The immediate setting is not great, right next to a giant laundromat parking lot — I’ll give you that. But what this skinny house at 677 Hart has going for it is its location on the good side of Myrtle, just a few-minutes walk to all the amenities of bustling North Bushwick. And the house is also not much, though I have a bit of a thing for these tiny buildings — or “manageable” as I like to say — and the kooky triangular front makes me wonder what this place must have looked like when built. The listing mentions a “finished basement” — possibly a second apartment. This was listed for $450,000 a couple years ago, so it’s had a 33% price cut. Not bad. And for the price of a condo 1/5 the size, you can have a whole house.
677 Hart Street | $299,999
1623sqft | 15ft-wide | single-family, 3ba | frame
Central M/DeKalb L
sweetser May 13th, 2009 at 1:22 pm
i checked this house out a few months ago because of the prime location which jeremy mentioned. sorry to be a downer but i swear this place might be the biggest dump on earth. the landlord is running the place like an illegal boarding house, renting out rooms individually, so you have a bunch of single bedrooms functioning as apartments for small families. most of the rooms don’t have access to the kitchen, so they have hot plates, microwaves, and pantries in the corner of the room. must be totally infested with bugs and rodents, not to mention the extreme risk of a fire. this place would need some tremendous work before it could be comfortably inhabited, and even the small backyard is a wreck. of all the properties i’ve checked out in bushwick, this was the only one i could immediately cross off my list. what about 877 hart st? a good bit more expensive but i think deserving of some more publicity.
Sally Ross May 13th, 2009 at 6:19 pm
What do you mean “the good side of Myrtle” ?! What`s wrong with my side? I`m on high ground, I`m 3 blocks from the J or M, and I`ve got the best neighbors in the world. They lend me tools, help me fix stuff in my house, look out for me, and welcomed me to the nabe like I was family even though I`m of a totally different ethnic background. Not only that, but there are really good rice and beans over here, an internet cafe called Goodbye Blue Mondays and a couple of clubs you`ve probably never heard of since you`re “over there”……
armstrong May 13th, 2009 at 7:57 pm
fug
Andy May 13th, 2009 at 11:23 pm
I knew a guy who was living in this place about a year ago. Complete dump. Expect to put in a couple thousand more in renovations to actually make the place comfortable. But it’s a good spot, if you want to fix up a place.
willoughby sharpe May 14th, 2009 at 8:30 am
it’s certainly a fixer upper but I have a sneaking suspicion that the owner may be willing to deal on this one. the price may have been higher before but it’s been listed at the current price for a couple of years now.
bushwickitywack May 14th, 2009 at 7:03 pm
To say that this place is a complete dump is an understatement. You would have to put in at least $200k to make it decent. Not just minor cosmetics here. More like reconstructive surgery.
$$$ May 15th, 2009 at 2:40 pm
so, i don’t get it. does the author actually go check these places out, or is this all pulled from craigslist? cuz, given some of the responses, maybe criaglist doesn’t tell the whole story.
also, saying ‘the good side of mytrtle’ is completely unnecessary. the blog is for the whole neighborhood. getting into these petty distinctions makes this blog lose credibility and the authors seem like judgemental outsiders.
bushwickitywack May 15th, 2009 at 5:59 pm
well said, $$$…
i actually made an appointment with the broker to check this place out. my only regret is not taking any photos. first i read this blog post. then the broker tells me on the phone that the place was in move-in condition and only needed cosmetic work. needless to say, i wasted my afternoon. the best part was the soot on the ceiling and walls of the boiler room. clearly this room had caught on fire and spread up to the bathroom upstairs which was also covered in soot. the broker actually tried to pass that off as the previous tenant having painted the room black…incredible! overall, the house is falling apart. looks decent outside. but what lurks inside is another story.
Rod May 16th, 2009 at 6:36 am
$$$: I’m from Wickoff Heights and I believe that we live in two totally different neighborhoods. There is a big difference between North Bushwick and the other side of “Myrtle Ave”. So I give credit to Jeremy.
armstrong May 16th, 2009 at 12:29 pm
$$$: you want petty distinctions and a lack of credibility? You got it, via Rod, featuring misspellings, lol.
The “House of the Week” post seems totally arbitrary. I don’t understand the criteria for posting and often feel that the words “to Avoid” should be added to the title!
I agree someone should visit these places. There could be a whole sub-category of “Rip Off of the Week” which would shed light on dumps like this where the owner is clearly trying to take advantage of gentrification w/o doing any work.
That’s not to say there aren’t good houses in Bushwick, though I think we’re still far from the bottom of where the housing market is headed.
mopar May 16th, 2009 at 10:27 pm
Sigh. Most every place I have seen for sale in Bushwick is in this condition and many are illegal SROs. I think Jeremy found it interesting because of the price.
The area where this house is located is the oldest and one of the nicest. Doesn’t matter whether you’re above or below Myrtle.
sammy May 30th, 2009 at 10:12 am
I used to live just up the street from this place. it houses all kinds of cats that end up strays. former owners = total filth. i would never step foot.
thatlesliegirl June 4th, 2009 at 2:07 pm
I think you guys are unfairly mean to our Jeremy. At 300K, this house could be gutted and make a pretty good investment deal for someone. If the house had been in better condition and 400K, no one would have batted an eye. Have some vision, people! A total dump at the right price can equal a diamond in the rough.
bushwickitywack June 4th, 2009 at 2:49 pm
Ummmmm…I actually went to see this house with the broker. I am also an architect and can tell you that by the time you are done gutting it and putting all the necessary work in it will not be a good investment.
A quick exterior look and it does seem like a good deal. But go inside and it’s another story.
It is a total dump and NOT at the right price. Try knocking off about $200k.
thatlesliegirl June 4th, 2009 at 3:34 pm
So bushwickitywack, you really think this house is worth $100K? Less than a plot of land in this neighborhood? That just doesn’t compute…
bdushwickitywack June 4th, 2009 at 4:22 pm
In this economy and in that neighborhood? Absolutely! That lot is not that great to begin with. But, if it makes you happy, I’ll go up to $175k.