Closings of Note: More $3M's

We weren't kidding about the $3M townhome market in Brooklyn.  416 Pacific Street, in what some would call "no man's land" Boerum Hill if you let them, cruises to a sales price of $3.33M last month.  Asking price was $3.5M.

 Same goes for 121 St. Marks Place, which closed for $2.325M last month.

How come townhomes anywhere near Park Slope command $2M+ easily??  Because... even condos do now!  133 Sterling Place, #4D listed for $2.25M and sold for $2.1M last month.

Heck, even 12' wide can fetch well over $2M in Carroll Gardens.  428A Clinton Street closes for $2.425M last month.

Someone even put ol' 341 Sackett Street out of its misery over there for just over $1M in May.

The narrow Clinton Hill house at 372 Washington Avenue was in need of some "re-do" according to the Brownstoner.  However, the $2.1M asking price quickly sold for $2.17M last month, to buyers coming from an apartment in Cobble Hill.

145 Hancock Street couldn't get $850K with the big brokers not long ago, then was available again for a higher price.  It closed for $1.135M, which sounds like a steal, but keep in mind it was an SRO, took all cash, and was a tricky deal to track down.  61 Hancock Street, another SRO, went for an even better $940K last month.

Speaking of SRO's that have been in the works for a while, 544 Pacific Street finally closed for $1.035M in May.

Another SRO delivered vacant in Crown Heights, 623 St. Marks Avenue sells for just over $1M in May.

In Boerum Hill, the small single-family at 109 Douglass Street cruises to asking price of $2M last month.

 
It took a little longer than we expected, but 613 President Street in Park Slope actually looks like a good buy at $1.873M back in April.

We told you about 636 Bergen Street in Prospect Heights 3 years ago.  Then it was on Platinum Member radar early as it resurfaced.  Nevermind that it couldn't get $1.2M just a few years ago, it re-listed for $1.6M this spring and got $1.472M last month.

And we have more to cover tomorrow...

Closings of Note: Pushing $3M in the Top Neighb's

 
A handful of townhomes within a handful of blocks from Barclays are pushing towards that $3M number with ease.  105 Sterling Place cruises to $2.8M last month with an asking price just above $3M.  Merely a year ago you could feign surprises at these levels in north Slope, but no surprises here for a full-sized renovation this year.  Achieving this pricing is becoming almost effortless in the top neighborhoods.  Just ask...

105 St. Marks Avenue on the Prospect Heights side of Flatbush, which re-listed for $2.99M this year and sold for $3.1M.  This full-sized gem was "just waiting for you to come finish off what has already been a painstaking restoration. "  Emphasis on "pain".  And just think how many jokers didn't want this bad-boy for $2M only a year ago!

We tried to tolja' about the underground Park Slope gem at 777 Carroll Street, which closed a few months ago for $2.764M.

$2.3M for a nice place on a great block in Fort Greene sounded to good to be true.  Which is exactly why 129 Fort Greene Place just closed last month for $2.437M.

And who could forget 364 Carlton Avenue?  Another Fort Greene 2-Family effortlessly approaches the $3M mark and closes for $2.9M last month.  To a buyer from Brooklyn Heights no less!

Even a buyer from the West Village isn't too good to cop a Stuyvesant Heights home at 201 Macdonough Street for $940K.

A buyer from the West Village also took down this generic ~1,000 sqft Fort Greene condo at 115 Fort Greene Place for $973K - part of the reason full townhomes command well above $2M there now.

Speaking of $2M+, when you want that Cobble Hill carriage house that's all decked-out, get ready to drop full-ask of $2.75M for a listing not even on the market for 2 weeks.  That's 140 Kane Street for ya!

Over on the Bed-Stuy & Clinton Hill border, the 3-Family condo alternative new construction piece with garage at 360 Greene Avenue lists for $1.1M and closes for $985K.  This is more than even 684 Degraw Street could muster in the Slope not long ago.

Even the narrow fixer-upper at 441 Classon Avenue around the corner fetches $999K, and is now happy to ask for $1.4M on the flip.

496 Quincy Street was a 3-story asking $869K "deep" in Bed-Stuy.  Ready to drop $869K over here?  Try $995K to close the deal last month.  Corcoran got it done.

It took about a year to sort out, but the foreclosure at 33 Vanderbilt Avenue on the north end of Clinton Hill manages to close for $800K last month.

To get a decent house in Bed-Stuy for $700K these days, it may take all-cash.  210 Macon Street closed last month for that price.

Over in Lefferts Garden, a value 2-Family at 176 Lefferts Avenue "soars" above asking price of $789K and closes for $830K last month.  Hard to keep a secret in Lefferts anymore.

Which is why even 73 Lefferts Avenue was able to list for $799K and get $840K in less than 2 weeks on the market.

Brownstoner called it over-priced back in 2006, tooted their horn on its return to the market this year, and were right again as 200 Fenimore Street closed for asking price of $1.35M last month.

 
When you want to get in Carroll Gardens under $1.5M, don't expect to find much curb appeal, even when you're over by Gowanus.  463 Union Street fetches just under its asking price of $1.35M to close for $1.33M last month.  Sure makes 473 Union Street look like a steal!  Even Corcoran didn't want to bother with an exterior pic for 90 3rd Place, another unimpressive look at what $2M gets you on the outskirts of the no-duh nice neighborhoods these days.

It didn't take long for Elliman to fetch the $2M that 579 Vanderbilt Avenue in Prospect Heights was asking.


And so many more closings we'll get to tomorrow...

Asking $12.5M, Sells for $15M: 76-82 St. Marks Avenue

They told us for months that the Montrose Morris monster at 76-82 St. Marks Avenue on the Park Slope side of Flatbush wasn't worth $10M, while it was asking $12.5M essentially off-market since last year.  Now Brownstoner e-mails us that it closed for $15M to the same group that copped the Triangle Building for $4M, as reported by the WSJ.  Any surprises here?

We're Going on Vacation...

It's hard to hold down Brooklyn real estate almost single-handedly like we do for ya every week.  So we're taking off for a little while, back within 2 weeks, better than ever, with all the on & off market looks in town that everyone's come to love, in everyone's favorite outrageously inefficient market that is our beloved Brooklyn real estate.

Projects: Rental Reno

When it came time for Platinum Members to renovate a rental apartment, we were excited.  With the right folks on the case, we whipped-up some nice upgrades in just a few weeks.  The kitchen was outdated...

So with the help of our main-man Steve, we took out the old stuff, and even ripped up 5 tectonic layers of laminate, vinyl, and cheap wood flooring down to the subfloor...

Then we broke through the wall like the Kool-Aid Man to make a doorway to convert the 1.5BR to a true 2BR...

Then we scribbled a quick drawing to map the new stuff...

Our go-to electrician Mike - who one Platinum Member called "a ninja" - brought new amps up from the basement through the dumbwaiter and rewired the kitchen.  After seeing the job Cousin John's guy Mark of PTL Renovation did on this kitchen in Windsor Terrace, we knew he was the guy for the rest of the job.  We were pleased with the results...

For a moment, we were worried about the floor heights with the new tile and the existing penny tile we were keeping, but Mark staggered the tile height just enough for another seamless transition...

Popped some new glass in the transoms...

Then Steve and his guys finished up the bathroom...

Sanded the parquet floors, freshened up some new coats of paint... the whole place was revived and a great rental was born.  Still a nice look at under $750/month per BR.

Has This Boerum Hill Sleeper Awoken?: 82 Dean Street

On and off the market for years, 82 Dean Street in prime-time Boerum Hill is a 4-story brick building that's been trying to find its way.  We covered it some years back, and it was an old listing even then!  Well, what's changed?  Besides the market, we're told there's a Certificate of Non-Harrassment now for this SRO.  Which was the game-changer that made deals like 138 Prospect Place and 660 St. Marks Avenue fetch higher prices than they otherwise could have.  We're told that SRO properties are mortgage-able once they've got the C of NH, and we wouldn't believe it unless we saw it with our own eyes.  So what's with 82 Dean Street?  We were first inside it 2 years ago with some wanna-be developers who were looking the steal the place.  Then we heard a few months ago it was fielding offers above $1.5M.  A few weeks later, we heard it was going into contract for a stunning $1.9M.  Now, one of the busiest brokers in town is telling us he's still got it available for $1.7M.  Our main-man Gavriel Drew at Fillmore is all over town with some of the best on and off-market opportunities.  He says 82 Dean isn't sleeping anymore, it's alive & kicking.

The building's still small, it still needs a gut, it's still barely got a yard... but we're told the zoning issue from before has been resolved too.  The peanut gallery will say, "Over a million and a half for that?!"  And you can't blame them.  However, it's not like there's a ton of product over here either.  Even if you're ready to spend well over $2M, it's slim pickens in BoCoCa these days.  But don't take our word for it.  Walk into any real estate broker's office on Smith or Court Street, and even if you're a cash buyer up to $5M, ask them if they've got any townhouses available.  Then watch them roll their eyes and tell you they have nothing to sell you, with a disinterested glaze over their faces.  It's why brokers get a bad rep and why even fuzzy deals like 82 Dean Street start to look appealing; if not in pictures, then certainly in context.

If a gut like 270 Dean Street in a less desirable locale can fetch $1.55M, and a 3-story around the corner like 200 Wyckoff can get $1.4M last year in a flash, and anything decent over there can command in the high $2M's... only time will tell what 82 Dean Street can do now that it's out of its slumber.



Pro's:  top notch location, delivered vacant, 4-stories, got C of NH now, mortgage-able, finally ready for a deal?

Con's:  small, needs a ton of work, ain't cheap, not much yard

Ideally:  it won't take another 3 years before this is the pimped-out single family of someone's dreams

Listings: 6-Fam in Bed-Stuy - 626A Monroe Street

New to the Listings section of the blog, it's a huge 6-Family in Bed-Stuy that Platinum Members have had their eye on for a few months.  626A Monroe Street is a 25' x 79' building with all free market apartments, a true rarity for the 5+ unit assets.  We've been excited about this place for a while and are eager for the chance to share it now.  Listing broker Lou Belisario got us in a while back, and these pictures don't even do the place justice...

While they can deliver vacant, which is a huge plus, we'd actually take it with some tenants since many of them are stylish, artsy, young professionals who keep the units looking better occupied than these pics show vacant.  Many of the units are already updated.  We saw one that could use some cosmetic sprucing up, but this is a play even the most novice of buy & hold investors could easily manage.

Whether you wanna get really fancy and reconfigure the railroad layouts a bit to max rents out even further, it's up to you.  By our calculations, it's a 7-cap at market rents, which is a return that's nice to find on a piece this large without the encumbrances of rent regulation.  Some have even considered condos.  It's easy to say this location is too far if you don't know Brooklyn, but tell that the great tenants who work good jobs in midtown Manhattan, and choose to live here for the size, quality, and value of these apartments.

 

Pro's:  size, free-market, relatively turnkey, flexibility to deliver vacant or with great tenants, great buy & hold

Con's:  not everyone's ready to be between the J train and Utica stop, not looking to be stolen

Ideally:  we see a fair price coming for buyer & seller very soon