House of the Day: Lefferts Manor FSBO
Three different readers sent us the link to the Lefferts Manor limestone being sold sans broker. While the owners may not have the web design skills and marketing savvy of the Fizzbows, we still like their independent and enterprising spirit. Will buyers like the $930,000 price tag? We’ll see. Here’s what one of the tipsters…
Three different readers sent us the link to the Lefferts Manor limestone being sold sans broker. While the owners may not have the web design skills and marketing savvy of the Fizzbows, we still like their independent and enterprising spirit. Will buyers like the $930,000 price tag? We’ll see. Here’s what one of the tipsters had to say: “This house is in a pristine row of limestones in the historically landmarked district in single family only Lefferts Manor. It seems like a good price for the area (there are homes sold for over $1 million now).” Curious? You can check out the open house this Sunday from 1 to 3 pm. Address: 156 Maple Street between Bedford and Rogers.
Limestone for Sale [156 Maple Street] GMAP
Vivekin, based on what is sitting on the market for months and months, $925,000 is way too high for 160 Maple. I know these houses well and certainly appreciate them, and yes it is on one of the nicest blocks of LM (as are some of the houses not selling or selling for well below asking), but that does not justify the price.
You realtors seem to think that the fact that a few people were dumb enough to overpay for some houses means that the rest of us should consider any price you come up with okay. This house may find someone willing to pay the absurd price, but it is still overpriced.
The 160 Maple Street home is priced according to the comparables which have closed in the last half of 2005. These “closed” prices considered were from deals on Lincoln, Maple, and Midwood, and not the less desirable blocks in the area – this is important when considering pricing. The homes that sold for less (and not a lot less) than the said property needed tens of thousands of dollars of work, and were not as large. PropertyShark, though a valuable tool, is not gospel. There are many variables (not transparent to the buyer) to consider when arriving at a competitive price. Buyers looking to pay less than market value ought to look on the less desirable blocks.
I own a very large and beautifully detailed limestone in PLG, albeit not the Manor. Since my early days of joining this online community, I’ve gotten over feeling the need to defend against the typical responses to PLG listings that come up on these postings. Each to his own. However, anon 2:01, I must say: your post is outright ridiculous! You obviously know nothing of real substance about PLG/PLM. If you did, you would know that the family and neighbor-to-neighbor lifestyle here is particularly strong and healthy!
I have lived in PLG for nearly 2 decades and successfully raised my children here. During this time, none of my family members, nor those of my neighbors, have ever encountered anyone on these streets wielding a handgun. Have street crimes been known to occur here? Of course! However, I assure you that the day-to-day scene here is NOT the wild, wild west. Enough with the drama already.
Went to the open house Sunday @ 160 Maple – nice house, but agree with other posters, only two real bedrooms upstairs, two other small side rooms, they counted as bedrooms, brokers did a textbook job, they had freshly baked cookies … pointed out the detail … counted the basement square footage …. pretty funny…. both houses seem overpriced to me given current market conditions. Broker for 160 did email me and tell me “We have received two offers already. The seller will consider all offers and would like to wait before countering or accepting any bids.” (the email was a bcc group thing) Must have been a low bids ……
I had to chuckle when the ad said “Lefferts Manor is a wonderful neighborhood to raise children”. I guess this could be true, if your kids are proficient in the use of handguns.
This type of house appears frequently on the PLG house tour, and I looked at a few several years back, when they were only asking around $400k. Even then, I thought they were just way too small for our growing family of more than the average 2.2 children. I have seen some (childless) couples make fantastic use of the limited space on the house tour though. I agree with the above posters – $1 million is just too much for so little house. You can get 3x the space for the same money in Ditmas Park.
The posters may be right that this house is overpriced, especially in the current slow market.
And I agree that the bigger homes in LM — plenty are four or at least three stories — are much nicer and worth more.
But is the square foot price a realistic comparison when you are comparing homes that are zoned for single family use?
What I mean is this: in Park Slope, if you buy a house with an extra floor, you can rent it out for $2,000 a month.
In Lefferts Manor, your kid gets a top floor suite. It’s nice to have, but it ain’t $2,000 every month.
Re: Citihabitats site listing. What is up with the 7% commission?
160 Maple (cit-habitats) does seem to have all of it’s original details, and appears to be quite loevely. But I coundn’t agree more with the previous posts pointing out that this is a small house. $425 per square foot is absurd for a house in an area with few amenities and some serious quality of life problems. The only house to actually sell in the Manor in the last 6 months was 91 Rutland. This was listed at $875,000 but finally sold for $830,000 (per Property Shark). At 2,668 square feet, that is a far more reasonable rate of $311. Granted, the Maple Street house is part of the lovely row of “white houses†and is nicer than the Rutland road house, so the price per square foot should be higher—but NOT $114 more!