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February 25, 2009

2777 Bedford Avenue Sells for 25% Under Ask

After a year on the market, the charming brick Colonial house at 2777 Bedford Avenue near Brooklyn College closed earlier this month for $481,000, a discount of $168,000 to its original asking price. (It was a House of the Day back in September and an Open House Pick in January 2008 and November 2008.) Interesting reality check for this neighborhood. Are you surprised by how low the selling price was? GMAP

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thats still alittle pricey

Posted by: Santa at February 25, 2009 10:31 AM

What's the hood like there? Good or bad? Price seems cheap for such nice looking house.

Posted by: PropJoe at February 25, 2009 10:33 AM

I'm a little surprised. When they lowered asking to 500K, I must have sent that link to 10 friends who complain that they can't find a decent, affordable place to live. I thought it was very sweet house. Congratulations to the new owners!

Posted by: Ringo at February 25, 2009 10:33 AM

what an obnoxious thing to do to your friends lol.

*r*

Posted by: PitbullNYC at February 25, 2009 10:35 AM

I was interested in that house and drove down there to check the neighborhood... Yes, the house is very cute, yes the street is nice, but the surrounding, man? Fuggedaboudit! I then realized that the house was way overpriced for the location. Too bad, it's a nice house, but not worth more than $325/$350K.

Posted by: stringer at February 25, 2009 10:36 AM

the area is okay. hmm wow i didn't know prices were that cheap :o in that area.

Posted by: armchairwarrior at February 25, 2009 10:36 AM

It is a nice house.
That's what these little charmers should be priced at....under 500k

Posted by: bayridgegirl at February 25, 2009 10:36 AM

I think the area is nice. It's not bad living next to Brooklyn College -- locals can use their shuttle bus, gym, pool and you can always rent to professors if you need to rent for a year or two.

Posted by: Ringo at February 25, 2009 10:39 AM

The train takes forever to get to Manhattan from there. That's why I moved from that area to Clinton Hill. I liked some of the shopping nearby, and the new mall and Target there are great, but that's about the right price for that location. If you've ever taken a dollar van from there anywhere, you know why they cost only a dollar.

Posted by: DarkStar at February 25, 2009 10:46 AM

What's the consensus of when the offer was made on this?

I'm curious as to whether my $624k offer on yesterday's HOTD will be accepted...

Posted by: the chicken at February 25, 2009 11:02 AM

For the parochial types who can count on one hand the number of times they've ventured south of prospect park, it's too far out and the price was too high.

I think it would be encouraging for first time buyers with less than 6 figure incomes to see a decent house that they could afford.

Posted by: Bklnite at February 25, 2009 11:17 AM

My grandparent lived a few blocks from there off Glenwood, on Ocean Ave - it was a royal pain in the arse to get to and not the best immediate area in the 70s and 80s (probably not so different now). But pretty for sure. My mom went to Erasmus Hall high (and then Brooklyn College) which back then was a great school in a beautiful building (Barbara Streisand was a few years behind her) and today has more metal detectors than JFK...

Posted by: saminthehood at February 25, 2009 11:35 AM

> "I think it would be encouraging for first time buyers with less than 6 figure incomes to see a decent house that they could afford."

True, except that given more realistic lending standards, a (low) six figure income is still required to afford this house.

Posted by: SnarkSlope at February 25, 2009 11:41 AM

Also, its a stretch to say that someone with a 5-figure income can truly afford a house for nearly $500K.

Posted by: saminthehood at February 25, 2009 11:42 AM

"Also, its a stretch to say that someone with a 5-figure income can truly afford a house for nearly $500K."

Exactly. Which is why prices are realligning with the reality of lending in the age of reasonableness. The easy mortgage made absurd prices possible, but now that you need to make alot in order to spend a lot, prices need to reflect that. And 480K for a sweet house in the Brooklyn College area seems, if any thing, a tad too high to me.

Posted by: shillstoner at February 25, 2009 11:53 AM

Shillstoner - another factor inflating the amount people could pay, i.e. the huge downpayments coming from bubble-induced equity on homes they were selling, has also gone for the large part.

Posted by: dittoburg at February 25, 2009 12:00 PM

the chicken,
With regards to yesterday's HOTD, I'd say $700,000 would probably get it (or at least "should" get it).

It last sold for $625k. Figuring 8% bump for realtor fee, closing costs, etc. The remaining for "profit", I think $700k is a reasonable offer.

Now, is it "worth" that? That's a different argument. But I figure a house bought less than 2 years ago is realistically due a 10% (15% max) bump over the last transaction price to cover the sellers costs. The 10-15% is a "break even" number.

Now, if the seller is willing to lose money on the deal, well, that is a whole different ball game...

Posted by: christopher at February 25, 2009 1:02 PM

Saminthehood,

You will be presently surprised to know that the neighborhood has seen much improvement since the 70's and 80's. Same with Erasmus which was restructured several years back into five separate schools all of which are doing well.

What hasn't changed is that the area is still inconvenient to access by public transportation and there are still metal detectors at Erasmus and every other NYC public high school.

BTW, you don't have to be a neighborhood resident to use the facilities at Brooklyn College. They have a number of different programs like the Adult Education, Senior Citizens and Saturday School for Kids, etc... that would give you access.

Posted by: Chaka at February 25, 2009 1:08 PM

I'm so glad this sold. I loved this little house.

Posted by: TownhouseLady at February 25, 2009 1:19 PM

We looked at the house late in the summer--just around when the price dropped to $500,000. We liked the house, even though there was a decided dip in the upstairs hallway. It just had a very nice feel, reasonable layout and size, and the neighborhood seemed fine. No, it's not park slope, but it wasn't park slope prices either. The things which stayed our hand from making an offer were the following: 1) busy street. That wasn't a dealbreaker, just a bit discouraging; 2) no backyard to speak of. That block of houses is nicely set back, and the landscaping, though relatively simple is quite charming, but the be backyard is about the size of a bedroom in a new Scarano condominium. I.e. WTF? I'm happy to hear it sold, and I wish the new owners a happy life there!

Posted by: Minmin at February 25, 2009 1:45 PM

"what an obnoxious thing to do to your friends lol."

I know. And they all emailed me back, BUT I DONT WANT TO LIVE IN THE GHETTO!

I had to email them back, This isn't the ghetto. Besides, you can't afford the ghetto!

Posted by: Ringo at February 25, 2009 2:02 PM

Another two of these connected houses are for sale on the same side of the street. This fact could have influenced the seller to take the price.

Posted by: WrathOfGates at February 25, 2009 2:31 PM

The reasonable tone of this exchange is somewhat refreshing... I wonder if it has to do with the absence of a certain cast of characters.

Also -- It's nice to see people admitting Half-a-Million-Dollars is actually unaffordable to a lot of people! And that a 6-figure income is both necessary and not what the average person has.

If we can start to see houses selling for prices within the horizon of reality... The next step will be to see apartments selling for *apartment* prices... but I digress.

Posted by: tybur6 at February 25, 2009 2:31 PM

My point was ... a decent house for less than half a mil and more people who aren't filthy rich (by salary or by good fortune of property bought pre-bubble) can be in the market. In recent years I couldn't imagine how first time buyers who didn't make crazy wall street money could dream of owning, and it's rare on this site to see discussion of a house in this price range.

I figured at that price a buyer could finance 80% for about 27k a year; add in taxes and insurance and you could swing this for 31% of 100k +/- (if lenders will lend - that I don't know). Not to say mid 5 figures lets you afford a .5 million house, but this is heading towards sanity.

Posted by: Bklnite at February 25, 2009 3:31 PM

Affordability is ultimately going to determine the bottom - both in terms of the multiple the banks are willing to lend and the income that people have.

I appreciate that there are a lot of people that make a lot of money here but if you strip out the doctors and bankers, what is a reasonable approximation of median income in New York (and Brooklyn if it's significantly different).

Posted by: the chicken at February 25, 2009 3:42 PM

Affordability is ultimately going to determine the bottom - both in terms of the multiple the banks are willing to lend and the income that people have.

Posted by: the chicken at February 25, 2009 3:42 PM

Chaka says: "there are still metal detectors at Erasmus and every other NYC public high school."

This is absolutely not the case - I teach at a very large public high school in Brooklyn which has no metal detectors, and we're quite safe, thank you very much!

Posted by: sixyearsandcounting at February 25, 2009 4:01 PM

I've got 2 kids in NYC public schools on their way to HS, and I thought it was only those rough schools where I'd never send my kids that had detectors... til I saw this:

Stuyvesant to Install Metal Detectors--Nerd Alerts Likely
http://gothamist.com/2008/11/24/stuyvesant_to_install_metal_detecto.php

Posted by: Bklnite at February 25, 2009 4:24 PM

the chicken:

The nature of median (vs. average) being what it is, I don't think stripping out the bankers and doctors would change median income significantly.

Census data...
http://quickfacts.census.gov/qfd/states/36/36061.html
Median household income, 2007
$63,704 New York (Manhattan)
$41,304 Kings

There are enough really poor people to counter the effects of the super rich in the numbers.

Posted by: Bklnite at February 25, 2009 4:44 PM

Please, face reality. Someone making $100,000 who can only out down 20% should not be buying a $500,000 property. (and certainly not anyone earning below 100k) Plain and simple. After all everything is said and done (e.g. taxes etc) you are looking at closer to 40% of net going to housing - which is too much. Much of our economic problem today has to do with the fact that people were willing to go way beyond 40% on housing. Nevertheless, you would be surprised to learn how many six-figure earners live in this city. Alot. I deal with them every day. And so until all those law firm associates starting at $150k, doctors, business/finance, managers, consultants etc lose their jobs, there are enough people who can afford the $500K property.

Posted by: saminthehood at February 25, 2009 5:11 PM

sixyearsandcounting,

In keeping with tybur6's comment on the refreshing exchange on this thread, I must apologize for my mistake. You are correct. Every high school does not have free-standing metal detectors. However, every high school in NYC does have handheld transfriskers. They were instituted by the NYPD when the NYPD took over the School Safety force.

Posted by: Chaka at February 25, 2009 7:39 PM

Chaka,

That sounds right to me, although I've never seen them being used where I teach (a large public high school not named Midwood, but in Midwood...).

Posted by: sixyearsandcounting at February 25, 2009 7:50 PM

thanks for the number Bklnite.

You're right Sam - the income spread is large in most major cities but particularly in New York.

And now the key question - where does this house sit within the overall housing market? Is it above or below the median? Most would consider the space/quality to be above median but the location below median....

Posted by: the chicken at February 26, 2009 3:48 AM

« Rumor Mill: Gage & Tollner Space Leased? Second Act for 1136 Dean Street »

February 25, 2009

2777 Bedford Avenue Sells for 25% Under Ask

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