HUGE Corner Opportunity: 71 Irving Place

Clinton Hill is on the move, and we've covered a handful of great buying opportunities in the neighborhood. Today's pick is very similar to ones we've seen before, but has lots of other things going for it. 71 Irving Place is a hefty 5,000 sqft brick building on the corner of Irving Place and Putnam, around the corner from the lovably uber-hip Fulton Grand. It's about equidistant from the the Franklin and Clinton-Washington stops on the C. The property was listed for $1.195M at the beginning of June 2011, and quickly dropped to its current offering price of $975K in just about 2 weeks. Unlike many of the other renovation opportunities on these blocks, 71 Irving Place is NOT an SRO and will be delivered vacant. There's huge upside there simply in the certainty. What is daunting is the $500K+ renovation the agent tells us is in order, but this is also a much larger place than you typically get for this kind of money. Unlike lots of corner buildings, this one's covered with windows. (Norah Jones, we're lookin' at you!)


Pro's: corner lot, 5000 sqft, curb appeal, up & coming area, close to the train (especially as Clinton Hill often goes), not an SRO, delivered vacant, windows everywhere

Con's: total gut renovation in order, probably impossible to finance

Ideally: if you've got the funds, this is one of the best unfettered plays out there.

Our First Foray into Bed-Stuy Proper: 533 Greene Avenue

Admittedly, we barely know Bed-Stuy. The neighborhood is filled with listings at comparatively crazy-low price points, but we have yet to know how to seperate the wheat from the chaff. As we've seen, not all sub-$1M listings are created equal. In our primary neighborhoods we can read between the lines because we know what's going, but in Bed-Stuy we're almost at the mercy of the prices, the pictures, and the self-proclamations of the real estate agents (yikes!). But we're sure the picture will start to clear up once we take a few stabs at it. Greene Avenue takes you straight from Clinton Hill into Bed-Stuy as you go east of Classon, where our coverage usually stops. And we've covered a ton of places on Greene in Clinton Hill. So a property on that street seemed like a fitting start for our first foray into Bed-Stuy. Even the New York times recently covered the changes Bed-Stuy's been undergoing.

533 Greene Avenue is 3-Family brownstone between Nostrand and Marcy listed at $699K. We've heard tales of the Bed-Stuy 2-Family in the $600-$700K range before, so it's nice to see one in the flesh for analysis. Oddly enough, while Property Shark has it as a 3-Family, the listing says a 2-Family and that it has 2 rental units. The listing doesn't say much else besides it being a "gut reno", but the postage stamp pictures they managed to take of the inside show space that's in fantastic shape as gut reno's go:



The listing also says, "Close to the A and C trains on Nostrand Avenue." Proximity to a city-bound train has always given us pause in this area. One man's "close" is another man's "11 block walk down Nostrand Avenue". The Bedford-Nostrand G train is around the corner, but that's not helping much. This house is actually much closer to one of our favorite places in Brooklyn, Choice Market, than it is to the A/C train. Which just goes to show you what a conundrum Bed-Stuy can be as a no man's land outpost, frustratingly closer to Clinton Hill than it is to a train that'll take you anywhere. In an unfortunate tug-of-war, the A/C trains over here move southeast as you go east of Classon, while some of the nice residential blocks in the neighborhood move northeast.



Accordingly, Bed-Stuy was certainly hit harder by the financial crisis of 2008 than any of the areas we cover. Lots of houses got ahead of themselves and quickly faced foreclosure when values receded. 533 Greene appears to be no exception. Looks likes the place was purchased in 2005 for $689K and a Lis Pendens for that amount was filed a year later. It then appears to have sold in 2007 for $860K, with a Lis Pendens coming just 8 months after THAT, and an additional Lis Pendens in 2010. The property then sold for $440K in February 2011 (most likely a foreclosure or short sale), then listed in June 2011 for the $699K it's currently asking. We can't imagine this kind of hot potato is a good sign, and yet it's a familiar one in Bed-Stuy. Hmmm, the jury's still out...

Pro's: price point, curb appeal, original details, 3-Family status

Con's: "gut reno", Lis Pendens hot potato, far from the A/C, quirky block

Ideally: a much more manageable play, but nothing truly compelling here yet

On the Edge: 584 Washington Avenue

On the very edge of Clinton Hill, right at Atlantic Avenue, comes the "2 Family Used As A 3 Family" 584 Washington Avenue. Ordinarily a nice brownstone in Clinton Hill with these kinds of original details, this close to the Clinton-Washington stop on the C train, and this close to this ever-coming up stretch of Fulton Avenue would easily fetch this $1.3M asking price. Even with the listing's claim that the "Lower Duplex Needs Reno & Restoration", other 2-Family's in good shape have closed this summer in the $1.4-$1.5M range such as 121 Vanderbilt and 116 Vanderbilt. 584 Washington, however, is SO close to such a busy intersection on Atlantic, with the storage place across the street & everything, it's just not what people who want a residential-feeling brownstone usually have in mind. The listing obviously chose to take their exterior picture of the attached side of the building:



Some nice interiors might sway you though:





Even a few doors in from Atlantic, we'd say it goes in a flash. Is it worth the compromise?

Pro's: curb appeal, original details, otherwise a nice location, decent price, a hefty 3,780 sqft

Con's: being right on such a busy intersection loses the neighborhood feel

Ideally: see how extensive of a renovation it needs. If the location isn't a deal-breaker, this could be a nice house at a nice price.

That's More Like It: 706 Union Street

706 Union Street is a 4-Family in brownstone in prime Park Slope that wants $1.95M. While this price is about as high as we usually take a look at, it looks like a way better value than yesterday's pick at $1.775M. 706 Union is just a few doors down from 5th Avenue and Union Hall. The building stands at a healthy 20' x 60', which over 4 floors yields a hefty 4,800 sqft. The glimpse we get into the original details retained and quality look better than yesterday's pick:





The listing says it's currently used as a 3-Family with an owner's duplex, and had an annual rent roll of $91K. That rent roll sounds very modest to us considering the rental market in the center of Park Slope like this. We can't ignore how high the price is in general, but considering this fixer-upper on 4th Street closed for $1.6M and the ratty 405 Douglass quickly went into contract in the $1.3M range - 706 Union is looking pretty spiffy.

Pro's: super central location, curb appeal, HUGE size, high ceilings, rental income potential, original details, turnkey

Con's: expensive, some might not want to be right on Union like that

Ideally: if this were marketed better, it'd probably be gone already

This "Place" is no "Avenue": 56 St. Marks Place

Despite all our attention paid to this street, especially considering the whole 96 St. Marks Avenue debacle, you think we would have noticed that one side of 5th Avenue is "St. Marks Place" while the other side is "St. Marks Avenue". Well, we just now realized this - duh!

So today we bring you another entry in the high-end category that we're not sure deserves it, 56 St. Marks Place. We like these folks over at Brooklyn Properties for giving nice pictures, an address, a layout, and some description of the place. However, $1.775M seems a tad steep for this particular place. Perhaps the sale of the high-end 57 St. Marks Avenue for $2.15M on the other side of 5th Avenue propelled this price on St. Marks Place. As $1.7M's+ go, we think the money could be better spent elsewhere. Granted, the strategic location near prime Park Slope and the Atlantic Terminal is a plus, and this block is relatively quiet for how close it is to 4th Avenue. But the space feels like a rental at times, and that's not what we wanna shoot over $1.5M for:





We'd much rather have even 706 Degraw if we're going up into these kinds of prices. 56 St. Marks is kind of off the beaten path for not much more value in price, only in so-so calibre renovation. It pays to know your St. Marks Avenue vs. Place.

Pro's: strategic location, totally turnkey, lots of bedrooms, high rental income, decent curb appeal, outdoor space, 21' wide

Con's: rental-like fixtures for this price point, not much neighborhood feel on the block, better ways to drop $1.7M+

Ideally: nothing wrong here, and fair stab at a high price, but we're not seeing it above $1.6M with what else is out there

Recent Closings of Note: Asking Price or Better

57 St. Marks Avenue amazingly closes for $2.15M, $50K above asking, which makes 287 Dekalb Avenue look like a relative steal in our book.



Great 4-Family reno with only one unit fixed-up 137 St. James Place, listed for $899K and closed for $990K. Reportedly it needed ~$350K in work.



Even the Mystery Meat 111 Waverly eventually closed a year later for its list price of $799K.



The $550K 3-Family shell in Fort Greene, 434 Vanderbilt, reportedly in need of $600K-$800K in work, quickly closed for its asking price.



33 Cambridge Place, the nice 2-Family that was mostly rented out for the foreseeable future closed right around asking price at $1.286M.

Open House Today: 419 Sterling Place

This place won't last long. 419 Sterling Place is a nice, turnkey 2-Family on a great block in Prospect Heights for $1.349M. With an open house today from 5:30pm-7:30pm, run, don't walk to get a peak if you've been in the market for something like this. We see this thing going for above asking price. Do we really need to paint the picture for ya?

Well, take a look at its neighbor that just closed for $1.44M. Another neighbor closed for $1.5M+. Another neighbor that needed a gut reno quickly went into contract for $999K. And yet another neighbor was a favorite of ours for a while and finally sold above $1.5M as well.

The inside is gorgeous & quality. And while the style might not quite be your taste, that's purely cosmetic details...



And who can argue with the bay window breakfast nook overlooking the rear garden?




Everything is in order here. Get it while you can.

Pro's: turnkey, great insides, open house, owner's sitting on a ton of equity, around the corner from the 2/3, near Prospect Park for Clinton Hill prices, backyard,

Con's: hmmm.... we're stumped

Ideally: get in now, make a decent offer, and cross your fingers you don't get outbid by $200K