« Brooklyn Food & Drink Round-Up House of the Day: 13 South Elliott Place »

January 28, 2009

Foreclosure of the Week: 395 Van Brunt Street

This small two-family house at 395 Van Brunt Street in Red Hook has been up for foreclosure before and never actually gone to auction so we probably shouldn't get our hopes up, but given the location and the fact that the lien on the property is a measly $12,981, it's hard not to get excited. The 1,700-square-foot two-family house has obviously seen better days, but we bet those boarded up windows would clean up pretty nicely and make a great storefront! The property is scheduled to be auctioned at 3 p.m. tomorrow in Room 261 at 360 Adams Street.
395 Van Brunt Street [Property Shark] GMAP

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So who goes to these auctions? Banks? Developers? Random dudes? There's no way a plot of land in Brooklyn's going to go for twelve grand, right? It'll get bid way up from that?

I'm very curious about the foreclosure auction process, as I know virtually nothing about it except that it happens. :P

Posted by: cwbuecheler at January 28, 2009 12:46 PM

Don't worry CWB, this property will sell for an amount far exceeding good sense. The $12k will hardly come into play.

Posted by: tybur6 at January 28, 2009 12:48 PM

This is NOT the kind of house that says "sex appeal", just FYI.

Posted by: sam at January 28, 2009 12:52 PM

Id buy that for a dollar!

Posted by: Santa at January 28, 2009 12:57 PM

Are there any pictures of the kitchen?

Posted by: bayridgegirl at January 28, 2009 12:58 PM

I'd buy it for tens of thousands... but I'm sure this property will auction for hundred and hundred of thousands.

Posted by: tybur6 at January 28, 2009 12:59 PM

I look at this house and think of Courtney Love. Not sure why.

Posted by: SnarkSlope at January 28, 2009 1:05 PM

If this is the house I'm thinking off, there is a disintergrating absolutely ancient farmhouse at the back of the lot. And I mean farmhouse. I'm guessing its 200yrs old at least. I tried to research it once. Doesn't seem to be on anyone's historic lists.

If its not the house I'm thinking of, then its a few blocks up Van Brunt.

Posted by: dittoburg at January 28, 2009 1:06 PM

oooooooooh courtney used to live around the corner from where i work. now she's in the process of trying to find her daughter francis bean a condo in the same area in soho.
i'd be courtney love or her daughters gay butler in a nanosecond!! ROB GO FETCH ME MY SLIPPERS! YES MA'M!

*R*

Posted by: PitbullNYC at January 28, 2009 1:08 PM

Yep - I think I can see it on the maximum resolution GMAP.

Anyone got the story?

Posted by: dittoburg at January 28, 2009 1:09 PM

$13k?

I'll take 2.

Odds are it'll go for a few hundred thousand. I say $250k...
(not that i would pay that, but....)

Posted by: christopher at January 28, 2009 1:11 PM

Is that a junkyard next door?

Posted by: northsloperenter at January 28, 2009 1:13 PM

I just hope this doesn't count as today's HOTD.

Posted by: bk14 at January 28, 2009 1:14 PM

This house has one advantage. It is around the corner from a major historical site: the place where I was born.

Posted by: benson at January 28, 2009 1:15 PM

The revere sugar factory?

Posted by: dittoburg at January 28, 2009 1:17 PM

27 cats live and run that house.

Posted by: cb6 at January 28, 2009 1:18 PM

Corocran will feature it as a " renovators dream" in 6 months, 1.2 million.

Posted by: Prodigal_Son at January 28, 2009 1:29 PM

> "It is around the corner from a major historical site: the place where I was born."

The manufactured gas plant?

;-)

Posted by: SnarkSlope at January 28, 2009 1:31 PM

ba boom

Posted by: dittoburg at January 28, 2009 1:34 PM

"I look at this house and think of Courtney Love."

I look at it and think "Fred Sanford."

Posted by: East New York at January 28, 2009 1:35 PM

"Corocran will feature it as a " renovators dream" in 6 months, 1.2 million. "

And someone will buy it... and we all wonder why our economy is in the crapper.

Posted by: tybur6 at January 28, 2009 1:37 PM

"The manufactured gas plant?"

No: natural gas!

:-)

Posted by: benson at January 28, 2009 1:38 PM

Anyone who wins the bid will be lucky. Fairway, Ikea, BWAC, Kentler, and other bizzes. Not bad and lots of potential.

Posted by: cb6 at January 28, 2009 1:44 PM

You all are being 'acerbic bastards'.
This thread will soon disappear!

Posted by: bayridgegirl at January 28, 2009 1:50 PM

Iheard that there's an 8 storey coop across the street that's unsightly but well landscaped. I've only seen about a half dozen pictures of it so I'm in no way qualified to judge whether it should detract from the price of this.

Wanting the "brownstone experience" is code for entitlement.

Posted by: daveinbedstuy at January 28, 2009 2:02 PM

Fred Sanford! Ban na na na na ba Bow...

I think this would make a great spot for one of those shipping container Dwell homes... really eco conscious and using old shipping cargo boxes as homes. They are LOVELY. But not if the site goes for over 2 hundie.

Posted by: Nokilissa at January 28, 2009 2:07 PM

yes my friend owns the "junkyard" next door and by the way there is an actual shipping container house be hind that fence. the house is dilapidated and has been in a legal tussel for a number of years. I just put in a call to see what the deal is.!!!

Posted by: tsarina at January 28, 2009 2:39 PM

I thought this is where the progressive co-housing for cats project has been operating. All the cats have equal say in the household chores and rodent scavanging.

Posted by: sam at January 28, 2009 2:45 PM

I'm sure my ignorance is showing, but why a forclosure with only a 13k lien? Couldn't that be 'worked out' wit the bank by restructuring a loan or something something?

Posted by: MAT at January 28, 2009 3:00 PM

This little beauty has been the object of a tug-of-war between the "owners" and the occupant for years. It has been on and off the market, but the title issues have been complicated enough to keep anyone from buying.

And though it may not look like much, it's actually a desirable property for a few reasons. As a multi-story building on an M1 strip, the building is overbuilt FAR-wise. But because it's grandfathered in, the new owner could renovate and keep all that square footage. An owner-user could put a gallery or restaurant space on the ground floor and might even be able to get residential space above. The location, for Red Hook, is divine - two doors down from the Good Fork, across from Tini and the former Lenell's (RIP).

The long-time occupant (who may have a legitimate claim to ownership) inspired enough goodwill in his neighbors that locals have steered clear. I don't know what happened recently, but this is as close to those farm foreclosures from the '80's as we get in Brooklyn.

Posted by: tina24hour at January 28, 2009 8:14 PM

Wow, that IS a great location. What is going on to the right and to the left of the actual building? I always look at this place when I'm at the nearby bus stop and the bus is taking its sweet time.

Posted by: Carol Gardens at January 28, 2009 9:11 PM

Someone needs to get in the back and snap a pic of the farmhouse

Posted by: dittoburg at January 29, 2009 8:10 AM

I want to know more about the FARMHOUSE!!!

21 years ago, we almost bid on a house in PLG (freestanding frame on a block otherwise composed of rowhouses) that had a BARN in back (being used as garage) with REAL FARM IMPLEMENTS in a HAYLOFT. It must've predated everything else around it. We didn't go for it, for various reasons, but I've never ceased wondering if someone preserved that farm-barn...also wish I could remember where the heck it was. Near a corner, perhaps Maple St.?...it was overshadowed by at least a six-story apt bldg jammed up next to it...

...anyway, I hope someone can tell us more and dig around for artifacts.

Posted by: Brenda from Flatbush at January 29, 2009 2:03 PM

Would be great to know what happened at the auction. Brownstoner, any chance of a follow up.

Posted by: qwerty at January 29, 2009 10:43 PM

Follow up:
House did not go to auction. Shady types on one side of struggle over ownership did some kind of payment to avoid auction. I heard there has been some kind of federal
oversight because of irregularities connected to this property.

Posted by: Hawthorne at April 5, 2009 6:26 PM

« Brooklyn Food & Drink Round-Up House of the Day: 13 South Elliott Place »

January 28, 2009

Foreclosure of the Week: 395 Van Brunt Street

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