Investors update older homes, and their prices
TikTok users took aim when a Brooklyn design firm in 2023 listed a renovated property in Beacon for nearly five times the amount it had paid three years earlier.
In a one-minute post in July 2023, a user named BavidDoughy ranted about the 1940-built Cape Cod at 112 Washington Ave. that Factioned bought for $260,000, renovated and relisted for $1.25 million.
“This video goes out to all the greedy, delusional house flippers in my area who are buying houses like this and doing too much,” he said. The post prompted more than 55,000 comments.
Factioned was not that delusional. In June, the home sold for $1.1 million. Nor is the company alone in replacing the city’s modest single-family homes built many decades earlier with modern residences.
An 1880s Victorian at 33 Davis St. with three bedrooms and three baths that sold for $325,000 in August 2020 underwent a restoration in 2022 that added two bedrooms and a bathroom. The property sold in June for $2.23 million, or $330,000 more than the asking price.
A limited liability company that bought 144 Spring Valley St. for $370,000 in March demolished the two-bedroom house and is building a new five-bedroom one offered for $1.7 million. It will have “double-height” ceilings on the first floor and a “stunning patio and spacious yard with views,” according to the Zillow listing. Spring Valley runs along Fishkill Creek.
The same investors won Planning Board approval to subdivide 46 Judson St., built in 1930. They renovated that property, selling it for $960,000 in January, and used the second lot to build 50 Judson St., which is for sale at $1.35 million.
At Factioned, design director Jared Lairmore said he moved to Beacon, to a home three blocks from the Washington Avenue property, before the pandemic hit in March 2020. With most businesses closing, the firm decided to buy and renovate 112 Washington to keep its staff working.
“We made a commitment internally that we weren’t going to get rid of any of our staff, if at all possible,” said Lairmore.
He described the project as a “passion project and not a flip.” Factioned’s gut renovation included dropping the first floor by 2 feet to increase the ceiling height and adding a sunroom and outdoor balcony with a fire pit.
“It would be like if you bought a custom home — where you came to us as a client,” said Lairmore. “This has that level of detail and consideration.”
The median home purchase in November in Beacon was $1.17 million, according to data compiled by the Hudson Gateway Association of Realtors. The sales included 37 N. Elm. Built in 1900, the property sold for $1.2 million after being purchased in February 2023 for $340,000 and renovated. Buyers paid between $900,000 and $1 million for at least four other single-family homes this year.
With inventory lower by 19 percent during the 12 months ending Nov. 30, the median price for single-family homes in Dutchess County stood at $465,000 — about 10 percent higher than the previous year, according to OneKey MLS, a listing service. Homes stayed on the market for an average of 57 days, compared to 73 days during the previous year.
I am stunned by the amount of money developers have been pouring into Beacon’s old homes. Perhaps it was inevitable, but I remember a different community just 20 years ago, when we scrabbled and saved and worked on our down-at-the-heels homes a little at a time, exchanging tips and asking for help on modest projects.
That sense of being part of a community of doers and artists who were content to live in smaller homes, proud of the architecture and Beacon’s heritage, seems to have gone by the wayside in favor of bigger and better and, of course, more lucrative.
I find many renovations completely soulless. They all have the same engineered floors, open floor plans, granite countertops, craftsman-style front doors, stark colors and black windows. The streets are dotted with these bot-like buildings, whose sole aim is to make as much money per square foot as possible.
Although the housing shortage has not helped, I hope it’s not too late to find a way to honor and preserve the remaining housing stock.
An interesting article on a very important topic! Thank you for sharing. It causes me to question: What are the root causes of our existing residents not getting the full value of their real estate?
Causes me to further ask:
* What options are available for homeowners to learn about maximizing their property’s value?
* Why do so many wait until a life event forces a sale?
* How does lack of accessible capital or financing options impact their ability to plan and improve?
* Who benefits when homeowners sell quickly without enhancing their property’s potential?
* How could we create better resources to help homeowners plan ahead and capture the profit to build their generational wealth?
And, what programs already exist in Beacon to help existing Beacon residents build their generational wealth in Beacon real estate? Are they sufficiently funded and accessible? Can we bolster support to further impact positively?
Just because one can does not mean one should. [via Facebook]
It would be a lot more bearable if these homes didn’t look like they were created by artificial intelligence that was asked to “design the worst HGTV ‘after’ picture that could plausibly be a Hampton Inn lobby.” [via Facebook]
Home values are meaningless unless you’re selling. What do we get for all this nonsense if we choose to stay in our homes, as 90 percent will do? [via Facebook]
I wish The Current would have taken a more critical lens. The flippers are contributing to the housing crisis, and the article just smiles and nods as they offer their milquetoast justifications. [via Instagram]
Who is buying these homes at these prices? Did they even research the Beacon City School District? Because it’s not a $1.1-million district. [via Instagram]
It’s sort of cute that there are millionaires willing to pay to live the Beacon life. Hopefully, they continue to invest in the community. [via Facebook]
I lived across the street from the Washington Avenue house for 15 years. It’s darkly hysterical and genuinely devastating to see this happen to the neighborhood. [via Facebook]
As their neighbor, it is so wholly irresponsible for your publication (and others) to continually publish their address. It personally makes me feel super unsafe, so I can only imagine how the homeowners themselves feel.