Closings of Note: Brooklyn Heights Buyers Going H.A.M.

What would a week in Brooklyn real estate be without a Cobble Hill townhouse going for over $1,000/sqft?  Stunning for sure, but brace yourself for 173 Warren Street becoming the norm, not the outlier.  Listing for $3.5M and fetching $3.85M last month from buyers just across Atlantic Avenue.

And yet another $3.5M listing in Cobble Hill sells to buyers from Brooklyn Heights!  289 Clinton Street went for $3.25M last month.  Gotta love what a few quick iPhone pics can do in this market!

Don't look now, but another buyer from Brooklyn Heights gets another $3M+ townhouse in Cobble Hill!  464 Henry Street fetches its $3.75M last month, after barely a month on the market.  And you're still wondering why the "emerging" neighborhoods in Brooklyn are going up too?  If Brooklyn Heights millionaires can walk south of Atlantic Avenue for a house, then certainly you can go east of Classon.  Or east of Nostrand.  Or east of Utica!

Even ol' 120 Carroll Street on the less desirable end of Carroll Gardens finally got its asking price in this market, closing for $2.375M after flailing back in 2011.

Even if you're not ready to hear $1.5M+ is the going rate for 4 nicely renovated stories in Bed-Stuy these days, you'll be hard pressed to show us a better house in town for this price.  235 Jefferson Avenue listed for $1.499M and fetches just over $1.6M last month.  A stunning block and house for less than half the price per square foot of the next tier of brownstone Brooklyn neighbs?  Yes, please!

But Bed-Stuy value doesn't stop at Nostrand.  Platinum Members make another great townhouse pick-up at condos prices.  607 Hancock Street closes for $799K at the end of June.

Even a Bed-Stuy townhouse chopped into 6 units, headed to foreclosure auction at 437 Hancock goes for $830K last month.  On Platinum Member radar, someone intercepted the deal and got the seller paid.

While two neighboring sellers list on the open market with big brokers for over $1M, get offers higher than even they expected, and then balk on cash buyers multiple times... a 3-Family on the same block at 109 Halsey Street goes for $775K off-market.  And they say there's no Moneyball in Brooklyn!  Have fun chasing this listing on the flip.

Over in "Windsor Terrace", 408 19th Street lists for $1.1M and fetches $995K at the end of June.

384 10th Street in south Slope lists for $1.729K and easily gets above asking price.  Closes for $1.8M last month.  That's quite a price for 3 stories of barely-marketed house.

Meanwhile, back in Windsor Terrace, around the corner from Prospect Park, 3 stories can fetch $1.7M too.  501 16th Street lists for $1.675M and gets just over asking price, closing last month.

Heck, even in East Williamsburg you can list 3 stories for under $1.7M and fetch $1.75M, as 47 Orient Avenue did, closing last month to buyers from Astor Place in Manhattan, y'all!

Even established owners in brownstone Brooklyn are heading to Bushwick to pick up deals when they're priced out of their favorite neighbs.  47 Weirfield Street, in all its vinyl-siding glory, goes for $550K last month.


And still so many more to cover tomorrow...

Prime Prospect Heights Mixed-Use: 663 Vanderbilt Avenue

We heard 'em say there's "no more Moneyball in Brooklyn."  Yet while condos all around Barclay's trade at $1,000+/sqft, a building just off of Grand Army Plaza in Prospect Heights lists for just over $500/sqft.  Sure, 663 Vanderbilt Avenue a mixed-use building with a pizza spot in place 'til 2017.  Sure, it's a mere 12.5' wide.  But where else are you getting 3 stories over here asking $1.2M?  How is this not the smaller version of 784 Washington Avenue, but on an even more highly coveted block?  We doubt the cap-rate would wow an investor, and it's not the residential move for everybody... but the pricepoint alone is calling our name.

Heck, if 500 Bergen Street could ask for $1.2M before the latest boom...

... then 663 Vanderbilt certainly can.  If 655 Vanderbilt can ask $2.4M...

... then 663 Vanderbilt certainly can ask half that.  Not sure how to best utilize the 2,750 sqft in additional air rights they're claiming.  No clue of the interior or details on the rent roll, but the "apartments are currently leased on a month-to-month basis, well below market rents."  With hairy situations like 599 Vanderbilt Avenue still asking between $1.8M & $2.4M, a simpler deal at a better price looks attractive.  633 Vanderbilt isn't for everyone, but maybe it's just small enough to keep the big players away while a buyer can swoop up a nice little building in a top-notch location.  We think this goes for even more than 230 Hoyt Street with the Halal chicken spot across from the projects in Boerum Hill, currently asking $1.4M.  But what do we know?


Pro's:  prime location, price, tenants in place with flexibility, maybe not on everyone's radar

Con's:  super narrow, what's best use of the bsf?, barebones listing for those used to big residential brokers, neither cash-cow investment or owner-occupy gem

Ideally:  worth a look for the right buyer, if you ask us

Closings of Note: "No More Moneyball in Brooklyn"

If you live in NYC, you see some folks still fancy Brooklyn is their own little secret.  Meanwhile, it's actually an international brand with a brand new billion dollar stadium (which already happens to sell more tickets than any other stadium in the country, and ranks #3 in ticket sales worldwide) and a transplanted basketball team with a Russian billionaire owner who just consolidated the star talent core of an entire other city (Boston) into his team.  That's right.  Brooklyn can just gobble up Boston's stars like it's nothing.  But you still go more than 20 blocks in any direction from the stadium, and people start to get the jitters that you're off the beaten path.  What other city in the country is like that?

On Bill Simmon's recent podcast, your boy Nate Silver - noted cult of stats & intellect - mentions his move from Brooklyn to Manhattan and cites "the convenience upgrade".

Boston native Simmons chimes in, "Brooklyn does seem like it's over in the corner."

Silver adds, "The rents are comparable now in Brooklyn and parts of Manhattan...  There's no more arbitrage  - so to speak - in moving to Brooklyn."

Simmons asks, "So the value efficiency of Brooklyn is now becoming not as much of an efficiency?"

Silver says rents have caught up and, "There's no more 'Moneyball' by living in Brooklyn."

Simmons asks, "So what's the next Moneyball neighborhood?"

Silver says, "I think Queens."  With Brownstoner expanding into Queens now., Silver's not the only one who thinks so.

It's true that Manhattan-esque rents have been in Brooklyn for a while.  Manhattan-esque sales prices, as well as Manhattan buyers, are all over Brooklyn now.  199 State Street, #7C fetches asking price of $1.169M, over $1,000 sqft in downtown Brooklyn...

The tower at 1 Hanson Place sells another condo, unit #16G, for just over $1M last month, topping $1,000/sqft pricing with sales in that building for a few weeks & months in a row...

 

But just a few stops further east, you can still cop a fixer-upper townhouse for the same price, like 1067 Bergen Street, which closed in June for the same price as that condo, and just about $100K over asking price:

But besides the townhome vs. condo value, the inefficiency's still there too.  With huge segments of the market still operating like the Wild West, and no true comprehensive MLS for Brooklyn (or greater NYC for that matter), we see on & off-market deals all day that demonstrate the inefficiency.  Some $39 Billion in real estate traded last year in New York City, but much of it inefficiently.  As we like to point out, it's very difficult to buy something you don't know is for sale.  A broker in Brooklyn told us he doesn't market his properties because "there are too many B.S. buyers out there."  A broker in south Florida bragged to us that the MLS sends daily e-mails for him to all of his clients of basically everything on the market.  He sits back and waits until the buyers tell him what property he sent them that they wanna see.  To say that there's no more inefficiency in Brooklyn is a total mischaracterization.  If anything, Mahattan-type condo prices poking into Brooklyn makes townhomes still at comparable prices look even more attractive - in relative terms.  If you're looking for condo alternative townhomes in Brooklyn between $1M - $1.5M, they're scattered all over.

With much less marketing, just down the street, 991 Bergen Street sold for the exact same price as 1067 Bergen Street.   And with even less marketing than that, 886 Sterling Place goes for $625K!  Could the neighbor now asking under $900K finally be ready for their price?

We scoped the carriage house in Clinton Hill at 91 Irving Place early on.  It closed last month for $1.2M, $500/sqft.  We're told the owners are taking advantage of the buildable square footage and making a nice house out of it.  Another carriage house around the corner at 365 Waverly Avenue also trades last month at a similar level, $1.175M.  If this neighb's good enough for Vinny Chase (who was also priced out of Fort Greene), isn't it good enough for you?

A killer house in prime Bed-Stuy like 187 Hancock Street is worth a write-up on Brownstoner for its artchitectural merits, but you won't see that on your StreetEasy!  And you can't duplicate a purchase like this in Harlem.  Closed for $1.52M in June

A vacant 3-Family in Bed-Stuy at 531 Madison Street closes for $1.125M in June, right around asking price.

Even on a flip, 577 Jefferson Avenue was a beauty that still needed some work, and didn't last long on the market.  In our book, the closing price of $1.2M still beats anything you can find in Harlem AND beats the $1,000/sqft Brooklyn condo.  And if you can still get on the same block for even cheaper than this without Corcoran, well then how exactly is there "no 'Moneyball' left in Brooklyn"?

Price Drop & Open House in Bed-Stuy: 177 MacDonough Street

It was only a year ago that a 4-story corner townhome in Bed-Stuy with killer original details closing for $1.2M like 271 Jefferson Avenue was a banner sale for the area.  Who knew that in a few months we'd see similar homes on these blocks fetch $1.7M, not once, but twice?  No wonder some sellers are now dipping on deals in the $1.1M-$1.3M range and re-listing for $1.5M and higher.  But the price on 117 MacDonough Street is going in the other direction, recently dropping from $1.449M to $1.299M.  Sure, it was hard to get even $300K less than this 3 years ago - but in this market?

A 4-story 2-Family with a renovation that a broker familiar with the house told us is "mint", anything under $1.3M sounds interesting.  Not quite as nice as the one-time Bed-Stuy record holder 333 Macdonough perhaps, in better shape than 332 Macdonough, and it's also further west.

We've seen houses this nice with off-market $1.6M cash offers on this block, and fixer-uppers that can fetch off-market bids over a million.  Can 177 Macdonough Street hang?  Well, with an open house this Sunday, it's easy to see for yourself.


Pro's: renovated 2-Family on a great block in Bed-Stuy, asking price coming down in an up-market

Con's:  not quite 18' wide, even price reductions in this market still don't make things "cheap", attic-y top floor?

Ideally:  unless you've got a condo in mind in Manhattan (or a "better" part of Brooklyn, for that matter) that beats this, the open house is worth a look-see

Boerum Hill Beauty Sold: 230 Bergen Street

A 4-story beauty on one of BoCoCa's favorite streets sells last week to Platinum Members.  Another Corcoran listing not to be written off.  230 Bergen Street is a quintessential 3-Family with an owner's duplex and 1.5BR rentals.

Original details?  Check!  Modern kitchen & baths?  Check!  Central A/C?  Check!

The house is very reminiscent of our favorite off-market townhouse in Prospect Heights, but when the seller got cold feet, Platinum Members couldn't wait for the pricepoints to go north of $3M.  Oh wait, they already did!  105 St. Marks Ave should be blushing selling for $300K more than this finished product at 230 Bergen Street.

Oh yeah, can't forget the yard...

$4K/month in rental income on top of a price per square foot that beats most condos in this area??  Looks like another relative value to us.  Even if this price isn't for everyone, it's still bargain basement compared to Manhattan.


Pro's:  curb appeal, original details & modern upgrades, great block, great rental income

Con's:  off the beaten path by some accounts, many will want to personalize further, not everyone's pricepoint

Ideally:  another solid purchase in our book, even if it is Corcoran again

Platinum Member Pick-Ups: 212 16th Street

This week, Platinum Members are making moves again, closing on properties in two of the most coveted areas in Brooklyn.  And both of them Corcoran listings no less!  Now everyone from novices to even Corcoran brokers themselves will tell you, "You don't buy from Corcoran, you sell with Corcoran."  And that's certainly a conventional wisdom to take into account.  But Corcoran's a huge portion of the openly-listed, well-marketed, and actively-serviced real estate listings in the Brooklyn marketplace.  To write them off completely would be foolish.  Not every good deal has to be low on the radar.  Some great deals have sold with Corcoran too, and Platinum Members have pulled off a few from Fort Greene to Boerum Hill, Prospect Heights to Crown Heights.

212 16th Street is a neat little turnkey 2-Family that's got value written all over it in this market.  When you wanna be in the Slope, albeit south, and not in the ~$3M range, it's nice to see what goes for half that price.

For less than a 2BR condo in Manhattan, throw in "an inviting south facing 50-foot garden complemented by lush Birch, Pine and fruit bearing Fig trees" & we're sold...

Nice to see that a house can still be purchased in a coveted neighborhood around $1.5M without requiring an all-cash purchase or 50% down to do it.


Pro's:  quintessential south Slope 2-Family, do-able deal for many buyers in this market, studio apartment rental income, nice yard

Con's: won't wow you with original detail, off the beaten path by some accounts, expressway's around the corner (but so is the train!)

Ideally:  another nice compromise on price, condition, size, and location as this market goes

The Directory: Architects

New to the Directory section of the blog, it's architects!  Two of our go-to architects, Bobby and Ruth of Co Adaptive Architecture have sized-up buildings for Platinum Members and we've covered one of their projects before.

This young duo from Columbia's architecture school has dabbled in everything from award winning cat shelters...

New construction designs...

Incremental (not all-or-nothing) changes to vacant lots...

To a shoe boutique in Nolita...

These two bring the art & science together in creative ways.  They're a great resource for all kinds of architecture & design needs.  So we're glad to have 'em on the team!