House of the Day: 432 Prospect Place
This two-family house on a 131-foot lot at 432 Prospect Place will likely appeal to many in the market: Nice original details, modern kitchen, landscaped backyard. One unusual twist is that the floor-through rental unit is on the top floor as opposed to the bottom, raising unaddressed questions about the need for an internal staircase…
This two-family house on a 131-foot lot at 432 Prospect Place will likely appeal to many in the market: Nice original details, modern kitchen, landscaped backyard. One unusual twist is that the floor-through rental unit is on the top floor as opposed to the bottom, raising unaddressed questions about the need for an internal staircase in the owner’s triplex. As for the asking price of $1,725,000, were it a block or two to the west, it would be a lay-up. Not that neighborhood boundaries are the most important thing when it comes to pricing, but it’ll be interesting to see whether a house that’s technically in Crown Heights can command this kind of number.
432 Prospect Place [NY Times] GMAP P*Shark
another person’s viewpoint…
http://afinecompany.blogspot.com/2007/10/recipe-higher-prices.html
5:12…i dont think its about entitlement.
the original poster was wondering why a six figure salary plus a 700K down payment can’t afford a house in Crown Heights…
what does one have to own + earn to live the american dream (in brooklyn) ?
5:32…I agree.
And at this point, wouldn’t most people like to take their 1.7 million for perhaps a half a brownstone, find something spectacular in Park Slope and at least not have to pay for private school for a few years?
Makes more sense to me, but I’m also not one who thinks the bigger the home, the better the life.
For most people….moving up meant buying a property maybe a couple thousand more than their current home and their dream home was bought well into middle age. My parents moved 4 times that I can recall before they finally settled in on their “dream” home.
They didn’t try to buy a place double their last one. Nor did they think this all needed to take place before the age of 35.
I lived next door to this place for 5 years, ending in June 2005. While the block and the immediately surrounding nabe has seen some improvements as far as amenities (Gen, the Japanese place is good, a good coffee place on sterling), the problem with this price to me is that
A) there just are not enough amenities within 2,3,4 blocks to make it convenient
B) its still not the most pleasant place to live. there were guys who would blast music from their parked, open-doored SUV at 4:30 in the morning pretty regularly. there are city-owned building on the block, one just a few doors down, and lots of people hanging out late, drinking, pissing, generally not making your 1.7+ mill feel like you’re in brownstone brooklyn. there were 3 shootings in my 5 years on the block – two on the block (one in front of the afore-mentioned city owned building), and another on grand between prospect and st marks.
C) at this price in this market, you’re not selling anytime soon, and if you have small kids, you’re paying for private school cause the local schools SUCK.
5:12: I don’t feel like I have a god-given right to any of this (and don’t think anyone on here said they did either). People here tend to toss these huge numbers around like they’re no big deal, and I think it’s perfectly reasonable if the discussion turns to HOW people actually make it work.
Looks like a lovely house but probably priced $200,000 over the market, given both the location and the top floor rental. As has been pointed out, this is not prime Prospect Heights. In fact, it’s not Prospect Heights at all. Even with an internal staircase in the triplex, the owners will hear more noise from a rental overhead than one below. Also, while decoratively it’s clean and fresh, all of the woodwork on the parlor floor appears to be painted.
I can’t for the life of me figure out why everyone thinks they deserve or should be able to buy a multi-million dollar home and send their kids to 25k a year schools.
Throughout the ages of civilization this has been a gift for a fraction of the human population but suddenly now…especially in New York people think it a god given right.
You want to send your kids to a 25K a year school. Then get a second job. You want to buy a million dollar home? Go to Business School and get a better paying job? You want both…then stop eating out every night, do your own laundry and start SAVING like most normal people.
It’s disgusting that you think you are somehow entitled to all of the world’s riches and that they should be handed to you on a silver platter.
I fully sympathize with 3:30’s point. Even if you are willing to compromise on space as well as neighborhood, and have a good chunk in equity, the reality is that you are not necessarily going to be able to afford something. Then factor in private school for two kids. Plus I think it’s a bit of an overreach to claim that everyone in NYC lives life “awake” and everyone in the subrubs is leading an empty existence.