House of the Day: 30 South Portland Avenue

What is the AY anyway?

I’m playing the Lotto tonight to see if I can buy this house. I love everything about it.

Um… Mr. 1:54…are those song lyrics or excerpted from a poem? What’s with the “from inside out” refrain? Sorry..but it’s a bit (even deliciously) amusing. Now, factually, brownstones are not going up all over the place. It just doesn’t pay. Most developers are putting up larger buildings. The “brownstones” that *are* being built are generally hastily and lousily built rowhouses that are not all that desirable considering class, caste, economic issues in NYC. You might as well go live in a townhome in a suburban development.

I don’t think the couple with one German and the other an American partner, spoiled, sated by gorging too young in life are going to jump at a newly built rowhouse in Brooklyn. Has anyone checked out the uglier-than-ugly in-fill house on Carlton in Pros. Heights that has been featured on this site? Yeahhh…eventually one unit sold but…I rest my case. It’s fugly. Has anyone wondered what in heck is taking so long on what ended up being a very blahhhh in-fill on Cumberland between Lafayette and DeKalb? It could have been cute with a little more sense but it looks blech from the front…no cornice (yuck), the dumb’n’ugly “bay”/bump out (still with its exposed Tyvek after a year) with a completely different window configuration than the main body of the façade, the boring, off-the-shelf “brownstoning” door “hood” and surround. Has Mr. 1:54 seen the moderate income townhomes going up. There is NO comparison with Brownstone Brooklyn.

Okay, so mod rowhouses got built on State Street (would love to see their eventual heating bill what with that glass wall in the back going on)…okay, okay…but the historic landmark district brownstones and rowhouses are in limited supply. And, if 1:54’s supposed soon-upon-us end-time comes, how in heck are all these historic brownstones going to flood the market, pray tell? Where are the people living in them going? Are they all fleeing NY or running to apartments in order to “downsize”? Anyone running back to Kansas? Honestly. Yes, there probably *will* be a partial “sell-off” (1:54’s words, not mine)and the supply will outpace demand at some point…and maybe soon… And, yes, prices will probably drop and maybe never come up to the same current real dollar purchase prices in the future…maybe…but if they REALLY plummet in Brownstone Brooklyn, then RUN FOR THE HILLS! Nowhere will be safe…we’ll be in total economic collapse.

Seems people forget that despite the discrimination, inequity, relatively high crime, high average infant mortality, stagnant social mobility, failing infrastructure, large numbers of non- and under-insured, a negative savings rate, a whole generation unfortunately fed on Reagan-era and subsequent eco-junk-rhetoric, we are still, in NYC in the center of (or at least the center of one area of) the Empire. The Empire State…a state of Empire…but not in the same sense as those pointless “NYC Capital of the World” streetlight banners would have you believe. Thems for the tourists.

Let’s look on the bright side, at least 1:54 is telling us a house 10 years ago sold for 2.1m (not in FG; me thinks 1:54 is dreaming) so one would think brownstone Brooklyn will hold its value using that logic, no? And also on the bright side, 1:54 is not fixated on AY.

Look, some Wall Streeter, overpaid attorney, foreigner or MD’s kids will buy 30 Portland for the asking price and throw another 300K into it afterward.

And don’t forget, that when you’re feeling blue, you can always sing 1:54’s comment set to music:

They ARE Building Brownstones (Brownstoner Dude, can you make this your site’s anthem?)

They ARE building brownstones.
You’re building a brownstone,
Albeit from inside out, and there’s thousands more that are either under construction
(from inside out)
Or need to be built
(from inside out)
There will be no shortage of brownstones when the sell-off begins.
(from inside out)
So we don’t need anyone to build anymore brownstones for prices to fall.
(from inside out)
A brownstone is no big deal unless it’s restored.
(from inside out)
And you know that 500k will turn into 700k when it’s all said and done.
(from inside out)

Well put Mr. 12:51PM But remember: what happened last year may not hold true this year…considering skittishness and the credit crunch for large mortgages.

…Though a friend (and family) bid last week on an Park Slope 11th St. (5/6 Ave. I think) 3-story brick rowhouse at ask price coming in over the four other slightly-below ask bids but found out within days they’d been outbid by yet another offer…so I guess the demand is still there. Yes, agreed. So-called brownstones are not growing on trees. I wonder how a changing demographic, rising fuel costs, etc. might change their desirability once the baby boomlet also ages (but that’s another thread). For example, one friend sold her house because of her knees conflicting with stair-climbing all day, up and down, up and down (we all do it…forget something all the way upstairs and then climb to the top of the house, go back downstairs and realize DOH! I forgot something else now! Argh!!!)

12:51PM, you state “I bought a 22 footer one street over last year for 2.1+ and am putting at least 500k into it for a full gut renovation.” Question: can you adopt me? I am litter boxed trained and don’t eat much.

Seriously Folks, 30 South Portland will sell, no question. Yeah! Yes, a certain amount of systems work will need to be done over time but the structure is sound and the brownstoning and ironwork were redone tiptop (one less worry). The extension was worth the money and the garden redo is very pleasant.

To 7:59 PM: Thank you for “apologizing to everyone on the site” for what was a balanced description on the house by 6:50. A number of people commented offline after reading your retort and found the 6:50 PM description was fair. Nothing that might impinge the sale of the house was mentioned. It was not obnoxious but informational. In fact, it was pointed out by 6:05 that 30 S. Portland has loads of income potential. Anything negative you may have gleaned was a reference to the B&B-like final incarnation of the OTHER house being referred to on the thread, the one that sold for 3+ on the park.

To those of you who think the owner is selling and getting’ out just before the bubble pops or A.Y. (not a done deal) towers start going up, word has it the owner has alimony and five kids in either boarding school, college or grad school. [Just kidding…just a bit of humour]

Ear on the rail: by the way, a brick rowhouse in FG 3-family “prime block” (whatever that means) is going to or has come on the market. Wondering what the seller will list it at since it just changed hands in 2005 and was owner-non-occupied during these two years…just rentals and no updating or cosmetic work done since the purchase. Perfect for an owner-occupied lifestyle with two income aparts upstairs. The duplex may need a bit of reconfiguring since it only has one real bedroom right now.