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
I didn’t say it before but I will say it now: putting up modlings really is simple and cheap. Here’s how it works: 1) Go to Dyke’s lumber. 2) Pick out moldings you like. 3) Buy a couple of feet worth of samples of each. (Tip: write down the order number on back of sample before you leave Dykes. 3) Take them home see which ones you like best. 4) Have your carpenter measure the amount of linear feet needed. 5) You or carpenter or contractor orders materials. 6) They prime them before putting them up. 7) They cut material (slight training necessary here to cut corners properly. 8) They put them up.
8:22- well said. after living in both ch&fg for many, many years, i’d like to add that western bed stuy, (despite what the haters on this site would say) embodies that same spirit, maybe minus the many cafes, although i’d say they’re coming. in fact, most of the creative, successful types i know are moving or looking around here for the very same reasons you mentioned. that’s my bit.
Whoever said putting up moldings is simple and cheap is out of their mind.
But I still agree with them: moldings are a MUST. And the paint scheme in this place just reeks.
Place is not that overpriced.
Don’t get excited. Here’s what’s happening, from my perspective and that of my colleagues and friends:
Despite what your inferiority complex might be telling you, Manhattan isn’t where all the rich people are, and BK isn’t some place to go bargain shopping (any more) for real estate. In fact, much of manhattan is rent-stabilized. Part of its charm is the diversity of backgrounds, including fresh off the boaters.
Meanwhile, BK is getting safer, so people like me and my friends, who have money but are still fairly young, are feeling the need to make a home. Manhattan doesn’t offer “home” unless you’re uber wealthy and can spend 10 mil on a townhouse on the upper east side. (And even then, who wants to live in that armpit of tweed and crappy restaurants?) Anyway, we’re not uber wealthy, just well-to-do, and our success is growing. We’d like to invest in something with potential not just in terms of real estate but in terms of the neighborhood: something that has or will have new restaurants, interesting people, youth.
We are often in the creative fields (Manhattan being a center for advertising, fashion, design, publishing, gaming, entertainment industries). We make good money and are beginning to make VERY good money.
We might want kids, and some of us have one or two already. Schools are slowly getting better, maybe more so with our involvement, but if not, there are private school or home school options. None of us give a fk about PS so and so being the top school, cause from where we’re standing, our kids will be ok as long as we just let them be.
West Village is nice, but way too pricey for what it offers, considering the other options – FG or CH. Convenient, yes, but so damn loud and obnoxious when we come home, basically disgusting and overcrowded, and recently, kinda dangerous.
East Village has few beautiful buildings, very little space, and def not peaceful or homey.
Lower East Side: Same.
Williamsburg: ugly environment, no trees, tons of trashy NYUers.
Park Slope: upper west side
BrooklynHeights: ditto
So here we are, in CH or FG, where the cafes and bars, though few and far between, are decent to good quality, and more are opening up. Transportation is ok, esp if you ride a bike (most of us try to much as we can). And most importantly, it feels LIKE ITSELF, its own neighborhood, and therefore our own neighborhood. Not “kinda like east village,” or “kinda like upper west side” — it has its own architectural, cultural and historical flavor. We’re aesthetes. We dig it.
Why now? Just cause it’s safer. And the Manhattan Bridge train lines have been working again.
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.
Why is it pricey? Because there a few of them, and many of us, and we’re willing to pay, even if it means having tenants and an inconvenient layout, for now.
just a little something for “the what”
http://www.therealdeal.net/breaking_news/2007/11/29/1196376631.php
i live in harlem, actually.
central, though.
“i stand by my statement that 10% of manahtantites do not know of park slope and 50% do not know of clinton hill. the latter is probably more like 70%. ”
I stand by my assessment of your ignorance. Oh, and for the record, “manhattanite’s” is a label a die-hard manhattan resident places on themselves (if they so choose), not a turn of phrase to be applied to someone that lives in the boro. I can’t really picture a resident of east harlem referring to themselves as such. But then, I’m sure in your deluded little mind, east harlem really isn’t manhattan.
6:42:
If you would not buy this house for 3 million dollars in Brooklyn Heights you would be an idiot.
The digression on neighborhoods is really annoying. Okay, let’s pretend this house is in Park Slope or Brooklyn Heights. I still wouldn’t buy it for $3 million dollars or even $2 million because the layout doesn’t work for me. If I have to renovate anyway, why not get a house for $2 million that needs work?
Here’s what I hate: washer dryer is 2 or 3 floors below bedroom floors. There is NO usable tenant apartment — I don’t want to pay $3 million dollars so my tenants have to walk through my private space every day. No thanks, I woudn’t live in that house with tenants if you paid me. So, you have to pay to re-configure the tenant apartment or build an internal stair. And to those that say you can use the place as a one-family — well, who needs that much space anyway? I don’t want a kitchen next to my bedroom. I’d rather buy a 4-story house for less money with a better layout.
Finally, the renovation really isn’t anything special and not to my taste anyway.
Maybe there’s someone out there who loves this layout and design and by all means they should buy the place, but I’d pass on this no matter what neighborhood it was in.