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House of the Day: 96 Joralemon Street

Categories: Brooklyn Heights, HOTD

96-Joralemon-Street-0210.jpg
Not too shabby! This three-family house at 96 Joralemon Street is top-shelf — and the price reflects it. The 4,600-square-foot property is divided up into three units, including a doctor's office on the ground floor. Both the upper triplex and parlor-floor simplex are attractively renovated and full of old-school charm. So there's no question that lots of folks will be salivating over this place. The only question is whether they'll be willing to shell out $3,600,000 for the privilege of owning it.
96 Joralemon Street [Corcoran] GMAP P*Shark




By Brownstoner at February 8, 2010 1:12 PM | Comments (36)

36 Comments

By daveinbedstuy on February 8, 2010 1:17 PM

Do we know who lives here???

By allisonk on February 8, 2010 1:17 PM

Nice. As a prospective Park Slope buyer, I don't understand why so much of the Park Slope townhouse market is over $3M when there are properties like this in Brooklyn Heights. Don't get me wrong, I love the park and the nabe, but are prices really at parity with Brooklyn Heights now?

By Ringo on February 8, 2010 1:18 PM

I know this house. Lovely.

People here won't like the set-up, but the building is lovely. It's much bigger IRL than this odd picture reflects. No idea about price. Can I add an elevator and buy it with a couple of friends?

By daveinbedstuy on February 8, 2010 1:21 PM

Lots of space PLUS lots of income. Beautiful floors and lots of fireplaces.

By gemini10 on February 8, 2010 1:22 PM

Seriously I love this house - I think it's cool and would be fun to own
I don't know about price either - but it looks huge and has a lot of character!

By daveinbedstuy on February 8, 2010 1:25 PM

What would the two units command as far as rent?

Don't even think of it BHO, this will not go for anywhere near 10-15 X rents. You'll just sound stupid again. I'm doing you a favor.

By Boerumresident on February 8, 2010 1:26 PM

I agree this is a beautiful house, and Personally I like the idea of a doctor's office below -- steady rental income for a floor that no one needs to use in a house this big.

The lot is a little tricky -- it's one off the corner, so it's not very deep and backs onto the side of the house there on Garden. The "obstructed" views may warrant taking the price down a little bit.

I predict a buyer close to $3.5, but it will take 6 months to find the right buyer.

By Pigeon on February 8, 2010 1:29 PM

That kitchen is tiny!
It's not much bigger than an apple!

By daveinbedstuy on February 8, 2010 1:30 PM

Calling it 25' X 60' though is clearly a misrepresentation.

By bkny on February 8, 2010 1:30 PM

love the location. not sure about the layout. i would prefer to have a backyard and less bedrooms. the lot seems short and i don't think for this price i would want a roof deck as a compromise. the owner should take 4 floors and keep the doctors office.

By Pigeon on February 8, 2010 1:31 PM

What kind of 3.6M buyer would want to be a landlord?

By lesbiman on February 8, 2010 1:35 PM

Lovely, But before I take it I just need to establish a medical practice....maybe plastics? That would maybe pull in enough to pay the mtg. Yikes those taxes! Are they high or not?

By daveinbedstuy on February 8, 2010 1:35 PM

What kind of 3.6M buyer would want to be a landlord?

Posted by: Pigeon at February 8, 2010 1:31 PM

One that can't afford the whole $3.6MM on his own. there are plenty of those out there.

By Minard Lafever on February 8, 2010 1:41 PM

This would be a nice house for doctor. A successful doctor, all right, a plastic surgeon.
I walk by this house all the time, it is exquisite, and like many Heights houses, unique. That beautiful oriel is really something.

By Miss Muffett on February 8, 2010 1:56 PM

I can see someone who buys a 3.5 mil house perhaps wanting rental income, but it's harder for me to imagine such a buyer being willing to forgo the parlor floor and have to walk up an additional flight of stairs to their main living floor. This also means having no access to garden. Seems like a very odd configuration, to say the least.

By mopar on February 8, 2010 1:58 PM

Eh, this one isn't doing anything for me. I like the 1840s marble fireplaces. But the floor plan is all weird and what is with those fireplaces at the end surrounded by window and little cupboards? Ew. Too much of a jumble.

By more4less on February 8, 2010 2:00 PM

nice!!!!!!!!!!!

maybe the buyer can treat the parlor flr as the in-law suite - ie dont be prick to send us to geezer housing when you can afford a premo house in BK heights

By daveinbedstuy on February 8, 2010 2:03 PM

Miss muffett, if you've followed my posts over the years, you know I'm going to have to agree with you on that one, at least partly.. I guess as long as the rental unit isn't ABOVE is what really matters.

Also, there's a nice roofdeck off the bedrooms but that's a bit inconvenient for entertaining. I'd want a deck off the kitchen and a stairway there to the yard but that's a bit steep from the third floor!!!!

By Maly on February 8, 2010 2:10 PM

I really like it a lot, and the location is lovely too. The price doesn't seem so high, for a big, beautiful house in Brooklyn Heights. It's hard to tell these days; some houses find a buyer right away, and end up in the stratospheric sales of the week, but others languish. Luck does play a part.

By Johnny on February 8, 2010 2:20 PM

Lot of taxes 'cause of commercial. What does a docs office bring in rent?

By Brownstones Half Off on February 8, 2010 2:43 PM

"Don't even think of it BHO..."

I can't help it! It's killing me inside, DIBS! 1/4.5(one of four and a half floors) x $3,600,000/(10 x 12) = $6,667/mo per floor. No way, now how! More like -33% less. 2.5 mil max @ market bottom.

Stupid today, right tomorrow.

***Bid half off peak comps***

By donatella on February 8, 2010 3:00 PM

What strikes me is how much these Brooklyn Heights houses have come off. At the peak, this house would have been listed for at least a million more. They were wildly overpriced then, however, competing for dollars from the fat and happy pre-crash Wall Street crowd. That area is one stop from Wall Street and 3 from the World Trade Center, not that all the finance jobs are down there these days. The killer are the taxes. A friend has a beautiful 5 family, 25 foot brownstone around the corner on Hicks Street. He pays 30,000 in taxes. The economics of owning a brownstone really change when you are dealing with that. Mine are 2400 in Fort Greene. I'm wondering what will happen in the future....

By daveinbedstuy on February 8, 2010 3:05 PM

donatella, don't tell people what Ft greene taxes are (or Bed Stuy, in my case) unless you want an onslaught of posts about getting away with highway robbery just because you own a brownstone and not a condo and aren't in BH!!!!

By Brownstones Half Off on February 8, 2010 4:00 PM

"At the peak, this house would have been listed for at least a million more."

Strikingly consistent with the consensus, -20 to -25 percent down so far. Nowhere is immune. And the DOW now closes today below 10K, the first time since November.

***Bid half off peak comps***

By Ringo on February 8, 2010 4:44 PM

Brooklyn Heights taxes used to be a lot lower. A LOT lower. They've skyrocketed. Still, 30k on a 3mm house is really not outrageous. It's just that we NYers are used to taxes in the thousands, not tens of thousands.

Anywho, I think what's happened in Brooklyn Heights tax-wise will be happening in the rest of brownstone brooklyn over the next decade.

By Minard Lafever on February 8, 2010 4:46 PM

stock brokers make money whether the market goes up or down. Old line: "I may be the broker, but youse the brokee"


By daveinbedstuy on February 8, 2010 4:58 PM

"Where are the clients' yachts?"

By donatella on February 8, 2010 4:58 PM

DIBS, you are right. I don't feel like painting a bullseye on myself.

By donatella on February 8, 2010 5:00 PM

The tax situation is the ticking bomb.

By Petebklyn on February 8, 2010 5:03 PM

taxes on regular homes (1-4 or 5 family) are limited each year on increases. To say Brooklyn Ht increases(skyrocketed) are higher than other areas is not accurate (%-wise).
This prop's taxes are high because mixed-use bldg.
3 family house (even if next door) and similar value would be not at all in this range.

By Splenda on February 8, 2010 5:33 PM

Why are people upset about the taxes? Perhaps they are high by Brooklyn standards, but they are minuscule when compared to Westchester or NJ. Less than $20K in real estate taxes for a $3.6 million house? In Westchester, you'd be looking at at least $60K in Scarsdale for example. I am not opining on whether B'lyn is too low or Westchester too high. Rather, I am simply stating that people in this bracket are likely considering a huge house (with a huge tax bill) in Westchester or an apartment in NYC with an equally high tax bill. So, anyway you slice it, a purchaser for this property is likely not put off by the taxes. That being said, the house looks really nice and I would not mind the doctor's office. But, for that price, I want the parlor and do not want two tenants. I think you have to factor in taking over the parlor floor and converting the house to a single family over a doctor's office.

By thwackamole1 on February 8, 2010 5:58 PM

Using some very aggressive rent numbers (5000 ground floor, 4k parlor, 7k rest of it) and a 15x rent multiplier (7-12 is more common), we get 2.9M.

Alternatively, the total cost of this of owning this building is 6.5% * 3.6M + 20k in taxes + insurance, heat, repairs, etc -- roughly 260-300k per year.


So the price/rent equation is totally nuts on this.

If you buy this, you either believe:

a) That you have so much money and that this is a 'special' building, so you don't mind overpaying

b) That inflation is going to be so high that the purchase price won't matter anyway


c) That you need to own a place because you don't get along with landlords or want to reconstruct the place to your liking

d) That you need to own something and that renting is simply not a good substitute.

e) That NYC's development restrictions and jobs pictures will continue to reduce supply and ensure a steady stream of mongo-sized bonuses.


It seems to me that this is priced beyond perfection, and that in most circumstances there's limited upside, but there may be people with so much money that they simply don't care.

By Ringo on February 8, 2010 6:38 PM

aren't real estate tax increases based on two figures: the assessment and the rate? I know the rate rises at a somewhat more predictable rate, but the assessments have jumped. 10% in 2010 where I am in Brooklyn Heights. Co-ops are harder hit, no doubt. And I could be wrong about the whole thing -- it's a bit of a mystery to me frankly.

By williamsburgguy on February 8, 2010 7:49 PM

Wow, the taxes are about the same as a 900 sq ft wooden ranch home in NJ or LI. Nice house but not worth $7000 a month after rents to live in a tiny apt.

By Petebklyn on February 8, 2010 9:06 PM

can't compare real estate taxes in NYC with those in NJ or suburbs. NYC has (local)income tax so as not to rely as heavily on residential real estate. Outside city does not have the (local)income tax.

By QB Steve on February 8, 2010 9:47 PM

I know this building very well. It may not need a complete gut, but it does need a TON of work. for 3.6 MM, it is in fact too shabby. great bones, great location, but the price is about 800k too much.

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