House of the Day: What Gives in Kensington?
Can someone please explain to us why this free-standing Victorian woodframe house at 308 East 4th Street in Kensington has not sold? If the listing description is true, the price sounds reasonable. All we can think is that either the interior was renovated badly or there’s a methadone clinic down the block. What gives? Kensington…
Can someone please explain to us why this free-standing Victorian woodframe house at 308 East 4th Street in Kensington has not sold? If the listing description is true, the price sounds reasonable. All we can think is that either the interior was renovated badly or there’s a methadone clinic down the block. What gives?
Kensington Victorian [Warren Lewis] GMAP
you guys seem to know a lot about the area… can anyone tell me about the area around brooklyn college? is it liveable for young women to live alone? is it a good investment?
please help!
I saw this house last January, believe it or not (before it went to Warren Lewis). The picture hasn’t changed since then–notice the nice sunny winter day.
The realtor/owner was gruff and Old School–big red pickup, waited to get out of the truck, wouldn’t shake our hands…. The house was OK, but it needed work: The siding looked like it was hiding something, the second floor apartment was unavailable for viewing (despite the fact that we set up an appointment a week before), and the basement had low ceilings and what appeared to be crummy mechs. The realtor acted like he was doing us a favor when he said we could have “one floor free” for ourselves. I knew that even without the repairs, with a seller like that, this house was no bargain.
I owned a house in south Kensington (Webster av) before moving to Flushing and it does have a safer feel than Vicflatbush (where my kids went to school.) The ethnic mix is interesting, to say the least. Pakistanis, Russian Jews(to whom we sold our house). The Hasidic community was also spilling out over the borders of Borough Park into western Kensington and I imagine this is even more true today.
THe reason Victorian Flatbush is more expensive than Kensington is that it is a far more architecturally homogeneous neighborhood. You can still get a home in Victorian Flatbush for the price that they are asking for this particular house. Kensington is a nice neighborhood, but it has a very different feel than Victorian Flatbush. Having said that, I will concede that Kensington also seems (to me) to be a bit safer than some of the outlying areas of Victorian Flatbush. There are good reasons to buy in Kensington – but I’m not sure there are many bargains left to be had there. Real Estate Agents have been quick to jump on the VIctorian Flatbush trail and have raised prices accordingly.
“people who want a wood frame Victorian usually hold out for VicFlatbush.”
Except those without the deep pockets to afford it. We bought in Kensington 2 years ago because we needed a place to live, longed for a real detached house and that’s what we could afford. We got a house with a good amount of interior details and a big backyard for under half a mil. If we “held out” for VicFlatbush, we’d still be holding.
Since the prices in VicFlatbush for houses with much fewer updates are as high as this listing, the person who buys this place might end up looking like a genius with a big ass house in a few short years. Corcoran has already touted Kensington as the next hot nabe in a couple of their listings, believe it or not.
$7.5 million is what they are asking. A broker told me that J S Foer’s wife’s parents looked at it but it was too small for them.
6.4 was the 2nd St house
“Could this one break the 6.4 million record for Park Slope?”
Who broke the 6.4 mark? Was it the J S Foer house on 2nd?
I know this has nothing to do with this house in Kensington.
A 31ft wide mansion on Montgomery Pl. in Park Slope just came on the market for 7.5 million. Could this one break the 6.4 million record for Park Slope?
http://www.brownharrisstevens.com/detail.aspx?id=449406