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540 Bergen Street (pdf flyer) has some redeeming features—nice location, pretty facade, some original details—but it’s also been chopped up into three units and suffers from a bad case of crappy listing photography. All of which may explain why the price was just reduced after only a month on the market from $1,550,000 to $1,475,000. We don’t think it’ll be quite enough to get a deal done though. What about you?
540 Bergen Street [Mark-Roth] GMAP P*Shark



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  1. I was in the 1st floor apt of this building when it was being rented about a year ago. As a couple of others have said, this isn’t a brownstone but was built at the turn of the last century as a small apartment building with 3 units. The buildings adjacent to it are double-fronted, ie. twice as wide, with 6 apts each. The renovation is very high end (done to the specs of the owner’s mother) if slightly old-school. But nothing that a little decorating couldn’t fix. Everything is in such good condition (also mechanically) it’s an easy bldg to maintain. One drawback is that it’s across the street from the Dean St playground which gets noisy on summer weekends because of a youth basketball league that plays there (thought it’s a well run group that many locals — including me — support). I think you all are low-balling the price. Not a conventional layout but the flexibility could work perfectly for an extended family. And someone could snap it up as a condo conversion. Should go for at least $1.35.

  2. crappy photos=crappy cheap broker
    Never heard of Mark Roth probably some start up company with no webpage or contact info#…UGH-Go figure!
    Good Luck you will need it but reduced that price even more if you want to sell it>$1,199,000

  3. mopar…wood beadbioard will stand up to the water if properly sealed with poly or paint. MDF will not. Wood floors will too but if they get drenched with a lot of water then the water will seep between the boards and cause trouble.

    Everything is fine in moderation.

    Going to the Olivino wine tasting tonight????

  4. Lincoln…real estate has to be something like more than 70% of your income. I don’t know what the rules are there.

    But for anyone that has a regular job and a W-2 from a full time job, NO, absolutely not.

    You file a Schedule E with the income, expenses and amortization for the units and come up with a gain or loss (usually accounting losses if there is a mortgage + the amortization) but you cannot take the loss (it scales) at all if you are making more than $150,000 in regular income.

    There will most likely be positive cash flow but after the amortization, an accounting loss.

    The losses WILL be taken (against regular income) if and when you sell the property.

  5. This is a pretty impressive place. I really like it. But I agree owners will want a duplex with parlor floor, garden, etc. They won’t want to live in just an apartment. We faced exactly this decision when we were looking (at 1/4 the prices!).

  6. I am puzzled by the layouts. This house appears to be an original three-family, not to have been chopped up into three units later. One of the giveaways is the dish cupboard next to the fireplace in the rear bedroom in the top two units. Apparently this was originally a flex-bedroom/dining room. Maybe the bathroom and kitchen were originally flipped, with a back hallway to the yard or a deep closet off the main hall or something.

    A very unusual re-do with the extremely high quality finishes and not-bad-seeming new layouts. But you’d have to see in person if it works.

    I wouldn’t know what to do with the double dining space — maybe turn the area near the back entrance into a home office.

  7. I gotta ask: See the bathroom with the pedestal sink and clawfoot tub? It also has beadboard and, if I am not mistaken, wood floors.

    This look has become incredibly trendy all of a sudden (viz. Rita Konig, Katy Elliott, etc.). It also happens to be EXACTLY what our bathrooms were originally and still are. (Wallpaper too.)

    But does anyone think this is remotely practical?

    Our bathrooms are very small, which means steamy, and the tubs are right against the wall. It would be a rare person who wouldn’t splash some water on the wall and floor.

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