Now That's More Like It: 596 Carroll Street

After yesterday's sorry excuse for a $1.9M+ listing comes 596 Carroll Street, just listed yesterday for $1.986M. Ordinarily, we don't focus on listings this pricey, but we had to show how dime-a-dozen a clean place is for the $1.9M's. This is more a referendum on 137 Adelphi than it is praise for 596 Carroll.

It looks like the owners picked it up in 2003 for $663K, took plenty of equity out, completed a full renovation, and have a pricey flip on their hands. But at least they have a listing with pictures, details, and a nice property to offer. The creamy white/yellow exterior is unique. Some shots of the inside are super sleek while others are a little more generic:





It almost reminds us of 472 Carlton in some pictures. The listing boasts 3BR rentals on the floors above the owner's duplex, which we're having a hard time imagining on a ~840 sqft floorplate, but that's another aggressive play if they've reworked the layout in a way that actually pulls it off. Even those narrow children's bedrooms will rent for over $800/BR over here, securing $2,400/month+ per floor. We like that the listing even took the time to specify, "Yearly income approximately $62,000 will payoff a mortgage loan amount of approximately $900K." For those of you keeping score at home, that means a downpayment above $1M. Keep in mind, for that kind of money you could put 50% down on $1M shell, and do $500K in renovations yourself.

If you've got this kind of money, there are lots of options at your disposal. As pricey as this one is, it certainly wouldn't be the worst way to spend that amount.


Pro's: curb appeal, neighborhood, proximity to trains, nice renovation, new mechanicals

Con's: pricing, small-ish floorplate, huge downpayment needed

Ideally: we're not mad at these owners at all. Aggressively high price, but for a place that cleans up nice. Someone looking for a turnkey place that sparkles, in a Park Slope location, is going to pay a premium for this one.