House of the Day: 560 Putnam Avenue
Based upon the exterior of the house and the lovely block it’s on, 560 Putnam Avenue in Bedford Stuyvesant looks like an interesting buy at the asking price of $650,000. The three-story, two-family house hasn’t changed hands in a long, long time nor has it had any renovations that would merit a filing with DOB….
Based upon the exterior of the house and the lovely block it’s on, 560 Putnam Avenue in Bedford Stuyvesant looks like an interesting buy at the asking price of $650,000. The three-story, two-family house hasn’t changed hands in a long, long time nor has it had any renovations that would merit a filing with DOB. Both of these factors help explain the low annual taxes of $839. They also suggest that whoever buys the house will probably have some work to do. That’s fine given the price. The big question is whether this is a time capsule with original details or something that been destroyed over time. Anyone know?
560 Putnam Avenue [Irongate Properties] GMAP P*Shark
First of all, who said it was a shell? A shell is the four brick walls, and maybe a roof. According to the listing, as well as the report of someone who has actually been there, that is not the case.
Secondly, where is Putman Avenue? If you are going to dis the nabe, at least get the street names right. Tends to reinforce the theory that you probably have no clue as to where Putnam Avenue is, anyway.
Thirdly, and most importantly, as a social worker, or the police, you go into the worst situations in the neighborhood, and see the worst of living conditions, and perhaps some of the worst and most desperate of people and situations. You are not going into the homes of civil servants, teachers, supervisors, office workers, lawyers, health care practictioners, etc, etc, etc. These are the people who make up the majority of the homeowners of Bed Stuy.
To judge any neighborhood by the worst you see, is short sighted, unfair and highly inaccurate. You also do yourself a disservice, as you have been hardened to all of the good the neighborhood and those in it have to offer. Hopefully, you can go back with an open mind and see the other side of the neighborhood and its people.
Great post, Antoine.
well….. I guess I put an end to this discussion.
One other thing i failed to mention, for your $650,000 you get a brownstone painted bright orange.
oh please, yeah right, Bed Stuy is practically the Upper East Side in terms of middle class respectabilty.
I did my share of pro-bono social work and let me tell you, if I were a black, brown, or white person with two quarters to rub together, I would be out of there so quick it would make your head spin. I’m thrilled to hear that the hood is improving and that it is becoming more diverse, but $650 thou for a shell? are you kidding me?
this is not about race, its about common sense. Once you put in the repairs this house needs it will cost you a miilion dollars. You are trying to tell me, you arrogant yuppies, that if I am a young black couple and I want to start a family, and I can afford a million dollars, a million dollars! I am going to want to move
to effin’ Putman Avenue? How many white realtors hawkin this stuff are there on this blog? Let me tell you brothers and sisters, get real. OK?
I still find it amusing to see how many negative posters on this blog have no clue whatsoever about the real estate trends in NYC. I have to ascribe this ignorance to the high probability that these posters are not native New Yorkers. Allow me to give those folks that post negative comments about Bedford-Stuyvesant a qick education.
First; Brownstones are not just places to store your stuff in, they are New York architectural icons, why do you suppose everytime Hollywood makes a NY movie, the main character lives in a Brownstone? Just like when people buy Rolls Royces, they don’t buy them for the performance but the luxury, the look and history. And the certain knowledge that they are buying an APpreciating asset, not a depreciating one like most other cars.
Second: If you are a millionaire, you may still be able to buy one in the downtown Brooklyn area, if you are a multimillionaire, you may still be able to buy one in Manhattan. If you are neither, the last place to buy one with a middle income salary,is Bedford -Stuyvesant. And no, African-Americans are not the only people living in Bed-Stuy. that’s 1980’s thinking. Just like in the 1880’s when everyone probably believed the area would remain Dutch and German. Things change. Brooklyn is changing VERY fast and all sorts of people are moving all over Brooklyn: carribbeans, asians, indians, hispanics, eastern europeans, the list goes and includes middle class african americans as well.
Third; They’re not making Brownstones anymore, Bed-Stuy is the last of the brownstone neighborhoods that radiate out from Brooklyn heights to Boerum Hill, to Fort Greene, to Cobble Hill, to Park Slope to Clinton Hill, to Prospect Heights and finally to Bed Stuy and Crown Heights. Beyond, you will find other types of architectural styles with their own merits, but not the archtypical Brownstones. Get used to it and understand that there is a limited quantity. Like that Woody Allen movie says; “Brooklyn is not expanding!”
Go Brower Park!
Your post (pardon the virgin joke) RULES!
As a early 30 something year old African American male that is a soon to be former resident of Park Slope North, I just sold my duplex in a brownstone and is looking forward to living in my four story home on MacDonough Street. Being an architect myself I am sure the same architect that designed most of the 3 million dollar homes on St Johns Place and President Street btw 8 and PPW in Park Slope designed my soon to be home in “Stuyvesant Heights†loaded with the same details that in PS homes and that’s selling for around 900K.
Now If you call 900K a poor African American neighbor there is no such thing as a rich one nowhere in this country. I will love to save the date June 5, 2012 or lets make that 2010 and let see how POOR Bedford Stuyvesant is then. As I get familiar with BS I am noticing it is starting to look like the UN which was the second thing that attracted to this the neighborhood. People are ultra friendly in BS which use to be the case in PS but not so much anymore as the “Manhattan folk†move to the area. I think anyone who dose not work on wall street or have a trust fund and wants to spend 1-2 million on a apartment for the name of a neighborhood (“designer hoodâ€) has bumped there head. Let’s weight this out, gentrified neighborhood with over priced homes and apartments or colorful neighborhood that has the same architecture with apartments and houses that are 1/3 of the price and 5mins longer on the train… OK I will miss the most beautiful park in NYC but that’s only a short bike ride away…
Rouser, good stuff! Except I’ll bet the troll isn’t a “rich white snob”, but rather a working class schmuck. Uneducated, unenlightened, doesn’t get to see the world. Either that, or it’s just some high school students trying to get a rise out of us.
4:53, Black people with money, and those without as much, all want the same things as everyone else, including the opportunity to own a home, and raise their families in peace and safety. As has been said countless times before on this blog, most of Bed Stuy is not the ghetto people who have never set foot in it seem to insist it is. Granted, there are some very rough spots, and problems galore, but this particular house in not in one of those spots, and 75% of BS is not, either.
Most people who write negatively about living here just can’t seem to wrap their minds around the concept that there has always been a large core of middle class, crime-free, hard working, decent, intact and proud families here, and those are the people who have kept the good blocks that way, and kept the bad ones from getting worse. These are people who’s kids manage to get an education, whether private or public, and know better than to subscribe to such nonsense as to think that to be educated is “acting white”.
To be African American and perhaps wealthier, and a new homeowner in this community is to become part of, and add to, a proud tradition of community and home. Any one else of like mind is welcome, too. People who automatically think that black means poor and ghetto, uneducated and/or criminal need to look elsewhere.
As an African American it is amazing to me that people do not think about the things which they right. My family has owned a brownstone in Crown Heights for more than 50 years and has seen the neighboor in its good times and in its bad times. As someone stated before the home is what you make of it and the neighboor thrives and dies with the people who take the time to care for there properties. Many on the owners and tenants on my “block” (which is in between to major streets) have become a nieghborhood within ourselves and have for countless years helped to bring back our community.
I would say that this home would be an excellent buy and the neighborhood which may always be filled with darker skinned people will return to glory.