$429,000 | 1-family | 1052 Madison Street | map
One of those woodframe “wild west” houses: they look to me like they should be in old ghost towns. This place has most of its exterior detail intact, but I think they changed the porch railings. It’s big for a single-family home: 2350, 4bed/2bath. The two baths makes me think this was originally a two-family. The location is meh but the price is fabulous. A smart person with good credit but modest means could grab this and pack it with roommates.
$599,000 | 1-family | 27 Linden Street | map
Again, a single-family home that must have been more in previous decades: “easy conversion to 2-family.” Six bedrooms, three baths on a great block with some of the best brick houses in Bushwick. “Modern kichens and baths” could be good or bad, depending on the taste of the owner. Expect bad.
-
$699,000 | 2-family | 603 Van Buren Street | map
“4 story double duplex fully renovated with all new kitchens, 4 new bathrooms, 10 rooms, 6 bedrooms, 4 original marble fireplaces, all new hardwood floors, open exposed brick on all floors on a quiet residential block close to the J,M subway stop and delivered vacant.” I’m not sure I can add anything else, this place seem great, if a little expensive. The fireplaces alone seem worth it to a dork like me.
-
$779,000 | ?-family | 617 Van Buren Street | map
For 779, this better be a three-family. It looks like it has that tan concrete treatment they have on the non-stone portions of brownstones, but they’re not fooling anybody. Nine bedrooms, 3 baths, but a mere 2100sqft. It’s not a bad house, I just think it’s quite overpriced for the size and location.
-
$640,000 | 2-family | 78 Linden Street | map
A not-so-cool woodframe further up Linden from #1…but it has three apartments, and hey, people gotta live somewhere. 4 over 3 over 1, 3 baths. Vacant lot next door. Don’t expect the agent to know much of anything — the ad says it’s in Bed-Stuy. But it’s a good price for all those rooms.
-
Jimmy Legs July 5th, 2007 at 12:28 pm
whoa. those first two listings are houses i looked at before buying the place i have now. weird that they’re back on the market already. the green and white house was selling for as low as $389K this time last year. maybe it never sold or something.
now, 27 linden is a lovely house, but it’s got some problems. the renovations weren’t finished when i saw it but it looked like an okay reno. can’t remember the bathrooms but i think they were serviceable but generic. the floor is carpet because they were too cheap to put in real floor (carpet in on top of subfloor, which could be finished). oh an the backyard is pretty small.
here’s the weird thing: they were selling as a 2-family but in truth it only has a c of o for 1-family. somebody did buy the place, i guess they’ve had enough. maybe it was too expensive to convert? anyway, original asking price was $570K,.
LisaB July 6th, 2007 at 10:45 am
Yes, I saw two lovely homes on Linden for $599K each and this was one of them. Constantly on the market, so i figured something was fishy. Linden has some beautiful homes. i do like the first house.
Jimmy what other homes did you come close to buying or make offers on.
I had 5 other offers before my house finally came through.
Jimmy Legs July 6th, 2007 at 12:03 pm
ditto on that block of linden, there are some really lovely houses there (a couple of houses down from 27 are for sale, they have terra cotta detailing on the facade). but a couple blocks down and you have the Linden Street Bloods who have been causing trouble lately.
we looked at houses all over the place, from crown hts to bed stuy to bushwick, but nothing much worth reporting. ironically, we ended up buying the first house we looked at. we saw it, weren’t sure if it was for us, it went off the market, and by the time we realized it was probably the best deal we could have had, it was back (prospective buyer couldn’t secure funding).
Jeremy July 6th, 2007 at 1:19 pm
That was pretty much the same story for us, JL. We saw this place, decided it was the best one after seeing tons of scary crap, and made an offer. Then the lady didn’t want to sell because she’d be “homeless” with, er, half a mil in her pocket. Anyway, when she realized she could afford any apartment she wanted in Bushwick, they called us back and we took a day to decide we’d go with it, because we were seriously considering buying in the one coop in Bushwick, that one on Cornelia.
BklynGirl July 10th, 2007 at 12:07 am
Which coop on Cornelia. I think the block off Bushwick Ave on this street has some lovely homes, and this area is considered South Bushwick (i.e. SoBu).
Clearing $500K from a house doesn’t sound homeless to me. For half of that she could have any apt. in bushwick to buy.
Jimmy, glad you were able to get a two family for the price of a one.
Did both of you guys buy your places solo, and just invited the girlfriends to move in? Sounds like an amazing offer.
Jeremy July 10th, 2007 at 9:51 am
There’s only one coop in Bushwick: 246 (I think?) Cornelia, between Wilson and Knickerbocker. It has a great terrazzo lobby, marble stairways, and the units are large and cheap, though they do need work.
Ben July 10th, 2007 at 11:22 am
It looks like it’s on the corner of Cornelia and Wilson, the address you have, 246 Cornelia is correct as is 463 Wilson Ave. According to Propertyshark units have been trading for around $200k.
Jeremy July 10th, 2007 at 5:03 pm
The Wilson address is for the storefronts, I’m sure. The apartments are a great size and have all the details, need work but what an investment! You can’t rent them out before two years, though, so not for speculators (unless they can afford for it to sit vacant).
Marika July 10th, 2007 at 11:51 pm
Would be very interested to know more about the Linden Street Bloods, where they roam, and what kind of trouble they cause. I live on Linden Street and am not really aware of anything, but maybe I am not quite in the action hot spot.
Jeremy July 11th, 2007 at 12:59 am
Marika, the gangs probably don’t cause too much trouble for people who aren’t also in a gang. Plus, I’m sure they don’t have too much of a presence on the private property-dominated blocks of Linden. I mean, if you live there and haven’t noticed anything, that seems to be a good indicator of how nonthreatening the situation is.