House of the Day: 168 Midwood Street
This three-story limestone house at 168 Midwood Street in Prospect Lefferts Gardens is chock full of old-school details and has been recently renovated to bring the kitchen and baths up to date. It’s got a nice feel to it, which is good because the owner (who’s selling it herself) is trying to sell it for…
This three-story limestone house at 168 Midwood Street in Prospect Lefferts Gardens is chock full of old-school details and has been recently renovated to bring the kitchen and baths up to date. It’s got a nice feel to it, which is good because the owner (who’s selling it herself) is trying to sell it for almost double what she paid in 2004. The asking price now is $1,350,000, versus $730,000 four years ago. Of course, prices in the nabe have gone up dramatically in that time and she put some dough into the reno. There was an open house yesterday. Did anyone stop by?
168 Midwood Street [FSBO] GMAP P*Shark
Jurist, I just finished the renovation of a house, and I can assure you that any house needing new plumbing, windows, kitchen, and baths (which is any house that needs renovation) will eat up 200,000 before you can blink.
And furthermore, I know of NO families for whom “money is not an issue”.
6:46pm, You know not what you speak. A $200K renovation means the house was nearly a wreck. Obviously, one can spend into the stratosphere for renovations, $60 per square foot tile, Viking stoves, etc. But putting those subjective expenses aside, I haven’t seen any LM house recently on the market in the $1.4M range that need $200K in work. (Yes, in CH and FG you will see houses that are falling down and the ask is still near $2M, but not in LM.) The LM houses are generally in good shape because it’s always been a middle class community. Even if you have to re-wire the whole house you are “only” looking at $50K and that’s on the high side. Anyway, the houses that are most recently on the market in LM have already undergone electrical upgrades and are mostly in need of cosmetic work.
We have a four story house and it’s definitely big and spacious, but I don’t think it’s “too big for many families.” If money was not an issue, I think most families in NYC, especially those with kids, would always opt for more space. If you have it, you use it.
I think the term “dutch staircase’ often refers to a staircase that has a turn at the bottom, but it is also used to describe the steep narrow stairs in dutch houses. This stair does have the turn at the bottom, but is not narrow. Can anyone come up with another term for this type of staircase?
anyone buying a 4 story house “just a hair above” the asking price for this is buying a house that needs at least 200k put into it. Three story one family houses are pretty big; four story single family houses are too big for many families.
I have a Stokke. It is good. Sorry.
(“Labelled?” Really?)
FGLiving here,
I like these houses because they can be much less worn out and “fragile” than the houses built in the 1850’s. These turn-of-the-last-century houses tend to have level floors and are well built.
Things changed A LOT in the US from the time our house was built (pre-Civil War) to the time this house was built. The materials later in the 1800’s seem to me to be more likely to be holding up these days.
I don’t know. Correct me if I’m wrong. But these limestone houses seem to be holding up very well. The brownstone and soft brick of the older houses can be a mess to deal with.
I’ve never encountered the term “Dutch Staircase” so thanks to 2:04 and 5:24 for using it and defining the term.
My own house is on this block and was built the previous year (1899–#168 was built in 1900–not 1905 as stated in the FSBO ad) by the same builder (W.A.A. Brown), so my own Dutch staircase should be virtually identical. Here’s a photo of it taken by Dan Canole, of the “Planet PLG” blog, when my house was last on tour in 2006:
http://www.planetplg.com/images/tour/DSC_0081.jpg
If 168 Midwood has had it’s woodwork stripped and refinished it is probably lighter than mine. I love dark woodwork, but I know it isn’t to everyone’s taste.
5.38 – you seem to have fallen into the trap of deeming something is good because someone else has labelled it as such. poor you.
I am new to PLG and having looked around a bit before taking the plunge I can say that even though this house “has everything new” it’s still only 3 stories and from what I can tell there are four story houses in PLG in LM that are priced only a hair above this $1.35 asking price. My view is that anyone in that price range will settle for a bigger house even if there’s a little work to be done.
As for restaurants and bars, they’ll come to PLG eventually. What’s there already is the real draw: Prospect Park, Botanic Garden, express subways, and it’s just a skip to Prospect Heights and Park Slope for other amenities. If you have the financial wherewithal to buy a house for $1.3M, you can afford the five minute cab ride to another, dare I say it, “nabe.” Or if you feel like gambling with your life, take the dollar van down Flatbush.