Paddle Time: 404 Stuyvesant to Hit Auction Block
All of Stuyvesant Heights is aflutter over the latest beauty to hit the market - 404 Stuyvesant Avenue. (Check out the full page photo on p. 252 of Bricks and Brownstone.) According to an email we received from a reader, the current owner, who lives on Long Island, inherited the place a few years ago…
All of Stuyvesant Heights is aflutter over the latest beauty to hit the market - 404 Stuyvesant Avenue. (Check out the full page photo on p. 252 of Bricks and Brownstone.) According to an email we received from a reader, the current owner, who lives on Long Island, inherited the place a few years ago from the old lady who’d lived there for years. He’s been collecting the modest rental income for a while but recently decided he wanted to sell. We hear that the guy’s already been offered as high as $1.5 million for the place but thinks he can do better. So who’d he go with? Corcoran? A local broker? No way. He’s going for a balls-to-the-wall no-minimum auction. It’ll be interesting to see if he’s right. In the meantime, he should make sure his auctioneers know the difference between Brooklyn Heights and Stuyvesant Heights!
Limestone Mansion [Absolute Auctions & Realty] GMAP P*Shark
it’s fair to say amenities are lacking in bed stuy. i live and own there and have started looking at apartments elsewhere because you can’t shop or eat out in the neighborhood, at least not the way i’d like to. i can’t fathom paying 1.5 mil to live in bed stuy even tho the house is a beaut.
I am anon 2:35. I would use my name, but am afraid of getting killed. First of all let me apologize for the “caught dead in bed-sty”. My word choice was poor. For those who made personal attacks in their response, let me clear a few things up. I CAN afford the house, I current live in PS and I am not anti-gentrification. I still stand by my opinion that Bed-Sty is not a desirable nabe (it has nothing to do with the residents, I have several friends there and salivated over the listing the corcoran had on Sty Ave and had to restrain myself from making an offer on it). That said the nabe does not work for meb.c it does not have good schools or the basic amenities. It does not make sense to spend $1m on a house where I can’t even walk to a decent supermarket and have to take a subway to get to a half-decent school. Only my opinion, please do not flame me.
Unless you are doing the work yourself, a house of that size will swallow $175k in a heartbeat. $500k to get it up to shape.
I agree. People will go there thinking bargain pricing. The seller will not get more than $1.3M and he runs the very serious risk that he barely clears $1M.
Regarding your comment about people not taking into consideration the “location and surrounding area” I must disagree. No one buys into BS, CHN, PLG without taking into account crime, school or demographics. They certainly do but those factors do not comprise all of the components in deciding where one should live. The biggest variable to most, if not all, is affordability. If you are looking to live in Brownstone Brooklyn but you are operating on a tight budget, that drastically reduces your available options. So you make compromises and tradeoffs. Do you think that the new owners who bought major fixer uppers in Bed-Stuy and Gates (see reno blogs on this site) were also looking at prime PS, BH or Cobble Hill? I’m not sure but I would venture and say no. Nonetheless, I’m certain that they are very happy with their new homes and community.
As for me, I simply buy homes where I can afford. I purchased and still own homes in FG, CH and BS because those nabes were the only ones that I could afford. 10 years later I can now live in fancier and more established areas but the thought of moving or selling one of my properties never even crosses my mind. Like many bloggers on this site, I’m content in livng in a racially, culturally and economically diverse community. To some those variables are advantages, to others they are not. It’s a matter of choice.
I would guess a Corcoran would put it on the market for around $1.35 million. People get caught up in the house without looking at the location and surronding area. If one of the established firm had it, they could possible establish a new high for Bed Stuy even in this market. This auction concept is strange, when you think of auction you think bargain pricing.
response to 2:11pm ” caught dead in bedstuy” I wonder in which community it is that you reside? Most people can ill afford to live in Park Slope or Fort Greene. So the only affordable place for beautiful browntones today is bedford stuyvesant. I bet you do not reside in any of these desirable areas. So i guess you are one of those anti gentrification folks who reside in Howard Beach or Bensonhurst, areas where I wouldn’t be caught dead in for one reason or the other (see Yusef Hawkins)
But Anonymous 11:26pm, tell me this. How much would Corcoran, Douglas Elliman, Brown Harris Stevens or Halstead list this property for? How much do you think that they would’ve sold it for? I’m sure well above the $1.1M that you think the auction might generate. Right?
Hi dude put down the pipe and exhale. 391 Stuyvesant sold for the market price at that time. The agent from Coldwell Banker was very professional and had some good insights into the area. That being said I understand your rationale for your term discount. I saw both houses 391 and 416 and 391 was definitely the better property in terms of detail and size. However, 391 had three floor with an unfinish basement.
As far as trade-offs, I live in Bed Stuy now but also own a house in Fort Green where I lived for 10 years. My place in Bed Stuy is beautiful and the neighbors are really nice. I use the entire bldg as a one family but I must admitt I miss Fort Green and will move back in 2007. Bed Stuy just lacks the necessary amenities. In Bed Stuy when you get home, you stay inside the house. Also if you go two blocks right or left, the blocks are not so nice. I guess you could argue that all areas have that problem but it a problem and like it or not when you paid $1 million for a house the surronding areas impact the appreciation of that property. The house at 404 is beautiful and if you can get for $1 .1 million or less go for it.
I know the owner of this house and he is indeed looking for $1.5. 10.12, you are correct that a minimum bid is not the same as “no reserve” and the owner has stated that he won’t take much less than $1.5. I have been in the house (ground floor and second floor only)and Sylvia, the uniquely-colored yellow walls are all original– the stencilling is from when the home was built. Also, all the original lincrusta is still in the entry way and there are a number of intact stained glass windows on the ground floor. The second floor has a triple parlor (the picture of the fireplace from the AAR website is from the second floor middle parlor) and is also quite lovely. I must say this house has more original detail than any I have ever seen, and it’s in pretty decent condition. I would hope that whoever buys it would do so out of appreciation for its history. The owner has done some restoration work to get it in shape for auction– the day I was there the floors were being refinished, and I have seen workers there quite a bit over the past few months, although I don’t know what kind of work was being done. In the back on the ground floor is a separate apartment where a tenant lived at one point, and that part of the house does look like it will need renovation, but I doubt you’d have to put half a mil into it as one poster speculated. The house is now vacant and has been for quite a while– the owner was tired of tenants having no respect for the place so he decided to let it go. If I had the money to buy this place, plus the money to employ an army of housekeepers to clean it, I’d buy it in a heartbeat. My opinion only, but it’s simply lovely inside.