Thursday, December 27, 2012

Record-Breaking Brownstone: 333 MacDonough Street


Breaking up is hard to do, but breaking records in Bed-Stuy is easy.  333 MacDonough Street is a 4-story 3-Family on a great block in Bed-Stuy that listed for $1.295M and just sold for a record-breaking $1.34M.  "Lovingly restored" sounds about right...





The listing broker is spot on when she says, "But even at record-breaking prices, the residential property is still a bargain."  When a 3-Family this nice with an owner's duplex, a yard, and two top-notch rentals sells for this kind of price,  the headline may read "record-breaking", but we're still talking about a home that delivers solid income that costs barely $200K over the FHA 3-Family loan limit.



What does $1.34M get you in Park Slope anyways these days?  The broker says this same house would go for 4 times as much in Park Slope, which is a stretch.  Even Jenna's didn't get 4 times this much, but her point is taken.  It's funny that just a year ago people were trigger shy about spending this same price on a 4-story fixer-upper in Park Slope at 27 Park Place, also clearly listed with Corcoran.  Now that pricing's hitting Bed-Stuy for a killer restoration, but should we be surprised?

Let's keep pricing in perspective here.  If someone handed you - free & clear - a 2BR co-op in the West Village that cost $1.34M, the taxes & maintenance fees may be higher than your current rent and cramp your lifestyle.  However, if someone gave you 333 MacDonough Street, you'd get a sweet duplex AND be counting a healthy salary's worth of cash every month in rental income. 

50 people at the first open house on MacDonough?  Yowza!  That means 49 folks still looking for this home's cousin.  When that kind of activity came on cold days in January almost a year ago, the writing was on the wall in Park Slope.  We warned you months ago when the $1.5M's poked across Classon Avenue.  Long before a comp like this even hit the airwaves, long before it even listed, we were bullish on this block at 332 MacDonough and another winner on the same street.

They always ask us, "Is Bed-Stuy a bubble?"  Categorically no!  Granted, in the pre-cash days of 2006 & 2007, flippers were picking up houses in Bed-Stuy merely because they could sell them for more, and many got caught with their pants down.  But things are different today.  Despite the Euro debt crisis that spooked some folks last fall, and the fiscal cliff spooking folks now, rents and sales prices are still relatively soaring throughout brownstone Brooklyn.  The have's really have, interest rates are low, and the rents have arrived.  $2,000/month each for the rentals in this house?  You couldn't charge that in 2006.  Nowadays you sure can, and there's simply nowhere else for this kind of money to go.

Pro's:  curb appeal, great renovation job, owner's duplex & yard, great rentals

Con's:  gone already

Ideally:  don't sleep on Bed-Stuy

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