House of the Day: 69 St. James Place
We featured this brownstone at 69 St. James Place in Clinton Hill as an Open House Pick back in June when it hit the market with a price tag of $1,995,000; it was reduced in September to $1,895,000 and again in November to $1,750,000, where it remains today. The house is in beautiful shape, with…
We featured this brownstone at 69 St. James Place in Clinton Hill as an Open House Pick back in June when it hit the market with a price tag of $1,995,000; it was reduced in September to $1,895,000 and again in November to $1,750,000, where it remains today. The house is in beautiful shape, with lots of original details and a recently resurfaced facade. We’ll see whether this will need another downward nudge to get a deal done. The fact that 298 Lafayette Avenue sold for $1,895,000 in August is encouraging, but that was pre-Lehman. Waddya think?
69 St. James Place [Brown Harris Stevens] GMAP P*Shark
I apologize if I’ve offended anyone in the past.
I don’t really take this all so seriously, but find it very enjoyable and slightly addictive.
Great blog. I’m not a blog person at all, and this is the only one I have to read with any sort of consistency.
Thanks for your opposing viewpoint, pierre. I do understand that not everyone feels like I do. What is fringe to me is not fringe to you…certainly plausible.
As for your last sentence, I still consider myself VERY bullish on NYC real estate. I’m just bullish for the long term. I can see how you might have gotten the impression that I was just bullish period, but that’s because I bought my apartment for the long term, have no interest in selling, and don’t so much care about what things do over the next couple years as it pertains to my home. I pay less than rent, so I’m good.
With that being said, I was always aware of the potential for a significant housing price decline and I recall saying that I hoped my own neighborhood would become more affordable so that more people like me are able to buy something.
I think I got pigeon-holed for being so bullish in part because at the time of the Lehman collapse the tone of the blog changed and it seemed like it was the bulls against the bears. If I have to choose, I’m naturally very optimistic by nature, so I did what was most comfortable…I spoke more optimistically.
And then I just got too argumentative because some people seemed to want to be negative just to be negative or who almost seemed to not like Brooklyn anymore because prices were off, which just threw me even farther into the bullish column. That’s how I saw it anyway…
“How is my comment not relevant, wasder?”–this house clearly would have sold for 1.75 in the peak of the bubble. I would know because I was aware of this market in the peak of the bubble as I despaired being able to afford anything. It is not relevant because we are not in the peak bubble anymore, simple as that. What is the point of arguing about what it might have sold for back then? This is clearly a deteriorating market and it will sell for less now. We shall see what it sells for eventually
“Your vested interest in property values in CH no doubt colors your own opinions, no?” –several times today in this thread I have acknowledged that my homeownership in this neighborhood makes me less than a objective commenter. I would imagine that this kind of bias effects many people on the blog.
“nyc87 – the wasder crack smoker wants to believe his clinton hill property is worth something hence has to believe that this house was once (or now) worth 1.75mm…..
As you may also know he also thinks clinton hill was or is more desirable than fort greene since he once had to tell a cabbie sometime in the 90s that he lived in clinton hill instead of fort greene in order to get dropped off from the city….”–I can’t believe I am even responding to this idiot who did nothing but flamethrow in this thread but I must say it wasn’t me who made the cab comment dumbass. And I am certainly not of the opinion that the home I bought this fall is worth anything close to 1.75–nor did I pay anything close to that total.
11217 we see what you are saying; Clinton Hill in relative terms is not “blue chip” Brooklyn but it is NOT fringe. It may lag FG slightly in amenities and cachet but the difference is minimal in the Clinton Hill areas closer to Vanderbilt. We love the great architecture of CH and the friendly people but still prefer FG given the better access to transportation (a lot more Subway lines) and amenities.
Now having said that we think this is an awesome home and will make a fabulous pad for most families. The pricing though is still delusional and like DIBS suggested will need @ least a 20% reduction for it to approach sanity in todays market.
BTW we are glad and relieved that you are now agreeing that prices will be coming down drastically in the near future. Thanks for that little report on Manhattan prices..very informative.
What a difference 2 months make we remember how you use to be extremely bullish on NY RE 🙂
nyc87 – the wasder crack smoker wants to believe his clinton hill property is worth something hence has to believe that this house was once (or now) worth 1.75mm…..
As you may also know he also thinks clinton hill was or is more desirable than fort greene since he once had to tell a cabbie sometime in the 90s that he lived in clinton hill instead of fort greene in order to get dropped off from the city….
**sigh**
i usually thing of myself as a kind people person but… anyway… i do think 11217 is somewhat level headed though
How is my comment not relevant, wasder? I don’t get it. It’s my opinion, and as relevant to this thread as any of your posts.
$1.75 million is a LOT OF MONEY. People who bought and sold in one of the biggest asset bubbles in history have been conditioned to think that a million bucks is nothing. Almost $2 million for a house in a neighborhood that most people outside of Brooklyn have never heard of (no offense) is insane. Your vested interest in property values in CH no doubt colors your own opinions, no?
This house would not have gotten $1.75 in PEAK bubble times. What makes anyone think it will get it now?
Not true. Not particularly relevant either.
11217 I was not thinking about the PPW house which I think is beautiful but more of 315 Garfield Place which is 8.5 million and all the homes on 1st and 2nd that are +3 million. Even some condos in Park Slope are still more expensive than this house. All the house that are in this price range in PS are below 5th or south of 14th street or some kind of SRO that needs a lot of work. I guess you pick your battle but this one seem fairly easy to me…
One of the good things about living in Bedford Stuyvesant is the A train. Takes 25 min to get to Columbus Cir on the A train from Nostrand Station. I live closer to the Kingston stop on the C but it is only a 5 min walk to Nostrand. I love the A train during rush hour but the weekends all the trains in NYC are horrible…