Co-op of the Day: 199 Clinton Street, #4
The photos of this top-floor unit at 199 Clinton Street make us want to move right in but the floorplan gives us a little pause. Like most brownstone floor-through apartments, it’s hard to get a real second bedroom out of it, and such is the case here. You could definitely get a small child into…
The photos of this top-floor unit at 199 Clinton Street make us want to move right in but the floorplan gives us a little pause. Like most brownstone floor-through apartments, it’s hard to get a real second bedroom out of it, and such is the case here. You could definitely get a small child into this 6’8″-wide room at the front, but then it’s at at the other end of the apartment from both the master bedroom and the bathrooms. And speaking of bathrooms, having the bathroom open onto the kitchen is also suboptimal. Lest we sound too gloomy, though, the three exposures, ample original detail and attractive finishes all make this place very open-house-ready. What do you make of the $1,000,000 asking price and $1,333 maintenance?
199 Clinton Street, #4 [Douglas Elliman] GMAP P*Shark
minard – some people do. if your concentration span is such that you only want to read short posts, then nobody’s stopping you.
My husband and I looked at this apt in 1997, when the asking price was $145,000. There were alot of problems with the building’s finances and we didn’t think we could get a mortgage. So we passed.
Everytime I need to use the bathroom and have to run up the stairs, I think of the DOB and how they wouldn’t let me put a half bath anywhere near the kitchen of my house when I renovated.
Oh well, more sanitary I guess!
Ditmas, than you so much.
likewise and good night.
“First open house is sunday…”
I thought brokers were more optimistic than that.
“will not be swayed. Cobble Rules!!!!!!!!!!!” (more4less)
Ha, maybe. But Brooklyn Heights costs more.
> ditmasnark: folks from the hinterland have a reputation for
> being uncouth – you do live up to that.
Thank you, and have a wonderful snow-kissed evening.
Brokelin: remember brevity is good. nobody reads long posts.
ditmasnark: folks from the hinterland have a reputation for being uncouth -you do live up to that.
I grew up in an old house with a bathroom off the kitchen, it was totally non-problematic.
JFC
Keyboard diarrhea.
Hardly a typical brownstone apartment. It is extra large and DOES have two bedrooms, as has been pointed out – the little room is a total extra. (Maybe Mr. B needs a library, but the rest of us can see it as a bedroom. Floorplan labels shouldn’t be taken so literally.) And it isn’t like two-bedrooms where one bedroom is clearly supposed to be a dining room – the 23ft living room is large enough to provide decent space for both living room and dining areas. I like the suggestion given above to alter the bath access and WD placement – I’d do that. Only I’d make the WD off the anteroom, if possible – I like it in the kitchen even less than in a bathroom.
But what makes this a truly non-typical apartment is the light! Corner brownstone apartments don’t feel like brownstones at all inside – where brownstone usually means dark in the middle, light only on the ends. These feel lofty. I lived in one once – I used to love sitting at the table in my kitchen, which was central to the apartment and would otherwise have been dark if the house was anywhere else in the block, gazing out my two huge windows at the side street scene with the plane trees… I love the other rooms with windows on two sides here, too – I like it.
Saying a walk-up is a problem is dumb. Brownstones are walk-up. If you don’t want walk-up, you aren’t interested. Plenty are interested in brownstone walkups. Some for the generally lower maintenance – if you feel you don’t need an elevator, doorman, or other staff, or managing agent, then you don’t have to pay the maintenance for one. But high maintenance ones sell, too, because some people prefer the brownstone charm. (And here you get the charm withough losing the light – which is relatively rare.) And plenty of people with little kids buy in brownstone walk-ups. They tend to be younger, rather than older, parents, I bet.
High maintenance is usually unavoidable where it exists. Isn’t usually management problems (hard to have in self-managed buildings, as these usually are, unless you let someone walk off with the money). Rather, the two main causes are (1) extensive building repairs undertaken and/or needed or (2) was coop’ed later, so building had a high price tag, and was left a really large mortgage to begin with by the previous owner.
If the coop took out mortgages later to do the work, it isn’t mismanagement to do that rather than to assess owners – it’s their choice. It could also have higher taxes than usual somehow. Even if they paid for garbage, shoveling, and cleaning, that wouldn’t raise the maintenance much – it’s fairly cheap labor. If they weren’t self-managed (unlikely, but I suppose posible), paying a management company would likely cost more.
I suppose a coop could be mismanaged in that a coop could invest it’s money in stocks and lose it. I think it is stupid for a small coop to invest in stocks. I looked at one for sale by owner where the seller bragged to me about how he’d convinced the coop to make money by putting its reserve in stock, while I was thinking, that’s dumb – he doesn’t realize stocks don’t only go up. But I don’t think that’s common with small coops (at least, I hope not.)
With a high maintenance place, there are two concerns: one is whether the price needs to be lower to offset the higher than average maintenance. The other is, even if you are willing to pay it, for whatever price you negotiate, is how the high maintenance will look to potential buyers upon resale. Because unless a hefty mortgage is due to be paid off while you own it, the maintenance is only going to go higher.
But one needs to look at the financials to see what the cause of the high maintenance is. Because if the mortgage is large and close to being paid off, that can cause the maintenance to go down. Or it could be that the owners like the keep the place in great shape – which you could decide you like. The typical brownstone coop, whether the maintenance is low or a high as this, tend to be badly in need of new hallway carpet and paint, as well as facade or other repairs – many boards choose to live in them in rundown condition rather than fix up. (Which never makes sense to me, especially when they are spending a lot to renovate their apartments, but don’t invest in maintaining the building outside their apartment.) You could have a building where the owners have the money and are willing to spend it it to fix it up – some would be willing to pay higher maintenace for that.