HOTD: Lefferts Limestone Lovely but Pricey
If the owner of this pristine limetone house on Midwood Street in Prospect Lefferts achieves the asking price of $1,495,000, it will have to be some kind of record for the nabe. The single-family residence looks like a real beauty, with plenty of period details and modern conveniences (wiring, media room, etc.). We wish BHS…
If the owner of this pristine limetone house on Midwood Street in Prospect Lefferts achieves the asking price of $1,495,000, it will have to be some kind of record for the nabe. The single-family residence looks like a real beauty, with plenty of period details and modern conveniences (wiring, media room, etc.). We wish BHS had a few more photos on the site–especially of the kitchen–but overall it looks rock-solid. We just can’t get over the price though. Have we been asleep at the wheel or is this asking price a good $100,000 to $200,000 higher than anything else in the neighborhood in recent memory?
Midwood Street Townhouse [Brown Harris Stevens] GMAP
sorry, not paying attention, I meant higher offer.
We almost bought 91 Rutland. The owner got greedy and pulled out when he got a hirer offer three weeks after accepting our offer. We found another house, and he lost his better offer. The thing that keeps that house from selling is the owner’s silliness, not the house. As for the house up the street, it just went on the market.
To Anonymous at September 27, 2005 04:15 PM – Come to the Bed Stuy house tour on 10/15/05. Go to old Boys high school on Putnam between Tomkins and Marcy to get your ticket and see for yourself.
Sure, some of the now section-8 housing will be diversified, but most of those building will remain largely section-8 tenants, which greatly reduces their appeal to new residents. People have been saying that Flatbush is on the verge of change for at least a decade. And the loitering is only a problem along Flatbush, but the house for 1.495 million is just off of Flatbush. The neighborhood certainly has pluses–but it also has major problems.
Does anyone know what is with the two houses on Rutland that have been sitting on the market for months?
it’s true that a few big buildings along flatbush, like trump-built patio gardens, will never change. but the six-story prewar apartment buildings with large rooms and heigh ceillings, will become more integrated, economically, over time. (there won’t be mass gentrification, but that’s a good thing, if you ask me.) the owners of those buildings often rent to people with government subsidized housing vouchers. as those vouchers become more scare, more apartments will be rented at market rate. over time, a few might become co-ops. that’s happened to at least one older, six-story apartment building on eastern parkway.
and several of those prospect lefferts apartment buildings, on ocean avenue along the park, are already great co-ops. (125 ocean.) the same is true of 50 lefferts, a great building off a quieter stretch of flatbush, on lefferts avenue.
true, there was a string of break-ins earlier this year. but reports of break-ins went way down after police arrested a guy on Sterling Street. as for noise and loitering, it’s mostly an issue along flatbush. most of the neighborhood is actually very quiet. i enjoyed a good summer, sleeping with air conditioner off and windows open. we come and go at all hours of the day and night, and our kids play in the street with their friends.
there are big efforts to improve nostrand avenue, the other main commercial street. a major drug bust on nostrand was just announced, after an investigation by the DA. (similar work is under way on Flatbush.) a business improvement district, of the sort that exists on Fifth Avenue, Myrtle Avenue, and other locations, is in the works for nostrand, too.
while the area could use some commercial development, there’s an unbelievable array of things to do. it’s right near the park, the audubon center, the ice-skating rink, the zoo, the botanic garden, the brooklyn children’s museum, the library, the soccer, tennis and ball fields at the parade ground. if that’s not enough, it’s right near the subway and parking is a breeze.
Prospect Lefferts may have a shortage of composed salads, but please don’t suggest there’s a lack of “amenities.”
that’s absurd. anyone who’s been watching closely for the last few months has seen changes in those very apartment buildings. lots of fuzzy-cheeked kids with guitars. i see them late at night buying patties on flatbush.
Lefferts Manor is a great neighborhood in many ways–nice people, lovely houses. But anyone thinking of buying there should read the July 2005 edition of the local newsletter (The Echo)which includes a list of problems to be discussed with the police. These include the fact that 40 of the 600 homes have had burglaries in the last year and the ongoing problem with “serial loiterers” who harrass women and kids, blare “bass-heavy music at any hour,” pee on the sidewalk, gamble on the sidewalk, and vadalize homes.
When I was looking in the area about 4 years ago, I asked my realtor when Flatbush would change. He(a long-time resident) said “never.” He explained that the size and make-up of the apartment buildings made them un-gentrifiable, and since there are at least ten times as many people living on Flatbush as in the Manor, the stores would always cater to the larger population. And, it follows, there will always be “serial loiterers.”
The fact that you can’t find a similar house for less money elsewhere doesn’t mean that you actually want to live in a nieghborhood.
BHS desribes this house as “Meticulously renovated and rich in period detail”.
While there might be houses in Park Slope at this price, they would be inferior wrecks, requiring at least $500,000 of renovation over an 18-24 month period to bring them up to this standard of quality (assuming the description is anywhere near the truth).
This house in Park Slope, on a prime block, would fetch $3MM. Even on a not so prime block, it would be at least $2MM.