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April 28, 2008
404 Stuyvesant Avenue: Missed Opportunity, Happy Ending
18 months and almost $400,000. That's what the former owner of 404 Stuyvesant Avenue lost by not striking when the iron (or the market) was hot. As long-time readers may recall, the owner allegedly turned down at least one offer in the neighborhood of $1,500,000 in favor of a no-reserve auction. According to one commenter who attended the auction back in October 2006, the bids topped out at only $1,200,000. In retrospect, the owner should have taken that price...We got a tip last week that the house had finally been sold for $1,115,000. Since we needed a new photo of the building anyway, we drove by this weekend. As we were snapping a photo, two heads popped out of a second story window and shouted, "Hey, it must be the Brownstoner guy." Busted. Anyway, it's a happy ending for the beautiful, historic house. The nice couple who had just bought it came down to say hi and were clearly over the moon about their new purchase. Good luck to them!
Update: As a commenter points out, 408 Stuyvesant is now in contract.
HOTD: 404 and 408 Stuyvesant Avenue [Brownstoner] GMAP
Paddle Time: 404 Stuyvesant to Hit Auction Block [Brownstoner]
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Comments
I'm so jealous. I LOVE that house!
Posted by: guest at April 28, 2008 10:43 AM
Awesome.
I love these stories.
Good for them.
Posted by: guest at April 28, 2008 10:44 AM
that house is STUNNING! congratulations to the new owners. welcome to the neighborhood.
Posted by: guest at April 28, 2008 10:47 AM
They look so happy! Good for them.
Posted by: guest at April 28, 2008 10:48 AM
Yea, limestone is so much more grand than brownstone.
Posted by: guest at April 28, 2008 10:49 AM
where is that Broker who was just posting about 5 bidding wars over the ask just last week? BWAHAHHAHAHHAHA. Got to love it. Anyway I may be bearish on the real estate market but this house is worth the price paid. Congrats
Posted by: guest at April 28, 2008 10:52 AM
If the seller REALLY held a "no reserve" auction, I wonder why he/she did not sell at the $1,200,000 bid? Perhaps the term "auction" was mis-used. Anyway, good luck to the couple who bought the house!
Posted by: Bob Marvin at April 28, 2008 10:54 AM
Congrats! Beautiful house on a beautiful block.
Posted by: guest at April 28, 2008 11:01 AM
What a beautiful home!
Looks like you can't do drive bys anymore without being spotted :)
Posted by: Mrs. Limestone at April 28, 2008 11:02 AM
BM, I was wondering the same thing.
I went to see the place last fall. Some gorgeous woodwork, really cool old bathrooms, and great scale, but crappy extension, strange walls put up, and a all that wood needs refinishing. I wonder if the sellers took all those interesting old pieces gathering dust in the basement.
Posted by: guest at April 28, 2008 11:02 AM
Congratulations to the couple. You got an absolute beauty! Enjoy the fixing up. Offer to show it on the Bed Stuy House tour, both before and after renovation, so the rest of us can vicariously share.
All the best!
Posted by: Montrose Morris at April 28, 2008 11:14 AM
Imagine how the previous owner must feel, turning down 1.5. Egg on his face or what.
Posted by: guest at April 28, 2008 11:33 AM
I would be "over the moon" as well. Beautiful house on a Beautiful block. Glad to see some good "folks" got the place. Welcome to the hood.
As a former Bed-Stuy house tour participant, I encourage the new owners to get on next year's tour. It will be a two way reward.
Congrats again!!
Posted by: PutnamStoner at April 28, 2008 11:54 AM
thats great, I saw her (the lady in the pic)while I was walking to the train on friday morning. she was standing on the stoop while the moving trucks were backing in and I wondered to myself if they were the new owners. as I passed I thought to myself 'they look nice, I hope they weren't stupid enough to pay 1.5' and looky I was right! congrats to them - I really wanted that house but I'm just as happy that someone else got it who look like they'll spend a few years in place and not flip it.
Posted by: guest at April 28, 2008 11:54 AM
who wats to live over there. park slope is better.
Posted by: guest at April 28, 2008 12:13 PM
who wants to live over there. park slope is better.
Posted by: guest at April 28, 2008 12:13 PM
who wants to live over there. park slope is better.
Posted by: guest at April 28, 2008 12:13 PM
They look so "fringe."
Great for them and great for the neighborhood. We welcome them with open arms. Dave, are you baking them a pie?
Posted by: guest at April 28, 2008 12:19 PM
the auction wasn't no reserve it was no minimum bid.
Posted by: guest at April 28, 2008 12:36 PM
by "fringe" you mean mainstream I presume?
Posted by: guest at April 28, 2008 12:56 PM
"Perhaps the term 'auction' was mis-used"
It was. Classic desperation move when the market turns. 'Auction' creates the illusion that the highest bid will absolutely be accepted. This draws a bunch of would-be buyers to nothing more than a glorified open house. The most powerful tool in business is deception.
Let this should-have-struck-while-the-iron-was-hot story be a lesson to all distressed owners and prospective sellers in higher income nabes (Park Slope, Fort Greene, Carrol Gardens, etc.). Nowhere is immune.
Posted by: guest at April 28, 2008 12:56 PM
that house would go for 4times that where i live
Posted by: guest at April 28, 2008 1:03 PM
Beautiful house! I hope they raise a family in it. To grow up there would be amazing.
Posted by: guest at April 28, 2008 1:05 PM
Wow a black couple bought it i wounder where they got the money.
Posted by: guest at April 28, 2008 1:06 PM
Well I "wounder" where you got your education, 1:06. Arkansas?
Posted by: guest at April 28, 2008 1:16 PM
They earned it like everyone else, you idiot at 1:06.
Posted by: guest at April 28, 2008 1:26 PM
Beautiful place....Congrats! I am so jealous!
Posted by: guest at April 28, 2008 1:26 PM
Well, sadly, this thread is devolving into the usual unintelligent, boring and reflexive race, origin, and class baiting.
Ignore it, new house purchasers! I love your story! How lucky you are! Enjoy!
Posted by: guest at April 28, 2008 1:29 PM
What about the house two doors down that was also for sale, 408? It had the problem with the COO and rent stabalized tenant. I noticed Corcoran no longer lists it.
Posted by: Brooklynnative at April 28, 2008 1:40 PM
Congratulations to the new owners!!! I love that house, I pass it all the time on the way to the train!
(And good for them that they got a deal!)
Posted by: vanburenproud at April 28, 2008 3:11 PM
1.03 - they don't have beautiful limestone houses where you live.
Posted by: guest at April 28, 2008 3:29 PM
The deed says $1,115,000.
Posted by: guest at April 28, 2008 3:30 PM
408 went into contract about a week after Brownstoner posted an update on these homes last time (coincidence?).
I wonder if the buyer over paid since Corcoran had it listed at $1,550,000, which was higher than 404 was asking when it went into contract. Of course because it was Corcoran, that high price was despite the fact that 404 is 1000 square feet bigger than 408, doesn't have a rent controlled tenant like 408, and isn't chopped up like 408.
I hope they got a real bargain, like under a million, or someone is going to pretty embarrassed in a few months.
Posted by: guest at April 28, 2008 3:35 PM
A new episode of "Future Foreclosures"
We tune in to the new Assfu... Homedebters and see what they are doing?
Honey I think I got assraped at the closing! My sphincter hurts real bad! I think I have to go to the emergency room!
Dear please take this ointment you will feel better.
OOOHHHHH AWWW What the fuck was that.
Honey that is our first mortgage payment.
How long it last, baby
For 30 years.
The What (1.1 million for Bed-Stuy?)
Someday this war is gonna end...
Posted by: guest at April 28, 2008 3:35 PM
3:35
If 408 went into contract, whey didn't Corcoran put that up on their website instead of removing the listing. Don't they like to show off their sales?
Posted by: Brooklynnative at April 28, 2008 3:41 PM
3:35 here.
Brooklynnative, here's the Corcoran link to 408. Its loading slowly for some reason.
http://tinyurl.com/4dda26
Posted by: guest at April 28, 2008 3:56 PM
Welcome to the neighborhood!!! Looking forward to meeting you.
Posted by: daveinbedstuy at April 28, 2008 6:43 PM
Its so funny that people like to calculate someone's mortgage without knowing how much they put down or if they are financing at all. Remember, not everyone is as broke as you are. Most people who spend over 1 Million either sold another asset or have great income. STUPID!
Posted by: guest at April 28, 2008 8:57 PM
So people can still buy houses huh ...
If you red the post you would be so discouraged.
Good luck to the couple you won't regret it
nice block and nice house.....
Posted by: guest at April 28, 2008 10:13 PM
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