House of the Day: 1809 Glenwood Road
It takes a little vision to look past some of the aesthetics of this listing at 1809 Glenwood Road, but if you look closely you can see the downers are mostly skin deep. Remove the tacky furniture and occasional strip of track lighting, and this three-bedroom house would show pretty nicely. It’s got some very…
It takes a little vision to look past some of the aesthetics of this listing at 1809 Glenwood Road, but if you look closely you can see the downers are mostly skin deep. Remove the tacky furniture and occasional strip of track lighting, and this three-bedroom house would show pretty nicely. It’s got some very nice bones in the form of front-hall columns, fireplaces and built-in cabinetry. Not so sure about the price though: It’s asking $1,275,000. Reactions?
1809 Glenwood Road [Ditmas Estates] GMAP P*Shark
First, thank you to Brownstoner for putting my property on their forum.
Brooklyn real estate is really very simple. The long term trend is more people want to live in the NYC metro area than there is space for. This is probably because of the relatively high incomes available and the intense cultural life of the city.
So it boils down to Location, location , location, greater Ditmas Park (Midwood Park)is relatively close to the city, has very good transportation and good schools. There is also a tremendous community spirit, which could be seen by over 100 volunteers running the very successful Victorian House Tour. Because of the restrictive zoning in greater Ditmas Park, a.k.a. Victorian Flatbush, there are still numerous 40 and 50 by one hundred lots. These size lots are fast disappearing from other neighborhoods.
While the temporary economic situation may have slowed home sales. The above factors plus any inflation that we may have ( The gov’t is printing money like crazy) makes this house a tremendous buy right now, especially if you intend to live in the house for many years.
Lastily, I ask the commentors to be kind, this house represents the owners nest egg. Would you like it if someone ran down your property just because they thought it was witty? Please write responsibly
This is priced too high. I live in the neighborhood and I don’t think it’s worth it – would need to be in perfect shape to get that price.
williamsburgguy – your viewing room comment made my spill my coffee
Stop comparing NYC to the rest of the country. It’s not and never will be. Who cares what a house costs in Iowa. This ain’t Iowa! Go back to middle America, if you’re looking for a cheap house. For a house of this size, in a reasonable neighborhood, you are going to pay a high price for the pleasure of space and proximity to Manhattan. This is true even in the NYC suburbs. Houses are not cheap in the more desirable suburbs, either.
Yes, prices reflect market changes, but a house in DP, even a wreck, is not going to go for $200k, unless maybe we have a nuclear winter or some such catastrophe.
DP is one of the few relatively affordable family neighborhoods in Brooklyn, even at these prices. Families traditionally priced out of PS, BH, CG, etc… tend to look in Ditmas and Lefferts, the two areas with decent housing stock, proximity to the Park and the Slope (kid activities and schools)…. This is a world Williamsburg hipsters have yet to confront. Although about 5 years ago, The Village Voice did a little piece on DP and described it as the place where “aging hipsters go to retire.” I think they meant “breed.”
The average says $938k but the distribution is skewed lower than that. Is it time to show the median guess as well?
Williiamsburg was very industrial in the past. Not really a place where homes were particularly expensive. I thinks it’s unfair to compare a completely transformed area like Williamsburg to Flatbush which because of the quiet and suburban aesthetics was for most of its history considered an attractive place to live rather than an industrial area like Williamsburg or Hell’s Kitchen,;places that besides workmen who made their living in the factories and certain ethnic groups,no one wanted to live.
Yeah, you could buy a 3 bedroom house for 35 – 45K in the early seventies like my parents did in Marine Park for example. But until we hit some kind of hyper-deflation in this country (which I as an aspiring homeowner kind of hope we do) that 45K house is 500K. This house which was probably 60ish back then is 900 – Mil. Unless deflation increases at a historically unprecedented level that’s more or less today’s market.
The owner’s taste may not be the latest thing, but this house is very well maintained and needs no work at all.
I totally agree Joe (and I’m being serious). I gave less than 100K for my house in Williamsburg not all that long ago in real estate land. 10 years ago – before owing a house became like playing the stock market and driving these prices up to ridiculous levels – what would this mediocre house have gone for? 10 years ago in the rest of America it would have been a 180K house that today is worth MAYBE 200K. I remember when you could buy just about anywhere here in the city near a subway for a normal America price plus about $50K. 10 years ago NYC wasn’t all that expensive a place to live. The city hasn’t changed much except for the price.