House of the Day: 280 Carlton Brownstone Condos
We’re going to boldly predict that 2006 will be the year of the brownstone condo. Even with the slight easing in prices over recent months, the only way for anyone to make a quick buck on a brownstone now is to turn it into condos–which will often fetch a good 20% more on a per…
We’re going to boldly predict that 2006 will be the year of the brownstone condo. Even with the slight easing in prices over recent months, the only way for anyone to make a quick buck on a brownstone now is to turn it into condos–which will often fetch a good 20% more on a per square foot basis. This place at 280 Carlton is a good example. As far as we can tell, there are three units in building listed at a combined price of just over $2 million. As a single family, this probably would only fetch around, what, $1.7 million? It sold last July for $1.325 million and, if it’s the house we’re thinking of, it was in decent shape at the time. If the buyer put in another, say, $100 a foot, her cost would be a little under $1.7 million. That $300,000 spread is not a bad year’s work for a small-time developer–though mortgage costs would have eaten up another $50,000 or so in the meantime. Do our guesstimates sound about right?
280 Carlton Avenue #1 [Corcoran] GMAP
280 Carlton Avenue #3 [Corcoran]
280 Carlton Avenue #4 [Corcoran]
yep, they’re mostly co-ops in BH, but here are a couple of listings that caught my eye in BH if you’re in the market (I’m not, why oh why do I keep looking?)
http://www.elliman.com/Listing.aspx?ListingID=738619
http://corcoran.com/property/listing.aspx?Region=NYC&ListingID=839450
and I also wonder about the reserve fund. I agree that the cc’s are low, but what happens when the water main breaks or the roof needs repair. co-ops are not all bad, after all.
I agree that prices are down from the irrational heights of last year, and that’s a good thing. People are not getting the traffic on overpriced listings that they used to, so hopefully the realtors will get the message. I would call it a market correction vs. bubble bursting though. I’m sure there’s still a very healthy market for well-priced properties.
To the anonymous poster who said these are Brooklyn Heights prices–I’m looking in B.H. now and the closest comps to these are all co-ops with higher prices, and the maintenace 2-3x higher than these condos, to say nothing of the co-op boards. The only comparable condo in BH now that I’ve seen is a a few hundred square feet bigger with 3 bedrooms and $1.7M with maintenance over $1,000 a month.
I’m going to go out on a limb here, and say that the people that keep insisting that sales are increasing and prices are going up are the brokers that are trying to keep the market buoyant by any means necessary. If the market stays up, their commissions stay up, etc. The evidence I have of the decline in housing prices is the time it takes to sell a place, and how many price cuts it takes to get the deal done. Mostly, the propblem is people pricing properties at the lofty levels of earlier this year. Granted, a smart broker who prices a property at an attractive price versus the market will always always be able to sell the property. Its just that the attractive (reasonable?) price today is less than it was three months ago.
Anon at 2:30 – Not only is there no evidence that prices have gone down – it seems that sales are increasing AND prices have gone up!
http://www.nytimes.com/2005/11/29/business/29cnd-econ.html?hp&ex=1133326800&en=0d78ac20ec7a2ef5&ei=5094&partner=homepage
Keep on renting and crying in your beer minerva!
mr minerva — what evidence do you have that there has been any decline in housing prices? the rate of increase has slowed, but there’s no declining market anywhere close to new york city
Love the architecture in FG/CH but, brother, is it ever over-priced. And look at all those posts on the “Fort Greene/Clinton Border” item from folks dying for a store selling fresh produce after 8pm at night. Crazy to see these prices in a neighborhood that still lacks such basic services.
I knew people who were “asked to leave” from one of these apts when the sale went through in the Spring. I think they were paying about $1400, maybe a little less. The apt. was fully modernized, no period anything, really, as I remember. So the price seems a bit steep.
A vacant condo conversion involves a lot of annoying paperwork, an architects plan, and $20k – $30k in attorneys expenses and filing fees. Then, you wait three to four months while the Attorney Generals office tells you how much you screwed up the paperwork. After that, you get separate tax lots for the units, and you are good to go. Don’t even get me started on what’s involved in an occupied conversion.