House of the Day: 174 Clinton Avenue
Perhaps if the seller of 174 Clinton Avenue hadn’t spent so much time ripping open the facade of his historic brownstone and stealing a parking space from the public by cutting the curb, he might not be in his current situation. (Oh, it also would have helped if he’d priced the property reasonably back in…
Perhaps if the seller of 174 Clinton Avenue hadn’t spent so much time ripping open the facade of his historic brownstone and stealing a parking space from the public by cutting the curb, he might not be in his current situation. (Oh, it also would have helped if he’d priced the property reasonably back in the fall of 2007 back when he, quite astutely, subdivided the through lot into two pieces.) The listing debuted with Brown Harris Stevens in October 2007 at $2,500,000 and was subsequently cut to $1,990,000 in April of last year before being pulled off the market. Now it has re-emerged, post-renovation, with Halstead at the wheel and a new 2009-friendly price of $1,800,000. The interior has been cleaned up considerably and, while a lot of the original woodwork has been preserved, some of the renovation choices (like the exposed brick fireplaces and modern yard) don’t float our boat. That said, this price is back in reality land now. It remains to be seen whether buyers will like the in-house parking feature or lament the foregone rental income that came with that decision.
174 Clinton Avenue [Halstead] GMAP P*Shark
Clinton Ave. Curb Cutter Takes 20% Haircut [Brownstoner]
Cut and Run at 174 Clinton Avenue [Brownstoner]
Development Watch: 175 Vanderbilt Avenue [Brownstoner]
“Gracias, that’s a pretty ignorant estimate. If you are clueless about the neighborhood, how can you even comment?
Posted by: brownstoner at May 11, 2009 1:54 PM”
Pretty laughable that brownstoner got his panties in a knot. You put up a widget to let readers, not professional appraisers, enter a price. Gracias has as much basis as most who submit a number, leaving aside the poster who always enters the +40% max. I won’t bet my house, but I’d bet 20 bucks that Gracias’s estimate is closer to what it sells for than the “2009-friendly price of $1,800,000.”
What’s the matter, are you helping a friend sell this one, like the one mentioned in the NYT article? Some financial interest in this sale? Or, just provincial and protective about your Clinton Hill neighborhood?
Regardless of this flipper’s charmless creation, you have to admit he has some business savvy. (S)he buys in ’05 for 1 mil, sells half the lot, and navigates the zoning laws and whatever agency to get a curb cut and a garage put in. Timings a little off, but is he sells for 1.1, seems like he’s still going to come out well ahead.
If only he would use his powers for good.
“I’d bet that 55+ of the 63 appraisals are not familiar with the block but it doesn’t mean their opinion is invalid.”
Neighborhood and immediate surroundings account a lot for a home’s pricing, so if someone doesn’t know these things they shouldn’t be guessing.
of course tons of people would love the parking. think the back yard is good because it’s simply clean and the fencing is done. you could move in and figure out the yard later but still use as it.
the place has too little description from the broker, but seems like a blank slate.
What, darling, I am well aware those are not projects, and said nothing of the sort. I said it was a housing complex, which it is. Calm yourself. Or get thee to your meds with a quickness.
Actually you can get a very nice one bedroom in the Clinton Hill coops for $325. Very Stuveysant/Peter Cooper like and a good deal, lots better than the Griffin. That being said Clinton Avenue has some very grand streches, this just not one of them.
“I AM fairly familiar with this block and don’t much like it. It lacks charm, is smack across the street from a huge housing complex,”
Posted by: Nokilissa at May 11, 2009 4:49 PM
“Isn’t that across the street from the projects?”
Posted by: Xander Crews at May 11, 2009 2:53 PM
Those “Projects” are Co-Ops you Covert Racist Assholes!!!! One Bedroom in that “Project” are going for 350K and you see why I go off!!
The What
Someday this war is gonna end…
I’d bet that 55+ of the 63 appraisals are not familiar with the block but it doesn’t mean their opinion is invalid.
Having said that, no description and no idea about size, families, number of bedrooms and bathrooms, quality of kitchen(s), etc make this a complete shot in the dark. The only thing we do know is that the buyer couldn’t get $2m for it when the market hadn’t really fallen off yet.
From the pictures and google streetmaps it looks decent but quite frankly even if it were on at $1m there would be other houses on the market that would be higher up on my list.
I’m surprised at the “ridiculous”ness of Gracias’ guess.
I AM fairly familiar with this block and don’t much like it. It lacks charm, is smack across the street from a huge housing complex, is a gigantic hike from any useful subway and is very close to Myrtle, which in my book, is no where near a plus at present.
This home lacks charm and warmth of any kind and the developer has desecrated the structure. A big cement pit leads to a garage, which for most is not nearly as useful as a lower and rent-able level. And we have no idea of the floor plan or square footage. I wouldn’t guess more than 1.3 maybe 1.4, so I was surprised at seeing Gracias get raked a bit.