House of the Day: 323 MacDonough Street
When Christopher Gray led his walking tour of MacDonough Street last winter he called 323 MacDonough and a few of its neighbors “nothing special,” but we don’t think he meant that as a diss. It’s just that the brownstones are similar to many others in Brooklyn. This one in particular is in good shape inside…
When Christopher Gray led his walking tour of MacDonough Street last winter he called 323 MacDonough and a few of its neighbors “nothing special,” but we don’t think he meant that as a diss. It’s just that the brownstones are similar to many others in Brooklyn. This one in particular is in good shape inside (though bathroom and kitchen photos are noticeably absent from the line up) and is dripping with original detail. The legal three-family is located on a landmark block, hopefully far enough away from one that collapsed last January as to not be structurally impacted. Gorgeous house.
323 MacDonough Street [Brown Harris Stevens] GMAP P*Shark
Owner of 283 Decatur lives in CT and the house was priced relatively low. There was an offer in from the broker’s own buyer before the house even hit the open market and there would have been a bidding war if the seller hadnt accepted the first offer and stayed with it. It is deceptive to use that sale as a comparable–house would have gone mid-700s maybe closer to 800 if it was priced higher and/or demand wasnt capped.
this area just needs more retail and prices will go up cause the fringe looking blocks bordering Clinton Hill is getting much stronger prices than here and if you compare the housing stock, safety,… this area is only weaker on pace of retail expansion.
I like this house very much.
The floorplans are a bit of a mess, but that is fixable.
I also like the high basement that can accommodate a nice rental unit.
I will tell you what I would not do: Excavate the cellar!!!
DIBS, never got to go into 283 decatur – ie was told it was sold when I asked for appointmt. Love that row of houses – I like that yellow brick more than brownstone.
This is a great block I think it will sell pretty fast. Having a true front yard is very nice. This house is close to the A/C. Something is starting to happen on Lewis which is good and Stuyvesant is getting a restaurant and store. The house is in pretty good shape. I am sure the kitchen in the bathrooms are out dated. This is Stuyvesant Heights gold coast…
I don’t know if I am surprised or totally unsurprised 283 went for more than asking. My short time in the house left me pretty ambivalent.
I was inside during the last part of the open house and the broker “accidentally” intimated she already had an offer, which was a total turn-off. There were architects and clients wandering around suggesting how to turn it into a 3 or reconfigure it (“well, we could just reconfigure this stair if you don’t care about preserving the details”), which was really heart-breaking. It didn’t look like the DIY fixer upper crowd I had hoped would buy and care for it personally.
The house definitely needed some kitchen and bath work (blue marbled linoleum backsplash? yikes!). It was totally livable nonetheless.
The details were mostly intact and really nice and I was daydreaming of myself 20 years down the road sitting in the back yard (which would not be infested with knot-weed as it was during showing) but the floor slope above the parlor gave me vertigo and the stairs had a tiny bit of bounce once you got up there and they looked like they kinda wanted to pull away from the wall.
The basement was also pretty damp and I don’t believe there were any upgrades down there.
I hope whoever bought it got a good engineer and a nice home and not a giant headache.
283 Decatur has a better facade (very striking arches), similar to slightly better location, only 18′ wide, set up as 2 family
323 Macdonough has a more more staid outside, 20.5′ wide, set up as 3 family
Both need some TLC, both have great details.
I think the extra width should give Macdonough an advantage, so if Decatur sold for 700K, I could see 725-750K for Macdonough.
Pierre, too hard to tell as we don’t know the difference in the quality of the bathrooms, kitchens and all the mechanicals. For what it’s worth, Decatur St didn’t show any pics of the bathrooms and kitchens nor was there mention of any upgraded mechanicals.
I think more4less was inside though.
Thanks dibs, that is real close and should help this place sell when the price is reduced to the mid $700 range.
Maly how much do you think this place will go for if 283 Decatur was priced @ $699K ?