Thursday, October 9, 2014

Platinum Members in Contract on Prime Crown Heights Gem: 711 Sterling Place





Don't try this on your StreetEasy, y'all!!  But Platinum Members just fully executed contract on one of Crown Heights' juiciest buy & hold gems.  This spot is just steps from what many have hailed as God's gift to brownstone Brooklyn gentrification, Franklin Avenue.  You know, the location that has everything the conk-ya-over-the-head-obvious renters, buyers, and frequenters of the neighborhood can get their heads around.  From Barboncino, to Chavela's, to Franklin Park, to the new Starbucks, to the wine shop, to Bob & Betty's, to the cheese monger spot, to Roscoe's, to Mayfield, to Centi Anni, to Berg'n, to the Crabby Shack, to multiple Indian and Carribean food spots, independent coffee shops, yoga studios, 2/3/4/5/S trains, yoga studios, and what-have-you.... all on Franklin Avenue.  There's even a new "Sweets & Treats" spot on this very corner for yours truly, "Snacks Jackson"

Yes, 711 Sterling Place is a huge 20' x 70' building with 3BR apartments that was asking well over $2M and is now in contract well under $2M.  Cry-baby "investors" sitting back at home always need you to pencil the math for them as if they've never multiplied 3 numbers together before, so let's oblige.  20 feet wide x 70 feet deep x 4 stories stories equals.... (drum roll, please)  5,600 square feet. 

"Wait, you're buying a building at almost $300 a square foot on the same street where condos 2 blocks west are selling for $900/sqft??"   That's right!  Read 'em & weep.

 "Wait, but that's only 5,600 square feet GROSS, you'll have loss factor for hallways, etc, so you won't NET that many feet," the investors will say.  Yeah?  No, sh*t, Sherlock.  Even then, you're still looking at over 1,000 sqft net on each floor!  But they don't hear us though.  And we can't wait to show you another pre-market comp of what the rental market right around the corner is capable of on another Platinum Member pick-up that's putting the finishing touches on as we speak.  The genius of a play like 711 is that you don't have to be an all-out cash machine to acquire it, it will cash flow on day 1 even with attractive financing, and the condo conversion can come when the market is even more ripe than it is now.  No, this is not an all-out steal, but it is definitely a DEAL, especially with comps in worse locations and in worse condition going for the same price, such as 1319 Bedford Avenue for $1.7M cash or 72 Herkimer Street in contract for $1.8M cash.  To get 711 Sterling Place with financing is an amazing pick-up, and an upper-cut of reality to the steady stream of Johnny-Come-Lately's that reach out to us asking for Franklin Avenue for a million.  Even the plots of dirt on Franklin Avenue sell for over a million now.  So you know we're loving 7-11.





"So, are you gonna put a roof deck on it and duplex the garden apartment with the basement?"  Uh, duh!  Doesn't everyone??  This is "development", not rocket science, people!  711 Sterling Place, also named "Stella" on the facade above the entry, has a decent curb appeal with its half-bow curve to the front and white-on-gray look to it.  The cute red Vespa out front in these pics is just added flare...






"But what if the rents don't keep going up and up and up forever??  This market has to cool off at some point, doesn't it?!?"  Sure, it does, Chicken Little.  But this isn't speculation.  This place is bank at today's rents, and even yesterday's rents, but we're happy to take a look if you think you have any shred of data that says this market is slowing down, stopping, or retracing.  When people are paying $2,200+ for studios on the same street AND right around the corner, and others are paying $1,600+/BR on the same street, does a building that makes bank at $1,200/BR sound attractive to you?? 

We've got no pics of the inside of 711 for now, unfortch', but rest assured we wouldn't be touching this deal if it weren't worth its weight.  Platinum Members are usually even more chicken than we are, so when we get the call to team up with them, our answer is usually, "We'll do any deal the bank will let us do."  And to that end, we bring you Stella!





Pro's:  size, curb appeal, location, condition, 3BR's on the floorplate, delivered vacant, totally free-market apts, killer rental income & condo potential, happened below asking price, happened almost off-market, didn't take all-cash to do it, the size of an 8-Fam with the flexibility of a FM 4-Fam

Con's:  no pics of the interior, cry-baby so-called investors always find something to hate on even when it's obvi the hands-down best of breed deal in town

Ideally:  whether you call it $900K a floor on sell out or $3,600 minimum a floor on rental, we call it a golden pick-up that didn't take all-cash in a prime-time location.


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