House of the Day: 63 South Portland Avenue
It’s hard to imagine a way to make this listing less visible: List it only on your 1998-looking website with no address, no interior pictures and just a few lines of text; then put a small sign in the window and spend no money on a New York Times ad. Brilliant! Of course, the survival…
It’s hard to imagine a way to make this listing less visible: List it only on your 1998-looking website with no address, no interior pictures and just a few lines of text; then put a small sign in the window and spend no money on a New York Times ad. Brilliant! Of course, the survival of behind-the-times brokering tactics is a bargain hunter’s best hope. In this case, the listing is 63 South Portland Avenue, a five-story, 22-foot-wide brownstone on Fort Greene’s most fabled park block. The fact that it’s a five-family and the listing says “creativity required” suggests this baby will take some work, but it could well be worth it at the asking price of $1,700,000. GMAP
Are you suggesting because Ms. Daniels has been around a long time she shouldn’t bother to do a better job marketing her listings. That’s ridiculous. It isn’t that hard to take pictures, post them, and even do a rough floor plan. The truth is that a buyer wants to know certain things up front before they spend time on a listing that may be all wrong for them. A broker can be honest, loyal, and still do a good job at that. You can be efficient without being slick and superficial. And, everyone should be aware that pending rent legislation will make it very difficult if not impossible to remove rent stabilized and controlled tenants for owner’s personal use. It would be better for the owners to sell this place now, rather than later.
Sam,
Even though the blog is called Brownstoner, it features lots of different houses: brownstone, wood frame, pre-war/post-war buildings, new construction (fedders, hi-rise) and others in the topics. Nobody questions your right to comment on non-brownstone topics, right?
FYI, if you’re about to label me an anti-brownstoner too, I’m not one.
Thanks Bolder we were thinking about the same amount as well i.e. 20% off ~$1.4millions.
BrooklynGreene that seemed like a “flight of ideas” post but really entertaining. To each his or her own but we agree with Time Out NY that S Portland is an amazing block even with some of brownstones being altered significantly. The huge mature trees, great historic architecture, proximity to FG park, easy access to transportation, etc make this block very attractive.
Now Eva Daniels may be a good person but make no mistake she is like the big companies in it for the $$ as well which btw is fine. However her marketing skills leaves much to be desired as Mr B pointed out; she doesn’t return phone calls and that website is beyond cheap and lazy…these are really the basics no?
Hey guy, if you don’t like the look of brownstone facades, you may want to reconsider posting on a blog named “brownstoner”.
“Every once in a while we run across a house with good detail and surfaces of brownstone left. We find them very charming, esp. if they’ve been left to weather without that perfunctory coating of brown cement.”
Is that a royal “we”. lol. That’s one long somewhat random post.
As for the critique of Eva’s website, sorry but it is justified. No one is looking for “wow” factor, just easily accessible information and photos. The internet real eastate audience is not a bunch of 20 year olds either, as you suggest above…
Honestly, I wish you kids wouldn’t knock Eva all the time. She has her issues, many of them good ones. She really stuck it out and I’m glad she is willing to take on harder cases which apparently this house may be. The big agencies have a lot of overhead and can only be in it for the easy money. The money may not be so easy now. Eva, God love her, is hanging in. She has been a moving force in Fort Greene for decades and real community mover and shaker who should be getting recognition, not flack over a website that doesn’t have a enough wow factor for 20 year olds.
I’m not quite sure how or why South Portland is such a big deal to everyone. I have always felt it is depressing and many houses need some major facade work, stoop redos, ironwork redos (where there is none), some of the houses are shabby or stripped of much of their character.
I have to say I generally do prefer the look of the brick and wooden houses in the neighborhood with the occasional brownstone thrown in…but too many of them in a row with all that brown-dyed cement slathered on them, often not well, looks…well, plain dreadful to me. (Have a look at the block of Carlton between Willoughby and DeKalb…very picturesque…just one of the blocks that is very sweet).
I’m sorry. I really am. I wish I could get into the excitement over these “brownstone” facades…but they’re not exciting and not even brownstone anymore. Yes, I really do like well laid brownstone structures where the stone has survived the last 100+ years without spalding and needing cementing over. If they hadn’t cut corners building these houses, the stone facades would have lasted a lot longer. I have to say, it is a real shame…although, once in a while there are some very well done resurfacing jobs that are mildly convincing. There’re some on South Portland actually.
There are a good number of houses in Park Slope that have very decent brownstone but they’re all of later vintage than Fort Greene and positively NOT my taste except example for the rare example. This brings to mind the parlor screen of the house in Prospect Heights that was shown on This Old House. I find that spindle/machine carving very, very ugly. Also, the cheap, palsy, incised neo-greque patterns on the later brownstones and the motifs springing from orientalism (the floral motifs from Indian mogul architecture for example) are not my style and a pale shadow of the original.
I grew up around Federal architecture that harkened back to an earlier period. I have to say, American architecture using classism as a resource sprung off Georgian and movign into romanticism…all much more pleasing to me than the eclecticism and orientalism of the post-romantic period when so much was being massed produced on a much grander scale than previously. I have not been able to make the leap to the end of the 1800’s/early 1900s…and the reaction to the eclectism (colonial revival and beaux arts) kind of get me down too. Frank Lloyd Wright though…that I like! I would much rather live in a 1950’s house, quite frankly, than a late “Victorian” house with all that dreadful spindle work.
Every once in a while we run across a house with good detail and surfaces of brownstone left. We find them very charming, esp. if they’ve been left to weather without that perfunctory coating of brown cement.
Sorry for my long-winded Fort Greene analysis but the H.U. is out of town.
This seems like a lot of money to me for the real estate equivalent of “mystery meat”.
To me, 1.7 mil. seems low for a 5-unit building (putting aside whether it could be converted economically into an owner’s duplex/2 floor thrus). If it was market rate the rent roll should be around 8-10k/month. 100k/year in rental income should easily help finance this. But I’m no landlord, so I’m guessing the price is in line with comps.
I can’t even imagine what it would take to renovate this into duplex plus rentals. If it were indeed delivered vacant, $1.7 seems high considering you’ve got 5 kitchens/baths to gut and rewire/replumb. So, PDT, I’d say $1.4 as a clean-title gut job.
Well how much do you folks think this place is worth even if was a gut renovation (provided it is delivered vacant)? It is on a great block with stellar transportation and entertainment options.
Maly thanks for the good scout work…ACRIS & Property Shark only?