Thursday, January 26, 2012

Semi-Open House This Saturday: 864 President Street



Listed since before Thanksgiving, and nearly impossible to get into, this 7-Family hit the scene for $2.7M. 864 President Street is a healthy 20' x 50' on a great block in Park Slope. The price doesn't seem too too crazy compared to what you see for the flagship properties on the best blocks in the Slope these days. But who does this property work for? The listing brags, "This 5 story Victorian brownstone has an income of $150K that should pay off $1.9 million dollar mortgage." However, our commercial mortgage guy says this place can carry a maximum mortgage of $1.2M. And our guess is they're not ready to adjust that $700K discrepancy on their price.

Thus, even if you had the $1.5M in cash necessary to acquire it (which is no small "if"), then is that what you want to pay to get one floor, at best, of this big ol' house? Wouldn't you want more of it to yourself?

104 Berkeley Place is a cheaper look at something just as pretty on the outside that a user can actually get a duplex in AND get great rentals without the drama of rent controlled or rent stabilized tenants. 104 Berkeley is also simpler to finance.

And as investors go, $150K gross income for $2.7M? You can NET $150K over here for $2.4M. And at least that you can see the inside of and get to enjoy all the upside that the market will bear.

The "open house" on Saturday that's "By Private Appointment" we're sure is only for qualified buyers. But we're hard-pressed to think who's ready to make this happen unless there's readily-available upside in the rents, or readily-available flexibility on the price. Certainly there's a long term conversion play here, but there's no telling how long that might take. And we'd rather not pay the ~$20K/year tax bill waiting to find out.

Pro's: curb appeal, location, a cinch to rent, flagship Slope

Con's: no pics inside, pricing, acquisition, rent controlled/stabilized tenants, where does the buyer live?, where's the investor's cash-flow?

Ideally: maybe, just maybe, there's someone out there with the funds to swing it for whom this is a slippery slope away from purchasing an already-pricey co-op in a brownstone. Maybe they'll figure if they're paying $1M+ for a 2BR, they might as well pay almost $3M and get the whole building?

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