The Millionaires Are Coming: 254 Gates Avenue

Not to get too Paul Revere about it, but the millionaires are coming to Bed-Stuy.  Most buyers were hesitant as recently as this summer when we lobbed up the next-best buy in all of Bed-Stuy for ~$750K.  They hemmed & hawed.  They clamored for the comps that justified that price, even when we showed them the fixer-uppers around the corner in contract for $900K+ and $1M+, respectively.  We told you comps are a lagging indicator by many, many months.  You can't bet on the Super Bowl 6 months after it happens, or buy a stock that's trading 20% higher for the price it was trading at months ago.  You can't vote for the President the day after the election either.

We told you back in April, "There goes the neighborhood," when the pricepoint of $1.5M poked across Classon at 252 Gates Avenue.  Despite the doubters, that house later sold for $1.45M.  Well, it appears that the neighbor decided "anything you can do, I can do better".  254 Gates Avenue wants, wait for it.... $2.2M now!  That's right.  Cry for the comps if you must, but cash offers well over a million have been getting rejected on a regular basis for nice houses listed with big brokers in Bed-Stuy over the past few months.  That phenomenon is a no-brainer, because ~$1.5M money simply has nowhere else to go in this market.  Now you may claim you simply won't pay over $2M to live in Bed-Stuy, but you also won't be finding housing this decked-out much cheaper anywhere else...

We told you some 9 months ago that $2M wasn't just for Park Slope anymore when it came more regularly to Clinton Hill.  And if you've been following the recent closings (for you comps fiends out there), you'll know that $2M+ has been closing up and down Brooklyn's best neighborhoods.  Now you can get a mansion that'd sell for $4M in Park Slope or $6M in Brooklyn Heights, for the relative value price of $2.2M.  Still need more perspective to digest this pricepoint?  Let's take the Brooklyn phenom out of the equation.  How much do you think a house this tricked-out would cost if you plopped it in the middle of the countryside? 

We're talking restored original everything, modern upgrades, supposedly 22' wide, 5 stories, supposedly 5,000 sqft.  We can already hear 'em griping, "But the owner bought it for just $1.1M in 2003."  Yup, and they probably put another half million at least into it.  Besides, you didn't even have the guts to walk down Bed-Stuy in 2003, let alone put over $200K down on a fixer-upper there back then.  So what are you complaining about?


Pro's:  top notch house, restored and updated completely, west Bed-Stuy location, duplex and a triplex!

Con's:  price ain't cheap, Corcoran listings are no secret, ripple effect this house will have throughout Bed-Stuy

Ideally:  if you ain't bullish on Brooklyn now, what's it gonna take??