I saw this house last week on Thursday during the “agent open house”. I asked specifically about the school district and the agent assured me that the south side of Village Line Road, where this house sits, marks the northern border of the Babylon Village school district.
84 Village Line Rd
- MLS# 2209043 – Zillow Page
- Ask $459,000
- 3(2) bedrooms – 1.5 baths – Cape
- Taxes: $8,770 – Village Taxes: $682.67
This is a neat, old 20’s house with some interesting quirks, if your into that sort of thing. As you walk into the place, the stairs are right in front of you with the living room to the left and the dining room to the right. Both of these room are of decent size. The living room is an especially nice space, or it would be once the tchotchkes and pictures were cleared out. The hardwood floors have potential, but they’re all beat up and need to be refinished. In the back of the house is a den which looks like it’s a converted sun room. It’s all done in dark paneling, but freshened up it could be a very pleasant place to spend some time.
The kitchen is very tiny, pretty much a galley kitchen. It’s not old old, but it probably wants a redo sometime soon. Off to the side of the kitchen is the laundry area. Space has been made for an office and it’s nice but I think you might blow out the wall there and make the kitchen bigger as that would probably be a better use of the space. There’s also a bonus room here, really 3/4 or so of a converted garage. I worry about these garage conversions. The village wants to ensure that you have a garage to park your car so I wonder if it’s on the CO or if it was done “on the sly”.
Upstairs are the bedrooms and they’re laid out in the typical cape style, one on either side of the stairs. The one on the left is of usable size and there are some interesting built-ins that take advantage of the various attic-like nooks and crannies. On the right are bedrooms two and three. In fact, you have to walk through bedroom two to get to bedroom three, making it of little utility unless you have kids who don’t mind sharing the space. Both rooms are fairly small, as you might imagine.
The Realtor suggested that the two bedroom side could be used as the master suite, with the extra room being used as a dressing room. It’s an interesting idea, but it makes the house a true two bedroom proposition, which isn’t really appealing to me.
In the middle of the upstairs is the full bath which sports what I’m pretty sure is the original tub from the when the house was built. The bathroom is old, but not really charming old. It’s just tired old and it needs some work.
The backyard is very nice and the basement is a bit musty but it has enough height for me to walk around comfortably and maybe even enough for a treadmill, an unusual thing for a house from this period. As mentioned previously, the garage has been mostly converted to a room, so there’s no space there for a car.
The house is certainly livable as is, but anyone spending money in this range is going to want a new kitchen and a new bathroom at minimum. Bottom line, this is a lot of money for a tiny house this far north in the Village, especially one that needs as much work as this one does.
Interesting looking corner house for sale at Beverly and Livingston..nice shape. Saw your Newsday mention in Friday’s printed version, congrats. Did you ever look at that white Cape on Litchfield? Also, two houses on Stowe are now for sale, and a Grandma vintage home on Greenway for a good price. (WB Schools).
Well off to enjoy the weather and the bay. Have a good weekend.
Did we actually make the print edition? If you still have the paper I’d love to see the clipping.
sure..i’ll see about saving it for you
Wait, what is wrong with being “this far north in the Village”? Village Line is a very nice street with some beautiful homes and a lot of curb appeal. That house is in the Village proper plus Village schools – more desirable that the neighborhoods that are technically West Babylon but Village schools or vice versa.
I like your commentary on pricing but I think you might be underestimating the appeal of some of the more in demand Village areas, like the Indian section, Presidential, etc.. I remember your comments on that Wampum ranch – that it would never sell near that asking price. Well, it sold pretty quickly – we’ll have to wait and see the sell price but that tells me this Village Line house is not priced so badly to start. It will probably come down a bit but you can’t discount the fact that there are a limited number of what are considered charming homes on a limited number of desirable Village streets and a steady stream of couples and families who want those things. Like they say, real estate is local. Very, very local.
Jackie, yes the street is very nice, but that far north means you’re out of easy walking distance to the train station and the village amenities. Maybe that doesn’t matter to some people but it’s one of the major reasons that I want to live in Babylon Village.
I still don’t see what the big deal is about the Indian section or the Presidential section. Yes, those areas are nice and all, but are they really worth such a large premium? At least over on the Presidential side, you can be close to Southards Pond.
The problem is that there’s limited housing stock in the Babylon Village, so occasionally someone is going to overpay, especially since there aren’t a lot of recent comps over on the east side of Deer Park Ave.
I have to agree with a few things Jackie said. Village line road is a great block with large parcels and very diverse architecture. Also, that Wampum house was a prime location, but the tax bill was killer. It is a great house, though.
Gary
Email me your apt add so I can drop the paper off.
Gary,
I agree that walkability to town, the train, and the amenities is a big part of Babylon’s appeal. I don’t think Village Line is un-walkable though – you’re looking at a (fast) 10 minute walk to the train station.
I think people like the Presidential and Indian sections along with South of Montauk (should we start calling it SoMo?) because the homes are older, have a lot of character, and there is that family/Village “feel.” I tend to think some of the Indian streets are overpriced compared to the Presidential streets. I never got the appeal of Wyandanch for instance but I think others like it and there is a premium. Maybe I’m just partial to the Presidential since we bought there though!
Congrats on getting into Newsday – I missed that!
I do like the house on Wyandanch that’s for sale that has the slate roof – great backyard and great, great garage. The block is OK, but too many of the houses are variations on the same theme. Almost cookie cutter-ish.
MMMMM…SoMo…
Gary-
A few new houses up. Stowe Ave is back on the market, and there’s a cute house for sale on Roosevelt St. Check it out.
Dirty Sock 10K this morning, another good village event.
Debra and I ran the Dirty Sock three years ago for its inaugural run. I’m hoping to get back into shape so I can run it next year.
72 Roosevelt St
Asking $499,000 Taxes : $8,30.07 Village Taxes : not listed
My wife and I saw this property during an open house this past Sunday. It’s listed with Prudential and for some reason not on MLS. It is listed as a Colonial, but it’s appearance is more like a Tudor from the front. The front yard was beautifully landscaped with built in water sprinklers. The backyard however took a turn for the worst. The yard is small to begin with and a pathway to what the realtor called the “water feature” divided the yard in half. The so called “water feature” was an unfinished pond and waterfall. To put it nicely, it looked ridiculous. There is also a deck with a nice gazebo. The two car garage had the old style barn doors on tracks that slide. The doors didn’t slide as smoothly as I would like, but it did add a certain amount of charm to the property.
The inside of the house does have more of a Colonial feel. The 1st floor has a formal entry, living room with a fire place, kitchen, family room and ½ bathroom. The entry, living room and fire place are fine with nice hardwood floors. The entry way, however, had a coat closet that was converted into a make shift laundry room. The kitchen is a decent size with a double sink, marble counter tops and stainless steel appliances. The double sink does eat up counter space which is at a premium in this kitchen. The refrigerator was sized wrong for the cabinet enclosure and is entirely too small, which makes it look odd. The family room had laminate floor placed over the original hard wood floor. It makes me wonder what the condition of the original hard wood floor is. The ½ bath was small but functional.
The stair case leading to the 2nd floor was nicely constructed with intricate woodworking on the main columns. The 2nd floor consisted of three bedrooms and a bathroom. The bedrooms were an ok size, but the closets were very small. One closet was shared by two bedrooms (one of them being the master bedroom.) The bathroom was outdated and on the small size but functional. There was central air conditioning on the second floor.
Our overall impression of this house is that it did have some charm for an older home. But, a few things have to be addressed including the overall cleanliness (of which my wife could not get past being that it was an Open House.) Also, I think it is listed a little high, but for the right price could make a lovely home for someone.