House of the Day: 177 Maple Street
This three-story limestone house at 177 Maple Street in Prospect Lefferts Gardens was an Open House Pick back in September when it was an FSBO listed at $950,000; now Brooklyn Properties has the listing for $929,000. The house appears to be in good shape and, if you can look past some of the furnishings, has…
This three-story limestone house at 177 Maple Street in Prospect Lefferts Gardens was an Open House Pick back in September when it was an FSBO listed at $950,000; now Brooklyn Properties has the listing for $929,000. The house appears to be in good shape and, if you can look past some of the furnishings, has quite a bit of original charm; the kitchen, bathroom and yard aren’t going to help its chances. Seems to us it’ll take a little more price-cutting to get this one done. What do you think?
177 Maple Street [Brooklyn Properties] GMAP P*Shark
I don’t know if anyone will even see this, but I thought it might be fun to mention that I’m an architect and am currently in the process of renovating this home.
Believe it or not, it did look like this when I saw it right before the closing, when the owner still lived there. She had been in it for 50. At one point a long time ago, the owner took down the wall around the parlor and when they did that, added a layer of maple on top of the existing flooring, and re-did the kitchen.
The rest of the building is in great shape and the block is very nice. We’ll be doing a little cosmetic work and opening up the parlor floor even more. If anyone’s interested, I can post some pictures as the work is completed.
Jim Hill, RA, LEED AP
Urban Pioneering Architecture
mopar – I don’t have a shower curtain LOL! Surprisingly, water doesn’t really get all over but the errand sprays get wiped down right away and its all good 🙂 I do have tile floors though, so I don’t have to worry about warped wood.
Curtains! But really, we have a clawfoot with shower head and the curtain wraps around the whole thing and keeps the walls and wood floors dry.
Heather, while this house may be “big” by apartment standards, it is the size of 2 floors of a standard brownstone. 929K for 1/2 a brownstone of this quality in this location in this market seems unrealistic. Regardless of the kitchen.
This house is priced at 429K more than the very similar house in Brooklyn College area that Brownstoner recently featured (same realtor). LM is certainly a nicer location, but not so much nicer to account for such a huge difference.
i_heart_brooklyn, thank you for your post. I appreciate the ideas about how to “freshen up the look, don’t destroy it.” Question for those with clawfoot tubs and beadboard surrounds (which were in fact the original finishing in the two families!): Any special recommendations re keeping everything dry and clean?
As much as I like PLG’s limestones, before the recent craziness, none of them were going for this. This one won’t either. The site list “Good condition”. The one picture of one bathroom was hideous and no pics of the other. Will people ever learn – when selling a house that clearly has lots of period detail, bathroom renos aren’t necessarily a good thing. Freshen up the look, don’t destroy it. For example, when I bought my brownstone, one of the bathrooms was an updated disaster – an acrylic tub enclosure with soap holders and a $79 Home Depot vanity. I’m cringing just thinking about it. Anyway, I put back a clawfoot tub (the old owner took it out) with a telephone faucet/handshower, a pedestal sink with matching faucet and a huge elegant mirror. Thank goodness, in his rush to modernize, he didn’t tile the whole bathroom. I put in (full height) beadboard with finish moulding and hung some art. When, and if, I get bored or ever sell the house, I can repaint or the new owners can take the beadboard down and tile. Much less work than demo’ing tile.
To me there are three things that determine price: location, square footage, and general condition. The rest is just window dressing. This house is big, in a great location (for PLG), and everything works. Nothing wrong with their furniture, either, which, by the way, one assumes is not included.
I predict that the current obsession with kitchen and bathroom appliances is going to be one of those things in twenty years that people look back on and say, “oh yeah, the oughts. That’s when everyone thought they needed a $5 thousand dollar stove. How tacky.”
I went to the open house when this was still a FSBO. It definitely needs some interior decorating. In addition to the aesthetics of the kitchen, I recall it being small. I think the price needs to come down some more, especially in this market. Maybe $800K is a fair price. BTW, nothing wrong with the backyard. It’s quite spacious. The deck could use some work, but that easy.
Such a shame people rip out walls. A deal breaker for me. (Floors too…)
Thanks Bob