Open House Picks
Park Slope 761 Carroll Street Brooklyn Properties Sat 1-3, Sun 2-4 $2,950,000 GMAP P*Shark Sunset Park 558 44th Street Century 21 Sunday 2:30-4:30 $899,000 GMAP P*Shark Prospect Lefferts Gardens 365 Parkside Avenue Brown Harris Stevens Sat 2-4, Sun 2-4 $879,000 GMAP P*Shark Bedford Stuyvesant 526 Madison Street Corcoran Saturday 2-4 $800,000 GMAP P*Shark
Park Slope
761 Carroll Street
Brooklyn Properties
Sat 1-3, Sun 2-4
$2,950,000
GMAP P*Shark
Sunset Park
558 44th Street
Century 21
Sunday 2:30-4:30
$899,000
GMAP P*Shark
Prospect Lefferts Gardens
365 Parkside Avenue
Brown Harris Stevens
Sat 2-4, Sun 2-4
$879,000
GMAP P*Shark
Bedford Stuyvesant
526 Madison Street
Corcoran
Saturday 2-4
$800,000
GMAP P*Shark
4:19,
It’s all relative dude. Saving $100K on a $2.3MM house is nothing, assuming you can afford the $2.3MM house to begin with. In that price range, it’s a rounding error in the grand scheme of things.
All depends on if you’re waiting for a soft market in something that is rare, like a park block PS bstone in mint condition (good luck), or if you’re waiting for the coming fire-sale in cookie-cutter condos (where saving a $100K is meaningful).
My points above, were that the Carroll St house is a rarity (location-wise) and priced accordingly to ultimately sell in the $2.75-ish range.
Anonymous 4:19,
NO offense taken:-)
4:18: I remember the last crash well, and yes the full impact did take a few years, but there were significant declines quite quickly. I had just bought a house and found it worth at least 15% less in a few months. This time I’m emotionally prepared–and no longer really care.
4:07, it isn’t just other cities. I see price reductions all over the less-desireable regions of Bklyn. And Manhattan coop prices (in the 1M range) have already noticeably declined. It may take more than 6 months to spread everywhere and for recalcitrant sellers and/or brokers to give into reality, but that’s cool. I’m in no great rush either. Waiting a year is worth saving 100K plus or being able to afford a nicer location (no offense intended to Bob, but Parkside isn’t where I want to live).
4:07 makes a good point. Even in bubble situations, RE markets tend to go up fast and come down slow. (The last drop in NYC was over, what 5 or 6 years?) If there is going to be a significant drop, you may be waiting a while for that bottom.
I think the Carroll St house is asking $2.95mm with the intention of settling for around $2.7mm, which would reflect the discount for the crappy kitchen/baths.
3:33pm,
Maybe so, but how long are you planning to wait. Six months in r.e. terms is not a long time. Prices are extremely sticky. Most sellers don’t actually have to sell. They can wait it out too, and usually do. Seller mindset takes years, not months to change, absent some extremely compelling reason like a job relocation or job loss, etc.
Under no market condition should you ever rush to make such a large purchase. But, on the other hand, don’t let the news of corrections in other parts of the country or region lull you into trying to time your purchase either, especially if you plan to settle into your home for many years. If you’re a flipper or a developer, then that’s a whole other story. If you’re buying a home for a long-run, then pay what you can pay, don’t time.
The ups and downs of the market may be nerve racking, but it will all come out in the wash.
“anon”12:09 wrote: “I thought Maple Street was Doctor’s Row…? Bob?”
Maple 2 IS (was?) “Doctor’s Row”, but so is Midwood 1 AND Parkside 1. FWIW I think EVERY brownstone neighborhood has at least a few “Doctor’s Rows.”
The houses on Parkside Ave. west of Bedford Ave. were included in the original PLG Historic District proposed by the LPC c.1976; unfortunately they were left out of the final PLG Historic District that was established in 1979 (because, I think, the LPC couldn’t figure out a way to make them contiguous with the rest of the HD). IMO the Parkside Ave. neo-Georgian houses like this, designed by Axel Hedmon and the two family double-duplex houses designed by Benjamin Dreisler, are the most beautiful in the neighborhood (and NO, I DON’T live on that street).
Here are links to three photographs of these Parkside Ave. houses that I took a few years ago:
http://tinyurl.com/hurmq
http://tinyurl.com/ky4hg
http://tinyurl.com/zlzyx
I agree with anon.12:02; they also “remind…[me] of…super fancy Upper East townhouse[es]”.
A few of the houses on the north side of Parkside have combined rear gardens and a continuous back deck–I don’t know if this house is one of them.
On the negative side, Parkside Ave. is a bus route and the houses lack the protection of having Historic District status (nor, obviously, do the have the protections of the Lefferts Manor covenant)but they’re great houses on a street that the LPC (in its “Proposed Historic District” report) described as one of PLG’s “more urbane environments.”
They all seem like fair prices, but the Carroll St one does seem high. I think if the Kitchen and Bathrooms were more on the high end side I can see then $2.7m. But $2.9m for that kitchen, that’s a standard Sears stove that cost $700, seems like little cabinet space, hopefully there is a nice big closet. Bathroom again nothing special and clearly that must be the best looking bathroom, since they took a photo of it, so I wonder what the other 2 look like…