Forum Archive

Well here’s the update: (scroll down for link to photo gallery)

We BOUGHT IT, or at least we thought we did….
Here’s a short version of a two+ month very long story:

We first saw the property in February and were not totally sold on it, but we warmed up to it.
We made an offer, $800k. The owners countered $950k, no contingencies; close in 30 days, all cash. The agent, Kathryn Lilly* at Prudential Douglas Ellerman, http://www.prudentialelliman.com/mainsite/agents/agents.aspx?BID=KAL told us they had another offer of $950k, so we had to meet that number, as the owners “really wanted to sell to us over the other buyers”.

Still not convinced the house was worth the price, we decided to get an inspection. Everything seemed ok, so with a few more rounds of inspections, we finally agreed to $950k.

Due to the owners request to have a no contingency contract we ended up getting a general inspection, a structural inspection, a historical conservator evaluation of the exterior, a formal site survey and a title report (basically everything normally done AFTER a contract is signed) to assure ourselves we could sign with NO contingencies.

We agreed that the building, while it had flaws was ok to buy and was right for us, yeah!
We reviewed their contract with our lawyer and her comment to us was that it was written as though this was a “foreclosed” property. After consulting with the seller’s attorney, he agreed to strike or change certain parts of the contract; this was the end of April.

All said and done, we agreed, signed their P&S, put a deposit in escrow, signed with an agent to sell our houses and started packing. Two days later we got a call from our lawyer saying that they NOW have a higher offer and would like to know RIGHT NOW how high we are willing to go. Well, given what we knew about the property and the sellers…we decided to stick to our $950k…and just like that we lost the house.

We called Kathryn and the first words out of her mouth over were, snidely, “sorry you lost the house – the sellers signed with somebody else…too bad ” so much for HER representing BOTH parties in this real estate transaction.

We were/are devastated – we spent almost everyday since February 9th working out the details of moving into that house, only to have the rug pulled out from under us, without any opportunity to find out what happened – it is reported that “we were exceeding difficult to deal with”.

Our lawyer put it this way simply: The contract did not provide us with a clear and marketable title and she couldn’t let us close without that at any price and have a good conscience about it.

Here’s what we do know, and can only hope that the new buyers do as well:

>>There is no way that the house is 3900 sq ft…unless it includes the basement and that is even a stretch.
>>The rear wood deck is built to the property line, which is typically not legal in NY.
>>The deck support posts were not properly isolated from the ground/dirt.
>>The kitchen extension roof overhangs the neighbor’s property 16″, which is a potential liability down the road.
>>All of the eves NEED to be re-painted within a year (there is already rot showing)
>>Even though it was re-pointed “recently”, key spots were missed
>>Painting and Pointing this structure is going to cost a fortune…just for the scaffolding.
>>There is some concern of spalling and cracking of lintels and brownstone sections.
>>Gutters are not pitched properly and fill with water

Windows:
__“NEW” wood windows are missing paint on the EXTERIOR and were never properly prepared and painted on the inside.
__Original wood windows need IMMEDIATE attention as the exterior wood is exposed
__Many windows do not close properly (Actually almost all the non-original windows need replacement)
__Most of the “stained” glass windows have paint all over them and need restoration.

>>The Paint job inside and out is just AWFUL, with paint on most windows & tile work
__2nd floor transom windows were painted shut (WHY?)
__The entire exterior is covered in paint splatter
__Interior doors were painted without scraping/prepping
__Seems the house was painted quickly and not supervised after the owners moved out

>>The roof has broken tiles
>>There is/was water in the basement
>>The basement walls are fully enclosed trapping moisture/staying wet, watch for mold.
>>The basement heat pump does not work
>>The radiators are potentially undersized for the house
>>There is no visible sewer vent at the street connection
>>The roof top plumbing vents are less than 6 feet from windows (one is under an eve & 12″ from a bedroom window)
>>The back yard is a swamp after the rain as it does not drain properly
>>Moldings were not mitered properly, if at all
>>The front gate does not open in cold weather (the bricks rise up, probably due to bad drainage)
>>Building is not insulated or in any way energy efficient
>>EVERY SUNDAY the church services next door PERMIATE the building – there is NO escape! (We had already decided to have Gospel Bruch on Sundays)
AND
>>The title was not clear!

This list does not even cover the BAD design decisions of the palatial master bath suite, which looks great in the photos, but the reality is, if someone is on the toilet, you literally can’t get in/out of the shower, not to mention, that you’re basically “on display” (in a small house/bath, ok, but for a million?) And just putting nice appliances in the kitchen does not make it an enjoyable space.

All we can think is that perhaps a developer bought the property and doesn’t care about any of these issues because they will take it down…we certainly hope this is not the case.

What doesn’t make sense to us is that the Kathryn Lilly told us that they wanted to sell it to us, I assume because they thought we’d do right for the house, but the effort that we put into doing right for the house made us too difficult to deal with?!?!?!?
Anyway, we have decided that it’s probably best not to hear ALLELUIA! Every Sunday for the next 10 years!

You can see MANY detailed photos here from our five visits to the house:

http://www.flickr.com/photos/38879481@N03/

(we have even more images, but flicker limits free accounts to 200…)

We hope that the new owners find love in the house….As from our perspective, it seems to be cursed….

S and B

*As far as we are concerned, Kathryn Lilly is the epitome of the slimy agent. She actually yelled at us one afternoon, saying that we were not trying hard enough to buy the house, despite the fact that we were waiting for information from the sellers at that point! Not to mention unprofessional emails and comments…AVOID HER!

PPS> The house is no longer going to be landmarked, so if the Crown Heights North Association is concerned, they might want to watch this property closely, it is in contract, and we’re not sure who is buying it…..