We toured this gut-renovated 2-Family in north Bed-Stuy this week as they put the finishing touches on before two open houses this weekend on Saturday and Sunday. 610 Willoughby Avenue asking $1.4M is the kind of flip that's easy for people to scoff at when they "do their homework" and discover it was sourced for $600K last year. But, with the power of financing, it takes much less than $600K to buy a renovated home like this now. Maybe not your style, but they put the sensible touches wherever possible. Dark stain on the wood floors, exposed brick, new kitchens with nice appliances and countertops...
Not the most amazing thing, but totally does the trick. Of course they went with new mechanicals, new baths, central heat & A/C, washer & dryer, finished the basement to make the garden rental almost a duplex, kept an owner's triplex with backyard and tons of skylights on the top floor...
They even built a walk-in closet system on the top attic-y floor. There's talk of restoring the front facade to brownstone. We're sure it'll clean up a lot nicer once the finishing touches are all done, especially if they shoot for a little staging. Whether you call the renovation gaudy, tacky, or just right - the bank calls it "financeable". Sure, people aren't tripping over themselves to be equidistant from the Myrtle-Willoughby G train and the Myrtle Avenue J/M trains. And you may find this renovation generic. And you may hate on the price and the flip. Regardless, this is certainly a finished house with all the fixings. What it lacks in location and character, it may make up for in freshness and finish. You'd be surprised how far "off the beaten path" into Bed-Stuy people from all over the world are heading these days.
Pro's: finished gut renovation with all the little pluses, finished basement, triplex over garden, modern in the right places, will clean up nice
Con's: not everyone's style, not everyone's top location, pricing feels frothy, top floor is more attic than full-height
Ideally: while people with $500K or less in the bank outbid people with 4-5 times that much in cash, one of them just might snipe this house for the right price with some good financing
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