House of the Day: 156 Hicks Street Revisited
When we wrote about 156 Hicks Street last October, it was priced at $2,875,000. At the time we wrote the following: “156 Hicks Street is less than 16 feet wide, and is in need of some TLC. The raw materials are there (woodwork, mantels, etc.) but the $2,875,000 asking price still’s not a lay-up, primarily…
When we wrote about 156 Hicks Street last October, it was priced at $2,875,000. At the time we wrote the following: “156 Hicks Street is less than 16 feet wide, and is in need of some TLC. The raw materials are there (woodwork, mantels, etc.) but the $2,875,000 asking price still’s not a lay-up, primarily because, well, nothing’s a lay-up in this market.” With hindsight, saying it wasn’t a lay-up was something of an understatement. Since then, there have been seven price cuts, the most recent of which last week brought the asking price down to $1,799,500. At some point soon, location will have to carry the day!
156 Hicks Street [Brown Harris Stevens] GMAP P*Shark
House of the Day: 156 Hicks Street [Brownstoner]
I bought a house thinking the same thing. At the end of the day it was (as I went through the process of changing the CofO to a non-SRO) a SRO. Call HPD – they will tell you the same thing.
I know the SRO could be hassle…but by all records we have seen says is single family CofO….not an SRO. IF SRO – there would be the fire escapes, sprinklers, etc quite visible.
Am still hoping nosey neighbor who has poop on the owner and history/use of this house pipes in.
furnished rooms=SRO. Trust me – I know! If the buyer gets an affidavit that states there were no tenants in the past 3 years – the Certificate of Non-Harassment can be expedited. This is a great deal for someone who has money and patience.
A renovated house across the street with nearly identical width and depth, but one less floor, sold for $2.7 mil. It was in “Last Week’s Biggest Sales” a few weeks ago. If one assumes the current market price on this house – renovated – would be $3.375 mil (adjusting up for size), and you subtract the cost of a $350/sq ft renovation (middle of the road cost for single family in the heights) + architect fee, you’d want to pay no more than $1.7 mil for this house in its current condition. Pretty close to the current listed price. But as stated, you’d need to do it all/most in cash.
come on whwo put 2 million in on the widget. I can broker this for you right now. BWHAHAHA
“For someone willing to take on the issues, opportunity knocks. ”
as you said: lop a good $300-400K off the price and it’s worth the headache and risk.
396 Vanderbilt (2X HOTD) is the classic example of this. Originally asking over $2 Mil a year ago, down to 1.4 Mil. It’s nothing short of an unmitigated disaster inside.
Greed + Stupidity = unsold property.
Bulls, bears…whatever! This is what was missing in the overheated market of late. When a property has some issues, it should be a bit of a buy for someone willing to wade through the problems. It should not be priced as if it were in pristine condition and 22′ wide, which it was, at first.
This place may have some issues, among them the width (which can’t be “fixed”), but what a location! For someone willing to take on the issues, opportunity knocks.
Posted by: northsloperenter at July 29, 2009 1:14 PM
“Too bad there wasn’t a widget for pricing that HOTD…”
I KNOW…because without it there’s no way for the bears to try and point out that for every 1 sale that “beats” consensus, there are a ton more like this that suffer death by a thousand cuts, or sell at 30% off, or get delisted.
It’s like an aging power hitter, you know We can sit and argue about how many feet he’ll hit the ball in any one at bat and joust over the results, or we can just realize that as he gets longer in the tooth, his power numbers will inevitably decrease.
It could be an SRO without a certificate of non-harassment. I still think it has the potential to be a great deal, if there is lots of original detail still left. The absence of a kitchen could be a plus. Now you can put it anywhere you like.