House of the Day: 228 Washington Avenue
This corner brownstone at 228 Washington Avenue in Clinton Hill just hit the market with the eye-catching price of $1,260,000. Compared to the prices we’ve become accustomed to seeing in the past couple of years, this seemed incredibly low at first glance. Then we realized that it’s chopped up into five units and will need…
This corner brownstone at 228 Washington Avenue in Clinton Hill just hit the market with the eye-catching price of $1,260,000. Compared to the prices we’ve become accustomed to seeing in the past couple of years, this seemed incredibly low at first glance. Then we realized that it’s chopped up into five units and will need a serious reno to convert it to a one- or two-family residence and the price made a lot more sense. We still think this is a pretty interesting deal, more likely as a condo play than a family residence. The two-car garage at the rear only sweetens the pot.
228 Washington Avenue [Massey Knakal] GMAP P*Shark
However, because the CofO is for 7 units it would be considered a commercial property for financing purposes, which means at least 25% down and a higher interest rate.
But can’t a rent stabilized lease be not renewed if you need the space for your family? Yes, it might be hard to believe that one is planning on turing an entire apartment building into a one-family house, but taking over a duplex is another matter. Sounds possible to me.
This is ridiculous, the idea that a firm like MK would be hawking this property without coming out and saying on the top line “owner’s duplex occupied by rent-regulated tenant” is sleazy.
The money that would be needed to bring this exploited and mistreated little building up to First World standards, and the money (and also wear and tear on one’s arteries) that would be required to remove tenants without leases, is one of those weird throw-back to the Soviet system that survives only in NYC.
This is a good investment for someone like Tony Soprano, who could make a “convincing argument” to the tenants to leave forthwith or sleep with the fishes. Alas that is what the NYC rent laws encourage.
Shameful, but what can one do? I steer clear and live my good life away from housing court and rent control court and the Brooklyn version of the Kremlin and the Cosa Nostra. I learned that sometime after my curriculum at St.Paul’s and Yale.
Cheers!
Hey Rent!
Go to website for the Washington place, scroll down and go to the Documents:Setup (pdf) file. That gives you the down low on the property!
Sorry, I’m a bit new to this so I didn’t quite get all the nuances of the above posts. I’m hoping to hear your collective wisdom on this:
1. Can’t landlords move into the duplex unit if they will indeed reside there as their primary residence?
2. How did y’all get details about how much the rent was for each of the units? All I got was a total monthly gross of $5416
3. Was there a consensus on how much the property tax would increase over time?
Thanks for your feedback.
Converting garages and building on all depends on FAR and Zoning. In most cases especially in residential, you can’t build to your lot line. And you need a certain amount of rear yard, or rear setback. It’s very complicated. You’d have to do a zoning analysis.
Even if you’re turning it into a 1-family, you have to honor the leases. When lease is up, you start eviction. It’s a very time consuming process. The house better be worth the headache.
denton & jab287 what use is a garage or roof deck if you can’t live in your own house? Remember RS tenants basically own the place…only you are responsible for maintaining it…sucks big time but that is NYC. Oh and about converting to 1 family, it will still not be easy…remember the NYT article about West village house…..sorry folks but I would look elsewhere..
Wow I was totally fooled and even left the broker a message before the above posts about rent stabilized tenants. Oh well if those tenants occupy the duplex then this is not worth even $900000 IMHO…too much hassle believe me.
jab287, A great use of those garages is a nice roof deck for the owner