Hey, old school New Yorkers! Remember those 1970’s commercials “What’s the story, Jerry?” They were for Jamaica Gas & Electric, aka JGE. Couldn’t find an original, but did come across this….
Posts categoriezed as REAL ESTATE
A House Full of History in Bay Ridge
I managed to check out the Stowe house estate sale during the final hours of the final day. Apparently I missed quite a bit.
The house was filled with antiquities. Everything from the furniture to the dishes to that crazy Victorian bicycle. I scored some vintage jewelry and kitchen wares. Went for the tschotkes, but I really wanted to check out this historic home.
The Connecticut Stows purchased the home in 1906 for $8500. Harriet Beecher Stowe (the “e” was added in the early 1900’s) of “Uncle Tom’s Cabin” fame wasn’t the only notable member of the family. There was also an American Revolution Captain and some dude who recast the Liberty Bell.
The house looks as if it hasn’t been touched since it was built. The woodwork is to die for! There are built in cabinets, a friggin’ gorgeous antique cast iron stove hidden in the corner of the servant’s kitchen and a few beautiful mantels. Untouched is a good thing, but the new owner (yes, it has been sold) will have lots of plastering to do as it looks like the wallpaper is the only thing holding up the walls. No bother, it will all be worth it!
So, take that other Brooklyn brownstone neighborhoods! Bay Ridge can have a seat at your table too. Who knew? (I didn’t.)
Moved Back But Not Settled In
When we moved out of our Beacon home four months ago, we left most of the furniture and all of our artwork behind to stage the house. It looks great but ah, at what cost, my friends?
For four months now we’ve been living out of totes because there’s nowhere to store the items we would like to unpack. Yes, we have closets and we brought dressers and our bed, a couch, a table and chairs…but honey, it’s not set up as it should be.
And then there are the stupid things we just forgot to pack. “Oh honey, where is such and such?” “In Beacon.” It’s not easy, this double life. But it will all be over soon!
I don’t want to jinx anything, but we can probably take our stuff out at this point. And we will, because if this deal falls through (Oh shit! Did I just jinx it?!) we’ll end up looking for renters by October. So, all of our crap needs to be out either way.
Now I have the horrible task of actually emptying out the entire house (and garage and basement and attic) instead of putting it off.
Ugh, maybe I prefer living without furniture.
Time to Refinance or Buy Property?
Economics is not my bag, man. But…tell me if I’m wrong. This is a great time to get a mortgage, right?
I’m looking at the rates and it’s in the mid 4%’s for a 30 year fixed and in the 3’s for a 15 year! I want to know why everybody isn’t running out and buying or refinancing. Is it because the banks aren’t loaning money?
I did the math on my own house. I wouldn’t be saving enough to refinance at 30 years, but if I paid the mortgage down and did a 15 year, I’d be rich, bitch! Too bad the only way to get the bucks to pay it down is to sell the other house.
So, I’m watching the rates and hoping that they stay low until someone realizes it’s a great time to buy my house. And then I can refinance!
Hello Kitty House!
This Hello Kitty house was making the blog rounds a year ago, but I just discovered it when someone posted a link on a Brownstoner convo.
I. AM. IN. LOVE.
My Beacon Victorian: Open House Sunday!
The realtor decided to do a last minute open house, scheduled for this Sunday, August 8th. Weird that July was dead but August is picking up as far as showings and interest. Fingers crossed! Eight is my lucky number!
Go look at it. Spread the word. Each week this home sits on the market, one of my cats will go without food. So, save the kittens and buy this lovely Beacon house!!
1189 North Avenue in Beacon (that’s route 9-D south)
1-4pm
Kelly will be hosting the open house. Her cell is 845-401-6906
The Only Steinbrenner I Knew
Isn’t George Steinbrenner a fictional Seinfeld character? I don’t follow baseball so I don’t really know this Steinbrenner dude. I do know that Larry David did a much better Steinbrenner than Steinbrenner himself. Check out this clip that either ended up on the cutting room floor or didn’t air too often. I don’t remember it, anyway. It’s Steinbrenner doing Steinbrenner! And he kind of sucks.
Gypsy Junker @ Tiny Yellow House
Heard about this on NPR. This guy builds hobbit cabins out of reclaimed material. His first one was called the Hickshaw. Because he’s a hick.
See also: Plywood Chateau
Buy This House (So They Can Buy Ours)
I shot this sweet Beacon Victorian last week for JonCar Realty, the same broker who’s listing our house. The seller and I got to chatting and it turns out they friggin adore my house but can’t put in an offer until they know theirs is going to sell.
I like the idea of this couple getting our house for a number of reasons.
1. They’ve restored their own old home and know what it takes.
2. They appreciate the work we’ve already done because, well, see #1.
3. They read my blog.
4. They are from Beacon, so they won’t be abandoning the house for the city after a few years (like us).
5. Our house is commercially zoned. A lovely Victorian with original detail up the road was sold to a lawyer a few years back and it was totally raped. Now it’s a vinyl sided law office. Damn shame, that is. I’d die if someone did that to my house.
6. Ok, here’s where I start tearing up. The wife said our house is her dream home. It’s always been our dream house and it still is. Just wish we could pack it and take it to Brooklyn. I want someone in there who loves it as much as we do.
Ok, enough about our house. So, here’s the house you have to buy:
A 1910 house on a quiet street. 3 BR, 2 Bath lovely restoration. 0.08 backyard already fenced for a dog, if you have one. Oh yeah, or kids. No work to do as far as I could see. Just move in and enjoy. $284,900.
Hurry up and call JonCar @ 845-831-3331.
Brooklyn Apartments Under $1200
It’s been a long time since I did an affordable housing post. Let’s see what kind of rentals are available in our fine boro of Brooklyn, shall we?
Clinton Hill Studio $980
The marble fireplace, the wide plank floors! It’s clean too, which for this price is difficult to find. The drawback? It’s the G train. Ugh.
Prospect Park South $1000
Meh apartment but location, location, location. Q/B train at Church? Not too shabby.
Crown Heights $995
A pre-war 1 BR along the #3 line. Yeah ok, I can deal with that.
Bed Stuy $1110
Brownstone 1 BR with what seems to be a back yard. They don’t SAY that, but why else would they take picture of it? Address is listed as Decatur at Macdonough. No clue where this is, since they run parallel.
Friday Linkorama (Cuz I’m lazy)
Converted Church. Holy crap, that’s f*in gorgeous! Zillow
Rotating House. Bob Vila
Before and After Back Yard. Design Sponge
Ten Little Houses. Web Urbanist
Share your DIY with Thrifty Decor Chick
Brooklyn Blogfest is Tonight!
Head’s up: Doors open at 6:30 and pre-registration is closed. There is seating upstairs, but you can only see it on video from up there.
I’ll be hosting the break out group on house blogs afterward. Better see you there!
Open House on Sunday!
So, after just 4 weeks, we’ve decided to reduce the price on our Beacon house. We are motivated sellers! Although, not so motivated that we’ll go down much more because we haven’t left ourselves with wiggle room now.
A 4 BR friggin drop dead gorgeous Queen Anne Victorian for $379,900. We already hate the people who are going to buy it because they’re ripping us off. But it was our decision to make. We’ve moved on, so holding onto the house for several months just to make a few more bucks isn’t going to do us any good.
This Sunday will be the first (hopefully the only) OPEN HOUSE! So, if you’re thinking of moving to Beacon but didn’t want to bother realtors because you’re not ready yet, here’s your excuse to check it out.
I’ll even plan your day for you….
Take Metro North.
Go to DIA.
Walk up to Main Street. Lunch @ Homespun. Continue to walk through the crappy mid section of town….there’s more at the other end. Make sure you get to the waterfall on the east side of Main.
Ok, so if you’re too tired, take the loop bus back down Main because the house is back on the west side.
Hit the open house. Put in a really, really high offer because of the bidding war that will undoubtedly be going on.
Walk back to train. Feel superior to all the people in their cars because they don’t live within walking distance to public transit.
The Deets:
When: Sunday June 6th, 1-4pm
Where: 1189 North Avenue (that’s Rt. 9-D south side) Beacon, NY 12508
How: Metro North to Beacon station. Front of train (That means walk to the back at Grand Central). Walk up the hill to W. Main, take left, then left on 9-D. House is third in from corner of Tompkins. There is a 33 on the door, but no 1189. JonCar Realty sign out front and if the agent is any good, there should be balloons or something.
Driving? 9-D South from Rt 84. Park on Tompkins (beyond the house) as it’s a tight driveway for too many cars.
* Don’t forget to bring your mortgage pre-approval and check book! 🙂
Old Ramones Commercial
Never saw this 1978 Ramones commercial for House of Guitars. I guess Rochester was a little too far from NYC to air it, but look what we missed out on down south!
Beacon House on MLS
Yay! Finished kitchen!
‘Twas a few days late, but the Beacon house finally hit the market last week. It’s listed with JonCar Realty, the bloke who’s holding my real estate license. He’s the same guy I take all the pictures for. Don’t ask me why the photos look so pixelated on his website. I’ve been over that with him. Hrmph.
Anyway, the place is looking great. It got a few showing last weekend. People seemed to spend quite a bit of time there, but no offers yet. 🙁
MLS # 287341. Blog page here. Go buy it. Right now. Please?