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November 19, 2009

Co-op of the Day: 150 Joralemon Street, #5F

150 Joralemon, the 89-unit co-op in Brooklyn Heights, is quite a prewar looker from the outside, which makes the 80s-modern vibe of this fifth-floor apartment a bit of a surprise to see. There's no floorplan provided so it's a little hard to figure out where the raised bedroom and kitchen come into play. Regardless, it's a clean space with nice views; the only downer is the maintenance of $1,028. The asking price is $369,000, down from an initial $389,000 when it hit the market last month. Reactions?
150 Joralemon Street, #5F [Douglas Elliman] GMAP P*Shark

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glorified studio

Posted by: DeLepp at November 19, 2009 12:50 PM

"this unbelievable bright corner one bedroom apartment"

SHUT UP right NOW, Madeline & Gregory Williamson.
It's a Studio!!
I'm going to say it one more time. A room without windows CAN NOT be called a bedroom. Kapeesh!

Posted by: Expert Textpert at November 19, 2009 12:51 PM

Another 2,600 studio. A perfect bachelor pad for Crockett or Tubbs.

Next....

Posted by: Brokedeveloper at November 19, 2009 12:51 PM

yikes!! that maintenance is shocking.

Posted by: duckumu at November 19, 2009 12:55 PM

who'r crokett and tubbs? that interior design is ghastly tho. it looks like a playroom in a pediatric hospital, ick

*rob*

Posted by: Butterfly at November 19, 2009 12:56 PM

Jan Hammer stays there when he's in town.

Posted by: Fjorder at November 19, 2009 12:56 PM

Actually, the Williamsons are my favorite realtors, a mother and son team I think. I encountered them a few times when searching for a condo a few years ago. They tell it pretty straight forward, the least amount of bull crap I got from any realtor. They've been the agents for several apartments in this conversion building. The apartments seem odd because the designers took advantage of the high ceilings by raising up the bedrooms 3 or 4 feet and creating a storage crawl space beneath them. It's a nice feature if you've got a lot of crap your storing, but if I were to buy in that building, I would have tore up the storage space, created bedrooms with high ceilings and built better closets. Overall, I found that building to be appealing and a decent value despite the high maintanance.

Posted by: BrooklynSteve at November 19, 2009 1:02 PM

not only is it not a 1-br, but from the floorplan and weird angled bird's eye picture, i think this is a sleeping loft. that's like a -1 BR.

Posted by: CG_ups at November 19, 2009 1:02 PM

DeLepp is right, glorified studio. Plus, those loft spaces get SO hot in the summer.

I say no dice based upon that and the high maintenance.

Posted by: TownhouseLady at November 19, 2009 1:02 PM

quote:
a mother and son team

LOL. who in their right mind would wanna work with the MOM?

*rob*

Posted by: Butterfly at November 19, 2009 1:05 PM

Umm... it's not even a "glorified studio" -- It's just a studio. And a whopping 400 sq ft of one too!

What's the maintenance then? $2.50 per sq ft?! Really?

There must be a guy giving gum jobs in the elevator, right?

Posted by: tybur6 at November 19, 2009 1:07 PM

That would be kinda strange to work with one's mother. The Frateli brothers tried that in Goonies (my second Goonies reference today) and they all ended up in jail.

Do you think there is a Sloth Williamson that they keep chained up all day eating ice cream?

Posted by: Brokedeveloper at November 19, 2009 1:07 PM

Couldn't hook up with anyone tall if you had that bedroom space.

Posted by: etson at November 19, 2009 1:08 PM

If this is the Coop of the day, which assumes that it is chosen above others, I am doing a happy dance that I took out a big mortgage and tortured myself for 2 years doing a basic gut renovation of my brownstone. Because if this coop is a deal of any kind, I am a genius. First, it is ugly as original sin (I don't even think you could sleep in that bedroom, much less anything else) and then you get to enjoy holding hands with the coop board in a communal Kumbayah to run the place. Arghhhh....

Posted by: donatella at November 19, 2009 1:08 PM

"2 blocks to the Brooklyn Promenade with fantastic Manhattan views"

Another SHUT UP to the realtors.
Madeline & Gregory Williamson have you walked to the Promenade from Joralemon & Clinton???? Considering that the first southern entrance to the Promenade is on Remsen, oh, I'd say that's 4-1/2 blocks(I'm also counting the little strip between Pierrepont and the actual entrance).

Posted by: Expert Textpert at November 19, 2009 1:09 PM

The widget doesn't go low enough for my bid on this one.

Posted by: 11217 at November 19, 2009 1:15 PM

Has anyone tried the little magic "Monthly Costs Calculator" for this sweet pad? 20% down and, say, 6% interest... it's almost $2,800 a month!

In commercial real estate rental terms, that's $82 per sq ft. Not terrible if you had good traffic, a corner storefront, and could sell burritos or high-end sneakers!

(Actually, this might be too small for a sneaker shop.)

Posted by: tybur6 at November 19, 2009 1:15 PM

I almost choked on my orbit gum

Posted by: dirty_hipster at November 19, 2009 1:23 PM

Snarky comments aside, anyone know what the deal is with this building? The maintenance is outrageous, even by Brooklyn Heights standards. There are a lot of listings in the building and they're usually well below nearby apartments on a price per square foot basis, but the maintenance more than makes up for it. Why would a building have such high maintenance?

Posted by: kvnbklyn at November 19, 2009 1:26 PM

I guess we know where a young, trustfund UNhipster will be living.

Posted by: dirty_hipster at November 19, 2009 1:26 PM

Despite the nice looking building exterior, many, many units inside don't look like they've been updated since the 80's. Most of the 1-bedrooms I've seen are indeed glorified studios. Maintenance is exhorbarantly high, I don't believe it's possible to find a 1-bedroom with less than $1,000 per month cc's. There is no doorman, no roof deck/common space. The only other building that might be comparable is 111 Hicks, but that has a full-time doorman and incredible views. There's a reason every single unit up for sale in this building gets chopped and chopped. Maintenance keeps going up, sale price goes down.

Posted by: fishermb at November 19, 2009 1:27 PM

Bette knows best: http://bk.ly/1q

Posted by: DitmasSnark at November 19, 2009 1:32 PM

These sorts of maintenance levels can't be sustained or even continue to increase, can they? How does a co-op corporation go bankrupt? What happens to the tenants and their leases that cost them $370,000?

Would a bank actually provide financing for a tiny unit like this with crazy monthlies?

Posted by: tybur6 at November 19, 2009 1:46 PM

Just stay away from this building and 111 Hicks. When I was looking, these were the 2 buildings that my realtor said were financial nightmares.

With maintenance like this, the place should be priced at 150K.

No joke.

Posted by: 11217 at November 19, 2009 1:50 PM

The building was converted from office space, hence the weird layouts. We'd looked at a couple of the 2-bedrooms going for around $500K ... and now under, probably ... but ran smack into the ridiculous maintenance fees (that don't really get you much).
The bedroom portion of this one probably isn't quite as small as the photo indicates, but a previous commenter was right about them lifting it two or so feet to create below floor storage.

Posted by: RaginCajun at November 19, 2009 2:32 PM

Ummmm, Mr. B, there's a floorplan right on the Elliman website. It's a nice looking building from the outside, but I've never seen an apartment that I like on the inside. I guess they're all these loft apartments because that's all I've seen. Don't like lofts. I've heard the same thing 11217 said about this building (and especially about 111 Hicks - my broker won't let me anywhere near it; also hear the co-op board is a nightmare). Still, at a lower price, this could be a great apartment for someone into the whole 80s look / loft thing, at least vis-a-vis location.

Posted by: CarrollGardened at November 19, 2009 2:43 PM

111 Hicks is a terrible building, both the insider and the casual observer know that.

Posted by: infinitejester at November 19, 2009 3:54 PM

You gotta be kidding. This is horrible. Who are these architects that make out these floor plans.
The kitchen, that is what it is?? is awful.

I wouldnt give 2 cents to live there.

yuck, yuck, yuck. !!

Posted by: STARGAZER at November 19, 2009 4:32 PM

It is tiny and overpriced but the bedroom does have a window. The floor plan doesn't show it but the listing mentions two exposures and if you look carefully at the picture of the bedroom you can see sunlight coming through a window. Stupid of the broker not to show a picture with the bedroom window.

Posted by: JoeBushwick at November 19, 2009 4:56 PM

This is not a 1BR!
This is a STUDIPO with a sleeping loft!
Why would anyone pay such a high maintenance in a non-doorman or amenity filled building?
Ghastly!
Why is the maintenance so so HIGH?
The selling price should be more like $299 with that unbelievably high maint.

Posted by: tjj at November 19, 2009 5:14 PM

I agree stay away from 111 Hicks St. (High Maint. and a DUMP and 150 Joralemon (High Maint. with no doorman or anything!)

Posted by: tjj at November 19, 2009 5:18 PM

I agree stay away from 111 Hicks St. (High Maint. and a DUMP and 150 Joralemon (High Maint. with no doorman or anything!)

Posted by: tjj at November 19, 2009 5:18 PM

111 Hicks has some kind of major mortgage issue -- I think it was locked into a mortgage which didn't allow for a refi - I am not sure, but that place is a bad deal too. I don't know how long this place has been cooped but that monster maintenance is due to a monster mortgage. So for the priviledge of paying 2800 dollars a month, you get to own a big bucket of debt -- probably badly priced debt too -- somewhere along the line, that building was mortaged at what is over 100% of the buildings value. Bad news.

Posted by: donatella at November 19, 2009 5:58 PM

« Inside Third & Bond: Week 109 House of the Day: 540 Bergen Street »

November 19, 2009

Co-op of the Day: 150 Joralemon Street, #5F

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