1375 Dean Street

Why the heck did another tenant take the door off? IMO, It may be your responsibility but with the door still hinged, I would think it could be merely adjusted to close properly. Have tenant put door back how they found it. Then deal with getting it adjusted.

Posted by: BrookLynn816 at September 29, 2009 1:40 PM in response to Who is Responsible?

Oh ok, sorry for missing that part :)

Posted by: BrookLynn816 at September 29, 2009 1:05 PM in response to Walkabout with Montrose: A Crown Heights Tale

The House tour is a good ideam maybe someone will buy it, as it is a lot of house. I'm however actually surprised they agreed to a tour, as there are safety issues, ie. no bannister on one side of the stairs, unless they actually added on, which I doubt.

If you don't mind me asking, how did you get them to agree?

Posted by: BrookLynn816 at September 29, 2009 12:37 PM in response to Walkabout with Montrose: A Crown Heights Tale

Hi Montrose,

I'm not surprise this property has not sold. I, as you know put an offer on this home as my husband and I would have loved to have it. It was in very bad shape when we did a walk through but it could be absolutely beautiful once restored and it's huge.

The problem is, the buyer paid so much for the home to try and rip it down to put up condos but when it was landmarked, that soured the deal for them. Since they didn't want it as anything more then a tear down and rebuild, they have no interest in fixing it up or securing it for that matter. If the house wasn't in such bad shape the asking price wouldn't have been so bad for that size of a lot. But it would take so much money to put it back together and we were approved for a 203k loan.

It's really sad

Posted by: BrookLynn816 at September 29, 2009 11:29 AM in response to Walkabout with Montrose: A Crown Heights Tale

OMG, this open thread is hilarious. Doesn't it scare anyone that everyone is getting along so nicely. Just joking ROFL

I'm starting to miss the one topic start and then veering off into somthing else. To much to keep up with in the open thread :)

Posted by: BrookLynn816 at December 17, 2008 9:46 AM in response to Open Thread

WBer: LOL, you know as much as I have seen this house listed especially on Craigslist, I never notice the border. That is just bad!!!

Posted by: BrookLynn816 at December 12, 2008 2:58 PM in response to Horror Show Friday

WBer: LOL, you know as much as I have seen this house listed especially on Craigslist, I never notice the border. That is just bad!!!

Posted by: BrookLynn816 at December 12, 2008 2:58 PM in response to Horror Show Friday

WBer: LOL, you know as much as I have seen this house listed especially on Craigslist, I never notice the bored. That is just bad!!!

Posted by: BrookLynn816 at December 12, 2008 2:57 PM in response to Horror Show Friday

Sorry, I meant Probably cared about the project they constructed. Sorry, but this topic hits a spot for me because I was a house hunter (on hold). And knowing that what we can comfortable afford (affordable housing) without having to fix it up, in an area I would like to live in, really peeves me so see this type of construction. Benson, this is not an attack on you from me, but an attack on this particular construcion.

Posted by: BrookLynn816 at December 12, 2008 1:05 PM in response to Horror Show Friday

Benson, point taken and I'm sure you are right about inventory. But my thought and mine alone is, those fedder home developers that have been building for the last 30 years, probably cared more about the project they construction because it reflected on them. These days, you have every "Joe" developing who is just trying to make a profit. Granting they should not care how I feel about what they put up, but I thought the purpose of building was to sell.

Posted by: BrookLynn816 at December 12, 2008 12:28 PM in response to Horror Show Friday

I would think that not taking aesthetics into account is why so many of these properties are still sitting on the market but that is just my opinion. We have been looking for a house for a while and I can tell you, that if it was just about the space the developer was providing inside (which I find great, except the kitchen sitting in the middle of the room) we would have purchased a while back. But the look outside, and not the brick or stucco turn me away. It is the fact that the house stands out too much. They are either built too far back or protrude out or the scale is just off. It doesn't have to be a brownstone, I like brick, but at least scale it to the size of the house you are building next to. How a block looks matters, aside from cost and space provided. Just because I live in a house that was built cheaper doesn't mean it has to look cheap.

Posted by: BrookLynn816 at December 12, 2008 12:04 PM in response to Horror Show Friday

Yes Bed Stuy does get a lot of these. Sad thing is Monroe has a lot of these in all different sizes. IMO, wouldn't be so bad if they were in scale with the rest of the neighborhood. We once saw a house that wasn't new construction but the owner had bought the lot next door and was building. This builder built so much house that it spilled over onto the property, so there was no real backyard space. Don't think that was legal, but it was definitely a deal breaker for us and we really liked the house.

But again, it’s like MM said (not exact words) no one regulating or watching how these projects get built.

Posted by: BrookLynn816 at December 12, 2008 11:23 AM in response to Horror Show Friday

Affordable housing means being able to afford!!! If I have to pay that much, I do care about the exterior as well as interior. Aside from it looking like a large garage, Asking $500K for this is ridiculous.

Posted by: BrookLynn816 at December 12, 2008 10:38 AM in response to Horror Show Friday

LMAO on Couple, good pick. I can only image the remarks that will come with buying this THING, just glad I won't be the buyer.

Posted by: BrookLynn816 at December 12, 2008 10:33 AM in response to Horror Show Friday

They've been trying to sell this thing for a while. Although the inside looks nice and new, projects like this do not fit and mess of the brownstone blocks "Which house does not fit" Not a fan of new construction.

Posted by: BrookLynn816 at December 12, 2008 10:24 AM in response to Horror Show Friday

The house in BS sold in the 400K a couple months back. We were going to see it back then but when we rode by the area we opted out. It is right across from the park which is nice but there is a corner bodega which is only steps from the house and everytime we past the area, there are people hanging out. Whomever bought it basically fixed it up a little and is now trying to flip it. Does look nice but one of the things we didn't want was a corner store too close to our property, we already have that and prefer not to have it again.

Posted by: BrookLynn816 at December 10, 2008 5:24 PM in response to Open House Picks

Thanks Susan, Now I really really love the house. Realtor called my hubby again last night which makes me think there were really no cash offers and they just wanted us to bid higher. My husband has not returned the call as we are still in decision mode (financially).

Posted by: BrookLynn816 at November 20, 2008 10:53 AM in response to Elkins House Tax photo

Thanks BG,

I do remember it was you who wondered what ever came of the house. Which is why I initially decided to post and update. :)

Like I said, I'm a huge lurker.

Posted by: BrookLynn816 at November 17, 2008 4:52 PM in response to 1375 Dean Street

Susan,

Just curious, did Landmarks say it would be around 200K for restore the outside? Is there a way of finding this info out as they are the only ones that will tell you what work is acceptable.

Thanks in advance

Posted by: BrookLynn816 at November 17, 2008 4:43 PM in response to 1375 Dean Street

I noticed that, one is for 1.2 and the other I'm not sure. Please I'm looking at a fixer, no way I have that type of money to buy LOL. Not sure I would pay that if I had the money. I would rather find something for less in a decent/nice area that I can fix up to be grand. I noticed coming down Dean from Bedford, there are quite a bit of houses for sale, some are boarded up. But I just love the houses and exterior look of the homes.

So My husband called the realtor back and was basically told that if we up our offer, which they know will only be $5-10K over the cash offer, we can potentially get the house. Said that the seller wants to see our pre-approval, etc. My hubby told him he will touch base with them tomorrow. My concern which I expressed to my husband is that they probably don't have solid cash deals but looking to recoup as much as they can. I don't think we could hide how excited we were about the house and they know it.

We just need to really get an idea of what renovation cost would be as we don't have unlimited cash.

Posted by: BrookLynn816 at November 17, 2008 4:39 PM in response to 1375 Dean Street

Thanks for the info, it is greatly appreciated. My husband can't let it go and is actually going back to the realtor to put in an offer. He keeps thinking about what you get for your money in this market compared to fixing up what would be a great property. He would rather spend less money on a home and spend more on restoring instead of spending upwards of 600K and still having to do work.

The contractor we had along basically did a quick walk thru, and gave a rough estimate which I'm sure was just that an estimate. He basically said conservatively $300K. Hard to tell what something would cost unless you start poking around inside. Not sure when last you saw the place but after viewing yesterday I can't even picture what details was in the home. I would have expected to at least see some original built-ins but there was nothing. Really sad but there was nothing left to save. It would have to be restored from a vision of how you would expect that period house to look or photos of similar homes, if that makes sense. He said because of damage on the ceiling and around the wall that some of the beautiful detail could not be saved but the lighting medallions were safe from harm.

Oh will unless I hit the lottery tomorrow or the other deals fall through, I will dream.

Posted by: BrookLynn816 at November 17, 2008 3:01 PM in response to 1375 Dean Street

Yes it's brooklyn and we would be willing to pay our agent ourselves if this was the problem.

Posted by: BrookLynn816 at November 17, 2008 10:41 AM in response to 1375 Dean Street

Apparently quite a few agents are doing this now, as they want to be paid even if you find a house on your own because of time they invested in working for/with you. We've worked with this agent before (never signed anything) so we enlisted her again to work with us as she appeared to work really hard the first time. We signed an agreement that we would work with her for 90 days but also that if we found a house through another agent within that time we would still pay her 2%. We were fine with this as we thought that it would work out. Obviously is hasn't as we still have not acquired a property to no fault of ours and 90 days are almost up. Example, we put in an offer on a house with this agent and it didn't work out. Not because we didn't have funding or anything like that but because there were disagreements with the sellers agent. Besides that I have done all the research on finding properties to view and all she did was make the appointment, which I found a waste because agents were more inclined to speak with us directly then deal with another agent. Anyway it is truly a lesson learned. Sorry to vent, just has been a disappointing 3 months. :)

Posted by: BrookLynn816 at November 17, 2008 10:25 AM in response to 1375 Dean Street

Thanks Montrose,

I have seen how passionate you've spoke of the house when it previously went on the market. We have actually considered putting in a higher offer to see what would happen. We just assumed Cash would win out. Trust me if I won Mega there are quite a few homes I would love to buy and restore.

We could only tell from the gold etchings around the once grand staircase and around the ceiling and molding how great it must have looked in the past.

As first time home buyers, this house hunting is still a big learning curve and very discouraging as there is so much shady dealings amongst buyer/sellers agents, sellers etc. We have an agent and haven't had much luck and are really regretting signing an exclusive with her. Just glad it expires the beginning of December.

Posted by: BrookLynn816 at November 17, 2008 9:50 AM in response to 1375 Dean Street

Yes Dave, it was a short sale. At this point the owner would have taken anything just to get rid of it. From what I understand from the realtor, the owner became ill so the house just sat. Now that he is able to make some decisions again as it is a group of investors, and the property is about be foreclosed, they are moving fast.

I just wonder why the bank would accepts such a low price as the mortgage was for 800K. One investor offers $200K and the other 250K.

Posted by: BrookLynn816 at November 17, 2008 8:56 AM in response to 1375 Dean Street

Well said

I have been a lurker for some time as I find Brownstoner a great site for those looking for input or advise on home ownership, etc.

I personally don't know anyway who has purchased and could not afford or at least no one fessing up to it as their homes are not being forclosed but this is the price that we are all having to pay for irresponsible lending. I may not agree with a lot of things going back in forth on the forum but I do agree that this issue affects us all and to play the blame games doesn't help anyone.

Just wanted to finally post that I appreciate logging on to read the positive/negative posting from a bunch of folks that make this forum/site great.

Posted by: BrookLynn816 at November 11, 2008 4:32 PM in response to Quote of the Day

get better movers next time....
get a better landlady...
get better neighbors....
get a better door...
get some fatter screws for the hinges...

yes, the mover is responsible, but...they didn't pull the door down the second time, so prove it..

yes, the landlady's person should fix it so she doesn't blame you for a bad repair...

personally, i would just put the door back up myself and figure out what's wrong and fix it. most likely the screws holding the hinges into the frame and/or the door are not tight, the holes are stripped, need to be plugged and redrilled, or maybe just tightened, or maybe just a different screw.

then, you need to get your landlady to come see for herself that you fixed the door, so you can put the matter to rest. let the neighbor and the landlady take care of each other and know who your neighbor is and keep your distance.

then move...

Posted by: raphael9 at September 29, 2009 4:03 PM in response to Who is Responsible?

How about you get a cost estimate from the landlady and put in a claim with the movers?

Posted by: Maly at September 29, 2009 4:05 PM in response to Who is Responsible?

WTF? Lawsuits? Maintenance workers? Angry neighbors. Put the door back, tighten up the screws and adjust accordingly, there usually is a little play with the hinge plates.

Posted by: bmfesq at September 29, 2009 4:16 PM in response to Who is Responsible?

I can't imagine another tenant would take the door off the hinges if it was just a little bit stiff. There must have been something more difficult about it after they reattached.

Forget the claim and give your super a few bucks to reattach it properly. Not worth the hassle of trying to chase it down from the other tenants or the movers - you'll get nowhere on that route anyway.

Posted by: MrsLimestone at September 29, 2009 4:16 PM in response to Who is Responsible?

The response you received from your mover is unacceptable. If the mover is reputable, he will carry insurance. However, aside from this , if his employees removed the door , they are responsible for re-hanging it in the same functioning condition as they found it. Try to work this out with your mover before you hire someone to remedy the problem. As noted above, your landlady was not responsible for the doors initial removal and now bears no responsibilty for the necessary repair. Be sure to let your landlady know that the movers did not leave the door unhinged, but another tenant, (perhaps a disgruntled problematic tenant) took it upon themselves to remove the door entirely from it's hinges. Ask the landlady or her representative to ask the "unhinged" tenant to put the door back on it's hinges as he or she found it originally. Leave it right where the angry tenant placed it, do not move it or attempt to re-hang it yourself. Keep in mind, neither you nor your movers caused the "current" removal & obstruction. Good luck!

Posted by: Crescent Hill at September 29, 2009 4:32 PM in response to Who is Responsible?

Personally I would have said nothing and see if it came back to bite me in the ass. In your case it looks like your movers f-ed up. I agree with the other post that mentioned that the movers insurance should cover the cost of a locksmith/ handyman to fix the door.

Now you've openeded your big mouth to everyone, just drop the super a 50 spot with your apologies.

Posted by: bobbyj at September 29, 2009 4:55 PM in response to Who is Responsible?

The door would be OK if your guys didn't take it off and put it back wrong. You are responsible. Go to the landlady, say you are sorry about it, ask her advice on who she would use and use that person and pay them. You will start off your new lease on the right foot. How hard is that?

Posted by: donatella at September 29, 2009 10:27 PM in response to Who is Responsible?

The door would be OK if your guys didn't take it off and put it back wrong. You are responsible. Go to the landlady, say you are sorry about it, ask her advice on who she would use and use that person and pay them. You will start off your new lease on the right foot. How hard is that?

Posted by: donatella at September 29, 2009 10:28 PM in response to Who is Responsible?

you hired the putzes who fucked up the door..man up and pay for the repairs

Posted by: eman1234 at September 29, 2009 10:39 PM in response to Who is Responsible?

Listen to denton. He/she talks like a lawyer. The way I see it, you just got some free legal advice.

It is your responsibility to fix it. I would add that if you have more time than money, get all the documentation you can (statement from landlady that the door wasn't right, write a VERY NICE letter to the mover detailing how his employees removed the door and did not rehang it properly, take pictures, maybe record the next conversation with mover--be above board about it and inform him that you record such calls for your own personal records, etc). Ask nicely but firmly in a letter to the mover (certified mail and keep a copy) for reimbursement for the cost of having it rehung properly. When he refuses, file complaints with the BBB and Chamber of Commerce, explaining in a very level-headed way what transpired. And sue for reimbursement in small claims court.

But for all the time and hassle, it is not worth it to most people. Even if you get a judgment (and I think you would) then you have to collect it. Just chalk it up to experience and eat the cost of rehanging the door, which of course is your responsibility. And let the rest of us know which mover it was so we can avoid him.

mikez

Posted by: mikez at September 30, 2009 12:27 AM in response to Who is Responsible?