House of the Day: 392 Waverly Avenue
Flip-o-rama! This attractive three-story brick house on Waverly between Gates and Greene was picked up by the current owner last summer for $985,000. After, presumably, some cosmetic (and possibly more) improvements, it’s back on the market at $1,595,000. Hey, why not? The parlor floor of this two-family house is just a few steps up from…
Flip-o-rama! This attractive three-story brick house on Waverly between Gates and Greene was picked up by the current owner last summer for $985,000. After, presumably, some cosmetic (and possibly more) improvements, it’s back on the market at $1,595,000. Hey, why not? The parlor floor of this two-family house is just a few steps up from street-level, making the “English basement” a bit of a stretch. As for the interiors, there are some nice old details and floors intact; we also can’t get our heads around why a flipper would put in such weird sinks when a classic porcelain pedestal would have done the trick. And the asking price of $1,595,000? Possible, but we think probably overshooting by a hundred grand or so.
392 Waverly Avenue [Brooklyn Properties] GMAP P*Shark
same seller as the adelphi listing through corcoran which was on the market at 1.9 and then increased to 2.1!! same waterworks nonsense! the house is crooked, the floors in disrepair. frightening and brownstoner it is not 100k but more like 300K off priced!
This is weird, because I think a couple of friends of mine used to live in this house about 7 years ago. The place was owned by an old lady with no teeth who was constantly trying to refinance her mortgage as he obviously had no money. If this is the same house (I’ll have to look up my old address book) the electric and ventilation systems were in SERIOUS disrepair. I hope it’s more than a surface renovation.
You nailed it 4:56. The flipper DOES actually have some discount access to fixtures and tile and makes nice choices with them but is obviously occasionally limited by what she can get her hands on that fits.
She may be creating a gloss that will attract a certain market but if you were prepared to do some work anyway you can add what you need to what she’s done and be in good shape. So you have to replace a sink and add some cabinets. Better than ripping out a home depot bathroom and kitchen and starting over. Kitchens and bathrooms are incredibly expensive as we all know. This is a pretty good place to start without having to make a huge mess.
English basement typically refers to a basement level apartment that is entered at grade – ie, the stoop has been removed.
This is an older building, with a very low basement (almost a cellar) that seems to have been converted to an apartment. Unlike in later brownstones, the cellar in this period house was not finished (ie, it was not typically a basement). And unlike later brownstones, this was probably not built with a cellar below the basement.
And 20×35 is pretty small – circulation and bathrooms take up a lot of floor area (trust me, I know!). Amazing to think that these houses were built with four rooms per floor…
I like anon 4:11’s comment. I posed the “do no weird” oath, but you are right that the presence of weird fixtures (I know not everyone thinks they are weird in this case) are relatively minor compared to, say, what the flipper fixed or hid behind the walls. So really it’s first, do/hide no harm, second, do no weird.
As for the design choice, I hear you TWS, but I think it is one thing for someone who lives in a house to make design choices that go with their vision for the house and how they want to live in it. That is, it may be a very personal choice and not to everyone’s taste, but emerges organically, and you did it because that’s how you wanted it. A flipper is trying to attract a market — in essence, making offbeat design choices is a kind of staging. Are they using the fixtures for impression management to suggest a finish that is more high end, high design, than the house as a whole really is? Or do they really think that that is how prospective buyers would want it or that those are the best quality or value (or the result of a deep discount for an otherwise expensive but unpopular item from a supplier)?
I’ve been enjoying the discussion. I like the civility and thoughtfulness in this and some other recent threads and hope to encourage more.
people are just making stuff up now, so let’s define our terms:
ENGLISH BASEMENT: 1. A basement with half its height above grade level, 2. A basement partially underground, having windows at ground level
i can’t tell from these photos whether this house has a real EB (my question, is there a fully-underground cellar beneath it?).
also, it’s just speculation on my part, but maybe the flipper got the funky sink at a discount from the supplier, scratch n dent style.
I happen to like the bathrooms. Nice choice of tile. Not loving the small kitchen.
The house is 20 x 40 pretty standard( and even if it were 35′ I wouldn’t call very small).
Where do you live, the Pratt Mansion?
And somebody, somebody, prove to me this is a wood sink….point me to some website where I could by this style/shape sink in wood.
the english basement is a cellar converted to an apt so your renter is next to the sewage pipes and the boiler. the kithcen is inthe middle of the parlour floor with high walls on either side. It is just plain weird. the renovator built a huge bath on the parlour floor and is taking up some of the very little window and floor space that there is. the house is 20×35 so is very small. the stairs are very difficult to walk on. well, i could keep going but…