House of the Day: 84 Joralemon Street
This one-family brick house at 84 Joralemon Street in Brooklyn Heights just hit the market with a price tag of $3,400,000. We wouldn’t kick this place out of bed for eating crackers, but we’ll be interested to see if this number is achievable. The exterior is perfect and the interior has lots of charm—but it’s…
This one-family brick house at 84 Joralemon Street in Brooklyn Heights just hit the market with a price tag of $3,400,000. We wouldn’t kick this place out of bed for eating crackers, but we’ll be interested to see if this number is achievable. The exterior is perfect and the interior has lots of charm—but it’s not a show-stopper. It makes us wonder what the going price is for a very nice but not eye-popping house in The Heights is. Thoughts? Comps?
84 Joralemon Street [Douglas Elliman] GMAP P*Shark
If I were in the market in brooklyn heights right now, I might lowball that love lane townhouse. It’s need an entire renovation — it’s a little New Jersey Elegant now — but maybe just cosmetic? It could be great.
“If you should put in a modern minimalist kitchen, they will want a “ye olde” farm kitchen. If you do a traditional design, they will want a spaceship. If you save all the historic details, they will rip it all out (and vice-versa). The very rich are different.”
Actually, everyone’s the same. They all want a place that looks fantastic and then they want to rip it out. No imagination to see how an existing place could be made better, nor any imagination to see how their re-do might make the existing place worse.
Only difference is how much they spend on the remodel.
sam, again, I agree with your general statements. And I’m not arguing the majority of brownstoner buyers want to put their own stamp on the place, whether immediately or over time. But in this specific case, based solely on what you can tell from the listings and for virtually the same price, would you take 84 Joralemon over 161 Hicks? There’s no right or wrong answer, just asking your opinion – you know the area and homes therein well.
“It is in these professionals’ own interest not to like much, or anything, of what they see.”
Hey, not so fast there, Sam!!
🙁
Biff, if a buyer sees a 4 million dollar house and loves it as it is, then that’s a miracle. Folks who buy these houses are usually accompanied by their architects or interior designers. It is in these professionals’ own interest not to like much, or anything, of what they see. The renovation then also becomes a kind of past time or “project” for the onwers(often especially the spouse).
A lot of people love the idea of “a project” and actually don’t wish to buy something done to someone else’s specifications -no matter how beautiful it may be to mere mortals’ eyes.
Yikes, another typo. Make that a “$3.4MM fixer upper”, not a “$4MM fixer upper.”
“why would one prefer…”
sam, I don’t entirely disagree with you. In fact, I think your 2:45 post was spot on. But I still think there are certain buyers at this price point who would be more than happy to move in to 161 Hicks and keep it substantially the same, just as there are rich buyers who don’t want to move into a place that will require an immediate and complete renovation. Admittedly, I’m in the first camp. I just happen to not be one who wants to move into a fixer upper. That’s just me. I would rather move into 161 Hicks and slowly over time make whatever changes I want. You say it’s a waste of money to spend lots on new kitchens and baths, but then you get people who will jump all over “Home Depot” jobs in solid brownstones in nice neighborhoods.
Regardless, if you’re comparing these two, why would prefer want a $4MM fixer upper versus a $3.5MM place that appears to be in much better shape (and in a slightly better location, IMO)?
Biff, the 161 Hicks Street house is very nice, especially for a family that wants to move right in and not change anything. In Brooklyn Heights that rarely happens. The really rich tend to want to place their own stamp on things. In my experience it is a waste of money to spend big money on kithens and even baths in houses worth more than 3 million. If you should put in a modern minimalist kitchen, they will want a “ye olde” farm kitchen. If you do a traditional design, they will want a spaceship. If you save all the historic details, they will rip it all out (and vice-versa). The very rich are different.