LOOKOUT! 72 S. Portland Ave

Our latest sojourn into Fort Greene takes us to 72 South Portland Ave, 1.5 BR coop offered as a 2 BR and featuring a, um, distinctive decorating style.

It's offered for $639, which would be a great price for a a proper 2 BR.  But proper this ain't.  Check out the second "bedroom," complete with a crib for scale.  Even the wide-angle lens can't hide the skimpy dimensions.

The Numbers:  They're asking $710/sq. ft., which is very high for this property in this neighborhood.   At listing, you're putting down $127800 to get a monthly payment of $2744, not including maintenance and taxes.  That said, no way this fetches over $600k.

The Intangibles:  Definitely in the cute part of Fort Greene.  Closest train is the dreaded C, but Atlantic Terminal is walkable-ish.  Close to lovely Fort Greene Park.

The Bottom Line:  This place is overpriced.  With places like this asking $100 less per sq. ft. in the same neighborhood, we don't see this place moving without a serious price reduction.

Cloak 'n Dagger Condos: Fort Greene

What if we told you that you could have a large 1 BR duplex in Ft. Greene for under $500k?  That it came with over 1000 sq. ft. of backyard space?  With a rec room thrown in for good measure?

You'd want more info, right?  A picture?  An address perhaps?

Well, tough.  Meet X Clermont Ave, a listing featuring incredibly promising specs and virtually nothing else (except assurances that the large windows allow light to "poor" in).  Even the floorplan is blurry and illegible, and the listing even presents different prices on different pages (we're going off the $489k listing price).

This listing highlights both the benefits and drawbacks of digging up listings from unheard-of realtors: you can find some great places with little buying competition, but you are dependent on the whims of unmotivated listing agents.

The Numbers:  Well, we have no clue about the maintenance or taxes, so we can only tell you that a $97800 downpayment gets you a mortgage payment of $2630.

The Intangibles:  Honestly, what ISN'T intangible about this listing???

The Bottom Line:  Worth a phone call, assuming someone picks up the phone.