Mixed Feelings on Mixed-Use: 612 5th Avenue

Mixed-use properties can be a mixed bag. They don't always have the cash-flow that a pure investor looks for. Then, when you go to finance them, you've gotta come with at least 25-30% down in many cases. That can be tough for lots of people. One added bonus, though, is the bank looks at the income of the building rather than the borrower. So if you've got that hefty downpayment, but you're self-employed or your income isn't W-2, a mixed-use can be a great way to get into a purchase. Sometimes you can buy mixed-use at a relative bargain in a nice area where all the end-user residential places are already over-priced. But you're often on a noisier, commercial avenue - and you don't get the backyard or garden duplex for yourself. These mixed-use Pro's/Con's are why you see something like the mixed-use 469 Myrtle failing to fetch $1M, while its neighbor, the cryogenically-frozen for another year 204 Washington Avenue, just sold around $975K.

Today we take a look at 612 5th Avenue in the outer rim of South Slope, just past the Prospect Expressway. They want $1.499M for a corner property with 2 apartments and a bagel store that's paying $3,400/month. The listing doesn't show any pictures of the interior, but tells us the apartments have "brand new kitchens, bathrooms, sheetrock, parquet floors, electric and 2 new heating systems."



But if you really can handle mixed-use in this price range, aren't you better off on 258 Dekalb Avenue in prime Fort Greene right next to Fort Greene Park? And there's plenty of fishing left to be done, that we can think of, on a better stretch of Vanderbilt Avenue by Prospect Park. This isn't where we'd drop the at least $375K down it's going to take to acquire 612 5th Avenue. With that kind of money, you'd want some nice cash flow, a nice location, a nice interior - or hopefullly some combination of the three. We're not sure you get any of those over here. Maybe somebody will buy it just for the smell of yummy bagels being baked fresh daily, but do your due diligence on that C rating.

Pro's: corner property, mixed-use has some upsides for certain buyers, technically South Slope

Con's: hefty downpayment, not much cashflow, no interior pics, need to see more to justify this price

Ideally: why go here when there's better to be had?

Junior Whopper: 725 President Street

Let's imagine you were hungry, and you only had $1.75 to spend. Oh... and you were at Burger King. Would you buy the Whopper or the Whopper Junior? Our guess is the Whopper. More bang for your buck, right?

Now - why would anyone behave differently if we raised the stakes by a million? Why don't you ask the folks down at Brownstone Real Estate who listed the 12.5' wide 725 President Street for $1.783M? It supposedly has high ceilings, which might actually manage to be taller than the building is wide.

We would spend a little time ragging on the awkward angle of the dated kitchen shot with the doorway in the foreground...




Or how, "The upper triplex boasts... a 2-seat hot tub with a skylight" that looks more like a sink in this picture...



But just do yourself a favor and go by the cheaper, larger, better Original Whopper, 710 President Street, if you're even considering 725 at any price.

Pro's: original details, high ceilings, location, turns out the hot tub isn't a sink

Con's: 12.5' wide, 2,400 sqft, nothing grabs us inside, wayyyy better ways to spend this money

Ideally: do not pass go, do not collect $200, go straight to 710 President Street

Topics: Listings - "Is you is, or is you ain't?"

It's hard enough to find listings in the first place in this fractured Brooklyn real estate market. Perfectly good houses have listings that live under a rock that almost no one sees. Likewise, perfectly good houses that aren't actually available for sale (anymore, or ever, for a myriad of reasons) sit indistinguishably alongside houses that are actually available for sale. What's a buyer to do?

Take 138 Prospect Place, for example. We covered this SRO back in December 2010, and it still hasn't sold. Looks like a steal, right? Its listing is even still active on Zillow as if it could be bought today. But the truth is, it's in contract, has been for the longest, and has court issues holding up the sale. They're not showing anymore or taking back-up offers. That's all well & good, so then just take the listing down, Ms. Agent! Or put "in contract" on there - anything to let potential buyers know it's a dead-end. Is that too much to ask?

Apparently the same kind of situation is going on with another fave of ours (after it's extensive price drop) 414 Dean Street. This total ****tease can still be found actively for sale on Zillow, but the situation is so sticky, it's almost completely prohibitive. So do us a favor, Mr. Agent, and take your listing down, eh? Or at the very least, lay it all out there on the table, like one of our favorite forthcoming listings of all time did. If you give us the full story upfront, only qualified buyers will step-up to the plate and it saves everyone time. We have to also give credit where credit's due to Sharon Burroughs for another great, forthcoming listing for 628 Grand. She boldly lets you know upfront, "Renovations have been started so call your construction peeps, roll up your sleeves and lets do this thing."

Granted, many listings that call out their problems upfront, like 33 Cambridge, have managed to sell alongside listings that don't, like 204 Washington Avenue. But we always say honesty is the best policy. Agents, step your game up! The more you tell us about your property from the outset, the more appropriate buyers you'll attract & the less time everyone wastes.

State of Gentrification: 486 Warren Street

The New York Times has an article out about how housing projects aren't discouraging high-end buyers in Boerum Hill during real estate boom times like we're in now. We remember people discouraging us from picking up a $1.4M 3-Family on Warren Street just before the crash because it was "too close to the projects" in their book. Now this neighborhood has become even more bougie than we'd imagined when we rented there in 2008-2010, so you can only imagine how the old-timers who bought in the 1970's and 1980's feel. One woman on Warren Street who told the NYT, "I bought this house for $17,000 in 1972,” says, "I feel like I’ve sort of outlived my time on the block." Wowza.

As evidence of what the neighborhood's become, they offer up this 4-Family 486 Warren Street listed for $2.5M. "There goes the neighborhood", right? Wrong. What a terribly tone-deaf example of what's going on in the neighborhood, in our humble opinion. A $2M+ listing with slanted-angle camera phone pictures of a dated, unstaged interior aren't a measure of the local market as much as the audacity of the seller.





Jeez, all the buyers in this price range that we know tidy up the kitchen better than this before the cleaning lady comes over - let alone on the day they take the picture that tries to fetch $2.5M! At least they had the courtesy of making the bed. You might think a condo developer, of all people, would have gotten this memo. Especially when you look at the shiny pictures Corcoran took to sell his finished condos.

When you REALLY want to know the true state of the market, you look at what people have actually paid, not what people wish upon a star for. Case in point, the immaculate 3-Family a few blocks away, 239 Dean Street, listed for $2.549M in May 2011 and just closed for $2.31M on 10/11/2011.



As if we actually needed to give other examples of why this asking price on 486 Warren Street is borderline comical, who wouldn't rather purchase 329 Clinton Street for $2.5M? Or this much cheaper, in contract property also on Warren Street? Or 364 Union Street? Even this great listing on a far-superior stretch of Warren Street is over-priced, but way more justified. The list goes on. As we always tell buyers in this price range, there's a ton of product to choose from, so be picky!

We agree with the New York Times' point overall, though. We've seen before how housing projects can affect their neighbors, like on a stretch of St. James Place in Clinton Hill. Indeed, these very housing projects can often add a certain authenticity to the neighborhood for certain types of folks who romanticize local edginess in their privileged flee from gentrification & strollers - as Yeasayer admitted to us last year in Clinton Hill. But let's not let the sins of one listing speak for an entire neighborhood. A few great details to speak for here on 486 Warren Street, for sure, but if you wanna get hired for this $2.5M job, at least dress up for the interview, man! It's kind of a shame 'cause it's actually a great property in lots of ways. However, contact us for 20 better places than this, at this price or cheaper.

Pro's: 4-Family, 4 wood burning fireplaces, rental income potential, south-facing decks, great neighborhood (even with housing projects at the end of the block)

Con's: dated interior, only 40' deep, camera phone quality shots of the interior, better buys abound

Ideally: simply mis-priced and mis-marketed. We'd gladly take pictures of this place just as good as Corcoran would and get it sold for it's real market price, at half the cost to the seller that Corocoran would charge.

Park Slope Premium is Alive: 710 President Street

If you like 706 Degraw Street, you'll love this! 710 President Street is a nice slice of primetime Park Slope between 5th & 6th Avenues, with the neighborhood's premium built in. This 17.75' x 45' brownstone is a legal 3-Family in turnkey condition with an owner's duplex and 1BR rentals on top. There's nice original details and some dated fixtures that could use updating to max it out, but they're fishing a little too high in price anyways...









They listed in July 2011 for $1.99M, then dropped to $1.899M in September, now the current price of $1.749M is getting warmer. Ya gotta love some of the floors, the backyard, and the location, but we'd rather spend this kind of money on a more finished product. They're bound to fetch somewhere close to this just because of how little product there is on blocks this key. But we'd swoop up a few 4-Families around this price range, some in even better condition, before we'd do this - including one just a few blocks away that could be one of the better Park Slope buys of the year. They seem to still be having open houses, though. Could be worth a look, and a $1.6M offer. Or head over to Clinton Hill for one of the handful of finished mansions available for this price or less. Who else breaks down Brooklyn for ya like we do?

Pro's: location, curb appeal, backyard, turnkey, original details

Con's: dated interior, a little narrow, Park Slope premium

Ideally: with another price drop due, it could work for a few kinds of buyers

Huge & Camera-Shy with Potential: 112 St. James Place

You know we love Clinton Hill, and you've seen us up & down St. James Place. From the enormous steal that is 234 St. James Place, to the gorgeous-if-overpriced 14 St. James, to one of the best 4-Family renovation buys all year. Today we take a look at 112 St. James Place, although they're not giving us too much to look at. Just listed at $1.3M a couple of days ago, the listing says it's located "in arguably the 'sweet spot' in the Clinton Hill Historic District." It's also priced in that sweet spot between what some gut reno's and SRO's go for over here without pictures on their listing, like 121 Cambridge, and what some more manageable renovations with pictures go for, like 107 Cambridge. We think 112 St. James should show us some pictures.

In any event, a 4,000+ sqft 2-Family brownstone with original details and this much curb appeal can easily fetch this price over here almost regardless of condition or layout, especially considering the prices the Cambridge Place places went for. As (almost) always: good house, sub-par listing. If we were trying to sell this, we'd take extra steps to set it apart from the handful of listings over there in this price range, but we're sure it'll sell despite the half-baked listing.

Pro's: curb appeal, 4,000+ sqft, location, original details

Con's: 18.5' wide, no layout, no photos, no clarity on tenancy situation or interior condition

Ideally: still worth a look, all day long. Could be a slam dunk for the right buyer.

Top Notch Cobble Hill: 329 Clinton Street

Is it too much to ask to be wowed by a $2M+ listing? Yesterday's listing for 473 Clinton Avenue left us way underwhelmed, so we thought we'd mosey on over to Clinton Street in Cobble Hill and see what Brooklyn's most expensive neighborhood by median home sale price had to offer above $2M. 329 Clinton Street is a 21' wide 4-Family brownstone on a top-notch block. You've seen us on Clinton Street before, like when a shell listed for $1.45M with no pictures and quickly closed for $1.731M, but 329 Clinton Street is no shell. It's also no steal either at $2.695M. This 5-story home has all kinds of neat details like parquet floors, hardwood floors, original mantles, exposed brick, exposed wood beams, multiple skylights in the attic...





But still not nearly as impressive as the less expensive, better photographed, in contract 3-Family on Warren Street. BHS knows what they're doing. When you're making over $120K on a listing, why not throw the photographer a few Benjamins along the way to help really sell the place to these big-ticket buyers? With better pictures to be found on a $929K apartment listing than this $2.695M building on Clinton Street, it kinda leaves us kind of feeling like Cartman, who "at least likes to be wined & dined" after he's taken advantage of.



At least this listing for a $930K condo in Clinton Hill offers 2 spa gift certificates if you close by November 30th. Which might be a nice parting gift if you bought a $60K Mercedes, but is really the least the agent could do if you just dropped about $200K down on a condo. Someone is eventually going to see this place on Clinton Street and pay up for a block where inventory is quality over quantity, but if it were our listing, you'd get a WAY better look at it than this.

Pro's: top notch block, 21' wide, 5 story, great original details, backyard, a few good looks at the interior, lots of FAR to work with

Con's: definitely not the best way to spend this kind of money, not the best-possible look at the inside on the listing

Ideally: this price isn't even close in our book with what else is out there, but - ironically - past a certain price, pricing isn't even the issue anymore