houseThe owners of this place must be smoking a little of what’s being sold on their corner. Even with our bias towards the neighborhood (we’re just a couple of blocks away), we can’t sign off on the $1.1 million asking price for this Clifton Place brownstone. We’ll agree that there are some beautiful old details–the woodwork, in particular–that could clean up nicely, but this is a serious renovation here, not a tune up. The windows alone, given the landmark nabe, will run $20,000 easily. If you’re lucky, the rest of the job, including new plumbing, electricity, plastering, etc., will cost $300,000 (and could easily cost double that depending on the circumstances). So assuming everything goes well, a year later you’re in for $1.4 million and $1.5 million (don’t forget those carrying costs while you do the work). If that’s your price range, it’s hard to see why you wouldn’t opt for this Corcoran listing at Greene or this one on Cambridge. We’d be surprised if this place fetches over $1 million–at $950,000 we think it starts to look interesting.
58 Clifton Place [Corcoran] GMAP


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  1. When one is talking about buying a house to live in for a very long time and raise one’s kids in (as ‘Stoner and myself, and I believe at least a few others who frequent this blog are), a bus stop and its attendant noise and exhaust is not very appealing. Additionally, just speaking for myself, I lived in two exceedingly loud locations in Manhattan and to move to a very quiet street in Bklyn was delightful and not something I would want to relinquish. To some, I suppose, a bus stop wouldn’t be that big of a deal. I’m just saying that it’s presence in front of said house should be a consideration in its pricing and may make the property a non-starter to many buyers (as it would for myself).

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