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April 30, 2009

Victorian Flatbush House Tour in Jeopardy!

flatbush-house-tour-043009.jpgThe 2009 Victorian Flatbush House Tour is scheduled for June 14 but it might not happen at all if some more home owners don't step up to the plate. According to the Ditmas Park Blog, the FDC needs ten more homes in order for the house tour to take place. Last time around in 2007, the event attracted over 500 people; the tickets, which sell for $20 in advance and $25 day of, are a meaningful source of funding for the Flatbush Development Corporation which organizes the tour. The last date to have your house included is May 8, so hop to it people! It would be a serious bummer if this were cancelled.
Victorian Flatbush House Tour Endangered [Ditmas Park Blog]
Photo by Flatbush Gardener




Posted by Brownstoner at 10:13 AM | Comments (16)
Categories: House Tours, Victorian Flatbush

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Comments

There was no listing for a Park Slope tour in today's house tour schedule in The Times. Has it been cancelled too?

Posted by: Arkady at April 30, 2009 10:15 AM

The print edition of the Times only lists a small fraction of the house tours. All the tours, including Park Slope are in the online version:

http://www.nytimes.com/2009/04/30/garden/30webtours-001-002.html

BTW, that's a house on this year's PLG tour at the top of the NYC listings (and on the front page of the print edition).

Posted by: Bob Marvin at April 30, 2009 10:30 AM

The NY Times listing for the Flatbush tour says they'll have at least ten homes. If they need ten more homes to do the tour, that means they have NONE, as of now. I find it hard to believe that to be the case, even though I know how incredibly hard it can be to line up houses for a house tour. Although I have no inside information about the VF HT I think there might be something wrong with that item on the Ditmas Park blog.

Posted by: Bob Marvin at April 30, 2009 10:49 AM

If this is true, it really is a disaster. This is traditionally THE tour of the entire season. If it doesn't happen, people might begin losing interest in house tours more generally.

I hope this is just a reporting error. Otherwise, I can only speculate that people are too worried about business, the economy, etc to be bothered with a house tour this year.

Posted by: 4059tj209j at April 30, 2009 11:17 AM

Maybe they don't want people coming into their house with swine flu.

Honestly, the whole thing is probably blown out of proportion, but I certainly wouldn't want a whole crapload of strangers coming through my house right now...

Posted by: 11217 at April 30, 2009 11:21 AM

My general observation is that many of the houses on the tour are subsequently up for sale. So, this lack of participation might be a sign of the times -- people aren't planning on selling in this environment.

Posted by: Back40 at April 30, 2009 12:12 PM

Back40,

Is that [tour houses being put up for sale] something specific to the Flatbush tour? It certainly hasn't been the case with our (PLG) tour or AFAIK many others.

Posted by: Bob Marvin at April 30, 2009 12:18 PM

I've done the tour 3 times and the bulk of the houses were not for sale. There was 2-3 out of 15 or so houses on the market each year, but definitely not the majority.

Posted by: kensington gal at April 30, 2009 12:39 PM

Bob, I don't have hard empirical information! However, it was my impression for a couple years in a row that several houses I'd seen on the tour went up for sale sometime in the following year.

However, maybe the stress of having all those people troop through proved too much and the owners fled. :)

Posted by: Back40 at April 30, 2009 12:40 PM

That house in the photo is IN-credible. I might have to take the tour and go see it!

Posted by: mopar at April 30, 2009 12:57 PM

Several friends of mine put their houses on the PS tour just before putting them on the market. One, a real estate agent, was certain it added to the price he got. A few others who were on the tour got offers despite not having been interested in selling.

Posted by: Arkady at April 30, 2009 1:32 PM

Back40,

In actually don't have any empirical evidence to the contrary. I know the people who do house selection for our tour wouldn't normally pick a house that's for sale, but I guess things can change afterwards. I think one of the houses that was on tour the same time I last showed my house ('06) is for sale now.

I doubt that it's the stress of having people go through your house on tour that prompts sales though. I've had my house on our tour four times in the last thirty odd years and still say the only way I'm leaving is feet first :-)

Posted by: Bob Marvin at April 30, 2009 2:03 PM

Bob,
Well, we won't settle the question here anyway! I do think that the house in the photo went up for sale in the year after it was last in the tour (unless I am misremembering). Also, the mansion on the corner of Albemarle and...Argyle?

Posted by: Back40 at April 30, 2009 3:05 PM

You are misremembering. The owners of the house in the photos are long time residents. They did not sell the house.

Posted by: Chosen at April 30, 2009 6:56 PM

And who are those beautiful people in the photo? Is that Chloe Sevigny rummaging through her bag?

Posted by: mopar at April 30, 2009 10:49 PM

Chosen,
My bad. I am confusing it with a different painted lady, I think.

Posted by: Back40 at May 1, 2009 12:06 PM

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