Tiny 20-By-97-Foot Brooklyn Home On The Market For Half A Million Dollars

NEW YORK (CBSNewYork)-- People are taking pictures of a home for sale at 86 Bay 47th St. in Brooklyn.

The 20-by-97-foot lot features a long driveway and a tiny guest house. The asking price? $499,000.

""You can't fit nothing in there. It's like a dollhouse," Audrey Chapman, who lives across the street, told CBS2's Elise Finch.

Others understand where the price tag might come from.

"Everyone is buying up this whole neighborhood. If you notice, every block is something new going up.... It could definitely happen," Gravesend resident Jonathan Utsler said.

The single-family detached home is on a quiet block in Gravesend, between Bath and Harway avenues and not far from the D Train. Some homeowners on this block say it's a nice area, but don't think the narrow piece of property is worth half a million dollars.

"If they were in let's say DUMBO or Dyker Heights, yes. But not here, they're not getting it," neighbor Thomasina Bacarella.

The listing agent for this tiny house says it was meant to be sold along with the home next door. But realtors say in this market, it's considered a standalone property.

"What they're selling is something they're not making anymore, which is land. And this is New York City, and this is Brooklyn, and Brooklyn is booming. If you look at this lot here it's really being sold as a development opportunity, so it's priced per buildable square-foot," said Anthony Lolli chief executive officer of Rapid Realty.

Lolli isn't the agent for this property, but he says the existing house is roughly 300 square feet. If a buyer had the purchase price plus an additional $300,000, they could demolish the house and build up and out, creating a brand new house that's eight times the size.

"The houses that are on the market are ridiculously high and you still have to go in and do the work. So why not start from the ground up and build your dream home? It's actually more cost-effective when you have a clean slate," Lolli said.

Lolli says purchasing this land and a new, pre-fabricated house would cost a buyer about $800,000. Similar homes on larger lots in Brooklyn would cost $1 to $2 million.

So far there are no offers on this property, but the listing agent expects that to change quickly.