I went to the open house as well. Again, it's a beautiful house and a great location, but there are certain aspects of the house that may not appeal to most people. At this price point, the ground floor/English basement is a turn-off. If you're paying for the renovation, this is a waste of space.

I also think it is hard to justify that this house is $1.4M nicer than 4th Street. Given market and comps, I'd say this will go in the mid $3s

Posted by: sachi at November 24, 2008 4:54 PM in response to House of the Day: 566 1st Street

This is a great house. Wonderful combination of original charm and details with modern a updating. There are, however, some major obstacles to achieving anywhere near the asking price.

A Corcoran listed limestone on 4th Street, park block, is priced at $2.6M. It is essentially the same house without the renovation. Even if someone put in $1M of renovations (and I don’t think the 4th Street house requires that amount of updating), it’s still going to be $300 to $400K less than this HOTD.

It has a very personal and idiosyncratic floor plan. I am not sure what to make of the English basement. The laundry room is huge and takes up the bay windows in the front. A real waste of light and space. Next, you’re faced with a warren of closets, a small bedroom and strange small media room in the extension. I am not sure what the architect was thinking, but the ground floor level is very odd and it’s way too expensive to undo given a $4M asking price.

The master bedroom is in the smaller of the two rooms on the second floor. An office and library take up the front room with the bay windows. Very beautiful and ordinarily not a big deal, but the library has enormous built-in shelves which limits flexibility in making this the master. Finally, the upstairs bedrooms are also oddly configured with what is normally a larger bedroom and a smaller bedroom or office in most townhouse floor plans with a smaller room that can only be accessed through the larger room. The current owner uses the smaller rooms as the actual bedroom with the larger rooms as a study and/or seating area.

This reminds me of the renovation on 14th Street in the South Slope originally on the market for over a year at $3.2 and now reduced to $2.8. Nice renovations, but the layout choices are so personal that you need someone with the exact same idiosyncratic taste. I don’t believe the value carries over.

At this price, I would also want a larger yard.

Posted by: sachi at November 24, 2008 2:40 PM in response to House of the Day: 566 1st Street