Brooklyn brownstone buyers get a taste for luxury

By Lucy Cohen Blatter | July 1, 2014 - 12:59PM

If you're the lucky owner of a Brooklyn brownstone, we'd imagine it would be hard to part with it. But consider that owners even in less desirable areas--so-called emerging neighborhoods like Bed-Stuy and Crown Heights--are finding buyers willing to pony up $2 million or more for these coveted pieces of property, and suddenly selling seems a little more doable.

The one catch, according to Brownstoner, is that these high-end buyers expect top notch finishes. No middle-of-the-road Home Depot reno is going to cut it.

So if you're planning to sell or renovate, you may want to consider installing (or keeping) these features:

A high-efficiency boiler
Carrera marble countertops
High-end appliances, like Bosch dishwashers, SubZero fridges and Wolf ranges
An open kitchen with plenty of countertops, as opposed to small galley kitchens
Radiant heating in the floors with iPad controls (in the most luxurious of cases)
And here's the kicker: historic details. Just because a buyer wants to work the heating via WiFi doesn't mean she'd skip the period moldings and original doors

Flip or Flop: The price of this Bed-Stuy townhouse spiked $650K in three days. Is it worth it?

Would you pay $2.5 million to gut a Boerum Hill townhouse that sold for $900k in August?

Your brownstone-buying essentials

9 things Manhattanites need to know before buying in brownstone Brooklyn (sponsored)

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