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Condo of the Day: 280 Carlton Avenue, #3

Categories: Condos, Fort Greene

280-Carlton-Avenue-1209.jpg
The brick townhouse at 280 Carlton Avenue in Fort Greene was converted into condos back in 2005 and Unit #3 sold in early 2006 for somewhere under $600,000. The 750-square-foot floor-through has just gone back on the market asking $679,000. The interiors look perfectly nice but the kicker is definitely the 400-square-foot terrace at the rear. The combined monthly charges are also low at $381. Like it?
280 Carlton Avenue, #3 [Brown Harris Stevens] GMAP P*Shark




By Brownstoner at December 9, 2009 12:40 PM | Comments (34)

34 Comments

By daveinbedstuy on December 9, 2009 12:46 PM

That is a very small unit with a very big deck.

By househunt on December 9, 2009 12:48 PM

Can someone please explain why a condo that went for under 600 in 2006 should go for 80,000 more in 2009?!?! What happened to the idea of drawing folks in with a reasonable price and then let the bidding wars begin? After all, wasn't that the idea in the NYT Real Estate section a couple of weeks ago?

By DeLepp on December 9, 2009 12:48 PM

That's a glorified 1 bedroom. The larger one is only 96 square feet. Baseboard heat, ugh.

By E_Minor on December 9, 2009 12:49 PM

Gorgeous apartment, but its basically a 1 bedroom(only 750 sq ft) where they've carved out a small 2nd bedroom. So they can't really charge for a two bedroom price. Mid 500k's would be my estimate.

By DitmasSnark on December 9, 2009 12:50 PM

So, Fort Green is fetching over $900/sf these days?

Right.

By daveinbedstuy on December 9, 2009 12:51 PM

DeLepp, baseboard heat does tend to be ugly but those baseboard heaters are cast iron and probably the most efficient form of any heat.

By Heather on December 9, 2009 12:53 PM

750 square feet, yuck.

By CG_ups on December 9, 2009 12:55 PM

this was a nice smallish 1BR that someone decided to turn into a dorm-style share by throwing up a wall to make two ridiculously small bedrooms. does the 750sqft include the outdoor space?

By DitmasSnark on December 9, 2009 12:57 PM

> That's a glorified 1 bedroom.

Only with not very much glory. I love the deck, but those bedrooms are tiny. My one bedroom is far more spacious than this rabbit hutch.

By Minard Lafever on December 9, 2009 1:03 PM

In order for this unit to be USABLE, you would need to combine the two miniscule bedrooms into one.
That would result in a perfectly nice one-bedroom with a very nice deck. The maintenance charge is very good. But I can't comment on the going price of one bedroom apartments on Carlton Avenue. I doubt it is $679 as one could buy large one bedrooms for that price in Brooklyn Heights.
I am constantly amazed by the sub-par rooms in some of these units. As I have said before, the city could never get away with it in low-income housing but the rich are perfectly willing to pay for a bedroom that is seven feet by nine feet. Well, if there are folks out there dumb enpough to buy, someone will be smart enough to sell.

By Maly on December 9, 2009 1:05 PM

It is not by any stretch 750sf. Even if you count the walls and the stairwell, you're looking at 700sf. Looking at habitable space, inside your own walls, the apartment is maybe 625sf if one feels generous. I can't believe it sold for $600,000, that's really amazing.

By DeLepp on December 9, 2009 1:06 PM

Cast iron baseboards,I thought they look different, nice touch. 680K is still a chunk of change that they'll never see.

By Butterfly on December 9, 2009 1:06 PM

size queens, all of you!

*rob*

By DeLepp on December 9, 2009 1:08 PM

maly, 2006 was crazy in ft/ch. There was lots of turnover in my 12 unit bldg then and I couldn't believe what people were getting.

By Nokilissa on December 9, 2009 1:16 PM

I can't make sense of the pictures and that floor plan. They don't match up. Did the middle picture at one time represent the two bedrooms as one?

By BSD on December 9, 2009 1:16 PM

The warning sign: when only about 15% of the agent's romance copy is devoted to actually talking up the inside of the apartment itself

By Minard Lafever on December 9, 2009 1:17 PM

What would be great here would be to add an eight-foot deep conservatory or greenhouse addition that would enlarge the year-round living space of the unit while still maintaining a nice ten-foot open deck. I would guess that improvement would cost about $90,000 or so but it would be worth it. The you would have a really special one-bedroom apt.


By 11217 on December 9, 2009 1:27 PM

Speaking of conservatory, Minard...I just came across this listing and thought it looked like a nice opportunity for someone with the desire to finish the renovation...

http://www.corcoran.com/property/listing.aspx?Region=NYC&ListingID=1905391

What I can see in the pictures looks absolutely lovely to me.

By Nomi on December 9, 2009 1:44 PM

"I can't make sense of the pictures and that floor plan. They don't match up. Did the middle picture at one time represent the two bedrooms as one?" (Nokilissa)

I figured that that photo is looking into the living room at some earlier time when the furnishing and paint were different. The doors -- closet and entrance -- match with a view into the living room. Confusing tho. You'd think they would want a corresponding photo, not one that makes you wonder if it's even the same apartment.

By kvnbklyn on December 9, 2009 2:00 PM

@Nokilissa: I agree. It seems like the photo shows the back bedroom as one big room, not the two small rooms on the floorplan. It's also a bit odd it's furnished as a sitting room rather than a bedroom. Also odd there's no photo of the living room/kitchen.

Another weird listing irregularity: the streeteasy listing gives a much higher CC of $682 and taxes of $159.

And finally, why would I buy a place and pay about $3500 (assuming BHS listing is correct on the CCs) in mortgage, CCs and taxes when I could rent the same place for about $2000?

By kvnbklyn on December 9, 2009 2:07 PM

Oops. I just realized I was all turned around. It is odd though that the photo of what I now realize is the living room (with the baseboard heating and squiggly ceiling fixture) doesn't seem to show the open end of the kitchen which should be on the right.

I just might stop by this open house just to see what's going on.

By Nomi on December 9, 2009 2:11 PM

"It is odd though that the photo of what I now realize is the living room ...doesn't seem to show the open end of the kitchen which should be on the right." (kvnbklyn)

Well, no, the kitchen would be around the corner to the right, not visible from this point of view.

But this definitely calls for a visit .. . .

By FloatingWorld on December 9, 2009 2:35 PM

Given the huge price drop at Forte and elsewhere in the nabe this price seems way out of wack. $100,000 less will get you a brand new 2 bed, 2 bath. The street might be nice, but I'm not buying it.

By Nokilissa on December 9, 2009 2:40 PM

Right? And the view out of the windows in that middle living room pic seem to show a street view, not a backyard/back porch view...

plus, the doorways and such don't line up with the floor plan.

By Minard Lafever on December 9, 2009 2:58 PM

I don't see any photos of the bedroom. That is the living room. Notice that the front windows are "two-over-two" sash. the windows in the interior photo are one-over-ones so its a garden view.

By saminthehood on December 9, 2009 3:00 PM

Both pictures are of the living room. But, you should be able to see the kitchen in the white picture, but its not there. Strange... Anyways, the apartmenbt is small. Maybe 700 SF. Unless you plan to be on the deck all winter long, I dont know who can live with such small BRs. The price is like Crazy Eddie - insane.

By Nokilissa on December 9, 2009 3:48 PM

Mystery solved. It must have been taken in a previous incarnation. The back porch now has wooden railings, but you can see the white metal poles behind it. In the white living room pic, looking out the windows one can make out those white metal porch rails. Also, I'm assuming that new owners took out a wall that used to close off the kitchen and opened it up. Done. Whew!

By Minard Lafever on December 9, 2009 4:34 PM

The two closet-sized bedrooms, no photos of the kitchen, the outdated photos of the living room. It is such a weird listing that it makes me suspicious that there is something very shady going on. I would avoid this. It seems unusually deceptive and just plain odd.

By rf on December 9, 2009 6:45 PM

Very shallow building I guess! I live in a brownstone floorthrough and our rooms, front and back, are much deeper.

By Nomi on December 9, 2009 6:56 PM

Hey, they took down the questioned photo.

By saminthehood on December 10, 2009 12:16 AM

Yes, Broker Lee Solomon is a real winner... The picture now completely is at odds with the floorplan. Also, that brownstone is right across from a school and main playground. gets very loud in the summer and after school

By Miss Muffett on December 10, 2009 1:01 AM

Re 353A 14 St (per 11217) - I saw this house and it is much smaller in person than those pix make it seem. Plus I think there's something possibly fishy about the way the renovation is clearly being abandoned. From doing a bit of research, it seems the owner, an architect, has had some violations in his practice (and I believe someone on the forum complained about him once), which would make me nervous as a buyer if he did or oversaw these renovations, which I believe is the case.

By lucky33 on December 10, 2009 5:04 AM

679k is way off base for this tiny unit. Also note there are no pictures of the kitchen or bathroom which is a sign that it is bad in there. The deck is the only thing going for it but we have Fort Green Park so why on earth would I spend 679K on a deck? To live in a tiny little space on a noisy corner in front of a school.

By Nomi on December 10, 2009 11:47 AM

The living room looks nice. And I still want private outdoor space even with a nice park nearby. But curious that there's no picture of the kitchen since it's new. Also, yes, very cramped as a two bedroom. Price too high.

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