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Wff:contrast, Carroll Gardens hasn't appreciated as rapidly...and alived-in, four-family home with fair mechanicals and onerent-controlled tenant goes for $55,000 and up.%u2019K I M I M I I)wiring and brass plumbing.CH ANGING MARKETThe market, in short, has changed dramatically. Most brown stone buyers today are professional, middle class couples with two incomes and maybe two kids. They aren%u2019t especially handy with a hammer and have been scared off by the high cost of renovation%u2014an average $12,000 a floor, if you don%u2019t do the work yourself.While the one-familv house still remains the %u2018%u2018ideal%u201d brownstone image, the reality now encompasses at least one rental unit because of the additional income and tax benefits it brings. These %u2018%u2018average brownstone couples%u201d are able to pay $125,000 and up for a finished house in Cobble Hill, according to Penelope Karagias, whose real estate office specializes in Cobble Hill and Carroll Gardens.%u201c Brownstones in Brooklyn are still a bargain if you look at the equivalent in M anhattan,%u201d Karagias pointed out. %u2018%u2018For $125,000 you can buy a double duplex or triplex with garden apartment, replete with plaster moldings and marble mantels on the two fireplaces on each floor. Cobble Hill has become a luxury neighborhood and people are willing to pay for it. I have 25 people looking to every one listing I get in the area.%u201dIn contrast, Carroll Gardens hasn't appreciated as rapidly, she said, and a lived-in, four-family house with fair mechanicals and one rent-controlled tenant goes for $55,000 and up. Considered thesafest neighborhood in Brooklyn, Carroll Gardens never saw the decline that other communities did. And yet there%u2019s not exactly a stampede to snap up the many unrenovated four-family dwellings in the area.%u201cA house th a t%u2019s well done, renovated to the tastes of the upwardly mobile, professional family is at a premium,%u201d Karagias said. %u201d 1 sold a one-familv in Carroll Gardens recently for $110,000.%u201dAnd so the buyer is led to reassess the word %u201c bargain.%u201d Bill Harris of Renaissance Properties said a bargain is considered in terms not just of the house itself, but of the neighborhood and its amenities, Boerum Hill is still a very good value. A house that sold for $20,000 15 years ago now fetches $100,000. Most occasionally an estate sale coughs up an unrenovated structure for $30,000-S'. >0,000.%u201c Eight years ago it was hard to find a buyer for a finished house,%u201d Harris said. %u201c Now it%u2019s just the opposite. It%u2019s a buyer%u2019s market as far as unrenovated houses are concerned. They are few and far between and most of the professionals moving in today wouldn%u2019t dream of doing a lot of work themselves. They just want to put their furniture down and get the kids in school.\brownstone,%u201d he said, %u2018%u2018if you%u2019re willing to do the work yourself and if you%u2019re willing to wait for one to come up.%u201dLUCK AND PATIENCELuck enters into it, of course.Some of the best buys never reach realtors%u2019 listings; they're sold by word of mouth. It helps if you live in the community you%u2019re thinking of buying into. Patience pays off, too.But what's happened to the old spirit of risk-taking and do-ityourself renovation? It%u2019s still there, said Virginia Woodward, who's renovated 11 houses in her time and is currently involved in four buildings in Boerum Hill. But she quickly adds that it%u2019s an %u201c acquired%u201d taste. %u201c It is exciting to see something grow right in front of your eyes; in a way it%u2019s even more fun than having a baby. Of course you have to be tolerant in order to live in and renovate a house at the same time. But I%u2019ve known people who worked on a house for years, finally finished, and then turned around and started renovating another.%u201dWhile some people buy and renovate a second brownstone as an investment, most people simply want a place to live. As prices soar in brownstone communities, a new home-owning trend has emerged with owners increasingly concerned with recouping their investments. Four years ago, a couple buying a three-story, two-family brownstone immediately ripped out the second kitchen and settled themselves into the whole, space. Today, that rental apartment stays and sometimes new owners even convert a house back into a two-family dwelling.Rooming houses, once the black sheep of brownstones, are getting a kinder, albeit updated, appraisal.Two Special Events:C l i n t o n H i l l S h o w sI t s A r t i s t i c F l a i r%u201c Clinton Hill is skyrocketing, it%u2019s taking off,%u201d boasts Anne Flora of the Society for Clinton Hill. %u201c It%u2019s a terrific place to live.%u201d And to prove it, the Society for Clinton Hill is offering a mini-tour, on Sunday, October 15. of unusual and special houses in the community.There is a large enclave of artists in the community attracted by the presence of the Pratt Institute and its vast facilities, affordable living spaces and by the special qualities inherent in each home.Each of the six homes on the tour overflow with an artistic flavor ranging from architectural innovations to fine art and crafts. One home, an Italianate brownstone, which was built just before the Civil War, contains African artifacts and sculpture inspiring the vast array of needlepoint and wall hangings garnishing the spacious parlor room which was created by removing the entry hall wall. Next on the tour is a four room apartment which, although designed 25 years ago, still remains quite avant-garde and strikingly contemporary. Storage space is never a problem here for all the interior walls are closets! Throughout the apartment are art works coiiecieci from artisis who have either lived or worked in the neighborhood or who have been associated with Pratt Institute.Flora sees the house tours as a g-actical means of exhibiting %u201c the talent we have in Clinton Hill. The six homes are interesting in themselves, as well as showing the art works inside.%u201d Given the opportunity to %u201c explore\the homes and see the creative architectural innovations, the Society for Clinton Hill is encouraged that new-comers will get interested in buying in the neighborhood. We hope it will convince people that the area is truly viable. Visitors will be walking through the heart of the area. It%u2019s an extremely friendly neighborhood so people will be around to answer any questions,%u201d commented Flora.Another featured house highlights a %u201ctelevision room,%u201d hidden away on the second floor separated from the rest of the house structurally as well as in feeling. Down the block is an 1892 home in the ornate Richardsonian Romanesque style, with GeorgianAnd as banks look more favorably on mortgage applications for four and eight family buildings, %u201c multiple dwellings%u201d are gaining acceptance in all the communities. An eight family brownstone? Unheard of...and besides, it%u2019s probably brick.%u201c Perhaps we should rename the Brooklyn Brownstone Conference,%u201d Nat Hendricks mused, %u201c because brownstone has become a generic term and w'hat we%u2019re talking about is not a particular house facade but a community. Thebrownstone movement started with people, who enjoyed city life and wanted to make it liveable. They did it all themselves, without any help from city or federal funds or the banks. It can still be done if people have the desire to reclaim a building or a block.%u201c You can have all the buildings you want. It%u2019s the people living in them that make the difference. And that%u2019s where we, in the Brooklyn brownstone communities, have the edge.%u201dRevival details within. Receiving an unusual amount of sunlight from the west, south and east, the house lends itself ideally for an artist%u2019s studio which opens onto the garden...a source of inspiration for the drawings created within the house.In addition to having a booth at the Brownstone Fair, the Society is providing two buses which will continually shuttle back and forth between the Fair at the Brooklyn Union Gas Auditorium and the Clinton Hill mini-tour, from 12-4 p.m. Tickets for the bus ride will be available at the fair and cost $2. For further information, call 624-4702.%u2014V. L.Prospect Lefferts Gardens Celebrates Ten!When the Prospect Lefferts Gardens Neighborhood Association began in 1968, the whole operation was initiated by %u201cjust a handful of people,\member of the Association and part of the staff of the Good News, the community newspaper. Ten years later, the association coordinates- - - 4 , %u00bb * %u00bb , , n e n n e o m eU U U J U | / V 1 * I O V . J I U M U J J / * v / f j .ranging from youth activities to non-profit house referral services with the aid of over 400 people.Along with the festivities of the Brownstone Fair, Prospect Lefferts Gardens will celebrate its 10th anniversary on Saturday, October 14, which has been proclaimed Prospect Lefferts GarUClld HCI^IIUUI J I - . . - * T ~ t 1-----------L muvzuA A a f i o n ndouviMiiO\Day.Continuous activities will line the streets from noon to 5 p.m. Flea markets, farmers%u2019 market%u2019s, arts and crafts shows and international food buffets will satisfy the most finicky critics.Along with children's activities and sales, 3 p.m. will be highlighted by a visit from BoroughPr#*cid*%u00bbnt Howard Goldpfi nlusother surprise guests.Winding up the day's events will be an auction beginning at 8 p.m. in the Magic Years Day Care Center at Parkside and Bedford Avenues. In addition to conventional auction items up for grabs, the bidding will also possibly lead to carpenter%u2019s services or maybe even a day of sailing instruction. It%u2019s certainly not your everydayauction at Prospect Lefferts Gardens.But the 10th anniversary celebration doesn%u2019t stop with flea markets and auctions. Three houses from the Prospect Lefferts Gardens Historic District are included in an informal open house on Saturday and Sunday. One of the most striking in the neighborhood is a thoroughly restored four-story house. Beyond the house is a recently renovated garden floor with the pleasures of antiquity beautifully restored above. It will be available for touring on Saturday only from 1 p.m.-5 p.m.Sunday features two homes, contrasted in both style and progress The first is a four-storv brownstone in its original conditionwith all details intact. Although still in progress, the restoration peers through in the beautifully detailed woodwork in the home. %u201cThe house exemplifies the relatively bargain prices in the area,%u201d noted Bob Marvin, coordinator of the house tours. The second home on view on Sunday is a beautifully ren o v ated brownstone. with a modern open feeling yet it %u201c retains enough detail to satisfy any old house buff.%u201dJoin the celebration and the spirit of Prospect Lefferts Gardens, looking ahead to the coming ten years. For additional information about the house tours, call Bob Marvin at 520-2181. For further information call Suzanne Krase at 284-0591.%u2014V.L.P a g e 1'- \