HOTD: Yea on Structure, Neigh on Price
Since they’ve blocked our links in the past, we can only assume that the folks over at Warren Lewis don’t appreciate our commentary on their listings. Unfortunately, this one isn’t going to improve relations. Now, we’re a sucker for carriage houses–they’re so cute and charming, who can resist? But in our minds, it’s hard to…
Since they’ve blocked our links in the past, we can only assume that the folks over at Warren Lewis don’t appreciate our commentary on their listings. Unfortunately, this one isn’t going to improve relations. Now, we’re a sucker for carriage houses–they’re so cute and charming, who can resist? But in our minds, it’s hard to justify pricing them on a par with traditional townhouses. At the $2.15 million asking price, this 3,500-square-foot carriage house, we’d argue, is even more expensive on a per square foot basis than neighboring brownstones. And though we can appreciate the loft-like feel that the larger floorplate offers, we see a little too much recessed lighting and molding-less edges for our taste. That said, the extra-wide landscaped garden is lovely and we think the painted brick interior wall works very well too. But everything at a price and this just feels too high to us.
410 Waverly Avenue [Warren Lewis] GMAP
410 Waverly Ave [NY Times]
This is actually 2 carriage houses, and EACH is wider than the average townhouse and longer at 60 feet. Even though they’re only 2 stories high, if you put them on top of each other to get 4 extra-wide stories + a 44′ wide back yard, parking, and a pretty nice rehab, you easily justify that price on Waverly Place.
Keep in mind too that a similarly sized brownstone is not going to give you a 44′ wide garden. I think you’re looking at this one through Brownstoner glasses again. (E.g.: “I personally like original detail; therefore, I can’t see why someone would pay as much for this as for a restored brownstone of the same square footage.”) Sure, I’ve seen better modern renos than this — but I’ve seen far, far worse. It’s no hack flip job, from the pix anyway. (Really, the W Lewis pix as usual are too paltry to really tell.)
You’ve got the right to your own tastes — it’s your site. But if you want to objectively decide if a sale price is worth it, you have to disregard the fact that it doesn’t meet your own preferences and ask yourself if it would be worth it to someone with different tastes. Objectively, I think you gotta say that the rarity of a house of this type carries a premium.
#4223 on the Warren Lewis site looks like a good one to me. corner lot, lots of detail & a 100yr old artist studio in the backyard!! if I were looking to buy I would definitely go see it!
Brownstoner, Warren Lewis doesn’t seem to block you specifically: they block all external referrers. What works for me is to click through to the link, get their “sorry” page, click in the URL bar at the top of my browser window and hit return: this re-submits the HTTP request without a referrer.
Alternately, feel free to e-mail me for clever HTML/Javascript tricks that can block the referrer from being sent, if you want to put in the effort.
Carriage houses are far and few between and Clinton Hill has the the best group of them in the whole city, anyone agree? Love Lane, Grace Court, etc. in BK Hts. are pretty fab too. But this one’s lovely, and double wide at 44×60. It’s big! I’d buy it in a second if I had the moola.
There is a certain cache attached to owning a carriage house and as with everything in NYC that cache commands a higher price/sq. ft. whether it’s value is perceived or real.
i think i looked at a rental in on of these, could be this one, and the vibe was not good to me. room layouts were strange and the outdoor space was extremely limited. if it’s the same then i can’t see it being worth it.
I don’t think they are blocking your links intentionally, I think it’s just a configuration issue.
If you want to see the listing, simply click the “go” button after you get the message of not calling from an authorized location. The link is there in it’s entirety and just needs to be reloaded.
Carriage houses are very few to compare with townhouses and are very unique in their style, I personally live in one and you have the beauty of open space and high ceilings on the ground floor and open space and tons of skylight on the first floor, if you look at other carriage houses in the market from last year there only a few and the asking prices was always pretty high, I think this is a great one, good location beautiful facade and lucky who is going to get it! I wish I could buy it.