House of the Day: 23 South Portland Avenue
Hey, just because South Portland Avenue was voted the best block in New York doesn’t mean you can just slap any old price on a house and expect it to fly off the shelf. Which is what the owners of 23 South Portland (who also own 4 South Portland) have done. Granted it’s a five-story…
Hey, just because South Portland Avenue was voted the best block in New York doesn’t mean you can just slap any old price on a house and expect it to fly off the shelf. Which is what the owners of 23 South Portland (who also own 4 South Portland) have done. Granted it’s a five-story house, but it’s been an SRO forever (though the owner claims to have received a Certificate of Non Harrassment) and is in need of a total renovation. (An email we received from a neighbor said that this is a case of renovatus interuptus—the interior is totally demo’d and the backyard full of sandbags. We’ve got no info on why the owner/developer is cutting and running. The recent title and mortgage history is a little tricky to follow too, but the house has changed ownership a couple of times since 2004, most recently in January of this year. The price of that transaction is not provided (possibly because it was simply a transfer between related parties?) but it was accompanied by a $1,680,000 mortgage. Given that you can pick up the perfectly restored house across the street for $2,600,000, the asking price of $2,500,000 for a place that needs a complete make-over seems like a relative rip-off. Then again, what would five floor-through condos on this block net you? Clearly that’s the only way this price could make any sense.
23 South Portland Avenue [Christmas Realty] GMAP P*Shark
“We’ve got no info on why the owner/developer is cutting and running.”
Try http://tinyurl.com/3cyoca .
This house is beautiful on the outside but from what I’m hearing on this board, there is nothing on the inside people. Nada. I suppose that while that could be a draw for some people, it’s certainly not happening at that price, and not in today’s market. Most individuals in today’s market that dispose of $2.5+ to blow on a house are buying up beauties like 30 South Portland, 181 Washington Park, and 344 Carlton Avenue (all featured on brownstoner’s HOTD–look them up), even if you have to pay a bit more in a bidding war. Those houses are worth it. They’re pristine. This poor ol’ house has a sketchy history and has had its guts ripped out. Never trust a developer to sell you the house with any of its salvageable deets. I’ve seen developers strip houses and sell off the parts, just like it was a car.
person A sells to person B for x amount of money. person B gets mortgage for x amount of money.
Person B defaults on the mortgage.
Person A probably inflated the sell value of the building to person B who is covered by the mortgage. Whom probably didn’t have to pay anything down since person A and B were in collusion to default the bank.
1:46 here. My sister lives next door and we were able to see the inside after the demo since we had some initial interest and were also really intrigued. We’re also brownstone junkies so we did all the DOB research, etc., and it is very convoluted. Just go to the DOB website and search for the address. It’s a total war zone inside and while one or two pieces of details remain, it’s pretty much bare and stripped. There’s really nothing inside there to justify that price. Too bad. We immediately lost interest…
Christmas Realty often has out of whack prices considering the circumstances of their listings… or maybe they just have unrealistic sellers most of the time…
Property Shark puts the square footage at 4000. If you add the garden level (not always accounted for on PS) let’s say the house is 5000 sq. ft. How much would it cost to rebuild this house?
To commenter 1:46: is there any more info you can provide on the house? I’m just really curious and it seems like you know the property. Thanks.
Mortgage scam meaning what?
could be a mortgage scam.