Closings of Note: Did Somebody Say $3M?

Did somebody say three million dollar homes in Brooklyn??  Try four million!!  Park Slope's mint, stylish restoration & renovation at 505 1st Street with a Corcoran listing asking $3.995M had no problem going over asking price.  Buyers from Manhattan closed on it this month for $4.11M.  Took over $1.2M down to get it.  Musta felt like a high price to pay when it was picked up for $2.3M in the doldrums of 2009.  Looks like a nice turnaround today for sure.  It's not like this is the only outlier either, 309 State Street also got over $4M this month.

Did somebody say $3M?  Fort Greene's 185 Lafayette Avenue lists for $2.99M and closes last month for $2.9M to buyers from Paris.  Even while it propels further as an international destination, the Brooklyn doubters are still scratching their heads.

Since prime Park Slope is still no stranger to the three million dollar mark, even the fixer uppers on the best blocks can fetch close to that price.  595 5th Street is a limestone in need of work on a park block that listed for $3M and closed for $2.887M without a flashy big broker on the case.  The limestone cousin to this house in Crown Heights is in better shape, like 255 New York Avenue, still goes for basically half the price.

Platinum Members passed on both iterations of 78 Fenimore Street in Lefferts Garden.  You can lead a horse to $200K-$300K worth of water, but you can't make 'em drink.  The property closed in March just under its latest asking price of $1.4M.

Call it a quick flip.  Call it a Bed-Stuy/Bushwick tweener.  Call it a generic renovation.  But 780 Madison Street, asking $1.325M, closes for $1.2M this month.  Buyers from Williamsburg picked up this huge 25' x 60', 5,000+ sqft. 3-Family with windows on an unattached side and way-rentable units.  Between Ralph Avenue and Patchen isn't where the masses who want a Brooklyn brownstone are necessarily running to, but this is a pretty sweet turnkey purchase even at that price.  If you've got a bigger, better 3-Family out the box for $1.2M, we're all ears.

Stunning historic houses with curb appeal, amazing original details, in need of gut rehabs, way out in Stuyvesant Heights, trading for over $1.5M??  You're damn right!  259 Decatur Street was a quick flip, but a gem.  It got $1.65M cash this month.

Everyone still wonders why the emerging parts of Brooklyn have houses consistently selling above $1.5M, but look at what that much money gets you on the outskirts of the beaten paths.  In Windsor Terrace, the estate sale at 17 Windsor Place came out asking $1.695M and closed for $1.58M this month.  A vinyl-siding 3 story in estate condition?  Check, please!

Platinum Members got the word when the narrow-but-stylish 3-Family brownstone at 497 Franklin Avenue was available again for under $1M.  But gems can't stay a secret forever in this market.  Buyers from Brooklyn Heights took it down this month for $1.1M with just about 30% down.  One of the niftiest purchases in the area!

Crown Heights for over $2M?  760 Eastern Parkway is a 30' x 65' house on a 40' x 120' lot with a driveway.  Closed for $2.1M this month.  A lot of money to expand a library.

There were various rumors that the prime Bed-Stuy fixer-upper at 272 Putnam Avenue couldn't even get over $1M, even with many people wanting it for more than that.  By the time folks were stepping up to the plate, the contract was locked in.  Even at barely 17' wide, not bad for a 4-story just off Nostrand.  The building closed for $999K this month with a mortgage even higher than that.

Even between 4th & 5th Avenues, Park Slope has generic condos that go higher than that.  675 Degraw Street, #1 closes for $1.45M with half a million down.

Nearby 728 Sackett Street, #4L closes for $1.195M this month.  Buyers from the Upper West Side dropped half a millie on that.  Oh, and don't forget other condo trades in the past few weeks like in 414 Hicks for $1.1M, 75 Carroll Street for $1.449M, 230 Ashland Place for $1.075M, 1 Hanson Place for $1.1M, 645 Warren Street for $1.28M.   Where are all those Bed-Stuy Chicken Littles to cry, "The sky is falling!" when these generic condos are trading well over a millie just a few miles west?

The renovated frame house on the north edge of Fort Greene at 179 Park Avenue closes for $910K this month.  Like we said, great condo alternative for the right buyer.

Speaking of condos, how about 25 Bergen Street, #3A?  Totally generic didn't stop it from getting $1.9M from buyers from lower Manhattan.  Over asking price and over $1,000/sqft again in Brooklyn.

Or how about a $2M+ condo?  Park Slope's 133 Sterling Place, #4C got $2.26M, people!  $1,400/sqft, people!!

No wonder we were so bullish on the off-market flip at 29 Lincoln Place anywhere under $2M.  Closed for $1.75M cash last month.

Platinum Members had their doubts, but the flip is complete at 1222 Carroll Street.  A buyer from lower Manhattan picked up this little Crown Heights south gem for $1.4M this month.

Market deaf developers wanna tell us Clinton Hill condos can't command $800/sqft.  Meanwhile, pretty far north in Bed-Stuy, another 315 Gates Avenue condo goes for over $800/sqft.  Corcoran ain't playing no games when they list this 1BR for $525K and get $590K for it.  Oh, and guess where the buyer's from?  Clinton Hill!