House of the Day: Five Stories on Lefferts Place
A reader flagged this classic brownstone for us–and with good reason. The five-story house has wonderful details on the inside as well as out. We’re loving the mansard roof and original iron fence that encloses what looks to be a fairly large front yard with set-back stoop. Despite being outside of the Clinton Hill Historic…
A reader flagged this classic brownstone for us–and with good reason. The five-story house has wonderful details on the inside as well as out. We’re loving the mansard roof and original iron fence that encloses what looks to be a fairly large front yard with set-back stoop. Despite being outside of the Clinton Hill Historic District, this block is extremely well maintained, particularly on the northern side of the street. Given that four-story houses in the area tend to go for between $1.35 million and $1.45 million, this feels very solidly priced to us. (Full disclosure: We own a very similar 5-story house only a couple of blocks away.)
Lefferts Place [Corcoran] GMAP
yes, i agree. the empty lot put down is without merit. it’s on the market so it will be developed.
1. what’s market rate for a 2BR at this site?
2. Mr. Contrarian — thou doth protest too much. Yes, there are bad spots in various neighborhoods, but that doesn’t mean all neighborhoods are equal. There are real concrete reasons — other than, as you imply, ignorant racism — that this house doesn’t command the price it would in Brooklyn Heights. Among them is crime. That doesn’t mean CH is unliveable but to pretend it’s no different from anywhere else in Brooklyn is not credible.
The numbers might work better if it was fully rented rather than owner occupied. If I was interested in the building as an investment property I would employ a simple buy and hold strategy, i.e., rent out the entire building so that the rent roll covers the mortgage and then watch my equity appreciate overtime. According to Property Shark, the available lot nearby is very large and given its location it will undoubtedly be developed soon. An investor with a longer time horizon could do quite well in five to ten years. If condos are indeed built and two bedrooms are going for $600,000 across the street what do you think a house of this size would potentially be worth?
Anon, not following the logic. You would prefer to rent a duplex in Brooklyn Heights rather than enjoy the benefits of homeownership, mortgage interest deduction, depreciation and, more importantly, equity appreciation? That’s absurd. Personally, I think someone can make a great investment with the property. The house is beautiful and has solid rental income. But I’m not living there. I live in Park Slope and Clinton Hill is just not me – nothing against Clinton Hill ‘Stoner.
why the anger and hostility? i think someone struck a nerve. don’t like. don’t buy.
Replying to my earlier post:
I grew up in Ft Greene in the early 80s and had the dubious distinction of having been mugged in front of my own house and having been walked at knifepoint.
In Ft. Greene/Cobble Hill/Bklyn heights you don’t
see rat-infested empty lots full of 40s of 8-ball, you don’t see run-down houses across the street, you don’t have elevated train a block away, etc.
The economics of that deal are that unless you can jack up the rents alot (unlikely, given the ‘market rate’ housing across the street), you’ll be paying more to own your retained duplex in the brownstone than you would to rent a similar duplex in Brooklyn Heights. Assuming that you can get decent equity returns, you’d do better renting as long as housing prices don’t go up by more than 5%/year.
Downtown Brooklyn is only “so” big, yet people make it sound like there is a massive ocean between the “good†and “not so good†parts of Brownstone Brooklyn. There are less desirable sections in all nabes and to think that you are somehow inoculated because you happen to live on the “best block” but just a few blocks away from a commercial strip, shady street corner or the “projects” for that matter is nonsense. Brownstoner lives around the corner and there is a very “questionable” building on the corner of Grand and Fulton which also happens to be a major Crip hangout spot. Nevertheless, I seriously doubt that Brownstoner or anyone else who lives in the immediate vicinity is actually worried about their home value or the potential for the greater area. In time neighborhoods change and evolve. If anyone is looking at Fort Greene/Clinton Hill on a long term investment basis then that person is going to be very bullish on the area.
With respect to Mr. Skeptical’s comments about living close to “questionable” areas, the so called “hood” weaves itself throughout the Brownstone Belt, e.g., Farragut Houses in Vinegar Hill; Gowanus Houses in Boerum Hill; Wyckoff Gardens in Carroll Gardens; Lafayette Gardens in Clinton Hill; Red Hook I and II in Carroll Gardens/Red Hook; and Walt Whitman Houses in Fort Greene. However, pursuant to Mr. Skeptical’s line of reasoning and logic then that would make the vast majority of Brownstone Brooklyn “questionable.” The salient question that begs to be asked is if the sight of poor people in general or people of color in particular troubles, offends or even scares you, then why live in Brooklyn? I’ve driven around the area numerous of times and what you discover is that it’s an economically, culturally and racially diverse community. Did it ever occur to you that some people might actually want to live in such an environment?
I don’t know what Anon had in mind, but if you go from one end of Lefferts to the other, you’re never very far from areas that are…well, “questionable”. I don’t know whether housing developments are the problem…but I do know that there is a problem.
I realize that some people are going to reply the Lefferts is the safest place in the world and in fact makes Park Slope look like Brownsville. In that case, to those readers who have no preformed opinion, I suggest that you just drive around Lefferts and spend some time there (during the day). Please report back on your discoveries.
Huh? Where is Anon getting this information from. I live on Lefferts Place between St. James and Grand. I have a few friends who own brownstone homes on Lefferts Place between Grand and Classon Avenue. So I know the area extremely well. It’s a lovely and quiet nook of CH. What projects are you talking about? There are no housing projects on Lefferts Place. Period. This can be confirmed with the NYC Housing Authority. There’s a housing development on Lefferts AVENUE on Nostrand Ave near PLG/PLM but that’s miles away. There are a couple of “market rate” apartment buildings in the area that are occupied by moderate income families but that neither constitutes a housing project or anything else negative. http://www.nyc.gov/html/nycha/html/developments/dev_guide_brooklyn.shtml