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House of the Day: 121 Clarkson Avenue

Categories: HOTD, Prospect Lefferts Gardens

121-Clarkson-Avenue-020310.jpg
This house at 121 Clarkson Avenue in PLG that just hit the market looks relatively modest from the outside but the interior photos reveal a nicely laid-out space with lots of original charm. The location is a bit south of the best blocks in the neighborhood, but that's reflected in the asking price of $585,000. You like?
121 Clarkson Avenue [Brown Harris Stevens] GMAP P*Shark




By Brownstoner at February 3, 2010 1:10 PM | Comments (52)

52 Comments

By daveinbedstuy on February 3, 2010 1:17 PM

Nice looking place. Al it needs is a "real" kitchen and another bathroom on the top floor, which should be relatively easy given the available space "stacked" on top of the 2nd floor bath. Not sure about the ceiling height on the top floor though.

That funky "eyebrow-like window" is, well, funky.

It must be nice to have a front porch in the City.

By Nokilissa on February 3, 2010 1:20 PM

I like this house. Apart from the grey paint with maroon trim, and the maroon brick in the kitchen, I think it is absolutely charming.

By Nokilissa on February 3, 2010 1:23 PM

DIBS, I can see you enjoying a drink and a smoke on that front porch (not to say that you smoke), watching the neighborhood before you, giving a nod and a wave every so often... you should have a porch like that.

By daveinbedstuy on February 3, 2010 1:27 PM

Noki...want to come over and have a Davidoff and a Manhattan on my stoop???

By Maly on February 3, 2010 1:28 PM

love the pictures! All it needs is another bathroom on the top floor and some tweaking in the kitchen, but I like the unpretentious vibe of the current set up.

By Expert Textpert on February 3, 2010 1:30 PM

What a great looking modest house!
It doesn't have a garage. But the house next door has a driveway and an enclosed wrap around porch.

I did streetview and the house surrounded by buildings :-(

By more4less on February 3, 2010 1:31 PM

perfect 1 family size house. super cute. don't know the hood well so can't comment on the price but if this baby was in the trendy BK hoods, this is $1M or more - EASILY.

By shillstoner on February 3, 2010 1:37 PM

I thought PLG ended at Parkside?

"if this baby was in the trendy BK hoods, this is $1M or more"

Yes, and it would be in a trendy BK hood, too.

By Pigeon on February 3, 2010 1:43 PM

Lovely house!
For the price, the interior is wonderful.
And it's just a couple of blocks from the Q train.
I don't know the neighborhood, and Google streetview shows that the block is not the nicest looking block, and the house is across the street from some unattractive apt buildings. But nevertheless... the home is very nice-looking for the price!

By gemini10 on February 3, 2010 1:46 PM

Wow - what a cute little house
can you put a bathroom on the main floor
I would totally redo the kitchen and repaint and be good to go!!

how is this nabe?

I am defintely interested in this little house!

By daveinbedstuy on February 3, 2010 1:47 PM

"if this baby was in the trendy BK hoods, this is $1M or more"

And if it were in "not-so-trendy" Detroit it'd be $5,000.

By antidope on February 3, 2010 1:49 PM

if

By Montrose Morris on February 3, 2010 2:02 PM

I love this house. Great details and charm. As fun as the super expensive eye-candy real estate porn we see in "better" neighborhoods is, this is the kind of house many of us really want and need. Not too big, not too expensive, not a wreck. I bet this doesn't sit for long.

By Crownlfc on February 3, 2010 2:10 PM

The actual border is Clarkson, blocks can be hit or miss but well priced though

By newelyork on February 3, 2010 2:13 PM

A really charming house, no doubt.

However, Acris shows it last changed hands for $426,500 on 9/15/08... that was the very day Lehman Bros filed chapter 11. The contract was probably signed at least a couple months before that... why would you pay 37% more now for a place than it was worth prior to the economic meltdown...?

The house is also only 1400 SF. $417/SF is crazy talk for a single-family in this location, no matter how charming... I think something in the low 400k's makes a lot more sense.

By CGar on February 3, 2010 2:15 PM

Loving this house. Don't know much about the neighborhood though. Maybe I should look there. Add a bath on the top floor and partially renovate the kitchen (I'd keep the built-in hutch/china cabinet - my grandmother had the same one), and you're good to go.

By kelly on February 3, 2010 2:15 PM

Gemini - there IS as small bathroom on the parlor level - go for it !!!!

By gemini10 on February 3, 2010 2:20 PM

Kelly! - ahh, Thank you!
ok I will fight you all for this little house - just not sure how thrilled I am about the nabe. The street view doesn't look too bad.

however it is near my favorite Jerk Chicken spot, Peppa's so that's a huge plus!

By Maly on February 3, 2010 2:21 PM

Expert Textpert, you ruined my fantasy. I just checked Google streetview, it's grim.

By Boerumresident on February 3, 2010 2:24 PM

From streetview and citymaps, it looks like it does have a garage.

By Bob Marvin on February 3, 2010 2:27 PM

"I thought PLG ended at Parkside?"

No, it's Clarkson, although some RE people try to push it south a bit to Lenox, or Linden, or, perhaps, Avenue U :-)


FWIW a house on the first block of Clarkson was on the house tour the year before last.

By Expert Textpert on February 3, 2010 2:36 PM

Maly, someone had to ruin your fantasy. Glad I could be service.

It's a cute house. I was going to outbid Gem.
While I don't mind buildings (heck, I live in one now), when I buy a house, I'd want less buildings on the block and more houses.

By gemini10 on February 3, 2010 2:41 PM

Expert!!! - hahaha
I do agree with your sentiment about all the bldgs on that block
with bldgs comes many more people with cars who will take up parking spots ;)

By BHS on February 3, 2010 2:50 PM

such a cute place! I love the kitchen as is.

By Miss Muffett on February 3, 2010 2:53 PM

I love the house too but haven't a clue about the hood...

By Bob Marvin on February 3, 2010 3:05 PM

Miss Muffett,

After ALL I've written here about PLG? Where have I failed?

By Bob Marvin on February 3, 2010 3:06 PM

Miss Muffett,

After ALL I've written here about PLG? Where have I failed?

By more4less on February 3, 2010 3:22 PM

Bob, you failed to get her and some of clueless posters here to go check out this particular area of the hood.

By LuvingModern on February 3, 2010 3:27 PM

"After ALL I've written here about PLG? Where have I failed?"

Posted by: Bob Marvin

Maybe Miss Muffett is just kidding but seriously Bob, you've done great by your hood.

By Nokilissa on February 3, 2010 3:45 PM

DIBS, I hope you come back.

I had several patients in a row, so just checking in.

YES! I'm in. I'll bring the Davidoff! (your stoop is probably just as charming as this porch :)

By crazypants on February 3, 2010 4:08 PM

That house is a cutie-patootie. A top flr bathroom would make it perfect for a 1 family.

That nabe is dense and loud though - Bedford tends to be bumper to bumper at all hours because of all the traffic coming to/off Linden. Lots of big buildings, lots of people all the time.

By serpentor on February 3, 2010 4:29 PM

Crazypants, you're crazy. I ride a bike up that stretch of Bedford pretty regularly and it is rarely "bumper to bumper."

I'm kind of loving that place and planning to check out the open house. And hoping that it isn't in far, far worse shape than it looks to be.

By crazypants on February 3, 2010 4:40 PM

Serpentor, really? For over 2 yrs I was one of those stuck in bumper to bumper traffic from Empire to Linden 3 days a week when I was attending Brooklyn College - weeknights and weekend mornings.

I don't remember ever seeing a bike - I would've been scared for the poor soul if I had. Maybe I have a low threshold for crowds and traffic.

By Crunchy Granola on February 3, 2010 5:08 PM

Another underpriced property in Prospect Lefferts? EIther that or something must be wrong with that property. Even the Widget is gasping by undercutting by a much smaller amount than usual.

I always thought of Brown Harris Stevens as a premier brokerage. It looks like they are turning into Fillmore!

By infinitejester on February 3, 2010 5:19 PM

I am so moving to PLG when I buy. I love this listing from what I've seen.

By Frederick Law Homestead on February 3, 2010 5:23 PM

this is just a few doors down from that amazing, mysterious "berserk eclecticism" house at 111 Clarkson : http://www.brownstoner.com/brownstoner/archives/2007/07/111_clarkson.php


By kelly on February 3, 2010 5:25 PM

It's not a big house - it's only 16.5' wide.
It's staged well, has good photography and an inviting, honest description.
Just warning you though...16.5 is not big.
Think of it as petite. Human scale.

(I just hate it when things get really big in one's imagination and then
lets you down in real life.)

By Bob Marvin on February 3, 2010 5:31 PM

Bedford IS frequently bumper to bumper going south, during the evening rush hour, as far south as Church Avenue. It can also be heavy southbound on Saturdays, during the day. Traffic is relatively light at other hours. It also seems to be much lighter (at least in PLG) going northbound. I've never figured out why. Where do those cars go? I'd like to think that the world ends somewhere south of the PLG border and they fall off, but I keep hearing about this new "round earth" theory :-)

By Bob Marvin on February 3, 2010 5:35 PM

But Kelly, it's in a 125' deep lot--lots of outdoor space--only crowded in the cold months.

By traditionalmod on February 3, 2010 6:39 PM

This is what's great about PLG - so many more original details remain in the houses here. This is what it would look like in many craftsmen era freestanding house elsewhere further out in Brooklyn if those other houses didn't rip everything out in the 70's & 80's. It's really worth going to look whenever these are for sale in PLG even just for fun. Brownstoner is right, you'd never know how much detail was inside by the plain, craftsmen exterior.

By kelly on February 3, 2010 6:52 PM

Yes, 125' deep is really something wonderful. My former house was 16.5' with 125' lot.
It can be either like a bowling alley or a secret garden.
I remember when I fell in love with the house it had more to do with the outside than the inside. It was a feeling of owning land in the city! (What a great feeling to sit way in the back of the yard, at night...almost could pretend I wan't in the city.)
Plus somewhere in the listing it alludes to a garage. Almost sounds like a win-win.
The picture seems to show a pass thru side-alley, which is GREAT for moving stuff in and doing work on or in the house. Just a real asset.
Congrats to whomever gets it!

By RinTinTin on February 3, 2010 10:42 PM

Very nice house. Are those bars on the windows, though? Is that really necessary?

By bklyn palm on February 3, 2010 11:22 PM

this house is adorable!! the kitchen could use some updating, and we haven't seen the bathrooms. a much better deal than the house a few blocks away that just sold for nearly $1M. but, again, the neighborhood is pretty much off the map. no good grocery store, no restaurants within walking distance besides take-out places, no good schools - just flatbush ave.

By bkgurl on February 3, 2010 11:41 PM

I love this area - have lived off and on in the area for over 10 years - there are lots of good restaurants in walking distance- the park is just blocks away - a real Brooklyn neighborhood - mixed - where people know and speak to one another. Best walking to Farmers Mkt on Saturday thru the park - a new wine store blocks away and a new Indian restaurant about to open.

By Brooklynista on February 4, 2010 12:33 AM

No, the neighborhood is very much on the map, bklyn palm. And, with respect to the specific location of this house, there's a very decent supermarket at the corner of Bedford and Clarkson which is only a stone's throw away. There are at least 4 sit-down restaurants on Lincoln Road and on Flatbush Ave and another rather "hot" dining established is rumored to be coming to the nabe soon. In addition, there are more sit-down places than those but my guess is you discount them as ethnic eateries to be reserved for use only by "the locals." Meanwhile, there's an internet cafe on Parkside Avenue and a great new wine shop that just opened up on Fenimore. As for schools, the Lefferts Gardens Charter School will be opening this fall. It promises to offer an exciting curriculum with a focus on the environmental sciences and collaborations with Prospect Park and the BBG. The latter 2 borough-wide attractions, btw, are definitely within walking distance of this house. As such, PLG is very much happening and growing with a lot more on the map than "just Flatbush ave."

By serpentor on February 4, 2010 8:23 AM

I guess I was reacting to "all hours of the night" -- there's been a buffered bike lane on Bedford for a year or two and if I'm coming home late I often find the street wide open and pretty minimally populated. A friend lives right there (Bedford and Lenox).

By traditionalmod on February 4, 2010 9:15 AM

bklyn_palm, when literally every single newer resident we know in PLG (numbering about 20 so far, just those we ourselves have met) moved here from Park Slope or Manhattan, including us, it's hardly "off the map". PLG is very much on the radar.

By tiny_kitten on February 4, 2010 8:52 PM

That house looks amazing. You think there'll be a bidding war over it?

By tobyleah on February 8, 2010 11:25 AM

We went to see this house this Sunday -- it is frickin' adorable. The original details are amazing and it feels like a old country house in the city. It was swarming with people so I think it gets asking price for sure.

By serpentor on February 9, 2010 11:48 AM

I also heard the open house was a zoo.

It looks like the ask is still a little high though, based on comps in the surrounding area.

By Crunchy Granola on February 9, 2010 11:25 PM

Serpentor, comps don't discriminate between a gem and garbage. In other words, on a block like this one, the value of a house as nice as this won't ever be accurately reflected by nearby comps.

By serpentor on May 14, 2010 12:41 PM

And ... sold: $595,000

http://www.propertyshark.com/mason/Reports2/showsection.html?propkey=x74-17-90-14-120-10

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