Open House Pick, Singular
We found ourselves scrounging around the web feeling underwhelmed by the open house selection for this weekend until we checked in with Mary Kay Gallagher, queen of Victorian Flatbush. She’s got a real beauty on the block this weekend in Prospect Park South for $1.395 million. The 5,000-square-foot center hall house is in beautiful shape…
We found ourselves scrounging around the web feeling underwhelmed by the open house selection for this weekend until we checked in with Mary Kay Gallagher, queen of Victorian Flatbush. She’s got a real beauty on the block this weekend in Prospect Park South for $1.395 million. The 5,000-square-foot center hall house is in beautiful shape and chock full of historic details, including stained glass windows, oak parquet floors, and Palladian windows. We have to admit to not being experts on the immediate neighborhood, but we think this place looks tempting, especially when lined up side-by-side with a similarly priced townhouse in Park Slope. The open house is from 1-3pm on Sunday, but you have to call 718 282 3141 to get the address. On another note, if you notice any other compelling open houses on the slate, feel free to post them in Comments.
Prospect Park South [Mary Kay Gallagher]
We saw this house on Sunday and must agree with the post below. It has great potential but needs just about everything. The buyer is going to need a very hefty amount of cash and time for renovations. The immediate neighborhood is cute and, before Corcoran got ahold of it (they are a co-broker on this house and I am sure set the price), it was an OK deal. Up to a few months ago, you could easily get a house around here in the 900K range. It was a trade off – you got a big house with potential for a decent price but you needed to reserve a lot of cash to do quite a bit of work (because the houses are old and a lot of the owners had no money to update)and you were certainly compromising on community and neighborhood. Pretty much everyone I know who lives here and the other Victorian Brooklyn areas drives EVERYWHERE because you have virtually no restaurants or shops around you and the surrounding neighborhoods are not exactly great to walk around in after sunset. It was a trade off but an understandable one for the price. Now, however, the brokers are asking outragously high prices for the houses currently on the market around here. More than one are listed for over $1.35 million and need major work. They may look charming but they are very old and by the time you are through restoring them, you will have shelled out $1.6 (on the ultra conservative side and just for necessary repairs -forget cosmetics) to $1.85 for a house in a very transitional neighborhood with no surrounding ammenities and a fairly painful subway ride into Manhattan (I’ve tried it – the lines out there are not the most reliable). For our part – we have decided to write off this neighborhood at these prices. It makes more sense to us at that price range to buy a townhouse (which has MUCH lower maintenance costs over the years) with rental potential in a better community.
Well, I went to the open house and it’s a looker, but needs a lot of TLC. The address is 97 Marleborough. Like the pictures, the house is huge and beautiful. But what you can’t see in those pictures is the fact that this house needs some of everything. Systems need to be upgraded – all electric and plumbing, boiler was huge and ancient. Baths have that old world charm w/ original pieces BUT have not been touched in decades. While some of those items are certainly worth saving, once you start breaking into walls to replace ancient plumbing, you’re really talking about gutting the baths.
The kitchen contained absolutely nothing worth saving and IMO should be gutted. The floors are original and in good shape, but carpeted areas could use new carpet. The wallpaper should be replaced. The exterior really needs a complete stripping and painting. Supposedly, the roof is about 10 yrs old – not exactly new. Small cement garden in back has potential. Huge 2-car garage could become a wonderful artist studio. 2nd floor porch was really cool – great potential. Huge 1st floor porch feels right out of a Southern plantation.
All in all, this feels like a wonderful grand old house. For the right deep-pocketed buyer – willing to pour hundreds of thousands into it, it would become an extraordinary property. For the naive, uninitiated investor, it would be a money-pit to no end. My wife and I have done exactly this type of renovation and we estimate the cost bring this lady back to par would be in the $500,000 – $600,000 range – if you wanted to do it right. For that reason, the $1.4MM asking price really put us off. We won’t be bidding on this one.
The house is on the east side of Marlborough between Church and Albemarle
what a pretty house!…sigh.
I already have a Victorian brownstone and I’m totally getting house envy for this one. I have got to go see it. I hear it may need some updating. If that’s the case, the asking price seems kinda rich. Right? I don’t know this market, but for $1.4MM I would expect mint-condition.
Great, you’ve given me a case of house envy that’ll last for weeks . . . !
http://www.marykayg.com/
What a beautiful place! Great wallpaper too.
You’ll get way more bang for the buck in Prospect Park South- plus a driveway and garage. Generous lot with lawn, tree-lined streets and an influx of folks moving there from other strataspherically priced nabes. The area is currently lacking the trendy restaurants and upscale shopping, but with the opening of a new restaurant, bar and coffeshop in the last year that could be changing sooner rather than later.
In spring, it’s truly a breathtaking area.
Don’t know the exact house, but the neighborhood is beautiful. Mary Kay’s open houses are usually worthwhile and this price sounds pretty good to me. Living in PPS or Ditmas is definitely a trade-off. You trade the convenience of lots of restaurants and services for a driveway, trees, front and back yards, front porch, windows on 4 sides of the house, lots of space, and quiet. And it’s just the other side of Prospect Park. For me, it was worth it. I’d check out this house if I were looking. I already live out there and I might check it out anyway.
-pk