Clinton Hill Conversion: 26 Lefferts

A conversion in Clinton Hill for less than a million?? Join the club!

26 Lefferts, listed for $899K & currently chopped up into 7 units, needs conversion into a 1, 2, or 3-Family. It joins the distinguished company of 26 St. James, 137 St. James, 189 St. James, and 238 Lafayette as a renovation/conversion opportunity in Clinton Hill, many of which are right around $1M or just below it. For the most part these places are great bones, delivered vacant, in need of some hundreds of thousands in renovations, and SRO or other kinds of C of O conversions. Financing can be tough, sellers are said to be looking for all cash deals, which puts even more pressure on price. We've been told places like 137 St. James (which looks like the best in breed over here at this rate) have a ton of offers and back-up offers at asking price or above asking price. Which is kinda odd, 'cause we've been told this since early January and the dang thing sure doesn't look like it's in contract yet to us.




Ya gotta like a shell with a nice exterior & curb appeal that's under a million. Ya gotta like being able to put your own details and finishing touches on it. But by the time you put the downpayment needed to do the deal AND you fund a hefty renovation out of pocket, you might looking at well over $300K in intial cash outlay, at which point you might just get something turnkey with 20% down on $1.5M in a more desirable neighborhood, or you might skip over to Bed-Stuy and get a more epic property that isn't a tiny 20' x 35' like 26 Lefferts is. 109 Lefferts, which recently went into contract, looks to be a superior move in this genre.

Hit with a Lis Pendens for a foreclosure mortgage on just $52K in 2009, 26 Lefferts was later picked up in a foreclosure auction for $526K on 2/7/2011. They wasted no time listing it for $899K a week later with Prudential, and now re-listed with BLS. Not a bad turn-around for a month's time, but this may not yet be the price...

Pro's: curb appeal, make it your own, price point seems low

Con's: needs expensive & lengthy conversion & renovation, financing is tough, off the beaten path a bit, 20' x 35' doesn't give the biggest floorplate to work with

Ideally: there's lots of plays to be made in this genre, and it's a huge outlay for not the most amazing area. People with the funds to make it happen might be looking for something more like 414 Dean.