Tiny SRO/2-Family: 20 St. Felix Street

You've seen us cover St. Felix Street before. Just recently we caught a listing around the corner on Ashland trying to fetch more than its superior neighbor. Now we were surprised to see the pricing on 20 St. Felix Street, this self-proclaimed "Mother/Daughter" 2-Family that's actually an SRO. $949K sounds like a decent price for a small, turnkey 2-Family like this in such a centralized-but-quirky location. We've covered some of the drawbacks of these streets before. But, as often happens, the SRO status is a total deal breaker here.

Compare to another trapped SRO like 268 Dean Street, which still hasn't moved a muscle, in an area where free market housing often goes for much more than we'd expect.

For that much money you might as well buy a huge shell and make a nice home out of it. Even once you remedy the SRO issue on 20 St. Felix, what you end up with is nothing special. Especially with the remedy pretty far down the road as the listing reports, "'Certificate of No Harassment' Letter Request in Progress..." We've seen how that's affected values, such as on 187 St. James Place.

The inside looks turnkey, but nothing special:





The only upside we can see is that it's an estate sale and there's got to be tons of equity to work with.

Pro's: technically a low price point for the area, technically Fort Greene

Con's: quirky block, SRO status, no C of NH in place yet, less than 2,000 sqft, almost impossible to finance

Ideally: there's WAY more value on, say, 72 Downing Street

Open House This Sunday: 552 Clinton Street

After a shell sold in this area for $300K above asking price, we had to ask ourselves if anything semi-affordable would ever show up again. We covered the cheapest price per squarefoot place in the whole neighborhood and we're surprised it still hasn't sold. Now we take a 2nd look at 552 Clinton Street.

The listing originally came out at $1.295M back on 3/31/11 and we covered it in May after the quick price drop. The price drop certainly made things more attractive and we figured it would've sold by now. $547/sqft ain't bad as a condo alternative for a solid brick house in a good neighborhood. The open house this Sunday, August 28th from 12:30pm to 2:00pm certainly makes showing simple.

Pro's: curb appeal, pricepoint, open house, paved backyard space, livable interior that you can upgrade as you go

Con's: proximity to the BQE, needs updating, is there a catch we're not catching?

Ideally: why hasn't someone snatched this up yet?

You Had Me At "Barrel-Front Brick Facade": 282 11th Street

Park Slope South was once a bastion of value. Then it got too pricey. There were a handful of deals to be had last fall, but we've seen high prices showing up further and further out. 282 11th Street is a throwback to us, and it's what South Slope is all about. It's not everyday you see a true 3-Family on a legitimately nice block in Park Slope for $1.35M. Sure, the Euro might drive off the cliff. Sure, there's fear of a double-dip recession. Sure, the inside of 282 11th Street isn't much to look at (and they're not showing us much):



But compared to the Barney Rubble exterior of a North Slope renovation for $1.3M like 405 Douglass, 282 11th Street has our attention.



This makes the Prospect Heights barrel-front renovation 154 Underhill looks like a steal.

Pro's: curb appeal, close to the train, outdoor space, doesn't feel like the usual Park Slope premium,

Con's: dated interior, only 3BR's total, no real look inside yet, probably hefty renovation

Ideally: see what the rest of the house has to offer, see if there's a move to be made, and don't be surprised if it goes above asking price

St. James Mystery Meat (Solved): 73 St. James Place

After taking a look at one of the best multi-family plays in all of Clinton Hill, we came across this find just down the same street on St. James Place. They're doing their best to keep the exact location of this 2-Family brownstone on wraps. Our guess was it's something like 85 St. James, but we can't be sure.

[Editor's note: Added 8/22/11, one reader "Park Slop" pointed out the Brownstoner listing for this place has a photo of the front door with the address labeled pretty clearly (that was edited out of the NYTimes listing) as 73 St. James. Indeed it turns out this was on open house pick a year ago on 7/30/2010 for $1.895M. Considering that the market had turned pretty significantly this spring and summer since then and their price has come down... it's pretty telling. We can't help but agree with one of the reader comments from last July, "Given that there are two houses nearby this St. james Place house asking around $1.3 or less, I find it hard to believe (at least based on the photos) that this house is worth 50% more." Our thoughts exactly.]

Just as $1.3M sounded way too cheap for 11,000 sqft and $165K in gross income for 234 St. James Place, $1.795M sounds pretty steep for a 2-Family in Clinton Hill with a few original details and no clear photos of any one room besides this:



Maybe you can get away with this in Cobble Hill or Carroll Gardens, perhaps Prospect Heights or even Park Slope. But who's in a rush to buy on St. James for this price when there's 407 Sterling, 419 Sterling, and the like? Compare to some Fort Greene and Clinton Hill neighbors with great listings and great interiors that came in at $1.425M and $1.585M.

Our hunch is that this is a great property, we just wish they'd should show it off a little better.

Pro's: original details, curb appeal (presumably), location, nice end-user home

Con's: no address, no clear look at the place, Clinton Hill at Prospect Heights/Park Slope prices

Ideally: someone certainly wants this house. This might not be the price though.

King Kong Unleashed: 234 St. James Place

After looking at a so-so 8-Family yesterday, it's time to unveil the best 8-Family in Brooklyn: 234 St. James Place. Funky situation here because the latest listing it appeared in for $1.3M, the whole website is down. There's still the StreetEasy listing with another broker for historical sake, at a much higher price. This building is a steal to us anywhere below $1.5M, so we were surprised to see it back on the market for a relatively paltry $1.3M, after listing for $1.5-$1.7M off & on since 2009.

The upside here is ridiculous. It's an 11,000+ sqft lime stone building with 8 units, 4 of which have 3BR's, 4 of which have 4BR's. While it's got rent controlled or rent stabilized tenants in most units, it's still grossing over $165K/year. The one destabilized apartment was renting for $3,200/month the last time we checked, which puts free market rental income potential at over $265K/year. The building has incredible wood and marble original details throughout...



(E-mail us for more pics & info)

The property is around the corner from the C train, in the heart of Clinton Hill, doors away from a stretch of Fulton Avenue that's on the rise. It's also doors away from where Notorious B.I.G. lived at at 226 St. James Place.



(Biggie on Fulton in 1994)

Of course, we owe the term "BK to the Fullest" to Biggie from the end of his track "Brooklyn's Finest" with Jay-Z. And to this day, the kids in front of 234 St. James still rock a mean Brooklyn Bop and even a cross-borough Harlem Shake.

Pro's: curb appeal, location, size, current rental income, potential for more rental income, price

Con's: elusive/rotating agents are hard to get a hold of, lack of clarity on the property

Ideally: if you can get your hands on one of these agents, tell 'em $1.3M all day. E-mail us for more details, pics, rent rolls, etc...

Price Drop on Fort Greene 8-Family: 132 Lafayette Avenue

Around the corner from yesterday's pick, in the heart of Fort Greene, comes an 8-Family that's been on steady price drop since last year. 132 Lafayette Avenue first listed for $2M on 6/10/2010. Just a month later it was dropped to $1.8M, then $1.7M a month after that. By the end of December 2010, the listing was no longer available. Fastfoward through the market turn to 6/6/2011 when it was re-listed for $1.85M, and now reduced two days ago to $1.65M. The listing has no interior or exterior pictures, no rent roll (the old listing calls out "140K"), and no breakdown of the layout of the apartments. Even the number of apartments is foggy:

"FABULOUS EIGHT FAMILY- FOUR WILL BE VACANT IN WEEKS. SIX REMAINING APARTMENTS ARE MARKET"

Hmmm, so if 4 will be vacant in a few weeks and the 6 remaining are market... where did the extra two come from?



Luckily StreetEasy is on-point enough to keep track of even rented & expired rental listings, so we can get a little peak into what's going on. This 1BR rental in the building listed for $1,750/month for 2 months at the end of 2010, until finally renting for $1,600 at the beginning of 2011:



StreetEasy had another rental listing from 2010 for a 650 sqft 1BR for $1,600/month too. These are very plausible rental numbers over here. However, another tricky number is the square footage of the building. Property Shark has it as 20.8' x 40', which over 4 floors gets their 3,330 sqft. Was there an extension built? Because the listing says 8,200 sqft, meanwhile by our count 8 units x 650 sqft per unit = 5,200 sqft. More fuzzy math?

Pro's: location, rental income potential, 8 x 1BR units optimizes space for income, even more upside yet to come

Con's: curb appeal, lack of clarity on tenancy status & interior, Lafayette's a hectic street here

Ideally: great potential here, but this isn't the best 8-Family in the area by a LONG SHOT. Contact us for more info...

Fort Greene Mixed-Use: 258 Dekalb Avenue

Myrtle Avenue in Clinton Hill has seen lots of activity recently with small, mixed-use buildings. And we've covered all kinds of listings on commercial avenues like Washington and Vanderbilt, but here's a rare mixed-use listing in Fort Greene on Dekalb. At one of the most lovable intersections in the neighborhood, surrounded by Fort Greene park, schools, restaurants, coffee shops, and bars it's 258 Dekalb. This 17' x 50' 2-Family + store is listed at $1.399M. Valuation is tricky over here because we don't have a sense of the rent roll, and the apartments look like they're in okay condition.



Since very few of these buildings trade around here, as far as we know of, it's difficult to evaluate what the market is. This price seems steep to us based on a purely cashflow basis, but someone may pay-up to be in this prime of a location or since the opportunity is so rare. This listing is reminiscent of a few other small mixed-use properties that Fillmore has had on Bond Street and also on Smith Street. From our perspective, though, the upside is pretty much all cooked into this price. We're not sure who's in a hurry to purchase this as an investor or as a user, without much return on the $400K+ it would take to acquire.

Pro's: location, curb appeal, rare opportunity, seems turnkey

Con's: no sense of rent roll or layout of apts, commercial loan needed, upside's cooked into the list price, nothing compelling as a buy

Ideally: feels like a $1.2M