Top 5 Stories on Brownstoner This Week: BK's Real Estate Boom & Vibrant Family Homes

Has the Real Estate Boom Come to an End?
Has the New York real estate market peaked? Agents are reporting a slowdown that started at the end of the summer: Sparsely attended open houses, properties sitting on the market with no offers, price cuts.

Family Funs Up Magnificent Bed Stuy Brownstone With a Speakeasy in Its Past
Jodie and Joe Patterson moved into one of Bed Stuy’s most impressive brownstones with their four kids three years ago, injecting their style into the home’s historic interior. But the basement? They’ll never change it.

Brooklyn Rocked by Three Separate Shootings
Since the evening of November 16, there have been three unusual and disturbing shootings in Brooklyn. A man shot into a crowd of people inside the Utica Avenue A/C subway station in Stuyvesant Heights during rush hour Tuesday evening. It was not a terrorist attack, but those who witnessed it may have thought it was, coming just days after events in Paris.

The Insider: “Modern But Warm” Duplex for a Prospect Heights Family
“Modern but warm” is how the new homeowners described their vision to Park Slope-based architect Jeff Etelamaki as they embarked on the gut renovation of a stoop-less, early-20th-century row house on an eclectic, non-landmarked block in Prospect Heights.

Hipsters or Height? Brooklyn-the-Brand Versus Brooklyn-the-Megacity
The new towers planned for Downtown Brooklyn represent more than sky-high apartments and office space. They’re a taste of Brooklyn’s megacity future — a destiny potentially at conflict with Brooklyn’s artisanal brand.