House of the Day: 318 1st Street
The owners of 318 1st Street, who paid $1,775,000 for their three-story brownstone in 2005, set about trying to sell their house back in February by listing it with Brown Harris Stevens for $2,250,000; in March, the price bumped up to $2,300,000. We tapped it as an Open House Pick in June when it’s unclear…
The owners of 318 1st Street, who paid $1,775,000 for their three-story brownstone in 2005, set about trying to sell their house back in February by listing it with Brown Harris Stevens for $2,250,000; in March, the price bumped up to $2,300,000. We tapped it as an Open House Pick in June when it’s unclear who was listing the house (FSBO?). Now it’s back on the market with Corcoran, asking $2,099,000. Despite some not-so-hot bathrooms and unimpressive kitchen, the house has a very nice vibe, including some lovely plaster details. At 2,670 square feet, though, it is relatively small as far as these things go. Thoughts?
318 1st Street [Corcoran] GMAP P*Shark
Open House Picks: 6/20/08 [Brownstoner]
OK. back to back posts ….
If you have an issue with the size of this house, or the number of bedrooms, the number of closets, bathrooms and everything else, you really shouldn’t be looking to buy a brownstone.
These houses were built as one families with a limited number of bedrooms, no closets, only one bathroom (which was installed later since you used to poop in the outhouse out back), one kitchen, lots of woodburning fireplaces and hallways made for normal sized people. Not the typical overweight American of today, but normal weight people.
If you want a McMansion, contact the streaming turd and he can sell you a lovely 70’s ranch in Lodi.
You divas need to bring it back to earth.
I live in a house of a similar size. The hallway is a little narrow on the parlor floor but, unless you need to move furniture up and down the stairs every day, you can live with the wall, which is structural anyway.
I don’t think this is a small home generally, but on the smaller end for a brownstone.
The problem I have with it, and a reason I think it’s sitting, is that the lay out is unappealing. If this is used as a 2 family home, then there are only two bedrooms. $2m, even with rental income, is a hefty sum for two bedrooms. Or, if a family with two kids uses it as a single family, where do you put the third bedroom? The ‘study’ downstairs is small with no closets. The ‘chamber’ has no closets or windows. For both you’d have to walk through the kitchen to get to a bathroom. On the parlor level, there are no bathrooms and the dining room has no closets and is attached to a second kitchen. You wouldn’t want to put a kid in that room, and parents will want at least a closet and bathroom in exchange for their hefty mortgage payment. It’s a beautiful home, but for $2m there are much better options.
I just hate those skinny living rooms on the parlor floor – wall btw hallway and living room MUST be knocked out.
This place has been on the market for ages – I think I first saw a Craigs List ad by the owner over a year and a half ago if not even longer. Since then, it’s been listed with just about every Brooklyn broker. Meanwhile, Brooklyn Properties just listed a house on the very same block, almost identical size, for 1,750,000. Granted, that other house needs work, but so does this one given the poor taste choices. I also strongly suspect the electrical/plumbing could use an update. I think this owner would be very lucky to break even at best, and sadly, I think he’s likely to lose money. I suspect that, given how long it’s been on the market (really, every buyer looking for such a property must have already seen it! and now buyer pool is shrinking…) it will really suffer from having mis-priced in the first place.
HA!!!!! if you keep zooming in you can see the alleyway those kids were hanging out in!!! that house is right across the street from me! it gets a little blurry tho. does anyone know how to de-blur when you zoom in a lot on the map?
-r
househunt:
$1,775,000 purchase price + closing fees = ~$1,850,000.
$2,099,000 less broker’s and other fees = ~$1,900,000.
It looks like they put some $ into the place as well (kitchen, etc.). This looks like a break-even or worse sale to me. Maybe a “motivated” seller, job loss, etc.
This house started as a FSBO way before BHS had it. I remember first seeing it on Craig’s List a while back. Right now, pretty much every firm has it, even BP–who still has it listed at $2.3 million.
Many buyers are not going to want to spend $1.9M-$2.0M and still have to update kitchens and fugly bathrooms. An IKEA kitchen in a $2M brownstone? Bad move.