Open House Picks

I think the person saying PLG sucks is being too harsh. I think a fairer thing to say is that it is a neighborhood that is changing but still does not offer many amenities. Also, block by block it varies a LOT, and the biggest problem is that Flabush over there seems kind of depressing and likely to be very slow to change. We don’t live there, but have friend who moved from a PS 2-BR to a big house in Lefferts Manor and love their house, but don’t love the neighborhood yet. But, they find the sense of community is strong and growing though truthfully they do miss the convenience of the Slope for sure, and also miss having more options for dining out, shopping etc.

I went to PS open house. There were very few sign-ins and noone there when I went, so I find it hard to believe there were already 2 offers (is that still the bitter seller lurking?). Plus, even the broker conceded that she did not think it was priced right – she said the other broker (it’s a co-broke) did not advise the owner well. The house has almost no detail, needs a lot of updating, and has a totally overgrown backyard. It has been tenant-occupied for years, and shows it. While the width of 16.67 is to me not necessarily terrible (this is not an atypical width in more modest PS houses), the houses of this width do much better with 3 windows on front and back, not 2 which make it feel more narrow. As for sunlight – it was overcast today so was very dark. I think 1.8 is a stretch. By the way, the NYT had a big article today about the difficulty of predicting “value” when home prices have plummeted in so much of the country. So for the very defensive seller on this list, it really is silly to keep pointing to things that happened in the past few years since that is not necessarily a predictor of the near to mid future.

See the recent sale at 50 Lefferts profiled in the NY Times — apartments in this building, when they do become available, get snapped up right away, by all types of people. It’s a great building, with super residents and a wonderful location.

Tom Gee is right. We live right smack in the middle of Lefferts Manor, in a house, and about 1/3 to 1/2 the homeowners on our block are middle and professional class black people, and the rest are middle class and professional white people. Some of the white homeowners are international too, French, German, Turkish, Brazilian. So it’s diverse and interesting. The newer homeowners moved to Lefferts Manor from Park Slope and areas of Manhattan, mostly. That’s what I can share about the makeup of our block, for those who want to hear the facts.

As usual on Brownstoner, there are **experts** on neighborhoods who have never spent more than an hour at an open house in that neighborhood. If even that! If you are curious about Lefferts Manor and PLG, feel free to talk to people you see on the sidewalks when you visit. People will answer your questions honestly and be helpful. That said, I do think this Maple Street house is priced quite high. Don’t know what’s going on there.

The comment about PLG being segregated is pretty absurd too. I live in Prospect Lefferts Gardens. I could berate and say things about other neighborhoods too (which people that dont live here do, but I wont). The only part of PLG that you cant rent out is the 600 houses in Lefferts Manor. The rest of PLG is fair game. The whites dont all live in cozy houses in Lefferts Manor. Whites live in the many rental, coop and condo apartments alongside blacks, asians and latinos.Also whites are not the only ones that own homes. IF you are considering buying or moving to PLG listen to someone that lives there. NOT from someone slinging mud and spouting lies from outside.