House of the Day: 272 Halsey Street
This four-story brownstone at 272 Halsey in Bedford Stuyvesant caught our eye because it’s been in the same family for seven decades. Other than a newish kitchen, the house looks like unusually intact, with some killer woodwork and fireplaces. The fact that it’s a one-family may be a drawback—most prospective buyers are going to need…
This four-story brownstone at 272 Halsey in Bedford Stuyvesant caught our eye because it’s been in the same family for seven decades. Other than a newish kitchen, the house looks like unusually intact, with some killer woodwork and fireplaces. The fact that it’s a one-family may be a drawback—most prospective buyers are going to need help paying the mortgage given the asking price of $1,175,000, which seems on the high side to us. In addition to the house’s lineage, the listing is noteworthy for the fact that it may be the first time we’ve seen proximity to Food Town and Applebee’s listed as an amenity on a million-dollar property.
272 Halsey Street [Corcoran] GMAP P*Shark
It’s 1.175, not 1.75, but good points, Anon 3:29.
Greg Tood is an idiot! Corcoran should fire him on the spot for being so ill informed and market dysfunctional!
I agree with the above poster who correctly stated that this “area has recently opened 15 new businesses of a boutique variety and at least one of them – Le Toukouleur – very possibly could be the best new eatery in the borough.”
Why would a seller give such a great listing to someone so obviously clueless about the nabe?!?
On another note, I agree that greedy brokers are killing the momentum in upcoming nabes such as Bed-Stuy and Crown Heights North. To quote a comment from one of yesterday’s thread on CHN, “Fort Greene is successful because prices stayed low enough for a long enough period of time to bring into the nabe a critical mass of gentrifiers to really make a difference. Newly minted fringe nabes are having a more difficult time keeping up with the gentrification momentum because prices have risen too high too quickly.
If a buyer is paying $1M to move into Bed-Stuy, Crown Heights North and PLG then that property should be in mint/move in condition. What’s holding up and coming neighborhoods like BS, CHN and PLG is greedy brokers who are gasing up the heads of sellers by telling them that their homes should command Clinton Hill/Fort Greene prices; nabes which are also predominantly black with equally superior housing stock.
But the problem is BS, CHN and PLG is about 5 to 7 years behind the curve. No one paid 2003 prices in Fort Greene in 1998. But folks are being asked to pay 2012 prices in BS, CH and PLG in 2007.”
I couldn’t agree anymore. I love Bed-Stuy and I think that it’s a beautiful community with major upside but what the fuck is going on with management at Corcoran? Why price out the very same people who have taken Bed-Stuy to the level where the nabe can command $1M for a single family home? Bed-Stuy has about 6,000 brownstones, more than any other community in the country. Wouldn’t it make more sense to sell 1,000 homes at $600k-750k as opposed to 25 above $1M. At a certain point, you will shut out everyone looking to move into the neighborhood.
Let’s be realistic here, there is a threshold breaking point where folks with money will not live in an area that is predominantly black and still riddled with issues of crime, drugs and poverty. For the right price, people will live anywhere, but let’s be mindful of the fact that growth and development should occur slowly and organically. Yes, Bed-Stuy brownstone are equal to the best townhouses found in Park Slope and Brooklyn Heights. However, Bed-Stuy is still undeserving of even Fort Greene and Clinton Hill prices until the nabe further improves.
Is this fair? Yes. Not everyone is planning to take the money and run in Bed-Stuy (as was the case in Fort Greene). There will still be some longstanding homeowners who will not sell – just yet. For example, those who needed the money and sold $25k brownstones for $750k in Fort Greene still made out like bandits. On the flip side, those who didn’t need the money held out and now have properties worth over $2M. That’s life but still everyone wins.
The real estate boom in Brooklyn is the greatest form of income redistribution in favor of people of color in the history of our nation. It’s allowed relatively low income black families to reap substantial windfalls in real estate. However, the natural progression of this phenomenon can only continue to occur and help thousands of black families if pricing occurs sensibly and intelligently. Again, current pricing models used by the big brokerage houses are killing this momentum by putting the wagon in front of the horse. Corcoran, $1.75M for a brownstone in close proximity to Foodtown and Applebees? How stupid can you be?
@ 3:09
You know…Sarah, the object of Hitch’s affection.
Anon 2:55, you are, of course, correct, and I have enjoyed meals at most of these places, and I welcome them all. Bed Stuy is so large, many of them aren’t too close to this house, (or mine either, dammit) but I get your point. It just riles me to see any attempt to better the nabe in any way looked down on because it doesn’t measure up to some lofty standard by people who have never been here. ‘Nuff said.
If you had ever been to that FoodTown, you would know that it is a worthy amenity. It’s an enormous, wide-aisled supermarket that’s adding more organic offerings all the time. Certainly more of a one-stop shop than anyplace in Ft. Greene or Clinton Hill. But it’s beyond lame that Corcoran would try to hype Applebees, especially when there are plenty of cute, non-chain places now (including Brooks Valley which would be a block away from this house – and Common Grounds, a coffee place with great Belgian waffles, 2 or 3 blocks away).
Que “melas”?
Ip, that is very true, but there are few people in Bed Stuy that own enough property outside and inside of Bed Stuy from purchase and inheritance that clearly make them millionaires and Bed Stuy residents. Check the dept. of records, and when you see the same name popping up on multiple properties and the home address is Bed Stuy chances are they beat the odds, and yes they are super human.
Ip, that is very true, but there are few people in Bed Stuy that own enough property outside and inside of Bed Stuy from purchase and inheritance that clearly make them millionaires and Bed Stuy residents. Check the dept. of records, and when you see the same name popping up on multiple properties and the home address is Bed Stuy chances are they beat the odds, and yes they are super human.
< million.