House of the Day: 297 Vanderbilt Avenue
The four-story brownstone at 297 Vanderbilt Avenue was on the market for a while in 2007, but never sold. That might have had something to do with the asking price at the time, which started at $2,000,000 and dropped to $1,800,000 before begin pulled off the market. The odds are looking must better now for…
The four-story brownstone at 297 Vanderbilt Avenue was on the market for a while in 2007, but never sold. That might have had something to do with the asking price at the time, which started at $2,000,000 and dropped to $1,800,000 before begin pulled off the market. The odds are looking must better now for the two-family house: It just hit the market asking $1,495,000. Seems pretty reasonable to us for a classic brownstone in this location with all of its original details intact. Agree?
297 Vanderbilt Avenue [Douglas Elliman] GMAP P*Shark
Only a fool will buy but the people in here think there are many left of those.
Posted by: bklplebe at September 22, 2009 3:08 PM
It seems that the fools are the only ones with money.
Many fools have built up equity in places that they’ve owned for 9-12 years.
Overall, this house is pretty similar to 396 Vanderbilt in terms of size, location, and needing a bit of TLC (but not too much.) I don’t believe 396 sold even though it was asking 1,295,000.
Posted by: Maly at September 22, 2009 2:19 PM
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Having been to 396 VB (http://bstoner.wpengine.com/brownstoner/archives/2008/02/house_of_the_da_454.php), which is nothing short of an anatomy of a disaster, and in need of a complete gut reno, I’d say this place is a far cry from that wreck.
Not even fair to call them comps. Interestingly, they both started out in the 2 million range. Not surprisingly, they’ve both received massive haircuts. And this stretch of Vanderbilt is sketchy, but lined with great housing stock.
This one prices comparably to 2 places on Clermont I’ve visited (202, 190) of similar quality, right between them actually. Both those seem nice, but a bit high, and one has sat for an extremely long time.
Places of this high quality at a reasonable price in almost any nabe will move though. It seems always for abt 8-10% or so below ask based on properties I’ve tracked recently.
Kudos to the sellers, albeit 2 years too late for them to not have shed massive amounts of potential profit, for getting in front of the market by pricing more in line with buyers’ ability and interest to do the deal.
If wanted to shed my savings to move in Fort Greene and raise my daughter in the public school system there, I’d make an offer of about 20% below ask. After 2 yrs on the market, even at reduced asking price, have to assume psychology of seller is more motivated than usual.
One small question I have that is never listed in comp sales: how many sales include concession by seller to float all or most of the 1% mansion tax these days? Adding 13-15K to the price of a home like this is not insignificant.
there are a couple of better buildings around with same price. That said, the price makes it unaffordable to a $300K couple. Said couple needs to send kids to private and be landlords. From the $12K or so of the monthly aftertax income $7K needs to go to housing. Only a fool will buy but the people in here think there are many left of those.
Yes, wasder, even during the bubble I did not pay full ask for my ghetto brownstone.
I think asking prices are irrelevant during ANY market. I think this place in this nabe will go for $1.35MM. No bathroom pics is a red flag though. It needs a deck, a kitchen move and maybe two bathrooms…$100-120,000
“Perhaps not, but waiting will.”
How long are you willing to wait Snark? Just curious? You seem to be in the position of waiting without cramping your domestic style. Some people are not in the same boat.
At first I thought the price was an amazing deal until I saw how narrow it is. Also it is a busy block. That said, I think it can easily achieve the ask, and probably will go for more.
But why would a kitchen ever be put on a forth floor unless that floor was being rented out? If they didn’t want to ruin the parlor floor architecture, AND the garden floor was a rental, why not stick the funny kitchen on the third floor at least?
Not trying to speak for DIBS but I think he is a pretty shrewd reader of floor plans and other particularities of a listing. While he is a bull, his bullishness is more generalized than always making a high bid on any given property. What do you think Dave?
> Wishing will not make it so.
Perhaps not, but waiting will.