House of the Day: 111 Clifton Place
As much as the seller would like to claim this house at 111 Clifton Place is in Clinton Hill, it ain’t; but it is only a few feet from the borderline. That’s the least of her problems though: The major one is the asking price of $1,385,000. The seller bought this place back in 2005…
As much as the seller would like to claim this house at 111 Clifton Place is in Clinton Hill, it ain’t; but it is only a few feet from the borderline. That’s the least of her problems though: The major one is the asking price of $1,385,000. The seller bought this place back in 2005 for $599,000. Now we all know that prices certainly aren’t any higher now than they were in 2005, so even if you give her $400,000 in credit for the renovation (which we suspect would be overstating the issue), that only gets you to $999,000. More evidence that she’s barking up the wrong tree: This was unsuccessfully listed for about the same price back in the boom times of late 2007. So how could it possibly sell for that now?
111 Clifton Place [Corcoran] GMAP P*Shark
Post checking out the flr plan and reading above posts, I just now realize the 2100 sq ft includes the basement footage. 750k was too generous. at 1400 sq ft, 550-575k at most
We looked at this place pretty carefully before buying our place in Clinton Hill. It’s a cozy little house, nicely decorated and finished, and it appeared to be in very good shape. The tile wasn’t our taste, but whatever, not a big deal to change.
The biggest problem with the house was its size. The 2nd floor is very cramped — there are no closets, no storage, and only one bathroom. The “Garden Floor” — a generous characterization of what I would call an English basement — has space, but low ceilings and no light. The back yard is very small, and faces a big fence with barbed wire (commercial use).
Bottom line, given that so much of the area is in a basement, it’s hard to see this selling for more than 350 or 400/sq ft. Same ballpark as what everyone else is saying.
Prices are down everywhere but on Brownstoner.
there is an awesome new show starting on thursday night on HGTV called Real Estate Invtervention. it’s about people who price their houses too high and refuse to accept reality. it should be good!
*rob*
Comments on this house as filtered through my weekend reading:
Deutsche Bank housing report outlook from June ’09 calls for current-to-trough loss of 42% in NY, equalling 50% total peak-to-trough. And that’s assuming we don’t over-correct here, which is natural.
Basis for measure is simple affordability as measured by mortage amount/property value equalling no more than 40% of median income. NY peak affordability, meaning the least acceptable calculation, dates back to 1998—shockingly, the year after banks began pushing exotic mortgage products in 1997.
NY owns the highest remaining percentage of outstanding subprime and Alt-A mortgages nationally at a whopping 13.8%.
Rest of nation, in most speculative or run up markets, will see declines of 50=70%, mostly california and florida. We’re 2+ years behind the curve on deleveraging/depreciation.
So why do we think “NY is different”? NY is so desired, yes?
OK, agreed, we’re special. But we are also ground zero for the financial disaster that originated (pun intended) this crisis, which has only been glossed over with trillions of taxpayer dollars. From 2005 until now, fully ONE-THIRD of NY (Manhattan) homes were purchased by foreigners. That currency trade has died along with Europe’s economy.
The Ask/Bid spread between sellers and buyers is of cavernous proportions, and only one thing is going to change that: painful capitulation.
Meanwhile, our economy is going through a massive knee-jerk, but needed reaction to becoming a nation of savers, with consumption being reigned in, and the US consumer (fully 70% of our GDP) going through the same painful deleveraging the world must endure without our spending to keep it afloat.
My friends, the macro-trend here is gruesome.
Sorry to lay this heavy load on you my Clifton Hill abode, but methinks you, along with brethren have a lot of trouble ahead.
Agree with BrownstonesHalfOff’s sentiment (as does Deutsche Bank apparently): “bid half off peak comps”, and while I may disagree with What’s tactics, he’s fully spot on that the “mutant asset bubble” will wreak havok on those who are not in cash, awaiting opportunity.
The pricing widget and pin-the-tail-on-the-donkey appraisals do nothing more than reinforce “closer to the mirror than they appear” valuations of NY real estate. Buy at your own risk, real estate is not sport, and as of now, it’s a bad investment.
if seller doesn’t “HAVE” to sell, guess no harm sitting patiently waiting for that 1 rich sucker to bite.
Except for the Mexican tile (especially in the bath), it looks like a nice little house. That said, the asking price is delusional.
M4L–as we have discussed before I am not usually one to undercut the widget so that is saying something about the unreasonable expectations of this seller.
Agreed that the widget range is showing its limitations on this one!