Hello everyone,
We are considering leaving our Clinton Hill condo for a brownstone in Bed-Stuy (owner duplex with garden rental). If you have done this… What do you feel are the pros and cons? Do you miss the “C” train or Ft. Greene park? What are your neighborhood restaurants and grocery stores? Is it easy to rent your apt? Any thoughts, concerns, joys, and pains you can share are very welcome.

Thanks!


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  1. We also just sold our Clinton Hill Condo and moved to a 2 family in west Bed-Stuy. Definitely no regrets. We are loving having more space and a yard. Once we get tenants in(still doing some minor renovation), we will also enjoying having low monthly payments. I do use my car a lot more and still do my shopping in CH at Fairway and on Fresh Direct, but we signed up for the CSA that picks up around the corner from us at the YMCA, so we’re looking forward to that.

    Come move the neighborhood! The more the merrier!

  2. To respond to rh’s response “Slopette, there are some houses listed in the $400k’s and $500k’s but they will need complete updating and probably won’t be on the best blocks. You may find something decent in the mid $600k range.”

    I have to say, this isn’t accurate. The house we are buying is on a really pretty, quiet, safe block and is in that price range because it’s a smaller house (it does need updating, but we are fine with that). If you look at comps, you’ll find that actual sale prices per square foot are quite reasonable. Obviously, that changes if you’re buying a place for 3600 sq ft versus 2100 sq. feet, and changes too if an owner prices their house at what they want to sell it for, versus what the market is like now. We saw a grand 4-story house with amazing details on the best block of MacDonough near Lewis that sold for $700K which was something like $184 per square foot; it did need updating, but was in decent enough shape you could do some work at the front end, then move in and continue along. We missed out on a fully-renovated, detail-rich 3-story on a nice block of Putnam that ended up selling for $630K.

    All that said, I would highly, highly recommend renting in Bed-Stuy before you buy so you get truly familiar with the neighborhood and learn what blocks are actually great, and which are not. If you’re really ready to buy, work with local realtors who have Bed-Stuy experience, and are not part of large realty agencies – they get very different listings that often do not hit the internet – ours didn’t – plus they usually work with owners who price their properties realistically. Some agents I can recommend are Kingsley Duah of Naucorp Properties, Stuyvesant Heights Realty (on Stuyvesant Ave), Denise Cherry, Celeste Moses of Prospective Properties and Jay Safire of King of Kings and Queens.

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