House of the Day: 86 Douglass Street
This two-family brownstone at 86 Douglass Street in Cobble Hill is currently a rental. And it shows. There’s not original architectural detail in sight and the backyard clearly hasn’t had the love of an owner in some time. The bigger questions, though, are (a) what the parlor floor looks like, since it doesn’t appear to…
This two-family brownstone at 86 Douglass Street in Cobble Hill is currently a rental. And it shows. There’s not original architectural detail in sight and the backyard clearly hasn’t had the love of an owner in some time. The bigger questions, though, are (a) what the parlor floor looks like, since it doesn’t appear to have been featured in any of the photos, and (b) what would it cost to combine and upgrade the two existing apartments into a single-family house. Without a little more info, it’s hard to know what to make of the $1,275,000 asking price.
86 Douglass Street [Heights Berkeley] GMAP P*Shark
This place is absolutely disgusting. We looked at it a couple of weekends ago and the tenant, who allegedly pays $4k/mth for the garden and upper level, lives like an absolute slob. It seriously looks like homeless people live there-I can’t believe they’d show it in that condition. That doesn’t even get to the complete filth and disarray of the “apt” upstairs where the owner would have to live until they got rid of the tenant and scrubbed the place down. Unbelievable asking price under the circumstances. I needed a shower when I walked out of that place.
The bottom line is this, if you are a person who can see through the surface of things and if you have taste and a little money, you see a little barrio house like this and you say to yourself: I could really fix this up and make it a charmer that will knock your socks off. But, and this is a big but, you don’t pay a million dollars for it in its raw state. THATS nuts. Kiddies in Brooklyn have lost sight of the real world. No one is going to spend a million bucks on an unrenovated house across from the Gowanus Houses because you insist it is Cobble Hill. Snap out of it!
wouldn’t get too hung up on what you call the block…
They all shop the same stores/streets, use the same subway stations, blah, blah, blah. Wish we would just go back to 1 name for whole neigbhorhood and quit the nit-picking.
Certainly some blocks are nicer/prettier/desireable than others but still the same community.
Donatella, I couldn’t agree more. If the sellers get more than 900K for this, the bull market is not dead.
Oh God, that place is so overwhelmingly ugly it hurts.
Hot mess! Looks like a favela and rented until next summer. What’s not to love?
Mixicon — This is not Cobble Hill. You could make an argument that Douglass is in Boerum Hill rather than Carroll Gardens, but no way no how has anyone claimed anything on this side of Smith Street is Cobble Hill.
(I think most definitions of Cobble Hill stop at Court, and I agree from an architectural and traditional resident pov, but I can at least see the argument that it extends one block eastward and down hill to Smith.)
Even so, if anyone gets this for under a million dollars they will get a great deal unless the center beams are rotten and the foundation is sinking. A dip in the floors of less than six inches won’t change anything.
The Butler comp is an interesting choice, and Douglass IMHO is a more attractive block. However that was pre-Lehman and also fully renovated and atypical layout.
Does anyone have any insight into the contract price for 162 Douglass? Was it even within 20% of ask? I was astonished that it went into contract so quickly, but it photographed well and perhaps the buyer was willing to pay a premium for non-traditional layout and modernist feel.
It’s sweet, and it has potential, but it looks like a tacky little barrio house with its little plexiglass awning, filled-in doorway and concrete garden. I’m not sure it will sell in this market for 900,000. It’s not a million dollar house and it is really not in Cobble Hill.
carroll hill.
this won’t move and will be yanked from the market in due course for reasons mixicon noted. no one will step into this mess in this market.