Crown Heights is Too Hot: 905 Lincoln Place

For years now we've been dragging ballers with more modest budgets (as Brooklyn goes) east of Classon Avenue into the "emerging neighborhoods" of Bed-Stuy, Lefferts, and Crown Heights.  Back then they came kicking and screaming.  Today is another story.  If it feels like every house in those nabes is over $1.5M these days, you're not the only one.  It's not a matter of what any given house in any given location is "supposed" to cost.  The $1.5M money simply has nowhere else to go.  So even while the temperatures in Brooklyn are ice cold...

(Photo courtesy of Celeste Moses)

The Brooklyn market itself is too hot!  Like, "Hot damn! - Make a dragon wanna retire, man!"

When buyers priced out everywhere else descend on an easy to find listing with pretty pictures on Corcoran.com like 905 Lincoln Place, asking $1.495M for a 3-story east of Nostrand, you can really see how hot the market is.   "Don't believe me just watch..."

Renovated kitchen cleaning up nicely...

Original wood floors & trim in great shape, nice windows on the barrel front...

And a renovated bathroom that's not as stylish as the kitchen, but certainly hits the high notes with the soaking tub, the stand-up shower, and plenty of light...

People come over here looking for 4-stories, but when you're renovated this nice, the 3-stories command $1.5M, even when you're heading further & further east.  We saw a 3-story like 798 Lincoln Place further west go for $1.42M in worse condition not long ago.  We saw the 3-story at 858 Lincoln Place go for $1.2M a while back with a local broker at the same time that Corcoran moved a few others on that block asking $1.3M and closing closer to $1.5M.  But in this cold weather and hot market, 905 Lincoln Place is heading to contract for $1.7M cash!  That is a "read 'em & weep" kind of figure for a 3-story in A-minus condition east of New York Avenue in the dead of winter.

This week we'll take a look at some more of the wild activity in Crown Heights...


Pro's:  great looking renovation, barrel front duplex with rental, easy income on the garden rental over here now, updated mechanicals

Con's: gone already, way over asking price, all cash, no C of O (which isn't that big of a deal with 2-Fams)

Ideally:  a scary harbinger for buyers and a great vote of confidence for values on the 4-stories that are west of here