House of the Day: 632 Third Street
Despite the fantastic location between Prospect Park West and 8th Avenue and the attractive architecture, there’s something we’re not feeling about this house at 632 3rd Street in Park Slope. The interior finishes make this place look like an average rental apartment, not a grand four-story house. We’re also a little confused about why there…
Despite the fantastic location between Prospect Park West and 8th Avenue and the attractive architecture, there’s something we’re not feeling about this house at 632 3rd Street in Park Slope. The interior finishes make this place look like an average rental apartment, not a grand four-story house. We’re also a little confused about why there are no photos of the parlor. What’s up with that? As a result, we’re not optimistic that the seller will be able to achieve the current asking price of $2,995,000.
623 3rd Street [Fenwick Keats] GMAP P*Shark
NOP is correct on all accounts, regarding the layout and purposing of these two family houses. I like them, too, although I wish more of those Craftsman details had made their way to the photos.
Last week I ragged on Brown Harris Stevens photos looking like computer enhanced mock ups. These are even worse. They have absolutely no life whatsoever. They are so clinical, I can’t even get interested in them. Weird.
Here’s a weird coincidence: Curbed has a photo today, on a totally different subject, that includes the exact same house!
http://curbed.com/archives/2008/10/08/signs_of_gentrification_lust_old_car_hits_on_slope_smart_car.php#reader_comments
According to today’s Wall Street Journal, prices in New York need to fall 18.2% in order to restore “historic affordability.” That puts this house in the $2.3 Million range, which seems closer to reality.
http://online.wsj.com/article/SB122341352084512611.html
No mopar – there’s a whole row of these houses, identical – built as a two family originally, in the British “Maisonette” tradition.
DIBS –
Yes, a good McCain article.
http://www.rollingstone.com/news/story/23316912/makebelieve_maverick
The silver lining of the current crisis is that it went from a close race a month ago to looking like Obama’s to lose. Could be a landslide.
This is 1930s Tudor. It originally had dark wood paneling in some of the rooms, such as the dining room pictured. It’s probably more pleasant in person and will look better with color, rugs, softness, furniture, and something on the walls other than white paint. Though I’m not in love with this half-modern, half-traditional style, and the waste of space with separate entrances and stairs doesn’t appeal to me either. It also robs the ground floor living room — a sad fact they probably tried to counter by adding the sunroom and its incongruous fireplace — and implies that that this was a very expensive 1930s remodel of an existing brownstone.
Architerrorist – again, I’m not waiting for market to bottom. Our criteria for a house are based on features we want to live with (i.e. sunlight, detail, etc.) and a realistic, albeit conservative budget. We are lucky to have the means to buy something even if the market does not crash and the main reason we have not is that inventory has indeed been low. That will likely change. So, my “pouncing” is not a matter of aiming to time the market perfectly, but rather of waiting for the right property. I’m simply saying we are more patient now since it seems clear that prices are definitely not going up anytime soon and the overwhelming consensus is that they will indeed go down but by how much and for how long, no one knows.
gkw, the facade looks much better in person. They’re actually quite nice on the outside–I walk by them frequently. The listing does say ‘with some updating’. That means major reno in broker-speak. Nothing about mechanicals or roof.
I’ll take inspiration from broker Will Rogers [‘I never met a qualified buyer I didn’t like’] & say that this place looks pretty good to me… great location, good layouts, and a 2nd floor bowling alley! Seriously, it’s asking price needs to be a bit below $2 million, but for that you are getting 2 big duplex apartments, which on that block would probably sell for a bit more if sold separately.