Top Block SRO: 1245 Dean Street

We told you Crown Heights won't stop.  On the same block as an off-market 4-story house that just sold for $1.7M and the SRO next door that sold for $1.15M, comes a 5-story "half-SRO" at 1245 Dean Street.  The listing broker Shaun Riney tells us it's a huge 5 story 20' x 50' (5,000+ sqft) with a ~15' wide x ~27' deep extension on the bottom two floors.  On those class A apartments, he says the ground floor is in decent shape, the parlor floor is in good shape, and the rest needs a lot of work.  The asking price is $1.5M and cash offers are already in.

What is it about this Dean Street block?  Well, it's tree-lined and full of nice houses in all different architectural styles.  It's got nice housing stock all around it too.  It's right next to Nostrand Avenue, and between the 3 trains & A/C trains.  Don't take our word for it.  Just ask the people bidding darn-near asking price on the $2M+ property across the street at 1234 Dean Street.  How many data points do we need before it's a no-brainer?  Even a terribly-marketed 8-Family at 1243 Dean Street next door went for $1.125M fully occupied with RS tenants.  1245 Dean Street isn't for everybody, but it's another great look at an enormous townhouse at a steep discount to more prime neighborhoods, that may trade at a value with not too much hair on the deal.  Hate on the price if you must, we think it lands below this number anyways, but did you miss the 5-story brownstone in Bed-Stuy at 187 Hancock Street selling for $1.52M in June?

It's not staged or anything, but 1245 Dean Street has some original wood interior details that the Corcorans of the world would be chomping at the bit to show off...

An O.G. in the game is going to buy this all-cash well below asking price (if possible) and get the permits & work started on the Class A apartments while they figure out the deal on the remaining units.  Heck, skip the C of NH drama and go straight to hipster hotel status.  The sky's the limit on the place if you play it right.  Or wait until someone sells it for the now-market ~$425/sqft (AKA... gulp, $2.125M) down the road. 

Keep in mind, folks, that over 150 condos and almost 200 co-op apartments in Manhattan sold for over $1.5M in the past 12 months.  All it takes is one of those people to decide to move to Brooklyn instead to set the numbers in our backyard all outta wack.  Even the Daily News is touting reports that Brooklyn pricing is bananas, and as close to Manhattan as it's historically ever been.  One Corcoran agent was bemoaning yesterday this very Sunset Park bidding war that took a "meh" townhouse from $775K to $999K with over 40 people at the open house.  In Sunset Park, people!!

SRO's in Harlem can sell for $1.5M cash with their eyes closed.  So copping one like 1245 Dean Street on what's rapidly becoming one of Crown Heights' hottest blocks?  We say anything under $1.2M is a steal in this market.


Pro's:  curb appeal, 5-stories with huge extension, original details, some delivered vacant, top-notch block

Con's:  hard to finance, coming with tenants, not for everyone, Crown Heights won't be stolen from for much longer

Ideally:  if you've got the cash and the know-how, it's a no-brainer

Listings: Prospect Heights Co-op - 418 St. Johns Place, #1A

New to the Listings section of the blog, it's a co-op apartment that's back on the market in Prospect Heights.  418 St. Johns Place, #1A is 1,250 square feet of clean, renovated space that's got 3BR's and - contrary to what the StreetEasy listing indicates - one bathroom.  With maintenance under $1,000/month, and trading below even $700/sqft in a climate where $1,000/sqft is becoming the norm in the top Brooklyn areas, we think this one's worth a look for the right buyer.

Word on the street is the previous buyer had issues with their financing, which brought this deal back to market.  Corcoran also listed one on the 5th floor for $825K, and many people prefer to be higher than lower.  But owners in another 1st floor 3BR co-op nearby, across the street from the museum, tell us that coming in and out of the building and never having to use the elevator makes their apartment feel more like a house to them.  Ordinarily we'd rather try to get a house for the same price as most condos, but - in this market - where have all those cowboys gone?


Pro's:  totally turnkey, true 3BR, Prospect Heights location near the park, under $1M and the area's ppsf

Con's:  generic space, won't wow you, maintenance isn't the highest - but certainly no picnic

Ideally:  if you missed nearby 2BR's that closed quickly for the same price or higher, maybe this is worth a sniff

Crown Heights Won't Stop: 1261 Dean Street

Wow, and you thought the on-market sale of the generic 3-Family at 1062 Dean Street in Crown Heights for $1.7M was surprising at more than $300K over asking price!  Well, guess who just sold for that same price off-market even further east last month??  None other than 1261 Dean Street.  That's right, 1261 Dean Street closed for $1.7M without touching your StreetEasy, or your Zillow, or your Trulia, or your NYTimes, or your Brownstoner.  On Platinum Member radar since May of 2012 when the bank first came knocking with a lien, we first got into the place back in March/April of 2013 when the owner was considering listing the property along with his neighboring "SRO" at 1263 Dean Street...

The owner wanted $2M for 1261 Dean Street and $1.2M for the "SRO".  Pre-market cash offers above $2.5M for the package quickly came in.  And there were reports of offers even higher than that - and those reports weren't kidding.  Even the "SRO" sold for $1.15M last month, perhaps even with tenants.  If you missed these, don't worry!  Now there are cash offers for other 4 and 5 story gems in this same spot, on and off market, with tenants, in the same price range.  And we don't see why those places won't go for those prices or higher.

1261 Dean Street went for more for good reason.  The owner had done a few things to it.  Certainly not everyone's taste, but in great shape and totally turnkey.  The yard's double-wide too because there's no partition between it and 1263.  The buyers of next door 1259 Dean Street for $1.05M at the end of 2012 must be dancing in the streets to see these numbers going on.  And the seller of 1234 Dean Street now has comps to justify a $2M+ purchase price on his gem.  Tomorrow we'll show you another undermarketed play on this same block that we think has potential, but certainly isn't for everyone.


Pro's:  curb appeal, great block, totally turnkey, off-market gem with original details

Con's:  gone already, wasn't cheap, on-market pricing, not everyone's taste

Ideally:  maybe get those sub-$1.5M fixer-uppers while you still can??

Listings: Open House for Bed-Stuy 4-Family - 311 Van Buren Street

Back in Bed-Stuy, there's an open house today and Sunday for this turnkey 4-Family brownstone at 311 Van Buren Street asking $899K.  If you can't compete with $1,000/sqft condos selling all-cash in west Brooklyn, maybe less than $300/sqft on a totally FHA-able town house is a more attractive alternative.  Which isn't to say there won't be all-cash bidders on this one either, but you could offer above ask on this financed and still be looking at a better deal than some of the more no-brainer parts of neighborhoods that were considered "emerging" 12 months ago.

The interior won't wow you, but with a recently redone facade and mechanicals, the cosmetics are easy to spruce up without having to spend lots of money on the basics that you rarely see anyways.

By the time someone puts a more stylish kitchen in here - even if it's only Ikea & only $10K - they'll be asking a lot more than $10K more on the asking price.  Kinda like how by the time Prospect Heights looks like Park Slope, it costs the same as Park Slope too.  Funny how that works.  The listing tells us the "4th floor can not be seen from street", and even the attic-y feel looks kinda cool.

Besides, when you're getting 4 floors for the price of what 1 costs anywhere else in the city, who's counting?  And with an open house by appointment today from 6pm to 7pm, it's easy to come see for yourself.  The broker tells us multiple offers are in already, and we don't doubt it!


Pro's:  turnkey, recent mechanicals, pricepoint, rental income potential on 2BR units, train nearby, open houses upcoming

Con's:  this is certainly east, not everyone's ready for the J train, 17' wide, attic-y top floor not for everyone

Ideally:  easy to scoff at for picky buyers, and easy to fetch asking price for busy brokers

Bed-Stuy Neighbors: 419 Halsey Street

If you were digging 417A Halsey Street - which Corcoran recently listed for $899K and reportedly marched the bidding war into contract around $1M - then you may want to sniff the less-renovated neighbor 3 bricks away at 419 Halsey Street.  Local broker Marjorie Thompson had the owners give us a tour today...

This solid little 2-Family has lots of the original details and quaintness that made multiple people jump for the house next door.  The price, however, will be lower and there are updates that most people will want to make to kitchens and baths.

The building has been vacant for a few years and will be delivered that way.  The conversion to gas heat has already been done.  The backyard can easily be spruced up.

The owners told that us that the listing for $579K that appears here & there was from someone who wasn't actually in a position to the deliver the building.  Their expectation is now $800K.  Only time will tell.  It wouldn't be the first time something off the NYTimes radar fetched a few hundred thousand less than a neighbor 3 bricks away.  Just last year Platinum Members were closing 1379 Pacific Street for under $700K, while the renovated neighbor next-door was flaunting offers over $900K.  Both are now worth well over a million, so it pays to pivot off a neighbor with high exposure.


Pro's:  great little 2-Family in Bed-Stuy, not on everyone's radar, not in a million dollar bidding war

Con's:  needs updating, won't be had for that teaser price of $579K, no shiny pics yet

Ideally:  another 2-Family with a yard at condo prices is up for grabs

Mixed-Use or Condo Alternative?: 589 Washington Avenue

Not on your StreetEasy or your New York Times, it's a mixed-use building in Prospect Heights that may have condo alternative written all over it.  A mere block from Clinton Hill, and across the street from some of the area's hottest unfinished condos, 589 Washington Avenue is a 2-story building that's reduced its asking price to $995K.  Presumably delivered vacant, the ground floor's been used as a church and the top floor is an apartment.  With an additional ~1,000 additional buildable square feet, this looks like it could be an interesting alternative to the condos across the street with bidding wars in the $850-$900/sqft range before they're even finished.

At $500/sqft, 589 Washington has some potential, especially with a little price flexibility.  We see someone plopping another floor on here, a roof deck, and making it into a nifty little townhouse on the Ave'.  Sure, it doesn't have a yard, but neither do those condos across the street.  Sure it's 18' wide rather than the full-sized 20' for a rowhouse, but it's also 62' deep.  Sure, it'll need lots of work to really pimp-out.  Although, not far away, the same listing firm Cpex also moved a similar-sized carriage house (also with almost no yard) at 91 Irving Place for $1.2M.  Now we're talking about something in the $900K's.

Heck, even the undeveloped land at Muhammad's Tire Mecca just sold for $1.13M last month, at the corner of Atlantic and Washington Avenue a block away...

If you don't know Washington Avenue and its surroundings, the listing does a decent job of spelling it out for you...

(Don't sleep on that White Castle at Grand and Atlantic!)

Jokers who don't know the neighb' will whine about how far down the hill it is from the 2/3 at Eastern Parkway, but everyone here (as at Hello Living) will be primarily walking a block across Atlantic to the C train at Clinton-Washington on Fulton Street.  (duh!)  And only a few doors down, one of the calling cards of gentrification's hit the avenue... a cigar spot!

We've even heard that some owner financing may be on the table for 589 Washington, so we think a deal worth striking is out there for someone who may not even know this thing's available in the first place.  Gotta love Brooklyn!



Pro's:  Prospect Heights in the house, may beat the condos across the street,  presumably delivered vacant

Con's:  needs work, no interior pics, not everyone wants to be right on the Avenue, won't wow you if you coulda/woulda/didn't cop a 3-floor mixed use in a better location anytime in the past 3 years

Ideally:  won't be low-balled, but for the right price, they'll look back on this one and it'll all make sense post-facto

Look Around, Brooklyn!: 1062 Dean Street

Brooklyn gentrification Chicken Littles, consider your panties officially in a bunch.  1062 Dean Street in Crown Heights closes for $1.7M last month.  After listing for $1.395M very visibly with Elliman, and taking real pictures of the property, and having real open houses where you can see most of the units & everything... (you know, a proper listing) they close way above asking price.  Let's keep in mind that "way above asking price" is a relative term when we're talking about a city where condos easily go above $1.5M, and over $1,000/sqft.  To cop a totally turnkey 3-Family townhouse on a slightly extra-deep lot for $425/sqft is still - ahem - a value.  Now the duplex was totally gorgeous (but not out of this world), and the rental units were way generic.  It won't stop them from commanding top dollar from great tenants just steps from Franklin Avenue and the soon-to-gamechange 1000 Dean Street project.  They didn't even bother with pics of the rental units, and they sure didn't need to.  The duplex ALONE is worth $1.5M over most condos in town, and ~$2,000/month floor through rentals (and no condo maintenance) is just icing on the cake.

Some people who want a turnkey investment that pays for itself with 20% down (the banks want at least 25% down now on conventional loans, mind you) will easily tell you this place "works for them" at $1.2M, maybe $1.3M.  Handfuls of offers like those were in the rear view mirror to this $1.7M offer.  And why not?  Which price would you rather sell your house for??

When an extra $300K on the sale price at prevailing rates is roughly an extra $1,500 on the mortgage, AND you don't have $1,500 in condo fees going out the window, AND you've got $4,000K in income coming in, AND you've got a yard... the $1.7M price starts to look downright sensible to many buyers.  Now this house isn't (and never will be) as out-of-control stunning as its $1.7M-$1.8M brethren 593 Jefferson Avenue or 242 Decatur Street, but what it lacks in sick original details, it more than makes up for in turnkey, income, and location.  Almost makes 1234 Dean Street look like a bargain for the end-user that doesn't want tenants.


Pro's:  totally turnkey quintessential 3-Family in prime Crown Heights on a great block, great rental income, just wait until 1000 Dean is humming

Con's:  20% down ain't cutting it, way over asking price, can still hear them complaining about the homeless shelter at the Bedford Atlantic Armory, this ain't your dad's Brooklyn - or even last year's Brooklyn

Ideally:  there's a fixer-upper or two on this block that look like comparative steals given this price action