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House of the Day: 152 Carroll Street

Categories: Carroll Gardens, HOTD

152-Carroll-Street-0110.jpg
This monster of a townhouse at 152 Carroll Street in Carroll Gardens has been on the market for almost a year at this point without any takers. The five-story brick mansion is 25-by-85-feet and is divided into four units. The current pitch is for a buyer to take over the 4,000-square-foot lower duplex while raking in $9,300 a month from the three upper apartments. Not surprisingly for a house in this neighborhood that's been chopped up into apartments for years, much of the original charm appears to have been stripped away. That's probably a big part of the reason that the house has yet to sell, though a recent price reduction to $2,695,000 might get folks to take another look.
152 Carroll Street [Fillmore] GMAP P*Shark




By Brownstoner at January 20, 2010 1:13 PM | Comments (21)

21 Comments

By CGar on January 20, 2010 1:24 PM

"One of a kind Mansion". LMAO! My old block. I know one of the tenants in this house - I'm pretty sure she's stabilized if not rent controlled; been living there forever; so I'm not sure about that rent roll. And, if I'm going to pay $2.7 million for a house, I want more than a 15-foot deep garden. I will say you couldn't ask for a nicer block to live on.

By bessie2 on January 20, 2010 1:26 PM

Mansion? Big, but a far cry from mansion.

By Minard Lafever on January 20, 2010 1:27 PM

this could be too much of a good thing. I would be happier with 20 Grace Court Alley. Little, but choice.

By CGar on January 20, 2010 1:32 PM

Minard, are you going to join us for a drink at Last Exit tomorrow? Atlantic & Henry. Close to home. Biff, Cobble, Snappy and I will be there around 6pm.

By Boerumresident on January 20, 2010 1:39 PM

What's weird is the door and window on the first floor going onto the horse walk that belongs to the other property (yes, I am assuming the building is in fact 25' wide on the 25' wide lot as claimed).

By more4less on January 20, 2010 1:49 PM

this is not 5 stories right? it's counting the basement in the 5 story count?

if the rent roll is legit, not a bad price if once has the downpayment to get financing. 25% down for 4 family house or it's still 20%?

By tybur6 on January 20, 2010 2:00 PM

Umm... do I really have to say this? 25% down and 5% interest (good luck), is an $11,000 monthly mortgage payment.

$11,000 - $9,300 = $1,700 deficit.

Mortgage Deficit $20,400
Annual Taxes $5,600

That's already $2,167 per month. And I'm assuming that $9,300 per month included things like water (hot and cold), heat, garbage, common area cleaning, basic maintenance/repairs. You would also need all of this for your unit too. But judging from the kitchen photo, everything is in tip top state-of-the-art condition so you wouldn't need to spend any other cash....

I'd like to shake the hand of the dumbass that buys this place. (Cuz, we all know it will sell... sadly)

By Maly on January 20, 2010 2:04 PM

From my few interactions with Fillmore, I would assume there is something very wrong with this building. They seem to specialize in properties with major issues that are priced as if all was OK. I think other real estate agents must be too honest for those sellers.

By NorthHeights on January 20, 2010 2:22 PM

Boerumresident, that's just an alley, not a horsewalk. And I'm not sure what picture you're looking at, but in both the listing pic and google streetview, the alley is clearly on the neighbor's property.

The only thing "very wrong" with this building is that it's too big to attract most owner-occupant candidates, and investors/developers are sitting this one out.

By antidope on January 20, 2010 2:23 PM

if (if if if) the top three floors rentroll left a deficit of 1700 and if (if if if) you get 3500 sq ft of livable space (inc req windows in the basement) and if (if if if) the house has side windows in the rear extension as the floorplan indicates, then this could be interesting to someone.

but...what maly said.

By tybur6 on January 20, 2010 2:26 PM

Twelve IFs makes it a pretty tough sell...

By hannible on January 20, 2010 2:34 PM

News sources today just mentioned that FHA will be tightening lending standards and not give money to non conforming borrowers. I guess these sellers are still living in the 2007 housing market. If they get a third of 2.7 I say they are lucky.

By tybur6 on January 20, 2010 2:37 PM

I tried to figure this out myself and I failed... what's the difference between a "conforming" loan and a "non-conforming" loan? What are they conforming (or not) to?

By antidope on January 20, 2010 2:43 PM

cant spell fillmore without if.

conforming refers to eligibility guidelines. if it conforms, fannie/freddie will buy (or fha will insure) the mortgage from the originating bank. in nyc, max is now 729k.

By Maly on January 20, 2010 3:01 PM

The FHA limit for 4-family buildings is $1,403,400 in NYC. FHA is going to tighten the credit score and downpayment requirements. It's pretty academic, I would think the big issue is R/S status here.

By tybur6 on January 20, 2010 3:07 PM

Ahhhh. I see. Thanks.

By sebb on January 20, 2010 3:38 PM

Looks good. Great block.

By more4less on January 20, 2010 4:11 PM

tybur6, slap on the customary 10% off on the ASK and the pure financial monthly cost is as close to comparable rent as one will find in this stupid mkt. buyer would have to be a little of an idiot to pull trigger though - ie why drop 25%, deal with 3 tenants and the only bragging rights is it's close to renting that owner's duplex.

By IronBalls on January 20, 2010 4:53 PM


Small multifamily tenement building that needs work. . . $1.5 to $1.75 tops.

By STARGAZER on January 21, 2010 10:04 AM

So deceiving from the outside. It is horrific on the inside, would need a full gut job. Ugh, and if you live on the bottom, who wants tenants stomping above, not me,that is so not the look.

By Alec on June 7, 2010 2:57 AM

I have friends who were former tenants> Buyer beware! Lead poisoning issues, vermin, cheapest possible repairs and fixtures, major noise problems between floors, unsafe conditions in the yard, iffy electrical - a real dirtbag of a current owner. Stay away!

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