House of the Day: 38 Berkeley Place
When we see this pristine, 4,000-square-foot brownstone on Berkely Place priced for $2,195,000 it makes us worry for some of the houses in other nabes like Fort Greene or Carroll Gardens that are trying to get the same price. Before everyone goes all nutso on us, Yes, we realize not everyone wants to live in…
When we see this pristine, 4,000-square-foot brownstone on Berkely Place priced for $2,195,000 it makes us worry for some of the houses in other nabes like Fort Greene or Carroll Gardens that are trying to get the same price. Before everyone goes all nutso on us, Yes, we realize not everyone wants to live in Park Slope with baby strollers, blah, blah, blah, but the fact remains remains that the North Slope above Seventh Avenue is one of two true blue-chip areas in Brooklyn. Seeing a house as large and in as good shape for this price in this area makes us wonder about the comparable ripple effect through outlying neigborhoods. And what does this say about the overall market downturn? Our guess is this would have been $2.6 million at the peak which would imply a decline of 15% or so. Are you buying our analysis?
38 Berkeley Place [Warren Lewis] GMAP P*Shark
I agree with an earlier poster who mentioned that this is not really a two -family. It may have a two – family c/o, but it is configured as a 1-family.
I’ve always wondered whether there is a premium or discount applied if a house is a single family. For this house, I think the garden floor could be converted to a 1-beroom apartment. My guess is it would take about $75.0 k to do the conversion. Assuming you could rent it out for $1,500-$1,600 a month you’d have annual rental income of $18K-$19K which could cover about $275K of mortage. With a purchase price of $2.195 million + $75K of renovation cost your all in is about $2.27 million which means your’re paying $2.0+ million for a triplex. If someone is going to pay that amount of money, I think they’d just look at the house as a single family at $2.195 million.
sarsenhaal moved closer to 5th ave? then it’s official: 5th is the new 7th.
Plus Peter Saarsgaard and Maggie Gyllenhaal just bought a house closer to 5th avenue than 7th avenue. Shows the appeal to younger buyers.
As for it being close to 5th Avenue, simply considering what avenue we ourselves prefer for restaurants and shops – we MUCH prefer 5th Avenue. It’s fresher, hipper, more going on. I never shop on 7th Avenue. My pharmacy is there, that’s it. Anyhoo, am just saying some people especially younger couples, won’t preceive being near 5th Avenue as inferior.
‘This Isn’t A Bust, It’s A Correction’
A housing report from the New York Sun. “Soaring construction costs are putting the squeeze on the city’s private developers, real estate experts say, threatening New York’s housing boom. The president of Newmark Knight Frank Capital Group, James Kuhn, called construction costs ‘the single biggest problem in New York right now.’â€
“He added that the costs will put pressure on the bigger, more ambitious, and long-term projects, including Forest City Ratner’s Atlantic Yards. ‘When it was started, we were in a very, very bullish condo market,’ Mr. Kuhn said. ‘When it gets approved, will we be in a market that justifies construction at a number where you will be able to sell units?’â€
“A residential developer, Jane Gladstein, said that increasing cost and softening demand means developers have to evaluate opportunities more conservatively. ‘The buoyancy of the last several years gave a false perspective on reality,’ Ms. Gladstein said. ‘We’ve had a sobering six months.’â€
“The president for the Partnership for New York City, Kathryn Wylde, said that construction costs are a problem born from the city’s recent success, and that eventually the market would correct itself as construction drops off and prices fall.â€
“‘At some point there will be a collapse and a lot of suffering, and contractors and labor will be available at relatively low cost,’ Ms. Wylde said.â€
Is that really true that WL deliberately underprices? Their house listings seem high to me. Also, I don’t think that tactic will work in a cooling market. No more bidding wars. People will just automatically bid 5 -10% under that deliberately low price. If brokers don’t accurately price their properties now, the houses will just sit.
7th Ave in the slope is now starting to grow old and smell stale. All the activity is down on 5th. In a few more years 7th will be all cell phone stores, and subway sandwich shops. 7th Ave is dirty noisy and over crowded. 6th Ave. has no commercial stores and many beautiful churches- it is an oasis compared to 7th Ave. I would never want to live near 7th.
Used to be only prime, park block center slope houses and brooklyn heights homes commanded super high premiums. Now at the prices they are at many people would rather think outside the box and get out of those more stuffy (aka: overpriced) areas. After all at these price points they are probably thinking private school for their kids (if they have any) anyway. North Slope is kind of grimy to me. Wouldn’t want to be that close to Flatbush. Otherwise I’d buy across Flatbush just in the beginnings of Prospect Heights and get the same house for $500k less. I think the new buyers are assuming there is prestige in being in the “Slope” but most old-timers don’t consider that a prestigious buy because it’s so far from the park. Whatever. If you like it and you have the % buy it.
i’m frankly surprised at how low the ask is on this, even factoring in the WL approach. it’s beautiful, and on a prime block (whatever people say, it’s still center slope, and 5th avenue restaurant row and proximity to the subway are actually a plus for a lot of younger buyers). the elementary school it’s zoned for is supposed to be up and coming (and has a bunch of celeb writer kids if memory serves).