Last Week's Biggest Sales

Well, I have to say *I*, for one, certainly didn’t make any disparaging comments about the Fort Greene house.

I was kind of taken aback by the dismissive and flippant comments people made about it. The renovation is interesting and seems to use the smaller spaces of that kind of house in a creative way.

And it’s a nice little area and very convenient. The location is incredible for public transportation and the convenience of our former Bogolan (now FAB…Fulton Area Businesses) shopping and dining area–and if you must, the mall.

Plus, there is a huge park down the street that, it seems few people really know about, with a track, tennis courts and a large playground. Cuyler Gore Park is right down the block on the other side with a nice playground and those spray things for kids in the summer.

Not to sound like a “Brookyn” record, but Fort Greene is wonderful so the house selling does not surprise me. We have Fort Greene Park, the farmers’ market, the flea market, a GREAT new bookstore Greenlight which I’ve decided I love, Yu for great gifts and furnishings, Habana Outpost and the “Ecklokal”(i.e. the beer place…I can’t call it a “beer garden” because it isn’t, and the husband unit said the beer they serve doesn’t seem to ever have much of a head and could never be served in Germany) and the rest of all those places that are always hopping with young people.

Lots of the husband unit’s students (all of the undergraduates and some of the grads) seem to think Fort Greene is the cat’s meow and hang out in places like Habana Outpost, Smooch and Moe’s.

And it’s not all about food and drink. There are some great longtime designers on Fulton, of course (sorry not to mention them sooner) and a number of others here and there…A cute as a button flowershop called Stem. And let’s not forget all of the arts and entertainment at our doorstep. Maybe we don’t have the Brooklyn Museum across the street but we have BAM and all its various spaces, MOCADA, the Irondale, 80 Arts and the South Oxford building (with lots of arts groups) just down from the former HOTD above, the Brooklyn Music School, the Paul Robeson Theater, various excellent church groups and church-based concerts (e.g. The Lafayette Presbyterian Church).

BAM’s is like nothing else I can think of in NYC. Plus, it’s like having Film Forum at just a 5 minutes’ walk away for a good film (not crud) in the evening. I know I’m forgetting lots of other stuff. There are many, many artists, musicians, theater/film people and writers living in Fort Greene. Oh, and Spike Lee still has his offices in Fort Greene for what that’s worth…I never see him around but we do see Rosie P. regularly trucking through the neighborhood. Good for her! She’s good people.

Anyway, as they said in the old country: “I told you so.” The Fort Greene house sold well over the so-called widget.

Dave, don’t be so sarcastic all the time about the houses for sale. There’s really no need. This goes for the lot of you making all the disparaging remarks all the time against the houses featured on this site (some of the comments are downright rude). You know…you guys don’t have to act out some form of arrested development for anyone’s amusement. 😉 Sure, the house of the day and open houses are a little up for grabs but use some sense. When you have a FSBO house or apartment or one where you can tell the sellers aren’t made of money, maybe hold off on the nasty, rude comments for once. It seems you’re only revealing personal fears and worries over your own perceived insufficiencies.

Plus, you’re often wrong-wrong-wrong about the eventual selling price. Look, I’d rather read Miss M’s paced comments than the snide ones some of you make. Now, I could stand to live without BHO’s constant browbeating…but for all I know, maybe he’s right…I’m just not sure why he feels obliged to constantly harangue and rub everyone’s face in it. Is it to save us?

I like Team Reasonable and miss reading many of the nicer peoples comments these days (you know who you are). Maybe everyone is busy…or tired of the high school-ish nature of the majority of comments most days that you end up having to wade through. I can’t even believe some of the people who comment incessantly on multiple threads actually are at work. It boggles the mind. It’s as though they never have a meeting, a phone call or an actually project/thing they’re working on that will interrupt their steady stream of blither.

Oh well. I fear it’ll be a death of an interesting experiment by many small wisecracks…

channeling Will Ferrell and the Spartan Cheerleader chant:

I’m 11217
and I’ve got spirit
I had sex once
So check me out! (puts finger on butt and makes hissing noise)

Regarding the St Marks house,

I think GrandArmy has a good point: “I guess it just goes to show that with relatively little inventory on the market, a good (not great) house in a good (not great) location will sell for a decent price.” Although I would say the price is much more than decent.

As to the huge backyard, it is dog-legged.
I think dog-legged backyards are terrible.
Half your backyard feels stolen from your neighbor.
Bad vibe!

That backyard on the Prospect Heights house was incredible just in terms of space. You could have your bourgie garden right behind the house, then walk through it and have a giant subruban style backyard in which to play sports.