Projects: Cobble Hill Rental Renovation

You've seen it a million times.  Drab pics of generic interiors that nobody wants...

And then other times you see amazing pics that feel out of a magazine and so out of reach.  Pics that make you say, "I want to go to there."  Well, sometimes those places are the same places.  Our pals Ruth & Bobby at Co Adaptive Architecture have done it again with a super-stylin' re-do of a previously-generic Cobble Hill rental.

They took a corner unit weighing in at only 675 sqft, open up the kitchen, and made a legit 2BR out of it by taking advantage of exposures on 3 sides...

The went with a raw industrial chic look at times.  Bobby and Ruth told us the exposed brick "added both some additional texture, and a couple to inches to the place".

 

And, "Because the client was adamant about not having chrome anywhere in the apartment, we designed custom faucets and a shower by using the copper piping that is usually hidden from view in the walls."

And our favorite part is the repurposed bowling alley floor turned into the modular kitchen island / dining table...

They told us, "All doors are re-claimed, and the flooring was re-finished a light grey to contrast to all of the wood in the kitchen, and blend all areas in which we had to patch flooring seamlessly."  With a budget that came in under $70K, this is pretty nifty stuff.  When you're after a look more unique than an outer-Brooklyn rental reno projects like ours, but you can't quite afford the level of Cousin John, it's nice to see there are stylish, custom alternatives.  There's actually a small co-op in prime Park Slope available under $400K that'd be perfect for a revamp like this.

As Seen on HomeCanvasr First: 99 Kane Street

Just like dozens of other Brooklyn properties, this great house at 99 Kane Street was on HomeCanvasr.com first before it was listed on the open market and before it appeared anywhere else.  Sometimes properties sell for their price quietly in the dark, and sometimes they have to hit the open market to get top dollar.  A recent listing in Prospect Heights had over 50 buyer groups at the first open house, but only received 5 offers.  When less than one out of ten people you show a house to even put in a bid, no wonder sellers don't wanna bother with one-off showings to a select handful of nobody's.  Big brokers tell them, "Let's stick all the nobody's in one room and find out who's really a somebody!"  And, often times, they're not wrong.  We showed 99 Kane Street to a few buyers who swore they had to be near BoCoCa's beloved PS 29, which is literally 2 blocks around the corner.  One of the buyers said it was "too much house", which is something you don't hear everyday.  This "Columbia St. Waterfront District" house is being filed under BoCoCa for our purposes, 'cause it really acts a Cobble Hill alternative just a few streets away.  Even though it's across the BQE overpass, there's almost no BQE noise on the block.  The house is indeed huge.  It's 5-stories, with the top floor setback so you can't see if from the street level.

It's got an open house this weekend for you to see for yourselves, but we were impressed since the minute we walked in.  22' wide?  You don't see that everyday.  5-stories, also rare.  Sliding glass door out to a finished roof deck with harbor views??  Oh yeah!!

Or, instead of our iPhone, let the realtor's overexposed photo do the talking...

Why sit on the dock of the bay when you can watch the ships roll in from the comforts of your own private balcony??  This house is totally renovated with new floors, new kitchen and baths, exposed brick, decorative mantle, new zoned central AC and killer heating system which is itself a work of art...

Huge loft ceilings on the top floor with skylights.  A great garden rental, with shared access to the nice yard...

The asking price of $3.2M is downright competitive in this neighborhood.  We got inside another off-market piece a few blocks away with offers over $7M on it.  This house is much more than half of what that house is.  Many will hate on its relatively "generic" interior...

...but someone else will buy it, send their kids to the dopest school, get tons of money from a rental, play baby-West Village on Court and Smith Streets, baby-UES on Henry and Montague, frequent delicious & nearby Pok Pok at the end of the block, and laugh all the way to the bank.


Pro's:  huge & unique finished 2-Family at a reasonable price for the neighborhood, great garden rental, owner's quad-plex, totally complete renovation with all the technical bells & whistles, central AC, sick harbor views, 22' wide

Con's:  renovation doesn't feature the flowery style that makes folks melt, $3M is a lot of money - don't get us wrong, not as secret as it was before, across the highway overpass from true BoCoCa

Ideally:  this property is a winner and it doesn't always take a huge broker to let 'em know that.  Another demonstration of the HomeCanvasr concept in action!

Genie in a Bottle: 173 Amity Street

You don't see a corner 8-Family bowfront limestone in Cobble Hill come on the market that often.  Weighing in at a whopping 13,000 sqft, this 30' x 90' building is unattached on 3 sides and has over 20 windows on each floor.  173 Amity Street is a serious flagship property.  It listed at $5.5M and closed for $4.525M cash last month.  That's no small amount of money, but $348/sqft is a great price for such a monster piece in an area where smaller townhomes can fetch $3M easily.  You can check out a rental here, but no pics (or even a layout) were really necessary to move this piece.

After another great play in nearby Carroll Gardens went in contract last Fall with multiple back-up offers at 364 Union Street for its asking price of $2.5M - or $333/sqft - it was no surprise to see 173 Amity get the love it deserves.  A comment on Brownstoner asks, "How many of the 8 apartments are RC or RS ? Presumably the rent roll is low, otherwise it would have gone for much more."

Well, half of the apartments were rent stabilized, with a range from $1,233/month to $2,315/month.  However, the other half were already free market with actual rents as high as $3,800/month and 2 apartments delivered vacant with projected rents of $4,500.  With a total projected rent roll of $266K/year and potential to easily reach $290K/year even with the rent stabilized rents as-is, this building is another cash cow waiting to happen.  173 Amity may have sold for "only" a 4.79% - 5.3% cap rate, however with lots of upside left if you know what to do with it.

We call it a "genie in the bottle" when a building this juicy has plenty of upside to unlock.  Christina Aguilera sang, "I'm a genie in a bottle, ya gotta rub me the right way."

And if you know how to rub it, there's all kinds of potential to unlock in a building this large, this nice, and in this prime of a location.  If you wanted 3 & 4 bedroom apartment rentals in an 8-Family limestone over 10,000 sqft even closer to the train than this for less than half the price, with even higher upside, than you should've been rolling with us this time last year when the highest bid on 234 St. James Place of $1.6M was up for grabs.

Nowadays, a smaller, corner limestone 8-Family on the edge of Prospect Heights and Crown Heights at 706 Classon Avenue wants $3M.  And that's a fixer upper without the rent roll of 234 St. James or 173 Amity.  It won't be long before 173 Amity can go the way of 397 1st Street.  But pricing as a buy & hold winner makes sense too.  For those who know how to rub the lamps, a few more genie in a bottles are coming out on the market now.

Pro's:  location, corner, size, rent roll, upside potential

Con's:  takes deep pockets to acquire

Ideally:  great buy & hold and/or eventual condo conversion

"Price Drop" Sold in Cobble Hill: 319 Degraw Street

Like all of the coveted neighborhoods in Brooklyn these days, Cobble Hill ain't coming cheap.  319 Degraw Street came out a year ago with Brown Harris Stevens and wanted over $3M.  We thought $3.2M was certainly too steep for this narrow 3-Family used as a 1 or 2.  It found a new broker and a new price towards the end of 2011, but $2.6M was still too steep for Platinum Members for just a 16' wide house with an adjacent lot the agent insisted could be sold for some $800K all by itself.  That felt like the "Do as I say, not as I do" we saw on Prospect Place a few months ago.  Selling the lot at $800K supposedly would value the house itself around $1.8M, which is a stretch, but not impossible in this market:

We'd want something more special for $1.8M, but it is what it is.  Who can hate on the backyard deck with the old-school wine press?

The property managed to sell for $2.4M in May, and it will be interesting to see what happens. It's a quirky problem to have.  The adjacent lot could be the most expensive parking space ever.  The owner could sell it or develop it themselves into a separate house.   It could become the garage of an extension ya build to expand the existing 16' wide house onto the full 33' length of the lot.  Any number of possibilities, depending on their goals and their budget, and we're curious to see what happens.

Pro's:  turnkey house now with parking, versatile 33' wide lot, 6,000 sqft buildable

Con's:  existing house is small, but expanding it takes deep pockets

Ideally:  with the right budget, a 33' wide house is the pimpest use of space available over here.

Top Notch Cobble Hill: 329 Clinton Street

Is it too much to ask to be wowed by a $2M+ listing? Yesterday's listing for 473 Clinton Avenue left us way underwhelmed, so we thought we'd mosey on over to Clinton Street in Cobble Hill and see what Brooklyn's most expensive neighborhood by median home sale price had to offer above $2M. 329 Clinton Street is a 21' wide 4-Family brownstone on a top-notch block. You've seen us on Clinton Street before, like when a shell listed for $1.45M with no pictures and quickly closed for $1.731M, but 329 Clinton Street is no shell. It's also no steal either at $2.695M. This 5-story home has all kinds of neat details like parquet floors, hardwood floors, original mantles, exposed brick, exposed wood beams, multiple skylights in the attic...





But still not nearly as impressive as the less expensive, better photographed, in contract 3-Family on Warren Street. BHS knows what they're doing. When you're making over $120K on a listing, why not throw the photographer a few Benjamins along the way to help really sell the place to these big-ticket buyers? With better pictures to be found on a $929K apartment listing than this $2.695M building on Clinton Street, it kinda leaves us kind of feeling like Cartman, who "at least likes to be wined & dined" after he's taken advantage of.



At least this listing for a $930K condo in Clinton Hill offers 2 spa gift certificates if you close by November 30th. Which might be a nice parting gift if you bought a $60K Mercedes, but is really the least the agent could do if you just dropped about $200K down on a condo. Someone is eventually going to see this place on Clinton Street and pay up for a block where inventory is quality over quantity, but if it were our listing, you'd get a WAY better look at it than this.

Pro's: top notch block, 21' wide, 5 story, great original details, backyard, a few good looks at the interior, lots of FAR to work with

Con's: definitely not the best way to spend this kind of money, not the best-possible look at the inside on the listing

Ideally: this price isn't even close in our book with what else is out there, but - ironically - past a certain price, pricing isn't even the issue anymore

4-Family in Cobble Hill: 348 Baltic Street

We'd love to snag a nice 4-Family in Cobble Hill - who wouldn't? That's why 82 Butler Street was such a good pick-up and went so quickly above asking price. Especially now that the just-plain-silly prices have popped back on the scene, if a frame house like 193 Washington can mark itself up an extra $450K, why can't the pricest neighborhood in Brooklyn give it a try? 348 Baltic Street is a tall, skinny 4-Family in the heart of things in Cobble Hill. In this market, we know where their pricing is coming from. While the property is totally turnkey "and boasts new stairs, updated electrical, dishwasers [sic] and granite counters", nothing in the pictures really wows us either for this price range:





Sure, over here people pay up for the school district, the avenues, the F train, at almost more of a premium now than in Park Slope. At $822/sqft, though, we'd dare say you're better off with a great condo. While not as embarrassingly bad as 137 Adelphi, $1.975M seems a little steep for 16' wide and nothing special on the inside - even in Cobble Hill. While some readers lamented to us yesterday that their $2,400/month 1BR rental in this area might be headed towards $2,900/month - we're still not sure that's grounds to overpay here. Especially if $1.975M could get you something better. Lots of better places come to mind. Contact us for more details...

Pro's: 4-Family, turnkey, great location, backyard space, "private terraces" on 2nd & 3rd floors

Con's: 16' wide, price, inflated premium for the location, layout is probably only 1BR rentals, doesn't "wow" us on the inside

Ideally: get MUCH more for your money somewhere else.

Prime Time Cobble Hill: 362 Degraw Street

If you like the BoCoCa vibe (Boerum Hill, Cobble Hill, Carroll Gardens), then the location doesn't get much more prime than this. 362 Degraw Street is just one door in from Smith Street, surrounded by lovable places like Zaytoon's, Cafe Luluc, and Bar Great Harry. The exterior looks great, and "with a nearly finished conversion by its architect/owner" there have been lots of nice updates, including a bulkhead on the roof with a roof terrace. Let me repeat: ROOF TERRACE

How about this nice, bright space with the exposed beams and the interior staircase?



While other parts of the interior have more of a cottage feel...





You even get a small yard on just a 60' deep lot. Oh wait, that's also because the house is only 32' deep. Listed as a legal 4-Family on Property Shark, the listing calls out only one garden rental 1BR, putting this more in the 2-Family category. As the pricey 2-Family market goes, this one certainly holds its own at $1.675M. Either way you cut it, somebody's gonna wanna pay top dollar over here, even if the interior style isn't always up to their taste.

Pro's: LOCATION, curb appeal, renovated & updated, ROOF TERRACE, cute little finished backyard

Con's: no pictures of the roof terrace, interior look is fresh-but-dated, 32' deep

Ideally: a great quality-not-quantity play in a primo neighborhood, especially closer to $1.5M

The Price Is Wrong: 367 Degraw Street

Where's Bob Barker when you need him?



Because pets are running around neither spayed nor neutered, and people are throwing the craziest prices on everything. If the closest bid without going over wins, we're bidding $1. Now we can't blame ya, if you're sitting on 100% equity and any agent is willing to take the listing, and crazier things have happened, it's worth a shot to list your property for too much and hope you hit the lotto.

367 Degraw Street is a 3-Family brick building just off of Smith Street in BoCoCa recently listed for $1.85M. While many things in this neighborhood have gone for this kind of price, they usually have more to offer. The dark interior pictures of this building don't entice us to drop the $400K in downpayment and closing costs it would take at this price.





You may recall a close neighbor 476 Degraw that went into contract pretty quickly with great photos of a shiny new renovation. It's hard for us to see someone paying this much more for so much less. There are way better ways to dedicate this dough, but if you like this, you might even like the embarrassingly mis-priced 137 Adelphi Street.

Pro's: location, backyard, rental income potential

Con's: mispriced, meager interior, layout looks pretty bootleg

Ideally: Drive out to Long Island and tell this agent what's really going on in Brooklyn, then you might be able to snag this at a reasonable price.

4-Fam' in Cobble Hill is Calling: 82 Butler Street

Listed just above the borough-high average of $1.54M for Cobble Hill homes, at $1.595M, 82 Butler Street is a 4-Family brownstone in PRIME Cobble Hill that's worth a look. Unlike some of the more lofty price points or janky joints running around these parts towards outer Carroll Gardens, this looks like a turn-key rental operation. It would seem the apartments are set-up as large 1BR's, but if 2BR's could fit on any of the floors, given the 25' width of this building, the rent per floor might be more optimal. We love that the listing even calls out the gross rent roll of $94K/year, the fact that each unit has its own washer/dry (great ROI there), and that tenants even pay their own heat & hot water.





Don't forget the back yard and deck:



At these current rents, the max FHA loan amount might not get all the way up to the 4-Family loan limit of $1.4M. But market rents might be estimated even a little higher, so ask around. From what we can tell, the owner's had it for years and is sitting on a great monthly rental income check and tons of equity. So probably no hurry to drop the price there, but also perhaps room to negotiate without any heavy loan to get out from under.

Especially with foolishness like this going on, a garden-level condo closing a few blocks away for $700/sqft+, at $479/sqft, 82 Butler is almost a play as a condo alternative. Or, given its great condition on the interior, it's not even a far cry from a condo conversion play.

Pro's: prime Cobble Hill, steps to usable trains & amenities, great rental income potential, totally turn-key, 25' wide, backyard & deck

Con's: currents rents can't get up to $1.4M loan limit, 1BR's rentals?

Ideally: look into it and keep an eye on it. This is a good buy for many at this asking price. It becomes REALLY interesting anywhere closer to $1.4M.

How a Pricey 2-Family's Supposed to Look: 476 Degraw Street

At BK to the Fullest, we're dedicated to bringing you a diverse variety of hard-to-find listings. So we'd like to bring you more than just Corcoran listings. And we don't wanna pad their stats or anything, or toot their horn endlessly. We do have to give them credit, though. Even when they mail it in, they're still running laps around the competition. Once again today, we couldn't resist covering one of their places.

Look at this renovation & staging... so simple & sleek, they didn't even bother to center the rug...



And it still works.

A little paint job, a little crown molding, nice countertops and shiny things...





If you got it, flaunt it.

476 Degraw Street is a 2-Family brick building in the Gowanus-y end of Cobble Hill. Granted, this is way off the beaten path, kinda boxed in the by the projects. But this place makes a way better case for itself than most of these pricey 2-Family listings out there now.

Cheaper than 228 Cumberland, which is on a way better block, but no one's ever seen the inside of. Cheaper than 414 Dean, which needs all kinds of work. It's cheaper and probably a better proposition than 61A South Elliot Place.

On Google Maps, you'll find there was a cute tag on a cinderblock warehouse-y construction next door:



This may be too Gowanus-y for its own good and therefore kinda over-compensating on the interior, á la 128 2nd Street.

This whole price range is too high for us for a 2-Family. But the money, 407 Sterling and 54 St. Felix are still the top two 2-Family's out there.

Pro's: interior, you can SEE the interior, perhaps there's someone for whom this place stacks up to pricey condos?

Con's: at the very edge of a good neighborhood, Gowanus-y, pricey, small, hike to the train and amenities

Ideally: at what price does this beat Sterling or St. Felix?