Tuesday, December 10, 2013

Closings of Note: A Year's Worth of Deals Wrapping Up





Deals don't happen over night, but the next few weeks will see deals many months in the making finally crossing the finish line.  Take 139 Joralemon Street for example.  This Brooklyn Heights buy & hold gem has been trying to sell for years now.  The price kept going up, and for good reason.  25' x 69' on 5 stories in Brooklyn's answer to the Upper East Side?  The latest asking price was $4M and they closed for $3.9M last month.  Was it really just 2 years ago that these jokers wanted only $2.9M and everybody told them they couldn't get it?  Sure was!!  Inventory is tight, and as you'll see, even the funkiest little pieces are commanding top dollar...






It must've been fun thinking a gem like 296 Prospect Place in Prospect Heights was gonna sell for the $1.695M it listed for.  Then the bidding war begins!  Even with just 3 stories, this bad-boy cruises to $2.2M in October (ahem, $500K+ over asking price) with the extra-deep lot.  A neighbor who thought about listing for $2M is getting cold feet, and we can't imagine why.







This summer Brownstoner called 127 Garfield Place "a blank canvass in central Park Slope" with "virtually no details left", and yet at less than 17' wide it lasted only 30 days on the market at $1.5M before contract and closed last month for $1.635M.  Was this your unicorn flying by?








Would-be buyers told us there was no way that a tiny not-even-17' wide frame house in Greenwood like 352 20th Street was worth the asking price of $825K.  They were right.  It closed for $925K in October.






For an even higher price, a brick house on an extra-deep lot moves in Crown Heights.  910 St. Johns Place sold for $985K last month.






But not everything goes above asking price in this market.  We figured 272 Lafayette Avenue had to come off its inflated price, and with all-cash, they certainly did.  This Clinton Hill fixer-upper with killer molding closed for $1.65M last month.







It went in contract quickly, but took a minute to close.  However, in Boerum Hill, 3 renovated stories - even 17' x 37' - under $2M is like bargain hunting.  453 Warren Street closes for asking price of $1.79M last month.




Even gnarly houses well off the beaten path command some astonishing prices these days.  Nobody was rushing to 137 Clermont Avenue for $1.5M, but it eventually had a priced drop and closed for $1.38M last month.  Just in case you didn't know what Wallabout is all about.






We tried to tell ya back in February when this place was really ready to sell.  138A Classon Avenue may be in a relative no man's land in your book, but that doesn't stop it from getting almost a million.  A few issues made it take a while to close, but this isn't the first property we've seen trade a relative value in this northern edge of the Fort Greene & Clinton Hill.  Closed for $975K last month.  Almost makes the renovated 179 Park Avenue closer to Fort Greene look like a deal.






Even in no man's land Bed-Stuy, 4 stories commands almost a million.  484 Willoughby Avenue listed for $949K with dark interior pictures, but still closed above asking price last month for $960K.






Off-market deals sound appealing to buyers who wanna edge out Joe Public, but they're hard to find, happen in cash, require lots of work, and involve buying out tenants.  131 Jefferson Avenue in Bed-Stuy is a huge 20' x 60' 3-Family with legit 4BR rentals on some floors.  It closed for $785K last month, is now vacant, and will gladly flip to a new buyer for some $1.35M.  We took a tour of the place this weekend and think it's ready for a modern renovation and a new exterior.  Also off-market, even at only 35' deep, it's nice to get a townhouse.  285 Cumberland Street was worth $1.9M to buyers who just sold their condo nearby in Fort Greene for over a million dollars.  It closed last month.  158 Clifton Place in Clinton Hill also closed just under $1M off-market.



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