Bed-Stuy Rental Also Available for Sale: 203 Kosciuszko Street

203 Kosciuszko Street is a renovated 3-Family rental building pretty north in Bed-Stuy closer to the G train.  A cute brick bowfront on the outside built pretty full at 20' x 55', with floorplates chopped into as many as 3-4 bedrooms on each floor.  The rentals are up in a few places and the building went up yesterday on HomeCanvasr.com for sale at $1.6M.  Not long ago the house sold with Corcoran who hadn't even bothered with interior pics.  Now we can clearly see they threw some fairly nice & serviceable kitchens together in the interior...

New floors, new windows, baseboard heat...

A gut reno on the generic side may not wow you, but as turnkey townhomes with rentable bedrooms go, this house is fairly maxed-out.  Rentals are currently asking $2,250-$2,700.  If this house can truly gross $8K/month, that certainly establishes a healthy value on it.

Around the corner from the park, and what listing in Bed-Stuy isn't "located near popular jaunts like Saraghina, Peaches, Black Swan..." ??  Whether you pronounce Kosciuszko like "kuh-SHOOS-ko" or "KASS-kee-AH-sko", this is a 3-Family that hundreds of Bed-Stuy buyers can actually afford.  Sitting a price just under another renovated 2-Family like 174 Macon Street.  By no means as fancy as the all-cash purchase at 96 Decatur Street, but in need of much less work.  And we've seen off-market offers almost $2M for generic renovations on those blocks, and in addition to similar 3-Families trading off-market as high as $1.7M and as far north as Kosciuszko.  Platinum Members are making off-market offers 20% higher than this for similar rental-style properties in slightly & much better locations from Fort Greene to East Harlem.  So we'll see what the market has to say...


Pro's:  curb appeal, turnkey & renovated, large floorplate, lots of bedrooms & income potential, can be delivered vacant or with any units rented, floorplans up in this!

Con's:  no original details, not the exact corner of Bed-Stuy that everyone covets, recently traded much lower

Ideally:  G train owner-occupant investment opportunity not on market with a big broker

Bed-Stuy Fixer-Upper Closing this Week: 96 Decatur Street

On Platinum Member radar for over a year, and on HomeCanvasr.com since last June, it's another fixer-upper in Bed-Stuy closing this week for over $1.5M.  96 Decatur Street is full of original details, in need of a ton of work, sourced for an insanely low price, and has been been all over the map the past year.  It was in contract over $1.6M at the end of the summer, then poised to renovate and hit the market for closer to $1.8M-$1.9M, and now closing for over $1.5M cash.  This is just another reason everything live-able wants $1.65M or higher.

Wood everywhere, mantles for days...

Healthy 20' x 50' on 4 stories with a bay window in the back...

Some buyers complained they could see/smell the McDonald's out the backyard.  One man's "I'm lovin' it!" is another man's "deal breaker".  If the "tons of details but basically a gut" condition of this house and its closing price remind you of 259 Decatur Street, that's because it basically is the same deal all over again.  Buyers and sellers are on "rinse & repeat" in these neighbs.


Pro's:  full sized house full of details on a nice block, at an even lower price than previous contract, unattached on one side, worth well over $2M when all fixed-up, around the corner from the subway

Con's:  plenty of work to be done, deal done off-market, all-cash, chipped paint facade is no biggie, McD's proximity

Ideally:  just another fixer-upper trading off-market at the new normal prices.  Or is this the sign that things are slowing down 'cause the contract price took a haircut from this summer?

Renovated Bed-Stuy Double-Duplex Hitting the Market: 174 Macon Street

As seen on HomeCanvasr.com since last June, when it was available unrenovated pre-market for $1.2M-$1.3M, this 2-Family double-duplex at 174 Macon Street is finishing up its renovation and hitting the market for $1.65M.  Yes, months before it was tested momentarily on StreetEasy pre-reno, we had it on HomeCanvasr.com.  Now that Bed-Stuy's best fixer-uppers are fetching $1.5M or higher here, and even off-market gems are getting that much like 54 Macon Street, the $1.65M asking price for 174 Macon - for even a generic modern renovation - is sounding like a relative value.  Across the street from the playground, we thought this house would've been swooped up already.

Bed-Stuy prices have been giving us "altitude sickness" for almost a year now.  But compared to what else is out there, this one's not shooting for the moon or anything.  The pics won't wow you, the reno isn't finishing up until this week or so, but it's a decent sneak peek...

And we're told it's available for showings already.  They ripped out old carpeting, kept the mantles, put down new floors, kitchens, baths, eletrical & plumbing.  We might've restored the parquet on some floors, but it's still underneath if you really wanna.  The work looks like pretty bare-bones stuff that novices could've done themselves, but may not have had the funds to after dropping the downpayment.  So the owners did build some value into the building.  This ain't no 101 Hancock Street, but it's also asking almost a million less.  By the time it's staged out the wazoo (if that ever happens), it could be a no-brainer.  But we see something happening sooner if the price is right.



Pro's:  renovated double-duplex, not too far into Bed-Stuy, delivered vacant, no big broker on the case yet, beats many $1.5M condos, maybe not the way you woulda done it - but lots of time & money you don't have to spend in updated

Con's:  may not be your style, pics aren't super deluxe or anything, reno not completely done until this week or so, not dripping with original details, feels kinda bland & chopped-up

Ideally:  if you're looking at fixer-uppers that command almost this much and you're not a nut for original details, this could be your renovated dream boat

Townhouse Arbitrage in Fort Greene: 306 Clermont Avenue

Don't let the scraggly, unkempt brownstone facade fool ya!  Fort Greene townhouse 306 Clermont Avenue is back on the market for $2.6M and ready to capture almost a million in arbitrage.  Feels like just yesterday Corcoran had this listing for $2.6M with a foreclosure looming overhead, and Platinum Members aching to 1031 into for some $2.1M, while the sellers we're playing hardball at $2.2M.  Well a funny thing happened on the way to the forum (or the foreclosure auction, in this case)... it sold for $1.7M last year, is vacant with shiny pics, and is ready for a great deal at least half a millie higher than it just traded for without any significant work into it.

Original molding, medallions, and embellishments for days...

The irony is Corcoran couldn't sell it for $2.6M before, and now they've out for $2.6M again.  The biggest difference now is that it's vacant, and the market's ticked up a bit - even though people will tell you it's slowed down.  And the biggest irony of all is that this house was for sale by owner for years with this here call for not only "No Investors" but also "No vestors"...

And that's exactly who bought it.  An investor from Manhattan with persistence, cash, and an angle on the market took it down for $400K less than a standing offer the seller had in his hands last year.  And it looks like he's ready to cash in his arbitrage.  Next week we'll show you a property on Platinum Member radar around the corner in Fort Greene that's locked-up before it even hit the market for an even lower price.


Pro's:  great Fort Greene block, vacant, original details, legal 3-Family, actually listing with showings and everything, in line with market actually

Con's:  plenty of work to be done, gnarly exterior needs repair, missed the arbitrage window the last time around, grief at the owner's cost basis will ensue, the $2M+ fixer-upper is alive & kicking in Fort Greene, 2nd time's a charm for Corcoran?

Ideally:  hats off to the seller for making it happen.  There's $500K in upside for them guaranteed, and the rest is academic really.

Listings: Open House for Bed-Stuy Reno Under a Million: 13A Dewey Place

New to the Listings section of the blog, it's a renovated house in Bed-Stuy that's only 15' wide, but asking well under a million.  And every house, regardless of condition, wants to be a million in Bed-Stuy now, no matter where it is.  Which is why even a 3-story shell like 109 Malcolm X Blvd was able to sell for $725K cash basically sight-unseen.  But 13A Dewey Place, asking $799K with an open house this weekend, is no shell.  Dewey Place is fresh off a serviceable gut reno that adds value to it on the retail market for buyers looking for some rental income and a duplex at condo alternative pricing.  Whenever you buy a renovated home for the price of a condo, you've gotta manage expectations...

Although they did go with a dishwasher on one of the kitchens, which is more than we can say for another deep Bed-Stuy 3-Family like 459 Lexington Avenue, which later sold for $950K after betting us they'd sell for $1.1M.  13A Dewey Place is only 15' wide and it is only some ~1,500/sqft, but well under a million is harder and harder to come by.  Nobody's running towards baseboard heaters and generic renos by choice, but these are the compromises we make to be in the one of the most coveted cities in the country.

The Ralph Avenue C train is more than halfway to Brownsville, or just one stop past Utica, depending on how you look at it.  But it's certainly not the end of the world, as we saw on nearby 992 Herkimer Street, which by the way later dropped to $790K and delisted.  Call it Ocean Hill, call it Bed-Stuy, but someone's going to call it home for the right price.



Pro's:  could be a great little starter home 2-Fam condo alternative at the right price, within budget for hundreds of Brooklyn buyers, totally renovated, open house

Con's:  narrow, generic, tweener block, far east, ppsf

Ideally:  $500/sqft townhomes aren't happening here so far, but there's a nice deal to be made at the right price

Mismarketed Bed-Stuy Fixer-Upper Over $2M: 158 Hancock Street

For a few months now, one of the prettiest houses on one of the nicest blocks in Bed-Stuy, 158 Hancock Street, is available for all to see, but in a place where hardly anyone who cares about this type of product ever looks.  Sure, Massey Knakal (now Cushman Wakefield) may be "NYC's #1 Building Sale Firm", and they can sell $40M packages, but that still doesn't mean they know what to do with a fixer-upper townhouse like 158 Hancock Street.  For example, don't try finding this on your StreetEasy, because that's a site one of the partners at Massey Knakal would tell you no one searches on.  Consolidating this nonsense could probably happen in a day and be much easier than merging MK & CW, but for whatever reason, still hasn't happened.  With a monkey-see/monkey-do asking price of $2.1M on 158 Hancock, Massey still slaps adorable pro-forma numbers together on their set-up of $3,000/month per floor, even though they probably couldn't show you a single living-breathing rental on that block for that price.  Rents have certainly come a long way, but isn't this the cutest thing you ever did see...?

And what they don't show you on the one pager is anything anyone might actually care about, like the interior condition, albeit unsavory at times.  And that's just part of why offers won't come in at their maximum potential.  Although it does show we've come a long way from when Platinum Members were picking up the barely-marketed 160 Hancock Street next door for $1.1M cash.

For interior pics of 158 Hancock Street, you've gotta go to the 16-page offering memorandum, a pomp & circumstance hallmark of the large brokerage firms which is usually pages of white noise with a lil' data.  Hats off to them, though, for actually getting some telling interior pics in there.  Wood details & drapes, anyone?

Working live-able spaces and original details...

We've seen this movie before.  When commercial brokers get their hands on rezi pieces and don't necessarily have the patience or care or strategy to get tippy-top end-user dollar out of them. How many people are kicking themselves they missed some of the lost great Clinton Hill fixer-uppers for $1.5M at 108 & 148 Gates Avenue?  Savvy buyers don't care who has the listing.  They just want the best house for the best price.  Nowadays on Hancock, there's another even more stunning house that's an SRO available on this block with a large commercial firm not being marketed openly, asking $1.5M.  158 Hancock could cruise to that number in its sleep with the right treatment.  Just ask 204 Jefferson Avenue.  Hancock is probably a much better buy than 204 Jefferson and only time & the market will tell if it can surpass that price.  Another day, another couple of million dollars in inefficient brownstone Brooklyn.



Pro's:  great west Bed-Stuy fixer-upper, curb appeal, may not sell at full market price, some original details in great shape, updated mechanicals

Con's:  price is reaching, robotic commercial listing treatment of a great rezi listing, tenancy? 

Ideally:  a relative steal at $1.5M and a joke at $2.2M, but there's plenty of arbitrage to play with in between

Listings: TriBeCa Loft Living in BoCoCa - 186 Sackett Street

New to the Listings section of the blog, it's an extra-deep loft style 3-Family in Carroll Gardens for $3.5M.  186 Sackett Street is billed as "Tribeca in Carroll Gardens" - and these days they're almost not that far off.  While the West Village townhomes top out over $20M, Brooklyn's 'baby West Village' - as we've affectionately dubbed it - Carroll Gardens is still shocking folks with its townhomes consistently over $3M.  Homes such as 42 4th Place for over $3.5M, 324 Degraw Street for $3.3M, 296 Degraw Street for just over $3M, and the narrow 48 2nd Place for just under $3M are just some of the sales we've covered and heard about this month.  So while nobody's really aching to be as close to the BQE as 186 Sackett Street is, the BoCoCa surroundings are all being filled in.  And what 186 Sackett Street lacks in ideal location it may make up for in loft-style and over-sized 85' depth, putting it over 5,000 sqft.

The aesthetic is BoCoCa, but the proportions are Tribeca-like.  15' ceilings, "1,100 sqft of finished mezzanine", over 1,000 sqft floor plates in renovated albeit generic condition.

Backyard isn't large, but it's there...

The two 2.5 bedroom rentals command some serious coin and top tier tenants in this neighb' these days, and the building is delivered vacant.  Neither the curb appeal or the interior style will wow, you but this is renovated & turnkey living for less than $700/sqft - in the land of $1,000+/sqft condos.  And in a market where smaller fancier townhomes in locations considered much more "ghetto" trade for $3.5M and over $1,000/sqft, like 102 Gates Avenue and nearby 384 Vanderbilt Avenue.  Inanimate deterrents like the highway can be a more manageable thing to fancy buyers than less-savory neighborhoods, so this Sackett house could be a relative value anywhere between $3M and $3.5M for the right buyer at this rate.

186 Sackett Street is also in the coveted PS 29 district.  And trading size for renovated & slightly generic interior by the highway didn't stop cash buyers from locking up nearby 99 Kane Street for almost $3M cash.  For those of you who'd rather be by the highway or the canal than the perceived "hood" (and, believe us, there's plenty of you) this is worth a look.


Pro's:  large, unique, totally turnkey BoCoCa 3-Family with lofty owner's duplex, amazing rental income potential on two floor-thrus, PS 29, super competitive PPSF

Con's: uninspiringly adjacent to the BQE, mish-mosh exterior facade, not insanely stylish or appetizing interior, plenty of money to spend even if the PPSF is nice, no central A/C?

Ideally:  a huge turnkey canvas that'll trade at a price that amounts to a bargain for the right buyer