Prices Up in Boerum Hill: 51 & 53 Dean Street

Not on your StreetEasy or your New York Times, another straggler from 2009 finally finds its price. Still listed for $3.75M in the Fall of 2011, 51 & 53 Dean Street bumped up to $4M because the owner wanted more. And he's getting more! The properties are now in contract, even though the agent was very touch-n'-go recently about whether the seller wanted to sell at all. $2M per building might sound steep at first, but two adjacent 25' x 40' brick buildings on 90' lots around the corner from Bar Tabac and the F train at Bergen in prime Boerum Hill? What they lack in character and original details, they make up for in width and clutch location. Acquisition price may sound high to the undiscerning eye, but if you know this neighborhood and this block, coming in at $500/sqft ain't bad at all when you're across the street from $900+/sqft and a block away from even the dinkiest renovation getting $700+/sqft. You could probably condo these bad-boys right now as-is and fetch close to that.

If Williamsburg is hipster undergrad, BoCoCa is like hipster grad school. A bit yuppier, a bit older, and more parents. When you've outgrown feeling like a teenager on the L train, graduate to the F train (and a civil walk to Borough Hall). With a much different vibe than the Slope, this neighborhood is quickly becoming "the poor man's" West Village sooner than it is any off-shoot of Brooklyn Heights, as some still suppose. Which is why shells over here can command upwards of $1.5M. We can already see the cookouts these backyards will bear:

Wood-burning fireplaces are a nice touch too. We spent many a Fall & Winter evening a block from here roasting marshmallows & sipping cocoa...

The interior is definitely nothing special, but four 2BR free-market apartments in each building will command top rents and can very affordably be turned into much pricier condos.

We kinda fell asleep at the wheel on this one since the broker was giving us the stiff-arm about the seller only wanting to sell if he could get top dollar. Looks like a pretty good deal, all things considered.

Pro's: location, width, adjacent, versatile, wood-burning fireplaces

Con's: no original details, boring brick front not set back from the street, gotta have funds for a pretty big project, timing was tough with the reluctant seller and nonchalant broker

Ideally: wish we didn't take "no" for an answer or that the broker woulda got back to us sooner...