Open House Picks
Park Slope 6 3rd Street Corcoran Sunday 2:30-4 $1,895,000 GMAP P*Shark Crown Heights 1094 Park Place Douglas Elliman Saturday 12-3 $1,345,000 (was $1,395,000 then $1,200,000) GMAP P*Shark Bay Ridge 445 100th Street Re/Max Sunday 12-3 $679,000 GMAP P*Shark Flatbush 244 Martense Street Fillmore Sunday 2-4 $499,000 GMAP P*Shark
Park Slope
6 3rd Street
Corcoran
Sunday 2:30-4
$1,895,000
GMAP P*Shark
Crown Heights
1094 Park Place
Douglas Elliman
Saturday 12-3
$1,345,000 (was $1,395,000 then $1,200,000)
GMAP P*Shark
Bay Ridge
445 100th Street
Re/Max
Sunday 12-3
$679,000
GMAP P*Shark
Flatbush
244 Martense Street
Fillmore
Sunday 2-4
$499,000
GMAP P*Shark
Architerrorist
I totally disagree with you re pricing. My wife and I lived in Brooklyn, and started looking for a house. The cheapest brownstones we could find in Boerum Hill, Park Slope or B’lyn Heights cost between $1.8 and $2 million — and that was for houses that needed full renovations. We ended up buying in Westchester for less than $1.5 Million, and got a 4000 SF house that was built around the turn of the century, was fully updated about 6 years ago (to our taste, luckily), with a big yard. Granted our property taxes are higher here than in B’lyn, but we don’t pay city taxes anymore, so it is about a wash. We do miss the restuarants and the like from B’lyn, but we love our home, and simply could not have afforded something comparable in Blyn. And, it is only 30 minutes on the train to Grand Central.
What is all this crap about things being so much cheaper in the suburbs? My husband and I were forced to relocate to the suburbs do to a change in our professional circumstances (firm moved to CT). Forget trying to find a house as lovely as the one we had in Brooklyn for a similiar price in a nice neighborhood with great schools. It is MORE expensive in many desirable ‘burbs, relatively speaking. I thought we’d have our pick of places, but that was not the case. Granted we were looking in CT and Westchester, not Jersey… Jersey was not an option for us.
“But when the choice is paying 30% more for a fixer upper that then needs another $100,000 more in renovations plus no amenities versus buying a nice home you can actually afford in a pleasant NJ town with good schools, the choice is a no-brainer.”
A perfectly reasonable choice, but IMO far too subjective to be a “no brainer”. It all depends on your priorities. I’m sure Maplewood is very nice and the right choice for many, but I also know I could never be happy there. Yr pays yr money and yr gets yr cherce 🙂
I just google mapped 1094.
What are those 9 HUGE ASS buildings 2 blocks west?
I like 1094, but I just cant envision living there.
Under the right circumstances, I’d buy in crown heights, but right now the economics of it dont make sense.
If nothing else, I’ll be monitoring it b/c it will provide a comp for any other house of note in the area.
It’s easy enough to trash talk houses based on pictures, but I went out of curiosity to the open house at 1094 Park Place. Easily the most impressive house I’ve ever seen for sale in Brooklyn (never saw the Connolly mansion inside, but if this were on PPW it would be going for 8 million also). Amazing level of historic detail (like carved reliefs, a half dozen stained glass windows, oak columns and parquet floors, several fireplaces, and every door in the place was solid heavy oak) and a totally modern chef’s kitchen, everything updated. The turreted master bedroom windows look directly out at the stained glass windows of a 19th century synagogue next door and across the street to Brower Park. And the garden is beautiful. It’s got a freakin’ waterfall and a fish pond! The block is totally intact with period homes, and this place is the crown jewel. Yes, the Albany Houses are at the far end of a long block, but I really don’t see it being an issue. If I were in the market and they’d take a million dollars for it, this place would be an absolutely astonishing home. The broker said she’d gotten some lowball offers, but I’m telling you, if someone came in with a serious offer at a million I bet they’d take it. AMAZING house. And apparently the huge lot’s unused FAR makes it (or would have made it, in another economy) under threat of demolition. I really hope somebody who will love this place steps up.
theandreewlee, I know more than a few families who have moved from Carroll Gardens (renting) to Maplewood when they wanted to buy. And if not Maplewood, somewhere else other than Brooklyn. They loved Brooklyn, and would have moved to neighborhoods like Crown Heights had they been cheap, but they were already much too expensive. They likely would have been willing to do the hard work of trying to improve the local public schools in the neighborhood and living with the lack of amenities if they could have purchased an appealing home for less than in Maplewood. But when the choice is paying 30% more for a fixer upper that then needs another $100,000 more in renovations plus no amenities versus buying a nice home you can actually afford in a pleasant NJ town with good schools, the choice is a no-brainer. Despite being long-time Brooklyn residents, they haven’t drunk the “Brooklyn or bust” kool-aid and aren’t blinded enough to overpay for the so-called “cachet” of claiming they live in Brooklyn instead of NJ. But then, I’ve been living in Brooklyn since the time when residents were dismissed as the “bridge and tunnel” crowd, Manhattan friends wouldn’t visit, Williamsburg was a place you’d go to only if you wanted kosher meat, and it was far from cool to live here. It’s not Brooklyn that’s special, it’s finding an affordable home in a community of like-minded people. If I were looking now, I’d have a much better shot at finding that in Queens or New Jersey.
Following up on CGFan and Montrose:
I’ve been looking for houses in CH, and yes, you can barely get a rundown 3 story for $600K. That is a lot of money, especially if you start to compare prices to nearby suburbs.
Maplewood, NJ is a great example of a small suburb town with good schools. 30 Min commute to Penn Station. Beautiful renovated houses within a 5 minute walk of the train station are going for $400K – 500K. They have fallen from about $600-700K. (Of course, property taxes are a few thousand higher than Brooklyn.)
Those prices are also too high compared to rents. Rents in CH are low. Even renovated apartments command a fraction of apartments elsewhere.
I still think 1094 is an amazing house. But if it does go for 999K, maybe that will ripple down to other less desirable properties and force price cuts, which could only be good for the area.
I wrote about the commute being about 45 minutes to an hour. yes we live very close to the subway. So if you buy close the the subway, you too can have a short commute.