House of the Day: 83 Downing Street
Everyone knows we’re huge Clinton Hill boosters but that doesn’t mean we think the sky’s the limit when it comes to pricing. There was some discussion last week about 369 Grand Avenue where some people thought our estimates were too low. This place on Downing, while certainly a decent-looking house from the outside (the one…
Everyone knows we’re huge Clinton Hill boosters but that doesn’t mean we think the sky’s the limit when it comes to pricing. There was some discussion last week about 369 Grand Avenue where some people thought our estimates were too low. This place on Downing, while certainly a decent-looking house from the outside (the one interior shot doesn’t reveal much in the way of detail other than the fireplace), strikes us as aggressively priced at $1.55 million. Especially when you consider that, in addition to being further, it is a good five feet shallower than a brownstone like 369 Grand. Or like the house at 300 Washington that recently sold for $1.6 million. Seems to us that they’ll be lucky to get $1.35 million. Can anyone provide any more description of the interior?
83 Downing Street [Corcoran] GMAP P*Shark
My point (anon 12:54) is not that the housing stock is worse (altho it is less grand than either blocks to the east (Bed-stuy) or west (haute Clinton Hill)) or that the proquinquity of Bed-stuy is a problem, but rather that this is a still funky corner of the hood. Just walk down the streets and you see more marginal activity. I also am not sure that families who own houses free and clear will necessarily lower their prices any time soon. 1000/ year real estate taxes aren;t enough to encourage moving the property along to new owners.
Bstoner is close to the BedStuy border in Clinton Hill. Boy, his house sure is a dump. What poor housing stock in Clinton Hill near Bed Stuy. Puhlease.
Depends what part of the Bed Stuy border you are talking about. If you are near Fulton, you are by the Clinton/Washington C line, so the subway access is not lousy at all.
As for people trying to price a house too high, they’ll figure it out if the house sits for too long. I’ve seen a few in the area go for good prices. I have not seen any Bed Stuy houses generally commanding more than Clinton Hill, so I’m not sure if I agree with that comment.
We are former Fort Greeners who relocated to Bed Stuy. Is there a drug problem here? Yes. But, incredible as it sounds, we feel MUCH safer here than in Fort Greene where two people were shot outside of the building next door, and there are many, many more muggings. Some of the blocks around Classon and Grand are actually funkier with more crime problems — not only drugs, but prostiitution as anon 9:38 a.m pointed out — than the choicer Bed Stuy blocks, such as Jefferson, Hancock, Decatur and McDonough, the housing stock is in a different class than many Clinton Hill properties. In addition, those Bed Stuy streets have better subway access to the A train. So in some cases, Bed Stuy houses are getting higher prices than Clinton Hill houses. Buying a house near the Bed Stuy border does not bring its price down because it is tainted with Bed Stuy. but because the housing stock around there is not great, the crime problems have not been resolved, and the subway access is lousy.
I know of a couple of bed-stuy prostitutes who are charging Washington Ave prices, but for the most part the drug supply is still ghetto quality premium crack.
As a nearby resident of Putnam Avenue, prices like this concern me. We still have a drug dealing and prostitution problem in our lil’ corner of the lil ole neighborhood called Clinton Hill. There are a bunch of overpriced properties sitting vacant because the owners want Washington Avenue prices. Thus the improving of the neighborhood has stalled over here.
My point is that all of Clinton Hill is “very” close to Bed Stuy considering that the neighborhood is only 8-9 blocks wide from east to west. You can walk from the $4M Pfizer mansion and be on Classon in Bed Stuy in 7 or 8 minutes. Sure, some streets are nicer than others, but I wouldn’t be as concerned about how close you are to the Bed-Stuy border as much as what your block is like (e.g. is it noisy, is it close to the subway, is it across from a school etc).
I didn’t realize by pointing out that $1.55 mm for its location (and yes, that also means the fact it’s VERY close to Bed-Stuy) is the same as “bashing” it.
It’s not bed stuy. Bed Stuy starts at Classon, two blocks away. Clinton Hill is a small neighborhood. You’re never more that a few blocks from another neighborhood. Walk two blocks, you’re at the Bed Study border, walk three or four blocks from this location and you’re in Prospect Heights, walk six blocks in another direction and you’re on the FG border… Point is, Clinton Hill (and Fort Greene) are small neighborhoods. I doubt that this place is necessarily priced realistically, but to bash it because it is a couple of blocks from the Bed Stuy border doesn’t make sense since you’re always close to another neighborhood no matter where you are in clinton hill. The Lefferts Place listing discussed above is one block from Classon and went into contract for at or near asking of $1.495 (much nicer house and good block).