Open House Picks
Boerum Hill 152 Dean Street Prudential Douglas Elliman Sunday 12-2pm $2,300,000 GMAP P*Shark Carroll Gardens 327 President Street Brown Harris Stevens Sunday 2-4pm $1,700,000 GMAP P*Shark Discussed Here Lefferts Manor 118 Rutland Road Brown Harris Stevens Sunday 1-3pm $1,595,000 GMAP P*Shark Prospect Lefferts Gardens 140 Lincoln Road Aguayo & Huebener Sunday 2-4pm $1,250,000 GMAP P*Shark
Boerum Hill
152 Dean Street
Prudential Douglas Elliman
Sunday 12-2pm
$2,300,000
GMAP P*Shark
Carroll Gardens
327 President Street
Brown Harris Stevens
Sunday 2-4pm
$1,700,000 GMAP P*Shark
Discussed Here
Lefferts Manor
118 Rutland Road
Brown Harris Stevens
Sunday 1-3pm
$1,595,000
GMAP P*Shark
Prospect Lefferts Gardens
140 Lincoln Road
Aguayo & Huebener
Sunday 2-4pm
$1,250,000
GMAP P*Shark
I find Lefferts Manor to be MUCH quieter than our former nabe (center Park Slope). I am always baffled by the comments indicating that it is loud here. In fact, yesterday I went over to the Slope and felt accosted by the noise level. I must be adjusting to my new environment. As far as kids playing outside, mine plays in our backyard and I see many kids playing out front (I’m sure mine will too as soon as she gets over the awe of having a back yard). Tuition does stink, but we made a decision to pay it when we decided to raise our child in the city after a very disappointing move to the burbs.
Bob, as for the Tudor we passed on in 2001, who knows. My freinds in the nabe tell me the corner is still really noisy. As for the issue of prices, it’s true that rise and fall of prices are incomprehensible, but that really doesn’t respond to my point that without an increase in ameniites LM isn’t worth the money being asked for the prime houses. As for me, my place has almost tripled since we bought it in 2001 and I plan to sell it and move to Westchester as soon as my oldest child is school-age. I can’t fathom spending 25K a year on school and I’d like the kids to be able to run around outside. But that is another story…
Carrie,
Good observation about noise from Flatbush Ave. in PLG. I’ve often been struck by how quiet it is after I turn the corner from Flatbush Ave. onto Midwood Street–even in Summer. PLG is surprisingly quiet. My bedroom is in the front, something I wouldn’t have wanted when I lived in a better known brownstone neighborhood (which shall remain unnamed–I hate invidious comparisons).
Anon. 11:43 (& 6:38),
I know people who are very happy in the Tudor-revival houses on Rutland off of Flatbush, but the choice of homes is so subjective I wouldn’t presume to question your choice. As to prices in PLG, or ANY Brooklyn Brownstone neighborhood,I don’t pretend to understand them. My house has appreciated in value to a fantastic degree, but it’s almost like Monopoly money since I have no plans to sell and,if I did, I’d have to live SOMEWHERE. Guess I could make out very well financially if I wanted to retire to a ghost town on the great plains–LOL
Hey, Brownstoner, what happened to my 6:38 post? It seems to have disapeared! Was there something offensive in there? If so, please explain, since it escapes me.
However, my post was still up at 11:10, since someone responded to one of my comments. The house we were warned against buying in 2001 by friends in LM was on Rutland Road just off of Flatbush. We were told that that was a “bad” corner and that the residents of the apartment building hung out on the street at all hours in the summer and blared music from the front and rear of the building. My understanding is that the noisiness of the corners varries a lot, depending on the specific apartment buildings. So, 11:10, I hope your corner is OK.
Bob, thanks for the explanation. And, for the record, it was lack of amenities that concerened us about the area, not safety. Your explanation notwithstanding, I still don’t see how major price increases can be justified in the face of a lack of any progress along Flatbush. When things do change, then LM houses will actually be worth 1.5M. But untill then, I don’t see it.
Dig the stairwell in the Lincoln Road house. I think it’s very beautiful. A very nice lineup for this week’s “picks”.
Sorry about all the typos in the my previous post–I pasted it into my WP program, did a spell check, and, in a fit of absent mindedness, pasted the un-corrected original back here 🙁
Anon.6:38 writes that two years ago “everyone said the area was about to change since prices had gone up so much and so many park slopers were moving in. But when I was there recently, it was exactly the same. No new stores. No change to Flatbush avenue. In other areas, large increases in prices have gone hand-in-hand with improvements, But in LM, nothing changes but the prices”.
In the 31 years I’ve lived in Lefferts Manor, the lack of amenities such as really good shopping on Flatbush Ave., the closest commercial strip to LM, has been seen by many residents as our greatest problem (not safety–this has never, in my experience, been an especially dangerous neighborhood). I think there are a number of reasons for this, most notably the relatively proximity of Park Slope–I admit to shopping there myself for anything other than basics. The other factor is the relatively small middle class population base which consisted of the 600 Lefferts Manor households plus a few hundred other houses in the rest of the PLG historic district and other surrounding blocks. I think this may finally be changing with an apparant significant increase in the middle class population in PLG apartment buildings, although only time will tell. A relatively new organizatiion,PLUS (Prospect Lefferts United for Services) has been working to attract new businesses (and BTW, a great new cafe, K-Dog and Dunebuggy, opened lastr week on Lincoln Road). in the interim, PLG residents still have great homes at 1/2 tyhe price of many other brownstone neighborhoods.
Anon.5:50,
I suspect this may have happened in other brownstone neighborhoods as well,not just Lefferts Manor. Perhaps more modest houses don’t appeal to buyers who are VERY well off.
A question about the Lefferts Manor market: Why have the high-end home increased more than the lower-end ones? I apologise for repeating this, but back in 2001 we bid on a house next to and identical to the Maple street house now on the market for 950K (same row, same size, same layout, same details, same condition). Our bid of 525K was not accepted. So from 525K to 950K is an 80% increase in 5 years. But these houses asking 1.6M couldn’t have been more than 750K, max, back in 2001. So that is an increase of at least 115%. Is there that much more demand for grand homes than there is for not so grand ones?