Listing of a Brooklyn Home Ignites Blog Readers

Readers at Curbed and Brownstoner were up in arms a couple of weeks ago over a $2.5-million listing on Guernsey Street. I have no idea if the asking price is reasonable, but the renovation was nice enough, and the response among the commentariat was over the top.

The history here is pretty typical (the market will decide if the ask is the new normal or not):

But when Mr. Wald, 33, bought the house, at 87A Guernsey Street, three years ago, its Smurf-blue vinyl siding and mustard-yellow aluminum awning were hardly runway material… He ripped off the vinyl and found layers of metal and asphalt siding underneath, on top of what appeared to be the original cedar shingles. He pulled up the linoleum flooring and found a red cedar base. He scoured antiques stores from Rhode Island to Texas, buying up old doors and knobs, funky chandeliers and the like.

The facade is nice, but the shingle job like as not in no way resembles the “original” – it is more beachfront style than any turn of the century Greenpoint row house would have sported.

Jardin Going Rental

Jardin (née Urban Green), the development that takes up the middle of the block of North 5th/North 6th and Bedford/Berry is repurposing itself yet again, this time as luxury rentals.

For a development with three very big things in its favor (location, location and location), this project has been particularly star crossed. It went into the ground at least 5 years ago this month, spent at least two years completely stalled, and then was revived as Jardin this past summer.

Edge Selling More Units

The Edge has “sold” more units in the first 5 months of 2011 than any single development sold in all of 2010.

Yes, the Edge has more units to sell than any single development on the market in 2010, but the fact that they are “selling” (signing contracts, really, but that is the PR standard, so let’s go with it) units at a pace of 30+ per month is yet another sign of a relatively strong market in North Brooklyn. Or maybe it just reinforces the old real estate adage – “location, location, location” – something the Edge also has more of than just about any other development on the market.