Which Crown Heights fixer-upper would you buy?

Two homes enter, one home leaves

Imagine you have around $1.5 million to spend on a place and you've narrowed it down to two New York City homes. How do you make up your mind? The answer is simple: You shove them into a metaphorical cage and let them battle it out until one emerges victorious. It's time for Real Estate Deathmatch. Today's battle: Crown Heights fixer-uppers!

↑ The cheaper of the two homes is located at 162 Crown Street, closer to Bedford Avenue and Prospect Park; it's asking $1.395 million. This particular place is configured as a three-bedroom, single-family home, and it comes with a backyard and a two-car garage.

Inside, it definitely needs work—there's peeling paint, cracks in the floorboards, and the like. But the bones are there; the original parquet floors are intact, as are details like a huge fireplace and French doors. (There's even an enclosed front patio.) [Floorplan]

↑ The pricier of the two homes is located a few doors down at 188 Crown Street, and it's asking $1.495 million (it's already in contract, but since this whole game is an exercise in hypotheticals, we're just going to roll with it). The price bump could be for a number of reasons; there's an additional bedroom, along with a similarly sized backyard and a two-car garage.

But inside, it's looking a bit better than its neighbor: Though the listing says to "bring your architect or contractor," there are a lot of lovely details—mahogany wainscoting on the first floor, pocket doors, a wood-burning fireplace, you get the idea. It also has a large front yard. [Floorplan]

• Listing: 162 Crown Street [Corcoran]
• Listing: 188 Crown Street [Corcoran]