House of the Day: 1234 Dean Street
The exterior of this house at 1234 Dean Street in Crown Heights is interesting, and the interior is probably in bad shape but full of old details. Unfortunately, however, the house is still classified as an SRO, even though it’s being used as a one-family residence. Why does that suck? It’ll be hard to finance…
The exterior of this house at 1234 Dean Street in Crown Heights is interesting, and the interior is probably in bad shape but full of old details. Unfortunately, however, the house is still classified as an SRO, even though it’s being used as a one-family residence. Why does that suck? It’ll be hard to finance and a pain in the ass to change the certificate of occupancy. It’s doable, for sure, but we suspect the asking price of $849,000 will need a big old haircut to compensate for the extra hassle and risk in the deal. In its defense, though, this is a really nice block with lots of beautiful houses on it. Still, that’s a lot of dough. What do you think?
1234 Dean Street [Douglas Elliman] GMAP P*Shark
infinitejester,
Banks lend based on the building’s designation and the C of O. Regardless of how it’s used the bank will lend based on SRO.
If the C of O was 2 family the rate/level of financing would be different than if it were a 1 and different than a 3 family.
SRO is probably the lowest designation a building can have as far as a bank is concerned with respect to rate and level of financing. Even if it’s empty.
Tyburg,
We can agree to disagree. Real Estate is about location, location and location. Between the work needed, the fact that Crown Heights is not Plaza Street West and the fact that it’s an SRO. Yes, I believe it’s “worth” half.
I have friends who live around the corner from here (renting) and I’m not fond of the area, myself. I can see it being appealing to some, and I can certainly see why it was appealing 2 years ago when people thought their home would double in a year, but today…I don’t see as many people wanting to spend this kind of money in *THIS* location for a property with a ton of headaches.
That’s just my opinion though. And I’m no expert.
I agree with 11217. It’s an unrenovated SRO in Crown Heights, meaning you need lots and lots of cash to make into a livable home. Crown Heights is a beautiful quiet corner in Brooklyn, but it lacks the great public schools and the bars/restaurants/public amenities available in Park Slope.
A bank will require a larger downpayment (if you can finance it at all), and you will need lots of money to bring it up to code, with extra hassles because of the SRO history. I notice the ad doesn’t mention a certificate of non-harassment, and I think we all know no news is NOT good news in real estate ads.
There’s a lengthy, bureaucratic and very pro-tenant process that you have to go through with HPD before they will sign off on the C of O change; without the C of O change, it will be close to impossible, in this financing environment in particular, to get a dime out of a bank for this.
Umm… 11217, you’re joking I hope?
A million dollar apartment in a building you share with your closest 80 friends, not to mention the crazy maintenance fees is “priced right.”
But a 3,000 sq ft house (an a seemingly nice block – thanks google maps street view) with a lower price tage doesn’t make sense to you?!
(And no… location does not explain why you suggest a 50% reduction to the asking price. Is it worth $800k? I’d say no. But the Plaza Street apartment is DEFINITELY not worth $900k PLUS $2k a month)
Can someone enlighten me as to why the C of O will be tough to change?
The listing on Elliman says it’s being used as a 1 family – so why would a buyer have trouble with it being an SRO -I mean there arent any current tenants to force out…
Great block, between Nostrand and New York. There have been several houses of the day here, from this block. As I said then, this is an iconic Crown Heights block, and is photographed frequently as an example of the residential architecture in the neighborhood. The block is landmarked.
From the floorplan, looks like the original dressing rooms may still exist on the third floor. Most of the houses on this block still have plenty of original details, as they don’t turn over all that often. That said, because of its SRO status, I think the price needs to drop. If it does, someone would be getting a fine house on a very fine block. I live around the corner, and this house is close to the subway, shopping, etc.
See, THIS is the part of the market that makes no sense to me.
In my mind, these kind of houses should be in the 400-500K range.