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August 31, 2009

House of the Day: 212 8th Avenue

The four-story brownstone at 212 8th Avenue in Park Slope is a beautiful house, to be sure, and is extra-large too because of the two-floor extension, but we don't think it's a $3 million house in this market, which is a pity because the asking price is way up there at $3,495,000. Love the woodwork and other architectural details, though, and are sure it'll make some new owner very happy when a market-clearing price is reached.
212 8th Avenue [Betancourt] GMAP P*Shark

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11 min to nearest subway.
rental on a $3 mio crib.
no garden to speak of.
no way, no how.

sorry this will be an example of why there is no necessary correlation between ask and market price. this would have been overly ambitious 18/24 months ago.

Posted by: antidope at August 31, 2009 1:26 PM

No comment on price, but it takes you 11 minutes to walk from 2nd street to 7th street and down one avenue block?

I'd be able to do it in 5 minutes, tops.

And in case you haven't noticed, many expensive brownstones have a rental. This is nothing new.

Posted by: 11217 at August 31, 2009 1:32 PM

Three interior pictures. Phooey.

Posted by: Nomi at August 31, 2009 1:32 PM

Crappy layout -- bedroom off garden; roofdeck off bedrooms.

Posted by: BH76 at August 31, 2009 1:35 PM

How can you read the floorplan without a magnifying glass? Is there a way to enlarge it?

Posted by: InsertSnappyNameHere at August 31, 2009 1:40 PM

No master bathroom?? No deal!
Terrible bedroom floor layouts.
3+M to share a bathroom and walk-in-closet with another bedroom.
At least there's a powder room on the parlor floor, although you have to climb over the sink to get to the toilet.

Posted by: Bitter Renter Girl at August 31, 2009 1:48 PM

google map it. 10 or 11 min, depending on your route.
i'd say 2.5 mio and i'll accept a rental. for this price i want it all myself.
i also want a brownstone garden, not an apt garden. i don't care how close it is to the park.
i'd also rather live on a quieter side street.

but i guess that's just a wish list for 3.5 pesos. right?

Posted by: antidope at August 31, 2009 1:49 PM

Nice block.

Comps will bottom @ 1.5 mil (2009 dollars). Caveat Emptor!

***Bid half off peak comps***

Posted by: Brownstones Half Off at August 31, 2009 1:54 PM

"How can you read the floorplan without a magnifying glass? Is there a way to enlarge it?"

Snappy, if you click on the "Floorplan" heading under the photos, you'll get it to open.

I hope we have a protracted discussion about how long it takes to walk to the subway. I love those. (I am slow, by the way. So yes, 10 or 11 minutes, dammit!)

Posted by: Nomi at August 31, 2009 2:01 PM

Thanks Nomi! I was developing some serious eye strain trying to read that!

Now that I've managed to get it open, why the hell is there a walkin closet off the kitchen??? Is that a mislabled pantry?

Posted by: InsertSnappyNameHere at August 31, 2009 2:14 PM

Critics on this thread must live in extraordinary luxury.

Who wouldn't be happy in this house?

And if you can afford it, you can fine tune it to just what you want.

Still, with the commercial real-estate market about to melt down, better bide time before taking on such a big-ticket item.

(By the way, walked on Eighth Avenue the other day while visiting family in the Slope. Still one of the most beautiful streets anywhere in the country.)

Posted by: NOP at August 31, 2009 2:32 PM

Nice house BUT:

1) This is not even a $3 million house, let alone $3.5.

2) I don’t see central A/C BUT I do see old two-pipe steam heat system and radiators … deal breaker at this price point (welcome to my $3.5 mil house, can you help me with my window AC unit?!)

3) Deck screams crappy rental

4) Fugly bathrooms

5) No garden pic = it’s probably lame

6) No pic of “renovated” kitchen is inexcusable (broker should be fired on that alone)

7) That said, this place will never go for $1.5 mil, keep dreaming.

Posted by: Mr Joist at August 31, 2009 2:48 PM

"this place will never go for $1.5 mil, keep dreaming"

Did in '03 (comps that is). That wasn't too long ago and during much better economic times (Bankrupte'). Keep dreaming it won't. Alarm clock will go off in a few years. Eeee eeee eeee eeee eeee...

***Bid half off peak comps***

Posted by: Brownstones Half Off at August 31, 2009 3:01 PM

Mr. NOP! It's been ages!
When are you moving back to Brooklyn (already)?

Everyone, I could see this house going for well over $2 million. I know that BHO is all about maths, finance, and all that jazz, but can anyone tell me how this will be worth $1.5 million ("in 2009 dollars")...and what snapshot in time would that be? He doesn't give a date. I can see that if we end up having high inflation, but seriously...hhh...

This is a very nice house. And who cares if it's a couple extra minutes walk to a subway station?...

Posted by: BrooklynGreene at August 31, 2009 3:03 PM

There's no garden picture because there probably is only a pocket garden -- if this is 70 feet deep then the garden can't be more than 30 feet deep.

Posted by: Boerumresident at August 31, 2009 3:06 PM

Brooklyn Greene:

Hello.

Actually, I broached the topic of consolidating households in a Brooklyn brownstone with my relatives a couple of days ago, but they're nicely fixed and not looking to move. (Because I'm busy traveling most of the year, I'd want a place that's well-occupied.)

Their counter-suggestion: Let's consolidate our country places in Maine or Vermont as a family compound.

Not convenient for me. (Who needs a fourth place to live?) But the seeds have been planted and I see a new family project on the horizon. (This always happens. I drop an idea and everyone runs with it in an entirely different direction.)

Brooklyn looked wonderful, though. The rain's really made the streets green and leafy. And the air, after weeks of city grit in Europe and Asia, seemed unusually fresh.

The food on Fifth Avenue was good, too -- and a fraction of what it costs abroad (or Manhattan, for that matter).

Will meet you again on Brownstoner.

NOP

Posted by: NOP at August 31, 2009 3:27 PM

Man, fatigue setting in.

Only 16 comments for a porn-worthy $3M+ brownstone.

Capitulation on a voyeuristic real estate forum is so sad.

Posted by: MoneyForNothing at August 31, 2009 4:01 PM

.....And in case you haven't noticed, many expensive brownstones have a rental"

Posted By 11217
_________

Well if that ain't the contrarian indicator comment of all time!!!

We officially have a new unserved demographic:

Affluent family desperately seeking 3 Million Dollar Brownstones, but market has priced them out and need the rental income to afford it.

HAW HAW HAW!!!

Posted by: MoneyForNothing at August 31, 2009 4:06 PM

4 interior photos is not porn worthy for $3.5 MM.

Posted by: BH76 at August 31, 2009 4:20 PM

Guess I meant more on the price...

But c'mon, 3 pics is the new hip way to tease you in RE Porn...it's like flashing just a little bit of thigh.

You KNOW you want it!

Posted by: MoneyForNothing at August 31, 2009 4:25 PM

This is a nice big house, good layout, prestigious location. What's not to like? Whether it sells for 3.5 or 2.5, the property is very choice.

Posted by: Minard Lafever at August 31, 2009 4:30 PM

"Whether it sells for 3.5 or 2.5, the property is very choice."

I love it when a swing of 1 million dollars, give or take, is an aside when discussing the quality of a piece of property.

It's the mid 2000's again, price means nothing!!

Posted by: MoneyForNothing at August 31, 2009 5:15 PM

What does price have to do with the quality of the property? The market determines price. It is up one day, down the next. Quality on the other hand is something onto itself. This house is quality regardless of where the market pegs the price, and in the current economy, -who knows what that will be?

Posted by: Minard Lafever at August 31, 2009 5:26 PM

NOP,
Yes, consolidating the outside-the-city houses can make a lot of sense, partly because you can schedule weekends/weeks so you can sometimes be with family and somtime be alone. Can go there for holidays en masse and everyone's on more neutral ground...in the end though, there can be problems unless everything is well set out and there some established rules/framework from the start. Also a maintenance company/cleaning service can help make things much smoother.

But I gathered from what you wrote that you already have places and that a country house consolidation thing would simply add to your plate, which is no help.

Now...if you're really thinking of coming back to Brooklyn, I can understand wanting a well-occupied house for safety's sake. We really don't worry to much but when we go away for long periods, it is a touch nerve-racking since no one is there who could really, really take control, sign a check or such if a true problem arose.

But I guess if you had a house with one or two stable rental apartments and had a deal with one of the tenants to take care of things like light upkeep/rubbish managment, in exchange for a rent discount, that might work well. Many people do this. We don't have tenants but I can see how an arrangement might work well with a tenant.

On another note, I'm curious where what restaurants you went to on 5th Avenue. Come try some of the ones in Fort Greene. You'll probably be surprised as I've been! "Who knew?!"

:-)

Posted by: BrooklynGreene at August 31, 2009 6:05 PM

Thanks for the advice, Brooklyn Greene.

As for Fifth Avenue, the restaurant was French and at a street corner. My hosts told me it was "so much like Paris" that the new Nora Ephrom film about Julia Child used it as a location. The warm leek appetizer was very good, the duck breast also good. With desert, cocktails and a bottle of Margaux, the bill came to less than $200 for three people. (Try getting that in Midtown!)

NOP

Posted by: NOP at September 1, 2009 8:46 AM

H'mmm...sounds like Moutarde...no...they're not fancy enough for what it sounds like you had. Moutarde is at a corner on 5th Avenue and has that "Paris Bistro-semi-Shabby Chic" "look" but when you examine it closely, it's basically all Home Depot finishing.

Well, sounds like a good meal! I could go for that right now!

So nice you should/could come and visit Brooklyn since it had been so long. ;-)

Try No. 7 in Fort Greene...it's the toast of the town and one of the "top 10 new restaurants in the US according to Bon Appetit"... It's kind of a young crowd most of the time but everyone raves about the food. It's not exactly comfort (as in old-fashioned "comfort") food though.

BTW, who needs Midtown? I hate Midtown, and with family in a major set of Midtown restaurants I shudder at the whole thing. It's all so touristy.

But I guess there are all sorts of little pockets here and there throughout NYC--even Midtown.

There are some great restaurants in Queens, Brooklyn certainly, and some less traveled neighborhoods in Manhattan. Don't ask me about the Bronx per se. We got lost once and went to a real old-fashioned deli in Riverdale (the owner was HUGE...rather amazing what kosher cold cuts can lead to if you're not careful)--the deli hadn't had much done to it since 1965...and we went to a very Irish bar for old-timers which was charming in its way.

Never have done much dining on Staten Island...have you?

I'm sick of restaurants though. I'm often disappointed. It's tough being a ..., a ...., picky...

Posted by: BrooklynGreene at September 1, 2009 6:54 PM

« Co-op of the Day: 11 Schermerhorn Street, #4FE StreetLevel: New Bakery in the South Slope »

August 31, 2009

House of the Day: 212 8th Avenue

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