« 82 Cambridge Place Coming Up For Auction Closing Bell: No August Slowdown at The Flea »
August 1, 2008
Open House Picks
Park Slope
576 4th Street
Warren Lewis
Sunday 2:30-4:30
$2,850,000
GMAP P*Shark
Park Slope
97 Park Place
Brown Harris Stevens
Sunday 2:30-4:30
$2,250,000 (was $2,350,000)
GMAP P*Shark
Beverley Square West
340 Marlborough Road
Mary Kay Gallagher
Sunday 1-3
$1,250,000
GMAP P*Shark
Prospect Lefferts Gardens
275 Midwood Street
Robin Cloud
Sunday 1-3
$739,000
GMAP P*Shark
Trackback Pings
TrackBack URL for this entry:
http://www.brownstoner.com/mte/mt-tb.cgi/5709
Comments
4th street ask should be $2.85m, not $1.2m. (for a minute there i was starting to think maybe the brooklyn real estate market had, in fact, gone to hell.)
Posted by: z at August 1, 2008 1:20 PM
If that price were correct on the 4th Street Park Slope house, I'd already be over there with my checkbook ready to sign a contract (to flip, of course).
Posted by: Shahn Andersen at August 1, 2008 1:21 PM
Yes, if only 4th Street were that price! I actually thought the price seemed not as crazy as some recently (i.e. the 3 million dollar price tag for park block limestones) and the house looks nice. I tend to think things are headed for a correction (not a crash mind you, which 1.2 would be!) as the recent price drops indicate - actually Warren Lewis has had to cut prices with a number of their recent offerings...
Posted by: Miss Muffett at August 1, 2008 1:46 PM
If the 4th st. house is $1.2 million, sign my up right now.
Posted by: Boerum Hill at August 1, 2008 1:57 PM
Jesus H Christ I almost spit out my latte when I saw the 4th Street price! What a cruel little joke, Brownstoner!
Posted by: Park_loper at August 1, 2008 2:00 PM
Ok, can we please now get to the PLG place and discuss the kitchen with the peach walls, fireplace and blue-painted moldings?
Posted by: Biff Champion at August 1, 2008 2:09 PM
4th Street house is 17' wide.
Park Place house has an empty lot on one side.
Posted by: abcdz at August 1, 2008 2:12 PM
gotta love the "painters-tape blue" color on the kitchen crown moldings at park pl.
Posted by: z at August 1, 2008 2:12 PM
Sorry, I meant the Park Place home.
z, I see you appreciate the blue too!
Posted by: Biff Champion at August 1, 2008 2:14 PM
I'll take painters tape blue over the Dyker Height's "Mansion" puke-stachio green dining room any day.
You don't think it could be actual painters tape that they forgot to remove before the pics were taken do you?
Posted by: TownhouseLady at August 1, 2008 2:27 PM
Speaking of the PLG...Does anyone know what specific architechtural style that house would be classified as?
Posted by: TownhouseLady at August 1, 2008 2:36 PM
TownhouseLady, I'm still trying to figure out the style of the Dyker Height's "mansion". Any guesses?
On the PLG home, are those Christmas, I mean, holiday lights on the front windows? If so, isn't there a rule about keeping them up after January? Also, the TV tray by the fireplace, posted notes on the fridge, hastily made beds, pots on the kitchen, open dresser drawers, etc. suggest the home could benefit by a bit (a lot) of expert staging.
Posted by: Biff Champion at August 1, 2008 2:44 PM
Even non expert staging would be better.
Posted by: daveinbedstuy at August 1, 2008 3:08 PM
Dyker Heights "Mansion"? I'm going to have to go with "Meretricious-Modern".
Posted by: TownhouseLady at August 1, 2008 3:16 PM
Despite my misspelling architecture, and my tendancy to be sarcastic I was serious when I asked what style it was built in. I've been trying to peg it down.
Posted by: TownhouseLady at August 1, 2008 3:27 PM
The Marlborough Road house is a historical gem and I think its priced to sell. Its also mentioned on this website with some pretty awesome photos. (Note the tree size changing) http://home.att.net/~ebasics/Victorianflatbush.html
Posted by: Argyle Road at August 1, 2008 4:07 PM
Marlborough Road is one of the prettier blocks in that area. The house is already updated and is close to Cortelyou. I agree with Argyle. It is priced to sell. In fact, all of the houses seem to be reasonably priced.
Posted by: Chaka at August 1, 2008 4:43 PM
The Marlborough Road home is beautiful, but does anyone know what side of the street it's on? Most of the east side Marlborough Road homes have a subway line in their backyard.
Posted by: bococa girl at August 1, 2008 5:06 PM
It's an even number - therefore, not on the tracks.
Posted by: Architerrorist at August 1, 2008 5:10 PM
The Marlborough road house is too close to Cortelyou and, even though it's on the good side of the street, the train noise is constant and LOUD.
Too bad, another good house in a bad location in Ditmas.
Posted by: manofelt at August 1, 2008 5:26 PM
Noise is neither constant nor loud on that side of Marlborough. House is close to Cortelyou. A plus or a minus, depending on your needs.
Posted by: Architerrorist at August 1, 2008 5:30 PM
The new 'Q' local trains are very quiet. You can barely hear them, especially on this particular block. There are stations at either end of the block so they travel at a crawl from one station to the next and are below grade in a trench. The express 'B' is another story though. Service was just extended to 11:00 PM on the weekdays and the 'B' trains are older and noisier. 'B' express does not run on the weekends. Again this block is below grade so not as noisy as blocks further to the south.
I would think that being near Cortelyou is a plus. It is centrally located in Victorian Flatbush. The house is obviously near transportation but walking distance to Church Avenue and Prospect Park. It is also walking distance to Newkirk.
This house happens not to be adjacent to the tracks but if it were I'd go for it - for the right price. There are hundreds of people in this city living with trains in the back, front under and over them and they seem to deal with it.
Posted by: Chaka at August 1, 2008 5:50 PM
Is there a reason your realtor doesn't take you aside and say, "Idiot! clean up the house before you take those damn pictures!"?
biff- what can possibly said about the salmon kitchen except (to repeat a very funny forum post about tile) wild or farmed?at least a new coat of paint would do wonders (I don't understand the blue. Is it a Homage to painter's tape?
The Midwood kitchen however would need more than a paint job to fix it.
Posted by: bxgrl at August 1, 2008 6:02 PM
Midwood? Do you mean Marlborough Road? What are you, nuts? That kitchen is not only gorgeous, but the design is, unusually, completely in keeping with the design of the house.
Posted by: Architerrorist at August 1, 2008 6:44 PM
Apologies bxgrl. I didn't realize the PLG house was on Midwood Street. Mea culpa.
Posted by: Architerrorist at August 1, 2008 6:45 PM
manofelt should change his/her handle to "moronofelt". Marlborough Road house (do know the owners, full disclosure..) is not particularly close to Cortelyou and there is NO train noise. I have spend many a wonderful evening in that big beautiful backyard and have never heard anything is except the purring of their housecat. But I will say that many a jealous Manhattanite has remarked how much closer a WALK to the subway station this home is to their own walk to the subway. Jeez, they say " I thought you lived out in the 'burbs here". How come it only took me twenty minutes to get here from sixth floor walk-up in the East Village? Three entire floors AND easy access to Manhattan? I hate you!!"
Yes, that's usually what they say after they come a visitin' to our hood. Right after, "I didn't even know this neighborhood existed!" Which may or may not be supplemented with: "...until New York Magazine voted that place (The Farm on Adderly) best french fries."
Posted by: west at August 1, 2008 7:39 PM
Arch, the problem is not with the kitchen or bxgirl's interpretation, but with the sh*t photography. You can't really see what's up with the kitchen unless you look very carefully and read the text at the same time.
It continues to amaze me that to sell a million dollar house brokers take a lil' pocket digicam and do it themselves. OK, maybe a million dollar house is too cheap these days to bring real studio lighting. But could you at least bring a cheap DSLR with a shoe-mount flash to open up the shadows? If you did that, you could hope to see that the red enamel range is really red enamel.
Posted by: denton at August 1, 2008 7:53 PM
Sigh- I so love that Tudor house. No- that kitchen I could easily sell my cats for (s'ok denton- they're alley cats, not like your beautiful abysinnian. I can get more). And I still can't figure out what the kitchen is in the house on Midwood. It looks like it tried to be deco and failed. And why would you put a deco kitchen in a Victorian/edwardian limestone? If you can explain that, Architerrorist, I'll totally forgive you :-)
Posted by: bxgrl at August 1, 2008 8:05 PM
In fact that image of the kitchen offended me so much I decided to see what was in it.
http://www.pbase.com/dentontay/image/101060847
You can only do so much with a tiny image but some PP reveals not only gorgeous cabinetry, a red enamel Wolff stove, a hammered copper farmhouse sink, all mentioned in the ad, but also a copper range hood.
Lovely!
Posted by: denton at August 1, 2008 8:06 PM
Why, WHY? Just let me crawl home to my linoleum'd, painted cheap wood cabinets with formica countertops, scratched stainless steel sink and least expensive Home Depot stove ever sold kitchen. I will be mourning in fetal position beneath my antique wood table. sniff. Copper range hood? I have one lousy copper jello mold (ok, I have a few) and they have a range hood and a copper farmhouse sink????....sob...
Posted by: bxgrl at August 1, 2008 8:26 PM
I really like the unrenovated kitchen in the PLG place so much more than the renovated one. Looks like it was pretty fancy when it was originally done, nice to see an owner that didn't rip it out.
Posted by: Heather at August 1, 2008 8:49 PM
Okay, I looked at the other houses. That tudor makes me cry, it's so gorgeous. The kitchen doesn't bother me in the Park Place place, at least it shows some creativity, and repainting is not difficult.
As for the PLG place, from the text of the article it looks like both units are rented. As a renter, I'm not sure I'd bother making the bed or staging for a pesky realtor either. I do think the price is a little high for the location, but what do I know? House looks like it has great bones and updated mechanicals. Soo much better for the money than those condos on Dean.
And I want that Tudor mansion. Damn. Bxgirl, we should split it! I have cats too!
Posted by: Heather at August 1, 2008 8:58 PM
How many can you sell and how fast? I can even round up a few more if I canvass the neighborhood.
Posted by: bxgrl at August 1, 2008 9:04 PM
I need to check comps... mine all have original detail from the 90's.
Posted by: Heather at August 1, 2008 9:55 PM
I have several with original from then too, but one or two newly renovated from within the last 1 1/2 years :-)
Posted by: bxgrl at August 2, 2008 9:39 AM
Heather is right. A renter's kitchen in a $739K house shouldn't be compared equally alongside the main kitchen in a one-family house that's been more expensively renovated. The copper sink and fixtures in the Marlborough house are beautiful and well chosen. But it's such a totally different situation. I'd never compare the two.
The Marlborough house location being near Cortelyou is ideal whether you get some subway noise or not. But the broker should have made the homeowner remove all the drapey things obscuring the lovely details. That arched window is great. But it's covered in streaming ribbons of chiffon. It's like the Diana Ross of windows. And it's a mystery what the fireplace mantel looks like in the dining room, with that brocade thing completely covering it. Funny to hide it like that.
Posted by: traditionalmod at August 2, 2008 11:57 AM
This is a gorgeous block where most of the homes have been recently renovated and well maintained. There are one or two eyesores but otherwise a beautiful block. I must also disclose that I live in the area and that I have also been in many homes on Marlborough Road. I have been in a couple of the homes on the train side of the street and could barely hear or feel the trains probably due to good quality windows and insulation. Of course if you are outside you can hear the trains on both sides of the street but it is actually not as bad as you might think.
I have had experiences similar to West's, when I have friends from other areas of the cty over. They can't believe the size of my home and its proximity to the subway. Their major complaint is always the lack of ammenities but there is enough in the neighborhood to keep me local most of the time and when I need something more I go to other parts of Brooklyn like Avenue J, Kings Highway and Park Slope.
This home is priced to sell.
Posted by: B Square at August 2, 2008 12:14 PM
Looks like the 4th Street house has a width of 16.33 feet. I don't care how beautiful the house is or how beautful the block is. Anyone why pays this kind of money for a 16.33-foot-wide house is insane. 20 feet minimum at this price.
Posted by: Suburbandude at August 2, 2008 2:45 PM
Beg to disagree on the kitchen, (thanks, denton for the image!) Tile floor, tough on the feet. Copper sink sure to be dented soon (I'm all for patina, but not in a cleaning appliance.) Ugly-as-sin pretentious faucet. Overrated Wolf range, color is gorgeous, though, but set in the path of the door swing. Gloomy dark wood requiring 20 of those recessed cans we all adore to light adequately.
But then, I'm not opinionated or anything...
Posted by: cmu at August 3, 2008 1:48 PM
We have looked at both the Marlborough Street and the Midwood houses today. Marlborough Street is gorgeous with owners that clearly spent a lot of attention to detail. It is one of the very few places I have seen in the last months that is in "move in confition" for me personally ie I do not need ot redo the "recently redone bahrooms" because they were not well done or rip out the 1 year old kitchen because it was tasteless. I agree it is not on the very best block in the area but I think still on a pretty good one. Not sure about the price though.
This all does unfortunately not apply to the Midwood house. Seems to be an only semiprofessional flipping job with questionable details (e.g. I would not believe that the rental is really rented out for the price that the owner states). But you cannot compare the two houses by any means, they are completely different.
Posted by: K_and_L at August 3, 2008 9:48 PM
Thank you "West" for the moron compliment. Lovely.
I visited the house. It IS only a few houses down from Cortelyou (check the map.) You CAN see and hear the traffic on Cortelyou from the enclosed porch (go ahead and stand there as I did.)
And you abso-fricking-lutely CAN hear the subway, period.
But please folks don't take my word for it. Go and see for yourself and realize just who is the Moron.
It is a nice house--no doubt--just not a peaceful location--which is, for me at least, a main reason for living in Ditmas Park.
Posted by: manofelt at August 4, 2008 12:17 PM
I was there also and I agree with manofelt that you CAN hear the subway and noise from Cortelyou but it was just not that bad. I don't think that the main draw to Ditmas Park is a "peaceful location." I would think that the draw is that you get more house for your money in a area that is accessible to public transportation and with a very friendly small town-like vibe unlike Park Slope and other areas.
Posted by: Chosen at August 4, 2008 12:50 PM
re: Midwood St / Prospect Lefferts Garden. This house is on the prettiest treelined block and is approximately 5 seconds from the park. Obviously the house needs some minor cosmetic work. But please. Whoever moves in is gonna put in their version of good taste - and clearly views on good taste vary drastically as evidenced by the salmon/cobalt combo of the park place house.
The owners did all the difficult stuff for you - new electrical, roof, windows, boiler, etc. Believe me, you do not want to have to deal with those costly surprises when you move in.
Frankly, i don't know why they would sell right now when they could obviously get more if they held onto it a little while or did some mini cosmetic updates here and there. there is a ton of untapped value in this house and this neighborhood.
I'd probably rent out one unit for a while then do an easy conversion to a single family later on.
Posted by: Rosie Canyon at August 4, 2008 1:32 PM
Latest Restaurant Additions
-
Chez Lola
added November 21, 2008 12:02 PM in Clinton Hill -
Nana
added November 20, 2008 12:02 PM in Park Slope -
Pomme de Terre
added November 19, 2008 12:01 PM in Ditmas Park -
Scopello
added November 18, 2008 12:01 PM in Fort Greene -
DiFara
added November 17, 2008 11:59 AM in Midwood -
Chiles y Chocolate
added November 14, 2008 12:02 PM in Park Slope -
Downtown Bar and Grill
added November 13, 2008 11:58 AM in Cobble Hill -
Tempo
added November 12, 2008 11:57 AM in Park Slope -
The Chocolate Room
added November 11, 2008 12:01 PM in Cobble Hill, Park Slope -
Tanoreen
added November 10, 2008 12:02 PM in Bay Ridge
Post a comment
Please be patient while your comment is published. It may take a moment.