House of the Day: 407 Vanderbilt Avenue
While everyone else has been at the beach, Mr. Minsky was teeing up his latest townhouse listing, a three-story converted carriage house at 407 Vanderbilt Avenue on the Clinton Hill-Fort Greene border. It looks to us like the interior was completely gutted and renovated from scratch. We’re not particularly partial to nouveau traditional stylings (it…
While everyone else has been at the beach, Mr. Minsky was teeing up his latest townhouse listing, a three-story converted carriage house at 407 Vanderbilt Avenue on the Clinton Hill-Fort Greene border. It looks to us like the interior was completely gutted and renovated from scratch. We’re not particularly partial to nouveau traditional stylings (it feels kinda suburban to us) but the quality is probably decent and this is quite a large place (PropertyShark puts the square footage at 6,500). Nonetheless, the asking price of $3,500,000 seems aggressive. After all, it took the Pfizer mansion at 280 Washington Avenue a couple years to sell and it ultimately fetched only about $3,200,000. And that was back when you could get a decent jumbo mortgage.
407 Vanderbilt Avenue [Corcoran] GMAP P*Shark
This house is not new. It was a turn of the century carriage house to one of the homes that it backs one block over on Clinton. It’s been completely gutted in what looks like a quality reno. Vanderbilt is a lovely street to live on. I can say that because i live there and so does Minsky I believe.
You’re worried about a bus going by?? This is NY!!
NeoGrec,
Yes, I have heard all those things as well and while they are sage advice I have seen so many things in Brooklyn happen to contradict that wisdom. Certainly there have been many purchases in the last ten years that boggle the mind that do not fit those principles. I think that worst blocks and best blocks shift so quickly here that it is hard to apply these rules. I would be more concerned about a house that has no architectural interest than a house like this. That said, I agree that prices are coming down and this is not the best time to buy- but this is not the most this house will ever be worth. Doesn’t supply and demand apply? There are tons of two bedroom apartments and I understand why the prices may be very hard hit but isn’t this something unique?
Furthermore, I live closer to the AY footprint than this building and while I hate the plan, think it’ll be a huge pain in the ass while it’s being constructed, and will certainly spoil some aspects of our quality of life, it also won’t send property values down the toilet. That’s just not how RE works in NYC.
Dear 4:44pm, I believe most of the simple truisms of RE — perhaps too simple for some of the brainy pundits on this site. i) What went up last, comes down first; ii) What went up highest, comes down furthest; iii) buy the worst house on the best block. Look, I bought a coop in the West Village in 1987 and enjoyed several years of negative equity in the early 1990s — and that nabe has ALWAYS been fashionable. That said, the adjustment is unlikely to be more than 10-20%, except for properties like this that are just priced off the charts. Unless of course the entire economy goes south — which right now we just don’t know. FG/CH is a very beautiful area with many gorgeous houses. But values in the immediate area have risen too far too fast. And I’m really no doomsayer. I own a brownstone that has tripled in value in recent years. I would love it to stay that way but I also know it’s just on paper until/unless I sell.
Not even THAT! We should just burn Brooklyn down down down. The whole world is going to hell. Wall Street is screwed. All the Presidential candidates are a joke- again. Sixteen Frank Gehry buildings and a basketball stadiaum spells armegeddon. And we think nukes are a threat. The weather sucks and I have a headache and a backache and a my dog is so stubborn. Waste your money or don’t. We’re only here for 70 something years if we’re lucky. Find someone to get dirty with today and don’t stop until AY ends the world.
The B69 is hardly an issue – it come once every half hour.
You’ll be lucky to get $500K for this place after AY is built.
The Pfizer is not the comparison that you’re looking for. It was priced similarily and is much bigger but it is not in this condition. Add another 2-3 million to get the Pfizer to look this good. Now you’ve got a huge difference in price. They just might get it.
this house is NEW