Open House Picks

I think Beadel Street is really East Williamsburg or maybe Bushwick. Still looks nice if you happend to not need to be close to a subway, but might be a high price for that area. Also, what is the environment like so close to the oil storage off Newtown Creek?

Posted by: guest at August 17, 2007 12:42 PM

i believe that greenpoint house is literally right on top of the old oil spill

Posted by: guest at August 17, 2007 1:00 PM

121 Beadel St has been on/off the market for over a year!!!!! Wonder what's up with that house.

Posted by: guest at August 17, 2007 1:03 PM

The East 24th St House is in SOUTH MIDWOOD, not MIDWOOD. It's not the same place. South Midwood is actually a section of Flatbush, like PPS or Ditmas Park.

Posted by: guest at August 17, 2007 1:23 PM

actually 1:23...it is neither midwood nor south midwood...midwood runs basically from brooklyn college down to ave p...this is north of that. south midwood is a made up neighborhood (probably made up my mark kay), and even if it existed, this ain't it.

plain and simple, to original brooklynites...this is flatbush.

Posted by: guest at August 17, 2007 1:50 PM

OMG! 404 Stuyvesant Avenue pics look fabulous.

Posted by: guest at August 17, 2007 1:52 PM

When you compare the Bedford Stuyvesant house to the Park Slope house you wonder who would pay 1.35k to live in that piece of shit when you could live like a king ten minutes away.

Posted by: guest at August 17, 2007 1:57 PM

Is stuyvesant heights different from Bed Sty?

Posted by: guest at August 17, 2007 1:57 PM

Stuy Hghts and Bed Stuy are the same nabe.

Posted by: guest at August 17, 2007 2:05 PM

Stuy Heights is the much nicer historic subset of Bedford Stuyvesant. Not true that the two are synonymous. Bed Sty is the largest neighborhood in Brooklyn. Big difference between Bainbridge and Stuyvesant and Patchen and Myrtle Avenue, though both are parts of Bed Sty.

Posted by: guest at August 17, 2007 2:12 PM

Stuyvesant Heights is a few blocks in the middle of Bed Stuy, Bed Stuy has equally as impressive mansions and blocks outside of the few blocks of Stuyvesant Heights.

Posted by: guest at August 17, 2007 2:17 PM

live like a king 10 minutes away....

what an ironic post.

with all of your loyal subjects around you that you ignore and pretend don't exist.

or complain that they sit on your stoop.

Posted by: guest at August 17, 2007 2:39 PM

The pics on the Stuy Heights house are impressive. It is really a wonder that a Halstead broker with a $1.5 million dollar listing can't get a decent floor plan done. The floor plan looks like it was done on the back of a napkin by a 12 yr. old. Is this how he earns his $90K commission.

Posted by: guest at August 17, 2007 3:05 PM

121 Beadel is two blocks south of the oil spill.

No worries!

http://www.alexreisner.com/img/nyc/map.greenpoint.gif

Posted by: guest at August 17, 2007 3:05 PM

sorry to change topics, but does anyone know where in the city website it would show the allowable FAR for my building? I don't have access to property shark to see that.

Posted by: guest at August 17, 2007 3:08 PM

Agree with 1:57. Park Slope house is definitely overpriced, especially now that Bed Stuy is objectively the preferred location of all Brooklyn! Unless you are a racist. You aren't a racist, are you? Then buy Stuy Heights!

Posted by: guest at August 17, 2007 4:02 PM

Anonymous 1:50:

South Midwood is not a made up neighborhood. It has been a residential sub-section of Flatbush for over 100 years. If you have any doubts, please consult FLATBUSH TODAY, published in 1907, which describes the various Victorian Flatbush neighborhoods and the people who lived there at that time they were developed. The Cortelyou Club, a leading social club of the day, was situated at the junction and served the needs of South Midwood residents. I have a photograph of a Newkirk Avenue Bowling Alley dating from that time period - the sign above it clearly says SOUTH MIDWOOD... BOWLING ALLEY.

Posted by: guest at August 17, 2007 4:04 PM

Park Slope house looks tiny, my friend has a house that looks like that on a similar street... Greenpoint house probably isn't such a bad deal. Maybe there'd be oil money from the settlement at some point. And considering what else is going for $750K these days, that's not bad.

Not that it's good, mind you -- just that it's probably not as overinflated as, say, the Park Slope house or the Bed Stuy one.

Posted by: guest at August 17, 2007 7:28 PM

"especially now that Bed Stuy is objectively the preferred location of all Brooklyn!"

What are you talking about? I mean no, seriously, your not serious right? Your being sarcastic.

Posted by: guest at August 17, 2007 7:31 PM

Beadle St. is just outside EXXON's estimate of the oil spill, which means it's smack on top of the actual oil spill. It's like saying you didn't inhale all that asbestos and smoke on 9/11 at ground zero because you were across the street. Ha. Anyone seen that Erin Brockovitch movie?

There's so much Texas Tea in the soil up there, maybe it's worth buying so you can plant an oil well in the back yard to pay for the mortgage. Sell the drilling rights back to Exxon!

I agree with the above post about Stuyvesant Height vs. Park Slope - it rocks over here. Having lived in both hoods, I can say that I much prefer the former over the latter.

...and Bed Stuy is NOT a single neighborhood any more than "downtown" is a neighborhood in Manhattan. Eyeballing it on Google Maps, it's about the same area as Manhattan below 8th Street or so. Would you call Ave A the same neighborhood as Broad St? Nope.

The poster who drew a contrast between Bainbridge and Stuyesant and Patchen and Myrtle was dead on (although Decatur and Stuyvesant is a problem spots - what are the cops doing about this corner?? - still, in some parts of North Stuy for instance, EVERY corner is a problem corner). Still, it's no less safe than, say, the "prime real estate" of 18th St & 9th Ave (ie: the projects across from the Maritime Hotel) in Manhattan or the 7th Ave F stop in Park Slope (aka: Nanny Mugging Central).

Posted by: guest at August 18, 2007 12:02 AM

The Bedstuy house is beautiful but its overpriced. There was a gorgeous house in the same street ("doctor's row" i believe its called.) That sold at the asking price of $1.2 last year. It had just as much detail.

Posted by: guest at August 18, 2007 8:12 AM

stuy heights is not a neighborhood. it is a tiny enclave within a neighborhood.

park slope is a lovely neighborhood.

while stuy heights may be lovely, the surrounding neighborhood it's in, is certainly not.

there's a big difference.

Posted by: guest at August 18, 2007 11:07 AM

11:07, you obviously have never been to Stuy Heights, or Bed Stuy in general. Of course the entire neighborhood is not economically comparable to one of the wealthiest areas of Brooklyn, but your post implies that Stuy Heights is a small oasis surrounded by the urban version of Baghdad. That is certainly not the case, and even a casual walk or drive around shows differently.

And it certainly is a neighborhood, as much as any of the other smaller neighborhoods within larger ones discussed here every day. You don't have to want to live here, or even like it, but let's at least give Bed Stuy and Stuyvesant Heights their due as architecturally significant, culturally significant, and worthy neighborhoods to live in.

Posted by: guest at August 18, 2007 11:42 AM

bed stuy boosters out in force this week.

they should be given what's happening. you've got one of the highest rates of foreclosure in the city AND you've now got problems with jumbo rates on the few nicer houses like above.

yikes.

Posted by: guest at August 18, 2007 12:51 PM

You also have the area with the most owners who don't have mortgages on their homes, like so many of my elderly neighbors. Hard to foreclose on the four family purchased for 49k in 1981, or the rooming house in 84' for 60 grand.

Posted by: guest at August 18, 2007 2:53 PM

Brooklyn's Serious Mortgage Foreclosure Outbreak

http://gowanuslounge.blogspot.com/2007/03/brooklyns-serious-mortgage-foreclosure.html

Posted by: guest at August 18, 2007 3:43 PM

To GHB and B Squared. Kenmore Terrace and Albemarle Terrace are two lovely dead end streets off of E. 21st Street. We're actually north of Albemarle ROAD (not Church), and south of Church Ave. (not Caton) And yes we are W of Flatbush and East of Ocean. There are two lovely houses on the other side of E. 21st that are a part of the district as well. Our little nabe built by Slee & Bryson in 1916-1917, is supposedly the first planned community to incorporate garages for automobiles. And rumor has it a few of the homes were rented by the old Vitagraph (?) movie studio to house their movie stars.
BTW-We lost one of our grand old oak trees during the storm last week. It fell right on one of the homes on Albemarle which sustained NO DAMAGE WHATSOEVER. Let's here it for bricks and limestone!!

Posted by: guest at August 18, 2007 5:07 PM

GHB -

Some of the area you are inquiring about belonged to a grand development of Victorian wood frame homes known as VANDERVEER PARK, the first of its kind in Flatbush, predating even Prospect Park South. It was also, by far, the largest. Unfortunately, very few of these homes survive today.

http://home.att.net/~ebasics/flatbush2.html

Vanderveer Park is marked in yellow:

http://home.att.net/~ebasics/maps.html

The rest of the area in question also had freestanding wood frame homes, but these, with the exception of TENNIS COURT, were developed on a more ad hoc basis, either house by house or block by block.

Best,
Erin Joslyn

Posted by: guest at August 18, 2007 5:31 PM

I find it really funny how everyone gets so defensive about their neighborhoods on this forum.

Actually, 12:51, it's the neighborhoods with more expensive houses that will be affected by higher interest rates on Jumbo loans - many houses in Bed Stuy are relatively affordable and can be bought with a conforming loan (ie: $533K conforming loan for a 2 family) and supplemented by a second mortgage or a home equity loan for the balance. No so for Park Slopers with house sales of $2M and such. Manhattan is hurting too, with apartments going for $1M plus.

I'm not here to boost Bed Stuy - any neighborhood has problems. In Bed Stuy, it's certain buildings' maitenence issues, certain rowdy streets and those stupid notes from "Michael" offering to buy your house for cash (who the hell is this Michael guy anyway??? hmmm... maybe he figures into all those foreclosure dots in Bed Stuy... ya think?), as much as in Park Slope it's street muggings, self righteous parenting and some REALLY overpriviledged kids and in Greenpoint it's a huge, massive, underground oil spill which will be giving everyone in the neighborhood cancer, parkinson's disease and severe respiratory issues for many, many years to come.

Nowhere is perfect - just pick your preferred variety of imperfectness, OK? And don't act like your neighborhood is better, because it isn't. There are a few foreclosure dots in Park Slope too, see. Seems the wealthy sometimes have financial difficulty too.

Once we all admit our neighborhoods have problems, we can all start getting over it and getting on with life. Can't we all just get along?

Posted by: guest at August 18, 2007 5:32 PM

Erin,

The area referred to by GHB, is not marked in yellow but blue and was referred to as Flatbush Avenue Corridor not Vandeveer Park. I think that GHB was referring to what this map calls Albemarle Kenmore Terrace. I didn't know that Victorian Flatbush has the largest number of free standing victorian homes in the country!

Posted by: guest at August 18, 2007 11:22 PM

I wish I could get all of you people in one place.

Oh how I would beat the living daylights out of you.

Posted by: guest at August 19, 2007 9:13 AM

proud to call it home at, oh, around a million.

at around 1.5million they'd be a fool to call it home.

Posted by: guest at August 19, 2007 6:39 PM

I say Stuy Heights should sell for 899K.

Tops.

Buying in a transitional neighborhood is too risky these days unless you get a bargain.

Posted by: guest at August 19, 2007 6:53 PM

6:53-

I'd call 1.5M for a house that great a good deal - 1.25M would be a bargain.

Besides, to play devil's advocate, it's not like anything just off 4th Ave isn't also "transitional". Sure the Park Slope house boasts the modern conveniences of being close to U-Haul and Pep Boys and having the pedigree of being called "Park Slope (it wouldn't have bee called that a few years ago), but it sure is waaaaay at the bottom of the slope.

I'd much rather pay $200k more for over double the space in a house with gobs of details than a house on the fringes of a nice area. Kind of like buying a Porsche keychain if you can't afford the Porsche isn't better than buying the Honda.

Besides, look at the other sales for Stuy Heights - didn't 311 Stuyvesant go for something around $825?

Still, the Beadle St. house isn't just a bad deal - it's suicide (literally). Money can't buy health.

Posted by: guest at August 20, 2007 1:33 AM

I agree with you, 1:33 from a personal standpoint; however, I can see lots of PS 321 families looking for a house showing interest. If you're child's already in the school (say you're living in a cramped condo or coop), they can continue on there. This place isn't zoned, but it's close enough to make the morning commute acceptable for a lot of people who can't bear to leave the Slope.

Posted by: guest at August 20, 2007 8:48 AM

I, too, was shocked to see the Beadel St. house on the market. I know a broker and an agent who were trying to work that house, and while there is no argument at all that that is a wonderful block - houses in great shape, residents warm and neighborly - forget the oil spill. Everyone likes to forget Greenpoint's intense industrial history. Frankly, I think that the oil spill is the least of your worries in that location. It's not that far from that block on Apollo Street with all those instances of rare cancer.
I'm not trying to be a fearmonger, or blame everything on Exxon - I think there is a lot of leftover god knows what in the soil in that area of Greenpoint that people like to forget about.

Besides that, as other posters have mentioned, you are boxed in by the BQE, the truck route on Vandervoort (I used to take that route to get to Bushwick, and stopped after I almost got hit by a truck), and the gas facility. There is NOTHING within walking distance. Maybe a bodega on Meeker. I wouldn't even pretend to say this is anywhere near a subway. You could walk to the B48.
But there is no way I'd live here at any price. And my friend who had the listing two years ago ran into the same problems. Buyers would take one look at the map and run screaming, or the ones who were dumb enough to look at the price and not the map wouldn't even bother to show for the appointment. Most of them would call from several blocks away and cancel.

Posted by: guest at August 20, 2007 9:31 AM

I own a house on beadel street and it a great block. It has changed so much in the past 10 years..but still retains it's feel as old brooklyn yet now very hip.

It is only a 15 min walk to the L train at graham...not longer if you are even walking slow. It is good for your ASS!

I bought for 185,000 10 years ago and the prices are only going to go up.

Posted by: guest at August 20, 2007 1:41 PM

Sorry to hear that 1:41.

I hope you have a really good health plan or French or Canadian citizenship or a death wish. You couldn't pay me to live in that neighborhood. Nothing is worth having your first child born with their lungs on the outside or, if they're lucky, as a flipper baby.

The neighborhood may have changed in 10 years, but not the halflife of the chemicals seeping into the water supply there.

Too bad you didn't buy in Bed Stuy only 5 years ago for $200K. My neighbor did... and the house next door (same layout, size, etc.) went for $750K a year ago.

Posted by: guest at August 20, 2007 11:23 PM