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April 13, 2009

Co-op of the Day: 415 Argyle Road

We'll be honest: The reason this listing at 415 Argyle Road grabbed our attention was the interior decoration. That living room. Wow. Then we started to take a look at the numbers: Two beds, two baths, 1,250 square feet, $1,155 maintenance, $485,000 asking price. Then we realized that we'd recently tapped another unit in this building: Apartment 3J which was 1,000 square feet and asking $379,000. So how do you think this one stacks up? It would be helpful to have a floorplan.
415 Argyle Road [Abacus] GMAP P*Shark

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There is a floorplan (and a three dimensional one at that!!!) when you "View All Photos."

Luckily all the livingroom furniture, drapes and carpetting can easily be thrown out or, hopefully, isn't included!!!!

Main problem is that the 2 bedrooms are miniscule.

Posted by: daveinbedstuy at April 13, 2009 12:47 PM

There is a floorplan on the site. And it's interesting.

Posted by: InsertSnappyNameHere at April 13, 2009 12:48 PM

UGH this place is AWWWWFULLLL
I don;t see any redeeming qualities about this place
this place seriously provoked a visceral reaction -ugh ugh ugh!!

Posted by: gemini10 at April 13, 2009 12:51 PM

What on earth was going on in that living room? What are the current inhabitants into? This place is awful.

Posted by: Ljubitca at April 13, 2009 12:58 PM

If you strip away all the "noise" the actual apartment is pretty nice. I only wish that there was either a master bath up there given all that closet space.

Posted by: TownhouseLady at April 13, 2009 12:58 PM

OMG...I am loving the sofa and green chair, and in the bedroom the glass lamps, ooooh and that orange chair.
The apt. layout is quite nice.
The maintenance is a killer though.

Posted by: bayridgegirl at April 13, 2009 1:02 PM

Is it just me, or does $1,155/mo maintenance seem high?

Posted by: mrkknox at April 13, 2009 1:03 PM

Maint is insanely high for a building with few amenities

Posted by: Ditmas at April 13, 2009 1:10 PM

High.

Posted by: Nomi at April 13, 2009 1:10 PM

The living room is almost ugly beautiful.

Posted by: Nomi at April 13, 2009 1:11 PM

Wow - for that much maintenance somebody better do my cooking and cleaning for me.

Posted by: dirty_hipster at April 13, 2009 1:15 PM

FYI, an almost identical apartment sold in this building in March for $480K. Yep, post-Lehman.

When do people start realizing that the furniture, etc. goes away when the seller moves out...

Posted by: kensingtonka at April 13, 2009 1:21 PM

>"When do people start realizing that the furniture, etc. goes away when the seller moves out..."

I think most people realize it . . .. sort of. That is, that most of know it, but find it hard to imagine the place without the furniture. Really hard. This is why staging, as obvious as it can sometimes be, works.

Posted by: Nomi at April 13, 2009 1:29 PM

Toss the furniture and this apt still has all the charm of an IRS audit.

Posted by: DeLepp at April 13, 2009 1:31 PM

I understand furniture moves out too

the apt to me still stinks
it's just a vanilla ugly box built in the 60's with no detail or points of interest

there are no pics of the kitchen and bathroom which mean they need updating, so that means more of my money

The maintenance is insanely high and the bedrooms are really tiny
I would never pay $480K for a place like this

Posted by: gemini10 at April 13, 2009 1:32 PM

The magic staircase has to be worth something, no?

Posted by: toadie at April 13, 2009 1:44 PM

If I can keep the lamps with the shades (still wrapped in the plastic) than I just might buy it; full asking! Seriously this place is what keeps stagers in business, but regardless seems overpriced for what is underneath the obvious decorative distraction.

Posted by: paizhestar at April 13, 2009 1:54 PM

>"Toss the furniture and this apt still has all the charm of an IRS audit."

Ha. That is funny. And timely. And pretty much true. I agree. Certainly the drabness could be disguised by more pleasing furnishing, but, yeah, this is not an uplifting apartment. Nothing offensive about it, but for the price and maintenance -- no.

Posted by: Nomi at April 13, 2009 2:05 PM

at 380k or lower, one can overlook more stuff - incl the high maintenance. 350k or lower, good deal

Posted by: more4less at April 13, 2009 2:13 PM

Re: the maintenance. About $175/month too high. Which, given the current mortgage rates, is worth about $30K. Disclaimer: I know nothing about the financial condition of the building, so no idea whether a galloping maintenance increases are in the future.

Re: the looks. Beautiful it isn't, but it's not meant to be measured up against brownstone floor-throughs or even pre-war apartments. How does it stack against other apartments in post-war brick buildings? 1960s box reincarnated as faux-whatever is truly ugly, but it could look great with other furnishings.

Posted by: kensingtonka at April 13, 2009 2:21 PM

If the furnishings had a mid-century modern vibe this would be a nice pad. That's still a high maintenence for no door man. Granted it has westen exposure, but it's still only one exposure. I do like how the terraces are not on top of eachother. Just not my cup of gin.

Posted by: DeLepp at April 13, 2009 2:35 PM

MAINTENACE AND NO DOORMAN???? ROTFLMMFAO

Posted by: daveinbedstuy at April 13, 2009 2:37 PM

Wow, that maintenance is ridiculous. Of course the building may also be in terrible financial shape, but who knows? This apartment may not be pretty (current furnishings aside - I'm tempted to go to an open house just to see that in person!), but it's functional and that's what it's meant to be. It's also in a prime location near Cortelyou Road, which is getting nicer and nicer these days. Restaurants keep opening and by all appearances are doing a booming business, even post-Lehman. Ok, I'll stop being such a cheerleader now.

Posted by: sixyearsandcounting at April 13, 2009 3:10 PM

this is a nice sized apt with outdoor space that's pretty cheap. if the maintenance includes utilities and is tax deductible, it's not that bad.

also, if you could snag a parking spot, that's cool.

who cares if it's a box - decorate!

Posted by: wine lover at April 13, 2009 3:10 PM

rent on that would be about $2500. Strip out the maintenance (which seems v high as mentioned) and you're "paying" $1350 for the apartment @ 5% interest points to about $300k.

No doubt someone will pony up a touch more for the privilege of owning and the location is pretty decent.

Posted by: the chicken at April 13, 2009 3:13 PM

Is this in Mill Basin?

Posted by: mopar at April 13, 2009 3:27 PM

no - it's in Victorian Flatbush, half a block south from the stretch of Cortelyou Rd with Picket Fence, Farm on Adderley, Connecticut Muffin, Vox Pop, etc.

Nice area (if I do say so myself).

Posted by: the chicken at April 13, 2009 3:49 PM

I seen a few apartments in this building. Overall, I like the look of this building and its location right off Cortelyou Road. Most of the apartments I've seen had very good layouts as well as light.
However, I remember a realtor mentioning to me that the sponsor had sold more than 75% of his units (10% down with NO Board approval) at 415 Argyle in the past five years. I have no idea if this is true. But, THAT would concern me, given current economic times.

Posted by: Portchop at April 13, 2009 3:59 PM

Are those Zarin Fabrics?

Posted by: TownhouseLady at April 13, 2009 4:53 PM

Pprtchop Why the concern? A lot of these rental buildings that converted to coops are being sold that way as the rental tenants move out. It is not necessarily a bad thing. And as more residents become shareholders, they control board/budget. That said, there is likely to be a minimal reserve fund -- maybe why the maintenance is hihg -- they are trying to build it up or pay for capital expenditures from maintenance.

Posted by: BH76 at April 13, 2009 5:05 PM

Wow, I could have a blast re-visioning that furniture and keeping it all. Some of those pieces ARE mid-century modern, you sillies.

Posted by: Heather at April 13, 2009 6:59 PM

I think the duplex layout and the balcony distinguish it from a lot of post wars - not just in the neighborhood, but in Brooklyn. Is this the bldg with the pool? Maintenance does seem high.

Posted by: Architerrorist at April 13, 2009 7:19 PM

Just curious if I am mistaken but on the 3D drawing are the stairs on the lower and upper level connecting in the right way? Had my little Escher moment here....

Posted by: dutchman at April 13, 2009 7:45 PM

You;re right, Dutchman, Stairs are definitely Escher-esque.

Oh lookie, here's a unit in the same building that is large, cheaper and has a much lower maintenance:

- http://www.streeteasy.com/nyc/sale/161650-coop-415-argyle-road-kensington-brooklyn

This one needs to shed at least 100k.

Posted by: SnarkSlope at April 13, 2009 8:06 PM

SnarkSlope, I think we are dealing with some highly creative measuring here. I know the building. There is no way on earth that 2M would be 1,400 sq. feet and this one - 1,250. The duplexes are much larger than the regular 2 bdrs. The dining room is a size of a decent 3rd bedroom.

I live in a building that was built and later converted to coops by the same people as 415 Argyle; there are a few of them in the neighborhood. I also have a duplex. Another reason the maintenance is so high, is that they had allocated more shares to duplexes. My maintenance is double of what people in 1-bedrooms pay in our building.

I wonder if those 3D plans were done by the original builder. When I bought my apartment, I also got a 3D drawing, in a similar style...and the kitchen wasn't situated quite where it was on the plan. Oops.

Posted by: kensingtonka at April 14, 2009 6:29 AM

At that price (or what I appraised it for) the maintenance is approaching the mortgage payment!! How can someone looking in that price range, even the list price range, afford that kind of maintenance fee?

Posted by: mksk at April 14, 2009 12:41 PM

« Checking In On The Lofts on Lex House of the Day: 113 Garfield Place »

April 13, 2009

Co-op of the Day: 415 Argyle Road

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