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Open House Agenda: 3 Apartments to See This Weekend

By Donna M. Airoldi | November 20, 2014 8:31pm | Updated on November 21, 2014 4:23pm
 Professional photography can highlight a listing's special features and draw more potential buyers to the unit.
Apartments With Special Features
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NEW YORK CITY — Price, is of course, paramount when searching for a home.  But when perusing open house listings, it’s often the eye-catching anchor images that determine whether someone will take the next step and go to an open house.

These three listings had photos showing off distinctive features that caught our attention this week. (Check out this archived Apartmentality column for tips on how to create your own “real estate porn.”)

3442 80th St., Apt. 22, Jackson Heights
2 Bedrooms/2 Baths
Co-op
Approximately 1,175 square feet
$649,000
Maintenance: $900 per month
Open House: Sunday, Nov. 23, 3-4:30 p.m., by appointment only

Lowdown: The sellers purchased this two-bedroom in the landmarked Elm Court in 2010 and are leaving only because they are moving to Italy, said Helen Van Rhyn of Brown Harris Stevens.

The unit has a working gas fireplace, renovated kitchen and baths, and original 1922 oak flooring with mahogany-inlay borders. The bedroom with the en suite bath and walk-in closet was originally a sunroom, and “you need sunglasses to hang out in there during some days it gets so bright,” Van Ryhn said.

The dumbwaiter in the kitchen is still in use by the live-in super. He rings the bell for each unit on certain evenings, and owners can put their garbage in for him to take down, Van Rhyn noted.  It can also be used for hauling laundry to the basement.

Elm Court has a keyed elevator that opens directly into apartments, although stairs are also an option for this second-floor unit, which has views of the garden's “magnificent 100-year-old trees,” Van Rhyn said.

Location: The building, in the Jackson Heights Historic District between 34th and 35th avenues, is on one of the few blocks with no rentals. Shops, restaurants and services along 37th Avenue are a short walk. A new Blink Fitness recently opened on 78th Street, and earlier this year the organic Downtown Natural Market opened on 37th Avenue between 84th and 85th streets.

The nearest train is the 7 at 82nd Street and Roosevelt Avenue, less than half a mile away.

Why put it on your open house calendar? Jackson Heights is no longer a secret and is "pretty competitive. It’s also one of the most beautiful apartments and best value around,” Van Rhyn said. “And I’m holding the open house on the later side so I can show off the fireplace.”

To make an appointment, call Helen Van Rhyn at 718-813-6465.

214 Richardson St., Apt. PH10, Williamsburg
2 Bedrooms/2 Baths
Condo
Approximately 1,100 square feet
$1.45 million
Common Charges: $600 per month
Real Estate Taxes: $90 per month (abated until 2024)
Open House: Sunday, Nov. 23, 1-3 p.m.

Lowdown: Especially as days get shorter, who wouldn’t want an apartment with a 20-foot-tall wall and ceiling of windows with east and west exposures, letting sun stream through with full skyline views of Manhattan?

“I’ve been in real estate for 20 years, and I’ve never seen anything like it,” said Chris Pepe of Pepe Real Estate.

The condo units added to the top of a brick garage at 214 Richardson St. were completed during the down market in 2008, so the developer rented most out until putting them on the market in April 2013 — save for this penthouse, which will have its first open house on Sunday, Pepe said.

The tenants will vacate by closing, and the space will be cleaned and painted, he noted, adding that the rent had been $4,500 per month, “but market rates would now be around $7,000 to $8,000.”

The floor-through apartment features custom cabinetry, Carrara marble and a Jacuzzi tub, as well as a private elevator that opens into the unit. The catwalk loft space is about 50 square feet and can be used as an office. Outdoor space includes a private 688-square-foot roof deck with skyline views, and two balconies — one off the living room and one off the master bedroom.

Common charges include electric and water; cooking gas and heat are billed separately. As for keeping those big windows shiny, “the owner said that because [they] open, it’s actually easy to reach out to clean them,” Pepe said.

Parking is available for $300 per month in the garage on the ground floor. There’s also 100 square feet of caged storage space.

Location: The building is on the border of Williamsburg and Greenpoint, just east of the BQE. It’s one and a half blocks to the bustling Graham Avenue. The L train is seven blocks away, at Graham and Metropolitan.

Why put it on your open house calendar? “It’s a unique space with a view of the world. Who wouldn’t want to wake up to that view?” Pepe said. “It’s also very quiet.”
 

917 President St., Apt. 1, Park Slope
2 Bedrooms/1 Bath
Co-op
Approximately 1,350 square feet
$1.495 million
Maintenance: $1,050 per month
Open House: Sunday, Nov. 23, 12:30-2:30 p.m.

Lowdown: The sellers bought this parlor-level apartment in an 1899 brownstone just two years ago and completed its renovation 10 months ago, said Debra Bondy of Corcoran Group.

“I had a broker’s open house [this week] and they said it was even better than in the photos, which are really beautiful,” Bondy said. “It’s really unique and a stunner."

The sellers — who work in design and advertising — gutted the kitchen and bathroom, where they installed a thermostatic water temperature system and heated floors. They also restored the stained glass and library-style bookcases in the living room; put in new moldings, doors and designer knobs; and added a wall of Elfa system closets in the hallway that are more than 13 feet in height and are deep, Bondy noted. The wood carvings on the mantel are African mahogany.

They built out the office space, where there’s a pocket door that can close off the back of the house, so if you had kids, you could close that door and be entertaining in the front, Bondy noted.

Each of the five units in the co-op has dedicated space in the basement’s wine cellar along with storage and a common bike room.

Location: The building is in prime Park Slope, between Eighth Avenue and Prospect Park. It’s close to the Saturday farmers market at Grand Army Plaza. The 2, 3, B and Q trains are a few blocks away.

Why put it on your open house calendar? It’s a 25-foot wide landmarked home that has been meticulously restored and updated. And in September 2015, the mortgage will be paid off, so the maintenance, which is already low, “should be cut in half,” Bondy said. “That’s the real icing on the cake.”