Closings of Note: If You Miss the Best, You're Stuck With the Rest

After literally months of calling this absentee agent for the great Prospect Heights listing at 542 Carlton Avenue, Platinum Members were finally able to get inside to make a bid.  On another showing appointment a few weeks later, the agent actually stood us up, calling while we stood in front of the property to notify us that it was in contract.  Yep, that's what owners are paying these jokers tens of thousands of dollars for.  After listing for $1.375M since last year, and chasing almost everyone away, this 20' x 50' 2-Family brownstone closed earlier this month for $1.4M.  Where do you have to go to get something this nice for ~$1.4M now?  If you didn't know about 439 Bergen Street or have the cash to swing it, if you thought 579 Bergen Street was "too white", if you thought 416 Park Place was "too 80's", if you thought 270 Sterling Place was "too dark", and 27 7th Avenue was "too busy"... now you can go play Goldilocks in Bed-Stuy where a $925K listing from 2010 wants $1.3M for a "needs work" "bring your contractor" 4-Family.

276 14th Street is a tiny 17' x 30' 2-Family with vinyl siding in South Slope.  Don't tell the Unicorn Hunters that it listed for $949K in May, had a contract in a month, and sold this month for $965K.

1078 Park Place was a ridonkulous 7,000 sqft corner opportunity in Crown Heights.  Buyers with millions in the bank looking for a steal passed on it because it needed a C of O change, like any decent repositioning play does.  Can't wait to see what they do with this 24' x 90' monster that sold this month for $630,500.

296 Dekalb Avenue was a great little Clinton Hill play listed since last year off & on at $1.799M.  Like Brownstoner, many tried to tell us this wasn't worth that price then because the immaculate 287 Dekalb Avenue closed for $1.8M last June.  Well, don't tell those people that price was negotiated months earlier.  You can't buy Apple stock today if you're bidding at prices from over a year ago.  And 287 Dekalb still needed new kitchens & baths.  Just like 338 Clinton Avenue, which was in contract above $1.9M (and wants $2.6M now) by the time people were scoffing at 296 Dekalb.  Accordingly, 296 Dekalb Avenue closed this month for $1.779M.

The painfully-generic renovation on the 4-Family at 175 Carroll Street in Carroll Gardens made many gasp at the original $2.625M asking price.  Then it dropped only a little to $2.55M.  But that's still "just" $655/sqft, not far from the area's average psf, and only a few blocks away from ~$1,000/sqft fixer-uppers in Brooklyn Heights.  It sold this month for $2.395M, and we can't imagine they won't be putting more into it to make it look less 1990's rental-grade.

And on the condo front, 237 Cumberland Street, #3 was a shiny renovation in Fort Greene that wanted $1.799M after the crash and came back at $1.695M at the end of last year.  Brownstoner ostensibly didn't see it working at ~$1,000/sqft then, yet it still manages get a contract in a few months and sell for a lofty-feeling $1.5M this month.  A little food for thought for those who doubted a 20' x 35' shell across the street at 242 Cumberland, which the listing broker told us needed as much as $1M in work, and sold for $1.375M cash just a few months ago.  Or maybe you'd prefer a Fort Greene SRO around the corner at 404 Clermont that just sold for $1.4M all cash?  And to think, it was pulling teeth to get a $1.2M offer out of some low-ballers on a "set it & forget it" turnkey 3-Family listed at $1.39M like 308 Clermont Avenue this Spring!