303 Washington Wrap: Open House Post-Mortem
We were running a little late, so we were only able to take a look at the parlor floor of 303 Washington yesterday and, despite some nice details, we’re going to have to backtrack a little on the unbridled enthusiasm we were feeling on Friday. There are some nice details, to be sure, but the…
We were running a little late, so we were only able to take a look at the parlor floor of 303 Washington yesterday and, despite some nice details, we’re going to have to backtrack a little on the unbridled enthusiasm we were feeling on Friday. There are some nice details, to be sure, but the house clearly needs a lot more work than the listing lets on–it also didn’t feel nearly as wide as the exterior photo might suggest. We gather the whole basement set-up was a little creepy too. “I just kept wondering when the gimp was going to jump out from behind one of those dungeon doors,” said one fellow we bumped into outside the open house. So, in a big reversal, we’re thinking the seller will be lucky to get asking price. What did others think?
303 Washington Avenue [Brooklyn Properties] GMAP P*Shark
Brownstoner, don’t let that nasty little broker get to you. We love your work. We love your site. Keep it coming. You’ve got to feel proud about the work that you’re doing given that major media like the nytimes and the village voice use this site as a resource for new articles.
Anonymous broker, I’d stop while you’re ahead. You’re only giving your agency a bad rep.
wink-wink!
I own in Clinton Hill and went to gawk. Didn’t tell the agents I was gawking. I was curious because I always liked these buildings and the Bkln Properties pics made it look very nice with an eye for design – pairing new and old.
I thought the price was realistic before seeing the place in person. Now I’m not sure. There is a lot of work to be done, the 23 by 75 foot description of the size is not spot on as the extension off the back that supposedly makes the place 75 feet long is not the full width of the house. Plus the brokers counted the finished basement (and it is a basement, albeit with some 1 foot tall windows on either end) in calculating sqare footage. The basement could only be used by the owner as it would be an illegal apartment if rented out.
The apartments upstairs were ok. They were large, especially the top floor which could be marketed as a 3br, though realistically it would be used as 2 with a home office I think, though they both needed a fair bit of upgrading (e.g. new kitchens and some cosmetic work – don’t know about the basics such as plumbing etc.)
All of that said, it is a nice house. In the end, I think it is better suited to a condo conversion. I’m not sure about the price. I would not have expected there to be as much work to do at that price, though who knows – maybe it makes sense for someone especially considering the location and the potential high income from a two bedroom and 3 bedroom rental in the building. I had seen this place advertised for some time before this open house with Brooklyn Properties – as someone else noted above.
We appreciate the damage control, ahem, we mean apology. While we generally cut people a lot of slack given how hard it is to convey the subtleties of tone in the online medium, there’s was never anything even remotely playful or wink-wink about your comments. They were purely mean-spirited. Is it reasonable to raise the issue of the conflicts of interest inherent in our position? Sure. But coming at us attack-dog style, printing portions of our phone number? Very uncool. Hopefully it’s a lesson learned.
or it was 2pm and the open house was over
I believe the dilemma posed about real estate ethics in the previous post is pure machiavellan – do unto others…
The problem with that line of thought is a lack of facts in determining if they are being lied to and just assuming based on the title “real estate broker” from watching too much TV. As many of you know the majority of agents in NYC are seller’s brokers and it is our duty to convey all information accurately from seller to buyer. Determine if we are doing that before blaming us for lying. The seller may be intentionally or not deceiving the agent using their pariah status as a perfect, manipulative foil. “Buyer beware” – I seriously doubt any agent can make a sale on such a large purchase by lying about a neighborhood or condition of home. That is why people hire engineers, architects and lawyers – everything comes out in the wash. A good agent would not waste his/her time by deceiving anything only to see the sale die a month later.
On that note, when we showed up at the open house, we fully disclosed that we already owned in the neighborhood and were just there as a “gawker”. Maybe that’s why we were shoo’d out the door before we could see the entire house.
easy – easy – e-mail style communication gets misread with inappropriate tonality. my sarcasm is biting but not malicious. isnt that the point of having an anonymous forum – to vent frustration????
apologies to those offended past and future!
okay, I am always willing to give someone the benefit of the doubt and I don’t know brownstoner’s personal situation but as far as brokers, if anything the mistrust is a 50/50 thing seeing as though most people don’t trust brokers and that’s probably why they’re dishonest because they expect you to be and why shouldn’t we? when we’re looking at a property we know is in a completely different neighborhood than advertised. just be honest, agents/brokers lie, they’ve made it a part of their job and if they can use dishonesty to their advantage then why can’t others? why can’t people go to open houses of places they have no intention to buy just to see it and tell the juice about how fab or not fab it was to everyone else? why can’t people call and inquire about a property they’re not genuinely interested in? many brokers are snapping at people left and right like they don’t have time to make money anyway. I’m sure we’ve all contacted a broker who claims to be too busy to sit on the phone and entertain our interest, who snap at us and demand things from potential clients because they feel they can. are all brokers/agents like this? probably not, but a good number of them are.