House of the Day: 53 South Elliott Place
On the heels of last week’s 3.5 million listing on Vanderbilt Avenue, Jerry Minsky is back with another blockbuster at 53 South Elliott Place. The Italianate brick one-family has lots of original details integrated with a very tasteful modern update. It’s a great house but the asking price of $3,700,000 sounds nutso to us. The…
On the heels of last week’s 3.5 million listing on Vanderbilt Avenue, Jerry Minsky is back with another blockbuster at 53 South Elliott Place. The Italianate brick one-family has lots of original details integrated with a very tasteful modern update. It’s a great house but the asking price of $3,700,000 sounds nutso to us. The highwater mark for a normal-sized townhouse (this one’s 3,600 square feet) in the nabe has been set at $3 million—and that was in a better location. The east side of this block (where this house sits) falls within the Fort Greene Historic District (map here). The other side of the street is not landmarked; it also includes the Brooklyn Technical High School, not exactly an enhancer of real estate values. We’d argue that, despite how lovely its interior is, this place should fall well short of that number. A price of $2,700,000 seems possible but $3,700,000? Sheer lunacy. Then again, we’ve learned our lesson about doubting Minsky. Remember 369 Grand Avenue?
53 South Elliott Place [Corcoran] GMAP P*Shark
Real estate isn’t as frequently traded as a commodity. So in general it hasn’t experience crazy price fluctuations. Only a small percentage of people actually need to sell at any given time. There is a great deal of pent up demand with buyers now. And has been for some time. Many people are out looking. And I bet tons more would replace them if they thought prices might be going down a bit, which holds the whole thing up anyway. But at this point the change in financing really hasn’t affected deals in Brooklyn yet. Not too many marginal buyers are looking to buy in our areas. I don’t think that the financial services firm employees are what is driving this market either. So even if they experience some unemployment that shouldn’t matter. Now if all the trust funds dry up that would of course be another matter.
As someone who also works in I-banking, I have been seeing the same things as 3:48. The consensus among folks on Wall Street with whom I have spoken is that bonuses will suffer this year across the board. There will be layoffs. The forecast for 2008 is generally dour.
Right now the pain has been limited in the media to leveraged finance and asset-backed circles, but the reality is that M&A is slowing tremendously, debt financings are not being done, even equity offerings have been delayed or cancelled. “Bull market” IPOs are out for the foreseeable future. In the commercial real estate sector, deals have also ground to a halt given the cost of financing, and that is if financing is even available at all. So I hate to say it, but on top of the asset-backed and lev fin businesses, expect M&A, debt and equity cap markets, real estate and private equity to take hits in terms of comp and headcount over the foreseeable future.
It’s hard to see how this doesn’t affect RE demand. Some folks point to the fact that the RE market thrived after 2001. It did, but there are (at least) four very key differences between then and now:
(1) Greenspan aggressively lowered interest rates from that point onward, which
(2) Created an overly liquid market for mortgages of all species, thereby
(3) Generating year-after-year of double digit appreciation, which is now behind us; and
(4) The dollar depreciated significantly, creating bargains for foreign buyers.
(1), (2) and (3) are history. Only (4) may still exist, but even that’s debatable given that the current credit/liquidity squeeze is a global phenomenon.
Agreed on many of your stated FG benefits, 6:51—except for the hospital. I wouldn’t send my dog to that ER. I spent hours and hours in that waiting room once with a girlfriend who’d broken her ankle, surrounded by other people waiting who were all in dire need of attention, everyone waiting and waiting with no sign of help. That place is shit. Other than that, though, great ‘hood.
As for 3+MM for that place? Please.
I lived a few doors down from this house ten years ago and the old man who lived in this house really took great care of it. I hear he paid under 10K for it in the 1960s. I really think that over 3 million is too much but set it high and come down a million?? As far as the school, remember that this school is one on the best HS in the City. The kids at Brooklyn Tech are different from kids at other schools. Only in the afternoon for an 1/2 hour around 3pm do you really hear them and a little in AM. I really never notice the school when I lived on S. Elliot PL. This house is a block from the park close to ALL the trains in the city A,C,2,3,4,5,Q,B,N,R etc..) BAM, Cruch, great food, Hospital, farmers market all in a short walking distance. This house is really in the heart of what people think of when they think of Brooklyn. FG is like the UN (well 10 years ago anyway) you found fun people from everywhere on the planet. This place is prime location for Brooklyn over the Heights and PS. So yes I do see it selling for 2.5 – 2.9 million. I just visited a 4 bedroom apt in the city that was 18m.
Well, well, Jerry, this is a little greedy even by your standards. Lovely house and not small (standard sized brownstone actually) but strip out the trendy furnishings and you’re left with a good solid renovation — nothing more. Also, I believe this is the same block as Fort Greene Tech H. S. A fine institution no doubt. But who needs 4,000 teenagers on the street twice a day?! We considered an arguably architecturally more distinguished house on that block back in 1999. It was on the market then for $650,000 and needed almost no work.
Btw, I completely agree with 3:48 and 5:56. There will be an adjustment of 10-20%; it may take another 6-12 months to arrive (the RE mkt didn’t decline in NYC until 18mos after the 1987 Wall St crash); it could last 5-8 years.
Why drop so much cash in Ft. Greene for a small house on a not-so-nice block, across from a freaking high school, when for 25K LESS you can get a much LARGER house on famous Montgomery Place in Park Slope, in 321 district (spare me the PS debate, bottom line is it increases your property value):
http://www.prudentialelliman.com/Listings.aspx?ListingID=861765&rentalperiod=&SearchType=houses&Region=NYC
great minds think alike..we chose the same two pictures:
http://www.onehansonplace.com/2007/09/minskys-listing-now-37mm-after-pictures.html#comments
6:09–right. But if you can afford to pay 4 mill for a house, you wouldn’t be looking to live on that block in Ft. Greene, or in that area period. Especially not for only 3600 square feet! Is no one else shocked by how small that is?
All this speculation. If someone sees the house and likes it , they will find a way buy it.Someone will come along and not give a damn about markets or smarkets.People pay that much and more for apts or condos in Manhattan so getting a house for 4 million is nothing to those who can afford it.Bottom line.