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December 2, 2008

House of the Day: 277 Stratford Road

277-Stratford-Road-1208.jpg
Awkward! The competitive juices must be starting to flow in one section of Ditmas Park. On the heels of last Wednesday's House of the Day at 271 Stratford Road hitting the market for $1,125,000, the next-door neighbor at 277 Stratford Road just made its debut last week. Located on a corner lot and in better shape, Number 277 clearly is the more attractive of the two, but, at $1,479,000, it's also priced a good deal higher, so it'll be interesting to see which goes first. Which do you think is the better deal?

277 Stratford Road [Corcoran] GMAP P*Shark
House of the Day: 271 Stratford Road [Brownstoner]




Posted by Brownstoner at 1:19 PM | Comments (23)
Categories: HOTD, Victorian Flatbush

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Comments

i love that house and i love that living room. it makes me smile. :)

*Rob*

Posted by: PitbullNYC at December 2, 2008 1:23 PM

277 is a much nicer property in all respects. Are either of these two properties worth the asking price? I don't know the area. Is 277 worth 30% more than 271? Probably. And they both seem like they'd be worth over $1MM

Posted by: daveinbedstuy at December 2, 2008 1:27 PM

Sorry DIBS, 271 is less overpriced than 277.

Posted by: the chicken at December 2, 2008 1:39 PM

Comparing 271 and 277 is besides the point, the real question is whether either of these ditmas park homes are worth the price. Put it another way, how much more could they fetch in 2006? What about 2007? I think these are both WAY overpriced.

Posted by: househunt at December 2, 2008 1:41 PM

Wow. All the homes in Ditmas are so huge!!! From the pictures its like the Hamptons in the City. These homes seem so detailed and beautiful. Why are they priced so relatively low? Is Ditmas an unsafe neighborhood??? Is it under serviced by Mass Transit? Who cares these houses seem like like you could fit 5 cars in the driveway. What gives?

Posted by: eastriver at December 2, 2008 1:44 PM

But 277 is still worth more than 271 which is what my point was.

Posted by: daveinbedstuy at December 2, 2008 1:46 PM

Yes, Dave, of course. But what are either worth in this market?

Posted by: househunt at December 2, 2008 1:49 PM

Not sure. These kind of properties are completely different from rowhouse brownstones. Whereas a condo dweller is apt to take the plunge into a brownstone, I think there are far fewer people ready to think about all of the extra upkeep that homes like this require. Christ, even the weekly lawn mowing and hedge trimming will wear you out. The market is much more limited for these and it doesn;'t have anything to do with price.

Like I said, I'm not really familiar with the location and the subway access and all the neighborhood amenities or lack thereof. But I think theya re both worth over $1mm and I think 277 is worth more than 10% above 271...30% may be a stretch.

SO..271 goes for $999,999 and 277 goes for $1.1-1.2MM

Posted by: daveinbedstuy at December 2, 2008 1:58 PM

277 IS nicer than 271 so it IS worth more but the question is one of relative value.

I think you should look at actual dollar difference rather than the percentage difference though. If both went for asking, could $354k make 271 as nice as 277? I think it could and then some.

If both take a 25% haircut to sell then the difference falls to $265k - still buys a lot of "nice"...

Posted by: the chicken at December 2, 2008 2:02 PM

i like the house, like the the layout - think they are both 2006 priced. i don't think 271 needs 300k plus worth of work.

we looked at quite a few homes in the area in 2005 and the prices were high, so they have come down a bit.

eastriver - the area is very quiet and has many transportation options. you consider over 1M cheap for a home? these prices are high considering in 2001 they were in the 300-600k range. i know someone who bought in 2001-2 and paid 350k for a huge home and then sold it in 2007 for 1.4M.

p.s. - brownstoner, the links go to Beverly Road house.

Posted by: bkny at December 2, 2008 2:13 PM

sorry brownstoner - right house, my mistake...

Posted by: bkny at December 2, 2008 2:14 PM

bkny, for a old house that big with such great detail, on such a huge lot, yes i must say cheap... unless it is within a drug warzone. Thats basically my question. What is this neighborhood like? If it is a safe area, I cant understand why people would move to the suburbs. Brooklyn, name it, we got it.

Posted by: eastriver at December 2, 2008 2:30 PM

For those of you that have never heard of Ditmas Park, please check out our local blog and judge for yourselves.

http://ditmaspark.blogspot.com/

Posted by: Argyle Road at December 2, 2008 2:43 PM

These two houses are as different as chalk and cheese. 277 is in Prospect Park South, the most impressive of the numerous Victorian developments that went up in Flatbush at the turn of the twentieth century. 271 is in Beverley Square West, still very nice, but the house in PPS are much larger, much more architecturally distinctive (although there are exceptions), closer to the park, and generally have more impressive period detail(richer carving, etc...). And in this case, 277 has had a seemingly high-end restoration.

On the down side, that area of Stratford is the least desirable section of PPS. Very close to Coney Island Avneue, which is hardly pictureque. Still a lovely house.

Are prices high? Yes, look outside the burbs in desirable sections of NJ and NY and of course CT and renovated Victorians are commanding equally high prices.

Is this section of Brooklyn safe? Yes. It's not some drug den. However, it does not yet have the chic amenities of BH or Park Slope, although there is a growning restaurant scene. Retail has had a harder time establishing itself.

A house that was listed at 1.6 in PPS earlier this year eventually sold for 1.26, after sitting for ages. Maybe that's a reality check for PPS, I don't know. Last sale I know of in BSW was ask 1.25, sold for 1.19. MKG sold both. Corcoron does overprice out here, it seems, sometimes to the seller's loss. In any case, those two sales were just before the recent downturn. Things were bad - but not like now.

Posted by: Architerrorist at December 2, 2008 3:02 PM

These are both really nice houses even though Victorian or colonial woodframe is not our style. The neighborhood is also quite nice but a little bit of a hike to Manhattan for non drivers like us.
Now as far as pricing we think Househunt is dead right: "Comparing 271 and 277 is besides the point, the real question is whether either of these ditmas park homes are worth the price. Put it another way, how much more could they fetch in 2006? What about 2007? I think these are both WAY overpriced".

Posted by: pierre de taille at December 2, 2008 3:18 PM

Architerrorist -- These houses are both in Beverly Square West - in fact, they are basically next door to one another. And although Coney Island Ave is only a block away, I can sit on my (Stratford Road) front porch and barely hear the traffic, or sit on my back deck and listen to the birds. This part of Stratford Road is very close to The Farm (at the end of the block) and all the other gentrification that has taken place on Cortelyou Road (as opposed to houses in PPS, which are close to, uh, um).

And DIBS -- the lawn mowing and hedge trimming is usually done by a lawn service, and even if you do it yourself, it's not nearly as tiring as looking for a parking spot in Park Slope!

Posted by: Back40 at December 2, 2008 3:31 PM

Anyone know the approx. square footage of 277? Property Shark doesn't recognize the address.

Posted by: psn at December 2, 2008 4:08 PM

Mea Culpa... I agree, the amenities on Cortelyou compensate for proximity to CIA in BSW. Stratford in PPS has no such advantage. I'm not saying it's loud - just that CIA is busy and asthetically unappealing. It is also visible from some side streets in both PPS and BSW, which is not a plus in my book.

Posted by: Architerrorist at December 2, 2008 5:44 PM

For over $1.4 million, a high end kitchen would be nice like 169 Stratford that sold this summer for $1.26M. A master bathroom would be a must. I would not want asphalt siding. I would also want a private yard and a separate driveway not a driveway / yard combined.

and well if we are comparing homes 169 Stratford had a finished basement so for $1.4 I guess I should have that also.

But that's just me.

Posted by: Absolute Beginner at December 2, 2008 6:41 PM

Hey, you shouldn't give CIA such a bad rap. After all, how much more convenient can it be to get your flats fixed?

Posted by: Back40 at December 2, 2008 10:06 PM

I didn't even look at the listings until I voted for the less expensive 271.

I figured both being overpriced notwithstanding, a corner house is worth more. HOWEVER, it also costs more to heat, cool, secure, landscape and update.

Posted by: i_heart_brooklyn at December 3, 2008 1:19 AM

The less expensive house is the better deal. Asphalt siding is a big turn-off. The detail and space are way better in 277, but corner lots tend to have tiny back yards in this neck of the woods.

I think the larger house is overpriced by a few hundred thousand. The smaller house, just a few tens. Still a several hundred thousand dollar difference between them, however.

Posted by: Architerrorist at December 3, 2008 9:13 AM

what is up with a cabinet on TOP of the stove vent on 277 - bizarre!

Posted by: promenade at December 3, 2008 10:28 AM

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