When $3.5M townhome sales happen multiple times in Clinton Hill, and $4M is broken there as well, it means all the other houses over there wanna keep up with the Joneses. That's right, prices formerly reserved for only Brooklyn Heights and Park Slope are popping up around the corner from where Biggie grew up.
So then the $1.5M-$2M money has literally no where else to go but south and east. The Crown Heights market has been the benefactor of this activity, seeing dozens of deals in the $1.3M-$2M range in the past year, and even as much as $2.9M for an unrenovated house. So when a 4-story stunner with original details for days on a cute cul-de-sac block hits the market for $1.89M, can you blame them? 926 St. Marks Avenue has since dropped to $1.75M, and this is a ton of money, don't get us wrong. But if its rattier cousin off of Nostrand at 204 Jefferson Avenue can go in contract in a month with an asking price of $1.65M...
...needing basically a gut, can you really blame this beauty at 926 St. Marks Avenue for wanting $100K more? Take a look inside of 926...
A turn of the century house on a "superblock" completed in 1969.
The renovated kitchens & baths won't wow you, per se, but at least they're a going concern and bunch of money you won't have to spend on day 1...
But then again there's also all this...
Remember 2-3 years when gems on this block asking in the $900K's could be beat down to the $800K's? Back when nobody dared cross east of Franklin, let alone Bedford, Nostrand, or (gawd forbid!) Kingston? Remember?? Where were you back then? Chasing $1.5M unicorns in Park Slope? We can cry sour grapes about the run up in Brooklyn prices til the cows come home, if you wanna. However, this 926 St. Marks Avenue house is a $3M-$4M house in Park Slope, a $6M-$8M house in Brooklyn Heights, and a $10M+ joint on the Upper West Side - so there's that. And since the location isn't twice as bad as Park Slope, 3 times worse than BK Heights, or 5 times worse than the UWS, you'll see some people happy to make a deal over $1.5M here any day now.
Heck, it wouldn't be the first time that circumstances in Brooklyn Heights or Park Slope had folks heading elsewhere for greener pastures...
So while your notions of Crown Heights may remain super narrow, please believe that taking a 5-10 year view (or even a 50 year view) of a 400 year old city is like the folks that tell ya the earth is 6,000 - 10,000 years old and that Jesus ran with the dinosaurs; cute, but inaccurate.
Pro's: curb appeal, tons of original details, renovated upgrades, "super block" status, flagship property
Con's: uninspiring paved back yard, pretty deep into Crown Heights for most tastes, nearby Albany projects, price point will shock many
Ideally: totally turnkey 2-Family with style and grace, and a price cut
Closed for $1.7M last month.
ReplyDelete