House of the Day: 274 Clinton Avenue
Has the value of Clinton Hill real estate gone up 50% in the last two years? Don’t think so. But that’s the increase that the seller of 274 Clinton Avenue is looking to make. She bought the five-story house in August of 2005 for $1,925,000 and now has the house back on the market for…
Has the value of Clinton Hill real estate gone up 50% in the last two years? Don’t think so. But that’s the increase that the seller of 274 Clinton Avenue is looking to make. She bought the five-story house in August of 2005 for $1,925,000 and now has the house back on the market for $2,995,000. Of course, from the looks of it, she’s put a fair amount of dough into the renovation, which looks pretty nice. (Our only quibbles are the choice of white for the bannister and the fact that the crown and ceiling moldings are no more.) There’s lots of original woodwork, however, and it’s on a fantastic block. We could see this fetching $2.6 or $2.7 million but would surprised if someone steps up for the full asking price. Stranger things have happened though.
274 Clinton Avenue [Corcoran] GMAP P*Shark
8:22 = perfect caricature of the repulsive, self-obsessed, narcissistic, materialistic, NY yuppie. Or a broker.
um…almost no one here had house lust, 10:30.
99% of people on this thread seem to hate the house, think the most important details were stripped out, did a half ass renovation job and overpriced it.
not to mention this house is a flip job.
this is not being sold by someone who grew up in it.
they are greedy.
plain and simple.
the hood isn’t 3 million dollar great.
i’d say 1.5 million great.
on a good day.
8:22 sounds like a pompous ass. If this is who’s buying in CH, lord help the neighborhood.
8:22 – “I’m just speaking for all the people I know looking for, finding, and buying those few houses that are on the market in this area.” OK, as long as you acknowledge that the “we” you represent isn’t the majority of CH homeowners. The “we” of “me” is the contingent now known as “oldtimers,” who have been making their homes here for at least a couple decades and in some cases own multiple houses occupied by our extended families. We may not be wealthy (other than on paper, as our RE has appreciated thanks primarily to our own efforts that started making the area attractive to you wealthy folks), but we far outnumber the “we” of “you,” and are watching in bemusement as you wealthy discover us plebians. Many of us have just as many graduate degrees as you do, but somewhat different priorities. Many of us long ago figured out how to raise children we can be proud of in this very same neighborhood. Try not to treat us with too much condescension (as in “when do you think that gorgeous house occupied by the two little old ladies will come on the market” – when the ladies in question are a mother with a daughter in her early forties who grew up in that house, both of whom worked on its top-notch restoration and remain in excellent health, and neither of whom are interested in selling in the forseeable future). Try not to ring our doorbells and offer to buy our houses for prices that “for you, would be a lot of money” (we’re not as close to senility as you might think, and less affected by vacillations in house prices, since we don’t have massive mortgages to deal with). CH is our home, and it’s nice to see it being appreciated by a new generation. But please try to control the house lust and let us live in peace as you discover the neighborhood we’ve appreciated for a very long time.
Fort Greene near Flatbush is very convenient to a multitude of subway lines. This place is near the (awful) G Train and somewhat near the C. I live in FG not near the trains and it is a nuisance. This is a beautiful building, but that price is ludicrous.
8:22:
Don’t get excited. Here’s what’s happening, from my perspective and that of my colleagues and friends:
We used to live in Chelsea, the East Village, Manhattan Valley, and in an illegal sublet in the east 60s. But they closed our sex clubs down, and we got a little old to be hanging out at the Hanger. So we went out for brunch with a friend in Fort Greene before her really was any place to have brunch. We remembered we’d been at Two Steps Down when it was our kind of bar. We saw the mixture of queers, artists. So we bought, rented, shared. None of us ever thought Brooklyn (BK is for t-shirts) wasn’t safe. Hell we lived across the hall from drug dealers in Manhattan!
We don’t make much money at all (at least by the standards of the people on Curbed or Brownstoner). We are public interest lawyers, progressive filmmakers, massage therapists, computer nerds, and writers (remember when Colson Whitehead lived in Clinton Hill?)
None of us ever gave a second thought about whether or not the Manhattan Bridge lines were running or not. And again what is the babble about it being “safer”? Is that some sort of talking point. For us of the lighter side of pale, being the minority didn’t mean dangerous. And anyway, the robbers lurk near the better blocks, while the drug dealers and whores allow the poor to pass unmolested in the far east section, The bars we go to (Outpost, Grand 275, Rope, etc) are still browner than “Green.”
Those of us who have bothered to spawn attempt to send our apes to the local schools only to be told that our kind aren’t all that welcome (thanks Principal Sean Keaton of PS 20). So we flee to PS 261, the East Village, Brooklyn New School, or some (but no one we know) to pirbate school (oh a few are trying to make 11 work).
Do we buy 3 million dollar houses. Fuck no. We rent. We buy fixer uppers between Grand and Nostrand. We buy a two bedroom in Clinton Hill Coops.
Then why does Jon feature pos mansions? Because he knows that even the best of us love to talk about ourselves and criticize others. And he gets paid by the hit. Chi-ching
I must laugh at 8:22 since I think it’s absurd to think it’s OK to drop this much money on this house. I used to live in FG/CH and agree that Clinton Ave is very nice, and while the neighborhood suffers from a lack of services, that’s starting to change. But putting aside the neighborhood, which is certainly decent, this house just isn’t worth it. I also don’t quite get the horror over the lack of moldings — I just think the layout, size and overall renovation do not merit this cost. Crazy overreaching at what I hope i the last gasp of an insane market (and I own, I just am sickened by the growing disparities in wealth between the rich and everyone else).
i think that was a monstrous load of crap, 8:22
8:22:
you sound like an informercial.
We’re young, we’re cool.
Our wines? French!
Our clothes? Italian!
our sex? hot!
our neighborhood? Clinton Hill!
Why? because we’re hip…and we’re realtors and we’re begging, begging, that you believe this.