do you overhear them asking you or the taxpayer for, exactly? I think this phrase may have become a meaningless cliche, or worse, a proxy for just hating without good reason.

Posted by: Anonymous at June 16, 2007 5:55 PM

While I'm not sure if PS stroller moms have a "sense of entitlement", I do find most of them rude considering the fact that their $1000 carriages take up the entire side walk, forcing pedestrians like my self to walk in the street. I really like the architecture and shops that PS has to offer but I do find the neighborhood to be a little too reminiscent of the UWS, complete with West-Indian nannies and entry-level luxury cars. I would also like to comment on the perceived notion that a good public school cannot be found outside of PS. Based on the comments in this thread and others, I beginning to believe that the term "good school" is actually veiled gentrifier term for "white school" or "wealthy school". P.S. 21 in BS (gasp), P.S. 172 in SP, and P.S. 261 in Borerum Hill, are three examples of excellent elementary schools that are not inside PS. And there are many others. It is important to remember that the quality of education that your child receives is primarily dependent on parent-teacher cooperation.

Posted by: Anonymous at June 16, 2007 11:03 PM

I don't find the $1000 strollers any wider than the $200 ones .. but they are frequently more maneuverable and don't get stuck or do odd things on the broken bluestone. and speaking as a dad who pushes a stroller, what am I supposed to do when someone young, fit and unencumbered by a tired and annoyed kid comes straight for me? bodily lift the stroller over my head? there may be moms or nannys pushing double wides containing twins but what are they going to do? have one put down? Man, if you're complaining about blocking the pavement, go walk down broadway some time.

as for schools .. i don't doubt there are a few schools with attributes similar to ps.321. Not picking them doesn't seem to me to be anything to do with a sense of entitlement though.

It could be ugly racism or fear of black people, or it could just be, you know, their friends are in the slope, they like the after school activities available, they belong to the co-op and don't want to drive, there are two dozen tasty and healthy restaurants nearby, and they use prospect park on a sunday morning! You know. Unimportant stuff like that.

Posted by: Anonymous at June 16, 2007 11:51 PM

The whole stroller debate is laughable.

I had to step into the street yesterday to avoid a mother with a stroller and some kid and their toys blocking the whole sidewalk.

Hey I could care less, I guess the mothers own the street. She was oblivious to anyone except herself and her impolite kid.

Posted by: Anonymous at June 17, 2007 7:31 AM

"...sure there are stroller pushing moms but most appear to work in order to pay their mortgages and many moved from the UWS or whatever because it got too crowded, or too expensive, or they feel the slope has a more eco-conscious attitude than the rest of the city and its the last chance before they give in to suburbia."

So how do you know how intense their environmental tendencies are? What do you overhear them asking you or the taxpayer for, exactly? More hybrids? I think your portrait of PS may have become a meaningless cliche, or worse, a proxy for just attacking posters without good reason.

Posted by: Anonymous at June 17, 2007 11:28 AM

Those damned PS stroller moms. It's no wonder that the new slogan for PS was voted to be:

"Park Slope: What's Ours is Ours"

I think that's from Curbed or whichever blog had the contest.

Posted by: Anonymous at June 17, 2007 11:31 AM

This anger towards women pushing their children in strollers is pretty sick.

It's a sad statement on our culture that we hate mothers engaged in the act of caring for their children.

You people are beasts.

Posted by: Anonymous at June 17, 2007 2:14 PM

Yes I'm a beast because some mother and her ill behaved offspring are oblivious to pedestrians and everything around them.

I wasn't aware taking care of children involves letting them run rampant in the streets.

The anger towards impolite mothers is a backlash against their poor public behavior.

Posted by: Anonymous at June 17, 2007 3:54 PM

I think Park Slope moms would do the world a favor by mowing you lot down. Take your problems with women out in another forum please.

Posted by: Anonymous at June 17, 2007 5:47 PM

5:47 intelligent response, quite polite

Posted by: Anonymous at June 17, 2007 7:10 PM

I was hoping to hear more about the real estate.

Posted by: Anonymous at June 17, 2007 8:03 PM

"as for schools .. i don't doubt there are a few schools with attributes similar to ps.321. Not picking them doesn't seem to me to be anything to do with a sense of entitlement though.

It could be ugly racism or fear of black people, or it could just be, you know, their friends are in the slope, they like the after school activities available, they belong to the co-op and don't want to drive, there are two dozen tasty and healthy restaurants nearby, and they use prospect park on a sunday morning! You know. Unimportant stuff like that."

I was not referring to people that already live in PS. Rather, I was highlighting the almost systematic response of a "no" to this question, "As a parent, I've looked at all theses neighborhoods and have yet to find a good school (K-5). Am I mistaken" and others like it. In my opinion, P.S. 321 was a good school about 2 years ago, as it is now plagued by excessive over-crowding. I suggest that parents looking for housing in brownstone Brooklyn and else where, do their research first instead of relying on the arbitrary comments posted on this site. Insideschools.org is an excellent website that provides in-depth reviews, statistics, and both parent and teacher comments for all NYC public schools.

Posted by: Anonymous at June 17, 2007 8:30 PM

This forum is just so embarassing. I am truely embarassed for all of you. And if you think readers of these boards who are looking for a house to buy, whether they are investors in far away countries or New Yorkers, aren't aware of the gross and obvious attempts at hyping their own neighborhoods while trashing others, you are sadly mistaken. It has completely changed my mind about buying in Brookyln.

Posted by: Anonymous at June 17, 2007 11:01 PM

I have no stakes in this, while you just lost a potential customer. I think that fact alone is worthy of some self reflection? there are some very pointed comments on this board whose targets are much more specific than a neighborhood. If you think the people on this board are not trashing people you are once again, sadly mistaken. Who would want to live in a neighborhood where people disparage one another and their neighborhoods like this.

Posted by: Anonymous at June 18, 2007 10:07 AM

Damn those Park Slope stroller moms!

Posted by: Anonymous at June 18, 2007 11:57 AM

What is wrong with everybody ? Are you all single and childless ? Its is very hard to raise a child in this City. However my family is committed to living in NYC, rather than say N. Jersey and we are thankful that we will be able to raise our child (who has a stroller - she is only 13 months) in Brooklyn....I also dont understand all this backlash against P.S. It is a beautiful area and frankly if we could afford it we would have moved there (huge homes, good supermarkets nearby, lots of cafes and restaurants etc etc ). However we found a beautiful home in Crown Heights (not far from the Sterling St house featured) and are looking forward to getting involved in neighborhood activities.
More to the point of this thread - Im interesting in hearing about what people think of the houses featured. I look forward to going to an OH at the Sterling St property. It looks gorgeous, even though the ground floor isnt a full walk in. I think that may reduce the price significant. Any why give the listing to Corcoran ? Everyone knows Corcoran properties are overpriced - esp in this part of Brooklyn..

Posted by: Anonymous at June 19, 2007 10:01 AM