House of the Day: 135 Joralemon Street
The house at 135 Joralemon has been of great interest to Brooklyn Heights residents since it was ravaged by a fire on the eve of 2005. After sitting untouched for more than a year and a half, the house was finally purchased in September 2006 for $2,400,000. The buyer must have been a professional flipper…
The house at 135 Joralemon has been of great interest to Brooklyn Heights residents since it was ravaged by a fire on the eve of 2005. After sitting untouched for more than a year and a half, the house was finally purchased in September 2006 for $2,400,000. The buyer must have been a professional flipper because the house was reno’d and on the market by early this past summer (after being featured on the Brooklyn Heights House and Garden Tour in May). After more than three months of no takers, the price was cut last week from $5,950,000 to $5,750,000. It’s all still pie in the sky for most of the buyer universe; we suspect that it’s not a big enough reduction to make potential buyers sit up and take notice. What do you think this place is worth?
135 Joralemon Street [Brown Harris Stevens] GMAP P*Shark
Recovery Underway for Joralemon Burn Victim [Brownstoner]
Ode to 135 Joraleman [Brownstoner]
I actually think the reno costs were closer to a million dollars. Every little thing was done. Functionally and structurally, the house is brand new.
It is a thing of beauty for a very wealthy collector of antique furniture perhaps or for someone who likes the idea of living in an 1830’s house that is up to the minute in terms of all the modern conveniences. I think the price is a little aggressive but it is a one-of-a-kind house in Brooklyn Heights in perfect condition.
1:23, I couldn’t disagree more. If it wasn’t for Brownstoner I never would have looked at the listing for this absolute beauty. Wow. I can’t afford 1/4 of this listing price, but it helps me learn what to look for in my own budget – and how to be classic but creative with my own reno.
I wonder if they got the smell out, though – there’s nothing that permeates the bones of a house like the smell of a fire.
RE is all about location and comps. If you want to understand brownstone pricing in Bed-Stuy, fix your high/low markets for Brooklyn Heights and Bushwick. Everything’s on a continuum. It’s just a matter of figuring out where the property you are interested in falls on that line.
I have always loved this house, as much for its location — right at the end of Sidney Place so that as you walk up that also unique block this house is at the end — as for its anomolus appearance in this part of the Heights, where there are far fewer frame houses and this one has larger more modern stone (or maybe brick and stone) to either side. Back when it was really run down looking, this house evoked (for me) the old children’s story The Little House by Virginia Lee Burton.
I love this house. After the fire, I thought it might have to come down, so I’m glad someone restored it. Yeah, only the megarich can afford it now, but it’s fun to take a peek inside via the listing.
Lets see, purchased at what we can probably now see was the tip top of the market for $2.4m. Perhaps 800k spent to renovate it. Add another 200k for the flippers time management fee. Total: $3.4m.
Less a 20% decline in prices from the peak means that a reasonable price today is about $2.8m and the flipper is facing a loss.
But if he keeps clinging to the idea of sucking $1.5m in profit out of signing papers and handing the keys to his project manager, then he better also have some more money in the bank to pay $10k a month to keep the place tidy and empty while he waits for the market to boom again!
If I had the capital I would love to be someone who rescues gorgeous burned-out houses. Not crazy about the 1970’s woodsy kitchen, but to each his own.
Or is your audience the same demographic who flys NetJets and consults Robb Report for their next purchase?
Yes.
We only do one of these extravagant listings every couple of months or so for that very reason…this one’s of special interest because of the fire and how long it sat vacant in such a fancy nabe.