Fort Greene's Most Affordable 3-Family: 365 Cumberland Street

With a few grainy pics, a listing on the Long Island MLS, and barely any listing presence to speak of on the listing broker's own site, 365 Cumberland Street is still the most affordable 3-Family property in all of Fort Greene.  With a list price of $1.25M and bids well above that already, even for such a poorly marketed piece, it's hard to imagine it was pulling teeth barely 2 years ago to get $950K+ bids for these same houses even when Corcoran listed not one, but two of them.  Even after those traded, people were still passing on an identical neighbor at the counter-offered price of $980K.  Boy, if you let $20K kill the deal 2 years ago, it must be a bummer knowing you whiffed on the next $250K+ in upside.  But, alas, this is our Brooklyn.

Built in the mid-1990's, Atlantic Commons houses like these lack original details from 100 years ago, but also all the problems that come with 100 year old houses.  Everyone loves parquet floors, stained-glass windows, and original mantles - but they don't always factor in those can go hand-in-hand with asbestos, lead pipes, termite damage, water damage, leaky oil tanks, and all kinds of other obstacles and deferred maintenance.

 
When you blend nice, new(ish) mechanicals and even generically-designed turnkey space, you get a mortgage-able piece in a prime location at a price people drop on condos everyday in Manhattan that don't offer a penny of rental income.

While our inbox still stays fulls with people requesting that Fort Greene townhouse gem under a million, 365 Cumberland Street is the most affordable look you're going to find.  While 32 South Portland trades for almost $4M just around the corner, some folks are still holding their breath for someone to sell them something at prices that barely made sense 5 years ago, let alone now.


Pro's:  turnkey, rental income potential, with a finished basement you get owner's duplex with yard + 2BR rentals, no 100 year old house problems, true Fort Greene location, Atlantic Commons is actually an adorable little enclave

Con's:  no period details, generic interior, cookie-cutter community of houses, coulda' got one for 30-40% less a few years ago, pretty bare-bones listing

Ideally:  if you like Fort Greene, don't have $1.8M+ to spend, and don't bid on this.... do yourself a favor and start looking further east