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August 27, 2009

House of the Day: 86 Douglass Street

86-Douglass-Street-0809.jpg
This two-family brownstone at 86 Douglass Street in Cobble Hill is currently a rental. And it shows. There's not original architectural detail in sight and the backyard clearly hasn't had the love of an owner in some time. The bigger questions, though, are (a) what the parlor floor looks like, since it doesn't appear to have been featured in any of the photos, and (b) what would it cost to combine and upgrade the two existing apartments into a single-family house. Without a little more info, it's hard to know what to make of the $1,275,000 asking price.
86 Douglass Street [Heights Berkeley] GMAP P*Shark





Posted by Brownstoner at 1:12 PM | Comments (30)
Categories: Cobble Hill, HOTD

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Comments

If that's the lower level rental, it ain't bad.

Posted by: daveinbedstuy at August 27, 2009 1:16 PM

look! it's going to be sunny and mild today. turn your farking tv off when you take pictures for listings. jesus

*rob*

Posted by: PitbullNYC at August 27, 2009 1:17 PM

cobble hill?

Posted by: duckumu at August 27, 2009 1:18 PM

The house is great, really fine, the question is the location. It is certainly not located in what I think of as Cobble Hill. It is half a block from the massive public housing projects. Of course it also near upscale(ish) Smith Street.
The location is not a million-plus location. However the house has such great potential that it would be a good buy under 900,000.

Posted by: Minard Lafever at August 27, 2009 1:33 PM

of course would be a good by under $900K and so would that house on Clinton street. But this isn't going to sell for under $1m. And there have been plenty of houses for well over $1m on this block on on all the others nearby. And 1 house directly facing those 'massive' housing project was listed for somewhere around $1.8m and is in contract.

Posted by: Petebklyn at August 27, 2009 1:47 PM

back in early '08, 112 butler st went for 1.975 mio. (side note to all those who rely on asking prices: pls note this sold at 17% off original ask. it was on the market in 2007 during the "bubble".)

http://www.brownstoner.com/brownstoner/archives/2007/05/house_of_the_da_317.php

even closer to the projects. of course it was a very modern ground-up new home. even if you lop off 20%, that leaves plenty of room for a full renovation.

i think the issue in this market is that a construction loan would make getting a decent jumbo look like a cakewalk. and folks with liquidity are not jumping into real estate projects, but rather hunting for the distressed owners who just finished one.

this may not be exactly prime CH/CG/Heights, but to hit the property for being so close to the projects would wipe out half the homes in the borough!

Posted by: antidope at August 27, 2009 1:52 PM

The current tenant in the 3 bedroom garden/parlor duplex rental pays over $4K and has a lease through NEXT AUGUST. Block is not bad - don't think that anything on the block will sell for less than $1M. The bricktastic 78 Douglass across the street compares favorably to this place - although 78's price tag is out of line.

Posted by: stnbrkn at August 27, 2009 1:56 PM

Speaking as someone who's had a lot written about whether we live in Cobble Hill or not, I feel qualified to say that this house is not in Cobble Hill. I think Brownstoner misinterpreted the RE listing where it says that "two family located steps from trendy Smith Street in Cobble Hill.".

That being said in lieu of a floor plan or better photos I think the price is a bit of a stretch. Three floors of 20 x 34 = 680 sq ft which includes hallway & staircase are not particularly big. If you assume the the staircase & associated hallway take up 180 sq ft (say 6 x 30) then you're left with 1500 sq ft spread out over three floors. How do you configure that as a decent sized one family? That's basically two decent sized and one small room per floor.

Not that we're looking but I'd pass on this one even at a million.

Posted by: 99luftballons at August 27, 2009 2:03 PM

"to hit the property for being so close to the projects would wipe out half the homes in the borough!"

Then how come the topic of "projects" doesn't show up in far more than half the HOTD's? It's always an issue when you go to sell.

***Bid half off peak comps***

Posted by: Brownstones Half Off at August 27, 2009 2:05 PM

"1 house directly facing those 'massive' housing project was listed for somewhere around $1.8m and is in contract."

In contract for how much and for how long?

***Bid half off peak comps***

Posted by: Brownstones Half Off at August 27, 2009 2:07 PM

and people in the projects paying 200 bux a month are laughing at the fools who buy this and have to pay 9000 dollars a month.

*rob*

Posted by: PitbullNYC at August 27, 2009 2:08 PM

162 Douglass was on market for 62 days...at $1.825 listing price...still in contract not closed yet. nice and bigger than this but DIRECTLY facing projects.

Posted by: Petebklyn at August 27, 2009 2:15 PM

buyers are dummies

or

it's not that big a negative / everyone is close to a project

Posted by: antidope at August 27, 2009 2:25 PM


So... 2 of the three floors are rented out at this extraordinary rental rate (don't think the renewal would be that high) and your stuck on the 3rd floor for about $1600 a month per the remaining mortgage PLUS taxes and all other expenses.

This just sound like an AWESOME deal. When can I sign up!

Posted by: tybur6 at August 27, 2009 2:27 PM

these posts are laughable. There was an impeccable house in the real Cobble Hill, Congress Street I believe, and people were going on and on about how the perfectly well-maintained 6-story co-op across the street cast a pall over the entire block. However today we hear that buyers will gladly pay 1.8 million dollars to live across the street from one of the biggest public housing projects in the Downtown area.
Too much.

Posted by: Minard Lafever at August 27, 2009 2:32 PM

I always think of Smith St. as being partly in Boerum Hill (and partly in Carroll Gardens) and that Cobble Hill ended at Court St. In my mental map both the Douglas Street house, and the section of Smith St. right near it, are in Carroll Gardens.

Posted by: Boerum Hill at August 27, 2009 2:42 PM

I'm just excited because this property will give me the opportunity to be a *landlord* and live in a 1-bed apt on the to floor for only around $3500 a month! (More if you're lucky!)

Posted by: tybur6 at August 27, 2009 2:45 PM

The "Last Weeks Biggest Sales" post from earlier this week had 238 Wyckoff closing for $1.516 million. It too is 1/2 block from public housing. It was a nicer looking house than the Douglas St. property.

Posted by: Boerum Hill at August 27, 2009 2:55 PM

Saw this place this weekend. Tenant has an attidtude, but whatever. Upper floor (currently empty) needs a significant amount of work (the floor has a significant dip in it). Cobble Hill (yes this is in Cobble Hill, if think otherwise, get over it) is a greta place and has been holding value well, but this is on a bit of a boring block. Close enough to the F line to not worry about the projects, but it is the F line...

Decent place, but who would buy it without having a unit you could move into for a year? $1.25 seems about $300k to high to me, but it'll go for over $1 million, if it goes.

Posted by: mixicon at August 27, 2009 3:20 PM

This not Cobble Hill, get with it.

Posted by: edifice rex at August 27, 2009 3:52 PM

The new name for this area is Cobble Slope.

Posted by: Minard Lafever at August 27, 2009 3:56 PM

carroll hill.

this won't move and will be yanked from the market in due course for reasons mixicon noted. no one will step into this mess in this market.

Posted by: antidope at August 27, 2009 4:05 PM

It's sweet, and it has potential, but it looks like a tacky little barrio house with its little plexiglass awning, filled-in doorway and concrete garden. I'm not sure it will sell in this market for 900,000. It's not a million dollar house and it is really not in Cobble Hill.

Posted by: Minard Lafever at August 27, 2009 4:14 PM

Mixicon -- This is not Cobble Hill. You could make an argument that Douglass is in Boerum Hill rather than Carroll Gardens, but no way no how has anyone claimed anything on this side of Smith Street is Cobble Hill.

(I think most definitions of Cobble Hill stop at Court, and I agree from an architectural and traditional resident pov, but I can at least see the argument that it extends one block eastward and down hill to Smith.)

Even so, if anyone gets this for under a million dollars they will get a great deal unless the center beams are rotten and the foundation is sinking. A dip in the floors of less than six inches won't change anything.

The Butler comp is an interesting choice, and Douglass IMHO is a more attractive block. However that was pre-Lehman and also fully renovated and atypical layout.

Does anyone have any insight into the contract price for 162 Douglass? Was it even within 20% of ask? I was astonished that it went into contract so quickly, but it photographed well and perhaps the buyer was willing to pay a premium for non-traditional layout and modernist feel.

Posted by: Boerumresident at August 27, 2009 4:30 PM

Hot mess! Looks like a favela and rented until next summer. What's not to love?

Posted by: Maly at August 27, 2009 4:31 PM

Oh God, that place is so overwhelmingly ugly it hurts.

Posted by: donatella at August 27, 2009 4:37 PM

Donatella, I couldn't agree more. If the sellers get more than 900K for this, the bull market is not dead.

Posted by: Maly at August 27, 2009 4:42 PM

wouldn't get too hung up on what you call the block...
They all shop the same stores/streets, use the same subway stations, blah, blah, blah. Wish we would just go back to 1 name for whole neigbhorhood and quit the nit-picking.
Certainly some blocks are nicer/prettier/desireable than others but still the same community.

Posted by: Petebklyn at August 27, 2009 4:44 PM

The bottom line is this, if you are a person who can see through the surface of things and if you have taste and a little money, you see a little barrio house like this and you say to yourself: I could really fix this up and make it a charmer that will knock your socks off. But, and this is a big but, you don't pay a million dollars for it in its raw state. THATS nuts. Kiddies in Brooklyn have lost sight of the real world. No one is going to spend a million bucks on an unrenovated house across from the Gowanus Houses because you insist it is Cobble Hill. Snap out of it!

Posted by: Minard Lafever at August 27, 2009 9:29 PM

This place is absolutely disgusting. We looked at it a couple of weekends ago and the tenant, who allegedly pays $4k/mth for the garden and upper level, lives like an absolute slob. It seriously looks like homeless people live there-I can't believe they'd show it in that condition. That doesn't even get to the complete filth and disarray of the "apt" upstairs where the owner would have to live until they got rid of the tenant and scrubbed the place down. Unbelievable asking price under the circumstances. I needed a shower when I walked out of that place.

Posted by: bigainbrooklyn at September 1, 2009 6:09 PM

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