House of the Day: 216 14th Street
We’d glanced at this listing at 216 14th Street in the South Slope before but hadn’t given it much thought based on the exterior. When we took a closer look at the interior shots recently, though, we were struck by how nice it is. The two-family house is clearly a flip-job, but, other than the…
We’d glanced at this listing at 216 14th Street in the South Slope before but hadn’t given it much thought based on the exterior. When we took a closer look at the interior shots recently, though, we were struck by how nice it is. The two-family house is clearly a flip-job, but, other than the Home Depot-esque doors, appears to avoid most of the pitfalls typically associated with that kind of thing. (It was purchased back in June for $1,150,000.) The floors, moldings and bannister were all maintained and restored. The cabinetry looks a whole lot better than one would expect from a flipper in this part of town as well. The big question is whether the sellers have added the $500,000 in value that justifies the $1,650,000 asking price. Waddya think?
Property #118 [Townsley & Gay] GMAP P*Shark
2:59 — Sane or insane, syringes or no, the demand is there in Brooklyn. (And some mommies and daddies become insane only after they move to the burbs. And this isn’t so good for the kids.)
3:00 — What are those three-bedrooms going for though?
I think there are buyers for this location – but they are not going to spend anywhere close to the ask on this. I know – I’m one of them. We have the budget to go close to their ask (since there’s a rental) but would never spend that kind of money on this location, or this school district. I see the places that friends have bought in the last year, in the south slope, for prices significantly lower than this ask. Yes, this house is nicely renovated, but it’s kind of like lipstick on a pig given the block. There are currently a number of houses in the fringes of park slope (601 President, another listing on 13th bet 4/5, etc.) that have lingered since they’re priced too high – even with price reductions that are still asking too much – and buyers aren’t biting. I think there are different classes of PS buyers out there – the wall street types with 2-3 mil to burn who expect a pretty fancy/big house on a nice block, and then folks like us who can stretch to about the 1.5 range, and are willing to do some work to a place and make some compromises – we are carefully watching the market as prices on these “compromise” properties are coming down since they were farfetched to begin with. 1.5, mind you, is still a huge amount of $ for us, and we’d prefer to spend less — so MIGHT be willing to compromise on this crummy block if it meant saving several $100K’s we could put towards our kids’ college education or other important life choices. But the sellers would need to come down a lot to reach buyers like us.
10:50 – blocks matter – this is a crappy one. And both Bed-Stuy and Crown Heights, as has been discussed abundantly on this list of late, have suffered price declines. I think properties in those hoods will be hard pressed to fetch in the million dollar range unless they are truly special and in the best possible spot in those hoods. Clinton Hill – well it depends. There are prime areas of CH, just like prime areas of PS, where the architecture and blocks are very beautiful (and even CH, I think, will see prices dampen as the market continues to soften). This block of 14 St is fringe no matter how you slice it – just walk down it to see for yourself – it’s actually kind of depressing. There’s a reason for that old RE adage – location, location, location. I don’t find the price “offensive”, just unrealistic and too darn high.
2:46, there are some family sized apartments on 2nd Street between 4/5 Ave, and perhaps some of the other new developments, but they are not to everyone’s taste since they are very “new” post-war looking types of buildings, without the charm and character people often seek in PS in pre-war apartment (not to mention shoddy construction/design in many, but not all, cases). Also, these new developments tend to be very expensive as well, so I suspect the buyers for those are people who don’t want to deal with the responsibility of owning a house.
Re: 4:04 on Dec 6, the question of price for a home is crucial, even if you are not looking at it as an “investment” per se. For we hard-working folks who are not pulling down wall street salaries, a house is an enormous financial commitment and the difference between 1.2-1.3 mil and 1.5-1.6 means a great deal in terms of other life choices (education, vacations, some work flexibility, whether or not you feel “house poor” etc.). So even a house that might feel right in terms of its renovation or neighborhood simply has to be priced right for the market.
11:48 – what possible contribution are you trying to make to this discussion other than some typos? Ridiculing a discussion about the overheating of the current market is itself ridiculous. The state of the real estate market is a topic of obviously great interest to participants on this list-serve, many of whom are seeking a home, and it’s not that people are whining – simply trading observations. Are you also going to make fun of the all the major publications that have recently published articles about signs of a decline in the NYC housing market?
richard meier’s on prospect park, 2:46.
nice family sized apartments.
Most sane people with families move to the suburbs where the children will grow up surrounded by trees and lawns rather than used syringes and last night’s vomit.
Why aren’t developers building family-sized apartments? With all the new construction out there, I still don’t see the places that everyone I know needs.This house and this discussion just makes me think of how much demand there is for family-sized dwellings in Brooklyn. Why is no one filling the niche and answering the call of the marketplace? It seems strange to me.
so i guess no one in crown heights or bed stuy have company, 1:04??
In the current credit market one needs to have solid creds to get a mortgage. That leaves out a lot of folks who may have been willing to overpay to live on a so-so block as long as they paid no principal or whatever for twenty years.
I see a major price adjustment coming.
And in blocks like this one, forget it!
Solid people are looking for something kind of nice. you don’t want your friends to be revolted by your block after you paid OVER A MILLION DOLLARS to live there.