Tali Berzak and interior at 647 Macon Street (Compass)
Tali Berzak brings over fifteen years of experience to the real estate industry, with a unique ability to connect with clients at various life stages. She expertly guides them in realizing their housing dreams while offering supportive and personalized service. As a mother of an active seven-year-old, Tali understands how space is used in a home, appreciating that each client has their own specific needs and desires.
Having relocated internationally twice, she is well-versed in the complexities of creating a new home and is eager to apply her tenacity and creativity to finding your perfect property. Tali’s top priority is leveraging her extensive experience and strong relationships to exceed client expectations and deliver the ideal home. We recently caught up with Tali to discuss her expertise in the Brownstone Brooklyn sales market.
Having relocated internationally twice, she is well-versed in the complexities of creating a new home and is eager to apply her tenacity and creativity to finding your perfect property. Tali’s top priority is leveraging her extensive experience and strong relationships to exceed client expectations and deliver the ideal home. We recently caught up with Tali to discuss her expertise in the Brownstone Brooklyn sales market.
In this article:
Of the brownstone Brooklyn neighborhoods, which one is your favorite?
Tali: Fort Greene is my favorite neighborhood because I find the various types of pre-war buildings and townhouses quite beautiful; this coupled with wider tree-lined streets, a vibrant restaurant scene, and a wonderful park makes it a small but all-encompassing neighborhood.That said, Bedford-Stuyvesant is a close second. The communities on each block are incredibly friendly and diverse. It is also adorned with wider streets, beautiful townhouses, and a growing number of restaurants, I think BedStuy is becoming a first choice for many.
What are some of your favorite architectural details or features of brownstones?
Townhouse facades are beautiful, whether specifically brownstone with the etching detail and flowers in the window moldings or limestone with its cleaner lines. Personally, I am a huge fan of Queen Anne and Romanesque Revival-style townhouses.How important is the width of a brownstone when it comes to value and livability?
The width of a townhouse is rather important though can be offset with length for those that are not as wide. There are structural aspects and house features that you cannot or prefer not to forgo such as stairs and entry foyers and those aspects take up significant space from the width.For example, a standard double door entry is a minimum of 4ft wide so if you have a narrow house this will greatly affect the living room space. The staircase takes up approx 7ft of width so again this has a significant effect on the more narrow houses. That said, if you have a longer narrow house you can use the staircase area as the utility/bathroom portion and leave the front and back for bedrooms in which case the size of the bedrooms isn’t affected by the width of the house as much.
What advice would you give to someone looking to purchase a rowhome today?
I think the overall layout is one of the most important things to consider. If you have a layout that makes sense to your living the updating or changing of finishes can be done with time. Layout is the most difficult aspect of the house to change so make sure the kitchens and bathrooms are in locations that make sense to you and your living.
Floor plans of 1323 Dean Street, a brownstone currently for sale in Crown Heights (Compass)
How have the values of brownstones in Brooklyn changed over the years?
The value of brownstones has increased exponentially, especially in the areas I focus on - Bed-Stuy and Crown Heights. We bought our first brownstone in 2011 for $600K, now similar houses are selling close to $2M and the renovated houses are selling in the $3M range.Can you explain the carrying costs/taxes of owning a rowhouse in NYC as in how it compares to apartment ownership?
In apartment ownership, for example, condominiums, you have common charges and taxes. The common charges go towards paying the insurance, bills, and maintenance of the property. In townhouses, there are similar expenses but delineated through bills and repairs versus a monthly set bill.Your insurance for a townhouse is generally higher than a condo because the replacement cost is for the entire building and not just your apartment. You pay the water/sewer for the whole building, though this is a relatively low bill (approx $100/month) this is not something you would pay in a condo, you also need to set aside money for ongoing maintenance such as roof flashing and gutter cleaning and boiler or AC maintenance. That said, these townhouse costs tend to be much lower than the common charges paid for a comparable-sized condominium.
As for the taxes, taxes are capped at 6% max increase per year based on the originally established taxes at the time of construction. Condominiums tend to have higher taxes because they were built more recently whereas townhouses built in the 19th century have a significantly lower base tax. As such, the taxes for townhouses also tend to be much lower than comparable condominiums.
You are handling several brownstone listing sales at the moment. Is there one that is particularly special to you?
Yes, I have a few townhouses, though not all are brownstones. The house I think is of the best value right now is 1323 Dean Street, which sits on a landmark block in Crown Heights and has beautiful original details but has been fully modernized.The brownstone listing I love the most is 647 Macon Street , also with incredible original detail and on a beautiful block in Bed-Stuy. I also have an incredible house my seller is working on in Clinton Hill on Lefferts Place, which is a brownstone and has an oversized lot with a two-story building that will house a garage and work studio space (with a semi-private driveway). This renovation is still in process.
647 Macon Street, TH (Compass)
Brownstone listings in Fort Greene - Clinton Hill
420 Lafayette Avenue, # (Serhant LLC)
445 Waverly Avenue, # (Corcoran Group)
141 Lefferts Place, # (Corcoran Group)
419 Clinton Avenue, # (Compass)
177 Lafayette Avenue, #TH
$5,750,000 (-3.4%)
Fort Greene | Townhouse | 6+ Bedrooms, 5 Baths | 6,200 ft2
177 Lafayette Avenue, # (Brown Harris Stevens Brooklyn LLC)
Bedford-Stuyvesant
451 Decatur Street, # (Compass)
379 Monroe Street, # (Compass)
773 Macon Street, # (Corcoran Group)
224 Bainbridge Street, # (Brown Harris Stevens Residential Sales LLC)
222 Van Buren Street, #TH
$2,735,000
Bedford-Stuyvesant | Townhouse | 6+ Bedrooms, 4.5 Baths | 3,600 ft2
222 Van Buren Street, # (Serhant LLC)
810 Marcy Avenue, # (Douglas Elliman Real Estate)
176 Mac Donough Street, #TH
$3,200,000
Bedford-Stuyvesant | Townhouse | 6+ Bedrooms, 4 Baths | 3,620 ft2
176 Mac Donough Street, # (Compass)
508 Madison Street, #TH
$3,495,000
Bedford-Stuyvesant | Townhouse | 6+ Bedrooms, 4.5 Baths | 4,160 ft2
508 Madison Street, # (Corcoran Group)
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