Breaking Records in Lefferts: 36 Rutland Road

We told you the $1.8M's are coming to Lefferts Garden.  Brownstoner was quick to report when 36 Rutland Road went in contract for a record-breaking $1.85M.  They jump the gun on these sometimes, but the broker confirmed this one.  When you list for $2.1M in Lefferts, you'd better be able to back it up.  36 Rutland came correct with totally maintained details.  We checked out the first open house the same day a record-breaker in Bed-Stuy was fielding offers.  The pictures don't even do it justice...

This is a solid look at a full-sized four-story bow-front on a great block.  Sure, prices are up at least 20% in Lefferts in just the past year, and it's still a relative value compared to what else is out there.  Kitchen & bath tastes will vary...

But with a double-wide 40' lot with a driveway & garage, this house has what that high-end single-family buyer is looking for.  The initial sticker-shock lingers, but the flagship property in the next-best neighbs trades at these levels.  A year ago you could've gotten 4-stories (not nearly as stunning) for less than this in prime Prospect Heights at 159 Underhill Avenue.  And nowadays even less house over there wants more at 108 Underhill Avenue.  A house like 36 Rutland is probably pushing $3M these days if it's in Prospect Heights, or even more in Park Slope or BoCoCa.  That's why it's relatively easy to break records on the top houses in Bed-Stuy, Crown Heights, and Lefferts under $2M.  Big numbers for sure, but they're all relative.  Can't wait to see the next move on this block.


Pro's:  huge mansion with driveway & original details on a great block, one of the top single-family looks around, can really max it out with a few updates

Con's:  pricepoint will shock, not everyone's ready for Lefferts, interior is not everyone's taste, no rental income

Ideally:  where's a better single-fam rowhouse with a driveway within 2 miles of here for this price?

Bed-Stuy Under $600K In Contract: 298 Herkimer Street

A reader wrote us and asked, "Do you know about any fixer-upper's in the good parts of Bed-Stuy in the $500K-$600K range?"

We said, "Don't see those often anymore.  They're getting harder and harder to come by."

The reader said, "Oh, well I see lots of them."

We said, "So what are you asking us for?"

Then came 298 Herkimer Street - a true-blue sub-$600K fixer-upper in a decent spot in Bed-Stuy from day 1.  We told Platinum Members that it was the poor man's 22 Arlington Place the day we saw it.  A few original details on 3 stories asking $579K.  They preferred a cash offer because it's hard to finance a house that needs as much work as this.  Original medallions & mantles everywhere, some interesting color choices (something we saw in a similar house for twice the price), but besides a few live-able spots, pretty much a gut by many accounts.

Perhaps a better bargain than, say, an 845 Prospect Place, but not 1148 Sterling Place.  The pricepoint on Herkimer with a high $500K-handle on it will catch many people's eyes, but you factor in the true cost to get it off the ground, and there are houses twice this price that are easier to work with for some buyers.  Which is why you may see a swift flip here as someone could do just enough to get it appraisable to unlock a ton of mortgageable equity.  We were on it for the first round of cash offers below asking price months ago, and when it bubbled back up again.  Broker says it's firmly in contract now, and it's bound to be a nice buy no matter how you slice it.

Pro's: canvas with original details delivered vacant under $600K, lots of equity to unlock when mortgageable, tweener streets like these get overlooked sometimes

Con's:  half-painted facade, gone already, took cash to do the deal, needs lots of work, only 3 stories, not the most amazing block

Ideally:  whether you're bullish or bearish on the Brooklyn market, is there a resale scenario in the short or long term where this isn't a good buy under $600K today?

Can't Sleep on Lefferts Anymore: 201 Ocean Avenue

Right across the street from Prospect Park you can cop a limestone that's dripping with details for barely over a million.  201 Ocean Avenue is in a great row of like-minded homes here in Lefferts Garden.  Friends of the blog were in this bad-boy long before the pictures were up, and from what we saw, these pictures don't even do the house justice...

The plasterwork here is from another planet!  Wish we had the close-up shots to prove it.  The asking price of $1.3M might sound high to the newbies, but have you been paying attention to what else is going on over here?  This lasted longer on the market than it ever would have because the interior wasn't on blast yet and this neighb' was ahead of the curve as recently as a few months ago.  And now properties don't even last long enough to make it to the market anymore over here.  Don't worry, we'll show ya the next one once it's all locked up...


Pro's:  curb appeal, stunning details inside, across the street from the park

Con's:  gone already, not Park Slope (but then, what is?), work to be done

Ideally:  when all it takes is 2 sentences and 2 interior pics to make this move, you know the market's hot

Closings of Note: Value West of Nostrand?

It took a while for the magic of 660 St. Marks Avenue to finally unlock, but Platinum Members swooped in at just the right time and took down the next-best look under a millie' in Crown Heights.  Can't sleep on Nostrand anymore.  Maybe you missed moves off Nostrand like 1329 Pacific Street, 1379 Pacific Street, 894 Sterling Place,  153 Hancock Street, or 160 Hancock Street - but Platinum Members didn't.  This beauty closed yesterday for $970K.

256 Adelphi Street in Fort Greene is a pre-Civil War piece that looked like a steal even above asking price to buyers from Park Slope.  They listed for $1.75M, raised it to $1.8M, and buyers said, "Make that $1.93M."  What a beauty inside!

278 Dean Street will mess with your comps if you don't factor in it's an apartment building that's bound to have some rent regulation in the mix.  An 8,000 sqft expired listing that couldn't fetch $1.4M in the height of the crash back in 2008-2009, some pros took it down for $1.2M.

Even an SRO on that block these days like 268 Dean Street closed for "a little under $1.1M" a few weeks ago.

Don't be scared of the Lefferts Garden meets East Flatbush border.  It's filled with value.  A big ol' 2-Family house with stained-glass windows, a huge backyard and a driveway at 92 Linden Boulevard closes for $900K.

All on a 40' x 160' lot??  Hello!

It wasn't long ago that 976 Bergen Street in Crown Heights had a gnarly frame front.  Then a renovation came that cleaned up nice, but many told us was too cheap.  Even a few months ago it was worth $1.125M with a Corcoran listing - even at 17' wide.  This closed back in March.

Many deals west of Nostrand from a few months ago like 106 Hancock Street are starting to look like steals.  With a list price of $1.1M, it closed for $1M - and to think that was one of the deals Brownstoner was "flipping out" about back in August in Bed-Stuy.  This closed back in February.

Closed in Lefferts: 4 Parkside Court

 

Yesterday we took a look at a stellar house in Lefferts Garden asking $1.8M that is rumored to have bids above that price.  Now let's see what trades in that neighb' at basically half that price.  4 Parkside Court is right by the Q train, right by the park, on a nifty/gnarly little block, with a nice limestone exterior, a healthy floorplate, asking $975K - and we're told it just closed for that price.

It's getting harder and harder to hate on Brooklyn.  The NYTimes blessed Eastern Parkway as "Brooklyn's Champs-Élysées" this weekend (wonder where we've heard that before...), and the lovely limestones don't stop there.  The buyer, who'd been looking for about a year and had been outbid a few times in places like Bed-Stuy, found a pretty solid under-marketed move to make here.  The buyer summarized it pretty perfectly, "In the end, it's not as hot as other neighborhoods right now, or as epic as a brownstone dripping with details, but we're hoping the wave continues South and brings us some raise property value and restaurants soon."


Pro's:  curb appeal, some original details, parking, on a quiet cul-de-sac, the park & train around the corner

Con's:  street's pretty gnarly, updates to be made, gone already, neighborhood amenities are lagging for the taste of many

Ideally:  another nice look at a relative value under $1M

The $1.8M's Are Coming: 55 Rutland Road

We warned you last year when the millionaires were creeping east across Classon Avenue into Bed-Stuy.  Not the one millionaires, the TWO millonnaires!  Now the list price and sales price of $1.8M is popping up all around the "emerging neighborhoods" of Brooklyn.  Bed-Stuy's 7 Arlington Place listed for $1.3M and reportedly went for a bid of $1.8M cash in under a week - without even having an open house.  If you think that means Bed-Stuy's cooked, guess again.  Platinum Members were inside one of the next-best buys in Bed-Stuy across the street for $1.2M just yesterday.  Another gem in Bed-Stuy by the Utica stop listed for $1.8M and went very close to that price quickly.  And another one just listed at that price.  Over in Lefferts Garden, a contract is signed on Rutland Road around $1.8M too.  So obviously the next house to come out on that block, 55 Rutland Road wants the same price.  Whether you're bullish or bearish, for better or worse, this is what's happening.

Hate on pricing if you must, but what is an historic house this sick supposed to cost??  Did you miss the gem at 44 Rutland Road for $400K+ less than this last year?  55 Rutland is all that & then some.

Restored, renovated, well-kept, landscaped, landmarked, "Registered with the National Trust", featuring "oversized mahogany fireplace, ebonized dado panels, gilt crown moldings, and a floor-to-ceiling domed bookcase flanked by built-in cabinets" - this house has it all.  Word on the street is that asking price won't even get it done.  All for less than half the price of what the same house would cost on the other side of the same park.  As they say, "It is what it is."  And it's spectacular!


Pro's:  curb appeal, sick interior, totally renovated & restored, park nearby, unique gem

Con's:  secret's out on Lefferts, won't go cheap, Park Slope purists will scoff, the neighborhood doesn't offer what many expect for these pricepoints

Ideally:  where's the next house this sick for less?  Wake us up when a condo in Manhattan beats one of these.

Up 83% in Prospect Heights: 108 Underhill Avenue

Seems like just yesterday we were in 108 Underhill Avenue with Platinum Members in the market doldrums of 2010 when low-ballers could afford to be picky on the next-best values in neighborhoods as prime as Prospect Heights.  The small, quaint, stylish, slightly-gnarly 108 Underhill was a turnkey look at a great locale and had dropped all the way from $1.5M in 2008, to under $1.2M in 2010.  In those days, even offering $1M put you in the conversation, instead of the rear-view mirror.  It closed for $1.145M in December 2010.  This weekend, brace yourself for a "how you like me now?" open house with a list price of $2.099M.  That's an 83% jump in just a few years.  It's still got the zen garden, the trapezoid shape, the colorful interior...

As much as we love Prospect Heights, this is not where we would spend this kind of money, but they'll certainly see a premium for the same product in this market.  Sure makes 474 Dean Street look like a steal anywhere under $1.6M.  For anywhere close to the same price, 408 Park Place was a way better look.  But anything's worth a shot in this market.  If Ideal can raise the price on 289 Lincoln Road by 25% in barely 2 months, why not try 83% in a just over 2 years?


Pro's:  location, lovably quirky, totally turnkey

Con's:  small size, won't wow you, price feels lofty - but who knows?

Ideally:  there's a townhouse up the hill you should be chasing if this pricing is even remotely interesting