Sunday, January 25, 2015

Townhouse Arbitrage in Fort Greene: 306 Clermont Avenue





Don't let the scraggly, unkempt brownstone facade fool ya!  Fort Greene townhouse 306 Clermont Avenue is back on the market for $2.6M and ready to capture almost a million in arbitrage.  Feels like just yesterday Corcoran had this listing for $2.6M with a foreclosure looming overhead, and Platinum Members aching to 1031 into for some $2.1M, while the sellers we're playing hardball at $2.2M.  Well a funny thing happened on the way to the forum (or the foreclosure auction, in this case)... it sold for $1.7M last year, is vacant with shiny pics, and is ready for a great deal at least half a millie higher than it just traded for without any significant work into it.





Original molding, medallions, and embellishments for days...



The irony is Corcoran couldn't sell it for $2.6M before, and now they've out for $2.6M again.  The biggest difference now is that it's vacant, and the market's ticked up a bit - even though people will tell you it's slowed down.  And the biggest irony of all is that this house was for sale by owner for years with this here call for not only "No Investors" but also "No vestors"...




And that's exactly who bought it.  An investor from Manhattan with persistence, cash, and an angle on the market took it down for $400K less than a standing offer the seller had in his hands last year.  And it looks like he's ready to cash in his arbitrage.  Next week we'll show you a property on Platinum Member radar around the corner in Fort Greene that's locked-up before it even hit the market for an even lower price.


Pro's:  great Fort Greene block, vacant, original details, legal 3-Family, actually listing with showings and everything, in line with market actually

Con's:  plenty of work to be done, gnarly exterior needs repair, missed the arbitrage window the last time around, grief at the owner's cost basis will ensue, the $2M+ fixer-upper is alive & kicking in Fort Greene, 2nd time's a charm for Corcoran?

Ideally:  hats off to the seller for making it happen.  There's $500K in upside for them guaranteed, and the rest is academic really.

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