Christopher Gray Loves Him Some Albemarle Road

The houses here are amazing and it's worth a trip to check out the neighborhood. B or Q to Church or the Q to Parkside or Beverly Road. You can walk to Cortelyou Road for lunch after you've checked out the houses.

Posted by: guest at June 23, 2008 11:29 AM

The second house in the pics was for sale for over $2.5 million for a long time. Anyone know if it sold?

Posted by: guest at June 23, 2008 11:49 AM

The house in the 2nd photo is still for sale on the MKG site http://marykayg.com/html/0499.html ASKING PRICE: $2,350,000
It was on the Victorian Flatbush Open House Tour last year, and that oval dining room and the parlor were knock outs.
Probably one of the best houses on the tour.

Posted by: guest at June 23, 2008 12:05 PM

That house has a great deal of potential, but seems overpriced to me, given the amount of work it needs. I also saw it on the house tour last year. The original detail is beautiful, but if you look closely, the beautiful floors are as thin as paper and need to be replaced and a lot of the wood work is cracked and/or missing pieces. It seems that nothing has been done to the house in a great many years. It could be an absolute beauty, but the cost of fixing the original detail, renovating the kitchen and baths, painting the rooms, etc... would run you a pretty penny. Perfectly done in this neighborhood at this time it might go for $2.5M. Given the condition it is in, they need to drop at least $500K off the price, IMO.

Posted by: guest at June 23, 2008 12:19 PM

Wow, I must of have missed the part of the house tour when you were allowed to pry off a section of the wood floors and measure their actual depth! And you know what? A house is worth exactly what one buyer actually pays for it.

Posted by: guest at June 23, 2008 12:33 PM

exactly...not one buyer in 9 months...so given that I think its worth south of $2 m. The last big house in the PPS sold for 1.8 and it was just as big if not bigger on Buckingham and in much better shape AND before the real estate market went south.

Posted by: guest at June 23, 2008 12:42 PM

the Buckingham house started out at 2.2 or 2.3, and it was on the market for well over 6 months - I'm sure the market was going south by the time it sold at a much reduced price. Plus there was much dispute on these boards over the price of the $2.5 mil house, considering it had been re-sided.

Posted by: guest at June 23, 2008 12:59 PM

12:19 here. 12:42 has a point. Also, in answer to your sarcastic remark 12:33, you didn't have to pry off the floor. You could see through to the underboards in a number of places where it was completely worn down. Hey - I am a big fan of the Victorian Flatbush area and think it is one of the best and most undervalued in Brooklyn. I think it would be a great thing for more of these houses to sell to people who have the money to maintain and/or renovate them. That is why I get sad when I see someone put a house like this on the market at a price that makes it fairly unlikely anyone will ever buy it and fix it up. Not only do they need to find a rich buyer, but a pretty darn naive one to pay this much in this condition. Another one that makes me sad is the Gale house discussed in the NYT article. Just walk by it and you can see it needs major work now due to the neglect it has been shown over the years. I'm sure the owners just can't afford to do all the work necessary and I felt bad for them until they tried to put it on the market a couple of years ago for over $4M. The price was just ludicrous and no one (obviously) bought it for that amount, so it is now decaying even more and will probably continue to.

Posted by: guest at June 23, 2008 12:59 PM

The Gale house is estimated at 2.35 at Zillow.com and was the topic of a Brownstoner post a while ago:

http://www.brownstoner.com/brownstoner/archives/2006/03/1305_albemarle_1.php

The house changed hands several times in the last 20 years, if I remember correctly, last time it sold was exceptionally reasonable - something like $600K...anyone remember?

Posted by: guest at June 23, 2008 1:13 PM

over a million ???

for that price I am going to Short Hills, NJ.

no private no school tuition and far away from......well, you know......

Posted by: guest at June 23, 2008 1:45 PM

....open minded, sophisticated, urbane, non-racist, non-classist people? Don't let the PATH train doors crush you on the way out.

Posted by: guest at June 23, 2008 1:54 PM

Why do people keep talking about the suburbs as if they're cheaper? Recently for the heck of it I looked up properties in the suburbs. In any of the somewhat acceptable towns in CT and NY (NJ is just so not an option) there aren't any houses for a million I'd bother buying or be happy living in. Even in this downturn when you're suppsed to be able to pick up bargains in the suburbs, the prices for something decent were still far from cheap. Unless you want to buy some cheapy new-construction beige-carpeted subdivision house which I never would as I'd slit my wrists living in such a place. Tons of those on the market because nobody wants them.

Posted by: guest at June 23, 2008 2:10 PM

Also, for NJ you need to factor in the property taxes, which are often quite insane.
And then unless you live in a house that has a NJ Transit bus stopping at your front lawn, you most likely need a car to get at least to the nearest NJ Transit Bus or Train station. And how much does it cost to insure a car in NJ?
In this section of Victorian Flatbush Brooklyn, a car is a luxury, not a necessity. The subway, bus, Express Bus are all close by.

Posted by: guest at June 23, 2008 2:28 PM

As gas gets more expensive and as property taxes in the 'burbs go up, neighborhoods like this will be worth every penny. Great subway access, five or ten minute walk to Prospect Park, new restaurants opening up...it will only get better.

Posted by: guest at June 23, 2008 5:19 PM

Interesting news tidbit today:

- - - - - - - - - -

The price of retail gasoline could fall by half, to around $2 a gallon, within 30 days of passage of a law to limit speculation in energy-futures markets, four energy analysts told Congress on Monday.

Testifying to the House Energy and Commerce Committee, Michael Masters of Masters Capital Management said that the price of oil would quickly drop closer to its marginal cost of around $65 to $75 a barrel, about half the current $135.

Fadel Gheit of Oppenheimer & Co., Edward Krapels of Energy Security Analysis and Roger Diwan of PFC Energy Consultants agreed with Masters' assessment at a hearing on proposed legislation to limit speculation in futures markets.

Krapels said that it wouldn't even take 30 days to drive prices lower, as fund managers quickly liquidated their positions in futures markets.

"Record oil prices are inflated by speculation and not justified by market fundamentals," according to Gheit. "Based on supply and demand fundamentals, crude-oil prices should not be above $60 per barrel."

- - - - - - - - - -

Sounds awfully like some other recently burst speculative bubble...

Posted by: guest at June 23, 2008 5:27 PM

5:19 posts the same crap on every discussion of price in brooklyn. the problem with that thesis is that the price of heating oil moves in tandem with gas prices. just ask brenda. ruh roh...

not to mention, most "suburbs" of nyc are on train lines with commute times that rival those of victorian flatbush to midtown. if anything, the suburbs will get cheaper and draw more first time buyers who have been priced out of brooklyn.

i don't know why i'm so worked up. it's just more desperate broker drivel.

Posted by: guest at June 23, 2008 6:27 PM

Yes, 45 minutes to an hour on the Subway, can get you to this section of Brooklyn
OR
45 minutes to an hour on the LIRR or the Metro North can get you to the burbs

But the difference is your out late in Manhattan for drinks and want to stay for another round, the option exists to take a cab home (if you don't want to take the subway which runs 24x7). Granted it will cost you around $35, but it still is an option. Meanwhile, the LIRR or Metro North rider is checking their schedule and often running out the door, as they might miss that last train until dawn.

Posted by: guest at June 23, 2008 6:38 PM

I lived in both Nassau and Westchester. I have never gotten to either place via LIRR in 45 minutes from midtown. I have gotten to Beverley Road from 34th street in 30 though.

Posted by: guest at June 23, 2008 9:48 PM

Even better, you don't have to go out in Manhattan. With a 5-10 minute bus or bike ride or a 15 minute walk at any time of day or night, you have easy access to all of the bars, restaurants, cafes of Park Slope. Or take a 5-10 minute bus or bike ride in the other direction, and you can enjoy many different types of authentic ethnic food. Or you have a short subway ride to Fort Greene or Prospect Heights. That's assuming you're burnt out on the neighborhood options, of which there are many. There is no way you get this kind of diversity in the suburbs.

Posted by: guest at June 24, 2008 11:49 AM

you are so right 11:49, plus only a few minutes away is the ghetto and the projects.

If you are really lucky, they will deliver to you as well - usually coming through your window and of course it's ala carte when it comes to taking your stuff! Bon Appetite!

Posted by: guest at June 24, 2008 3:41 PM

You are so right 3:41. I would also note that Park Avenue and CPW are several minutes from “ghettos” and “projects” but that doesn’t seem to diminish the fact that they are relatively desirable places to live. If you want to completely insulate yourself from poor people and people of color, by all means move to some gated community in Connecticut. You will be happier there, and those of us who enjoy living in a racially, economically, and ethnically diverse community will be happier here in Flatbush without you.

Posted by: guest at June 25, 2008 12:22 PM

Sounds good 12:22 - and I will leave you with the roaming packs of teenagers who hate you because of your skin color - despite your liberal bias...Stay in your limo

Posted by: guest at June 25, 2008 2:24 PM

The second House was in the movie Wanted (2008) that just came out with Angelina Jolie. It's the house she lives in as a child. You can see it durring a flashback scene that she has.

Posted by: guest at July 2, 2008 7:28 AM