SRO Conversion: 473 Clinton Avenue

It's interesting to us that we held up 473 Clinton Avenue as a more informative listing than 338 Clinton Avenue, but on its own, the 473 Clinton Avenue listing is still pretty sorry for a $2.2M property. In fact, they did a better job uploading 3 in-focus pictures on their listing for a $299K co-op. Doing a worse job for 7 times the commission? Sounds like another Wednesday in Brooklyn real estate to us. We're afraid to even sully the blog with these grainy pictures. It's not sure if this is even their listing. But don't let the mailed-in job from the agent fool ya - this is a great property (especially at a lower price) even though they're doing their darndest not to tell anybody...



Purchased back in 2005 for $850K, it was then converted from a 10 unit SRO in 2006 to a 3-Family, supposedly with a new 6th floor, using what looks like a construction loan of $700K. It was later listed as 3 individual condos in the spring of 2009 with a combined price of $2.769M. That didn't do the trick, and now the whole thing is for sale for $2.2M after trying $2.34M for a few months in fall 2010. They've even taken a stab at renting them. Looks like a small developer looking to just get out. Compare this to the lighting-fast condo conversion turn-around on St. Marks, and its jealous neighbor.

It almost hurts us to give 473 Clinton Avenue this much press, and track down pictures of it they couldn't even be bothered to take themselves. We have to agree with Will Ferrell's notorious take on Robert Goulet and rap, "I know one thing we all can agree on, when a professional gets his mits on a song, that's when it really takes off."



Or when he says, "Hey, you wouldn't hire a clown to fix a leak in the john, so why you let these hooligans tear down the biz'??" So what is this owner doing handing a $2M+ listing to some jokers that couldn't even give it better pictures than the rental listing? And what's a buyer in this price range doing even giving this place a glance if nobody's making the case for them? Besides, there's 10 places better than this for this price or less, including a handful of places just a few blocks from here with far superior listings for buyers to see. Yup, just another day in Brooklyn...


Pro's: landmarked block, top-to-bottom renovation with original details, working fireplace, backyard, close to the train

Con's: 18' wide, curb appeal, price, somebody else's renovation, listing does it no justice, way better places for this much cash

Ideally: the seller might actually fetch this price if anyone looking in this area knew they were alive, but another advantage falls in the forest on deaf ears