Reaction to Clinton Avenue Open House
Did anyone else make it to the open house at 128 Clinton Avenue yesterday? Despite the interrogation we were put through at the door, we made it by undetected and got to poke around relatively undisturbed by the tag-team of agents manning this showing. The house has gorgeous bones obviously and the double wide lot…
Did anyone else make it to the open house at 128 Clinton Avenue yesterday? Despite the interrogation we were put through at the door, we made it by undetected and got to poke around relatively undisturbed by the tag-team of agents manning this showing. The house has gorgeous bones obviously and the double wide lot and converted garage in the rear (where someone, maybe the owner, was playing the grand piano as a soundtrack to the open house experience) are serious bonuses, but we have to say that aspects of the renovation–such as the painted ceiling in the dining room–were a bit much. The renovation of the basement apartment was particular unattractive. We didn’t mind the fact that the house was located on the far side of Myrtle, mostly because it’s next to the stunning Greek Revival house pictured on the jump. All out bitching and moaning aside, though, it is a very special house–we’ll be interested to see how close to the asking price of $2.1 million it fetches.
Open House Picks [Brownstoner]
128 Clinton Avenue [Aguayo & Huebener] GMAP
Oh and A&H has co-broked all of my listings, but unlike other firms they always sold it themselves.
I have done business over and over and over again with Aguayo, and its funny to see the postings here implying they are offer a below par service or are unprofessional or whatever the brokers posting here want to imply. The fact is I believe A&H is the top performer in Brooklyn, regardless of a web-site or assumptions about percentages. I would never sell through anyother broker. It’s nauseating that every time a specific broker is mentioned some jealous schmuck has some comment that has nothing to do with the posting on hand.
We went to the open house also. We thought it was lovely, although we’d agree with brownstoner about the renovations done. It has the potential to be a lovely, lovely house, and has tons of light streaming though, but I would have to pour about 250K to design it to my style. Its very “country”. Also, would rather it was on the other side of Myrtle for that price.
The bit about AH not having the money for a fancy website is a defense I’ve read after earlier comments I’ve made. i don’t believe it either.
Speaking of A&H, what happened to that house on Fort Greene Park. A&H listed it at 1.6 million, then dropped the price to 1.2. That’s quite a reduction! Anybody go to the open house yesterday?
As we know, Huebener paid well over $2 million for a house in Fort Greene, so my guess is that the company is doing quite well. Plus, Huebener sold me her house in Prospect Park South and I’m reasonably sure she did quite well on that sale. I won’t get into my views about A&H, other than to say that it’s nice to see that the vast preponderence of opinion about A&H is running in the direction it is running. Bring in a truckload of inspectors/engineers! Caveat Emptor!
In regard to the comment that AH has no money for a better website, I would have to disagree … they have no doubt been making tons of money in this market.
I’ve been able to get A&H down to 4% when they acted for me in a sale. I did have issues with their photographs. They always try to take pictures of the floor and often cut off other features of the room such as the tops of windows etc. They explained to me that it makes the rooms look larger in the photos. I do not know if I agree and I think the result is sometimes not great… you end up getting pictures that don’t always do a place justice. Check out most of their bedroom shots, it’s usually taken up mostly with the bed in an effort to take a picture of the floor.
As to the Clinton Ave house, interesting to hear about the decor. I questioned the quality of the “frescos”. My impression is that they are not original and/or over-the-top. For that kind of $ in that part of Clinton Hill, I’d expect things to be mint.
anon at 2:14 —
I’ve asked both questions about A&H here before, and they seem to have their rationalizations down. The refusal to co-broke, of course, in their view means superior service, resulting in their giving greater attention to listings than co-brokes get (quality over quantity).
And the poor photos and crappy website generally? Why, it shows that they’re not a slick behemoth like Corcoran; they’re little guys who really know the neighborhood and don’t have money for a fancy webiste, but will get you a better price through their superior knowledge. Plus, too much info on a website is a bad thing! What you want is for people to be forced to call or walk in the door, where A&H can put the sell on them.
I don’t buy any of it, but apparently there are those out there who do.
You would be wrong, however, about the low commission, unless they’ve changed their practices lately.