I think for those of us with elementary school kids, the north-central-south slope dividers have a lot to do with school zones. North Slope is north of Union - PS 282. 282 may have its fans, but the rich people in North Slope send their kids to private school, or lie to get into PS 321. I would venture to bet that less than 10%, maybe even less than 5% of brownstone owners in the North Slope send their kids to 282. What separates 282 from 321 is that wealthy people send their kids to 321 and actively raise money for the school. 282 is good because of active parents and a strong principal, but it does not have 321's unique financial resources of its student families.

PS 321 goes from President to the north side of 5th Street, so that 6th Street house is actually in PS 39 district. 39 is a tiny school, and it contains a few blocks south of 9th Street, but again, I think it's generally considered center slope.

PS 107 and PS 10 are South Slope, which is south of 9th Street. All these schools have strong communities and PTA's, but until someone decides to really put the hammer down on deceitful enrollment, PS 321 will always have an upper hand, and for families who won't lie and who rely on public school education, center slope will always be superior to north slope for homes.

Posted by: I came I saw I rented at October 31, 2009 2:18 PM in response to Open House Picks

Hooky, my husband and I have been going round and round on Red Hook and I'm curious to hear why you like it so much (I'm for it, in theory/husband opposed). Husband works in midtown and the commute is his main argument, especially in winter. But I think it looks neighborly and might be worth the aggravation.

Posted by: I came I saw I rented at October 16, 2009 4:43 PM in response to Open House Picks

I've done some beetle research and here are my thoughts. It is most likely - based on pictures - a deathwatch beetle, a leadcable borer beetle or a foreign grain beetle. The last one is totally harmless, peaks population in August and Sept, and almost completely dies out in October. THis is the one that most resembles my bugs, except that they only grow to about 1/12 of an inch. Too small. The first 2 kinds are infestations and do require an exterminator. These seem plausible too, although the ones I see are very squarish, not rectangular the way they appear in the pictures. Anyway, I'm going to bag the next one I see and get to the bottom of it.

Posted by: I came I saw I rented at October 5, 2009 1:16 PM in response to Unusual Bug Infestation

I know EXACTLY what you are talking about - I have the same ones and I was thinking about posting about it too. They look prehistoric, like horse shoe crabs, and are brown with loud wings, like moths. We don't have ivy, but I am pretty sure that they are slipping under a loose screen to get inside the house. I'm the sole tenant in an owner occupied brpwnstone...do I need to let the owner know? They're ugly but seem harmless.

I'm sure they aren't termites.

Posted by: I came I saw I rented at October 5, 2009 1:03 PM in response to Unusual Bug Infestation

I saw that estate sale house the same day - it was one block over on windsor place, I think. The house looked older, for sure, and the living room was covered in mirrors, but the caretaker, who had lived in it for years and was the sole beneficiary of the sale, was a meticulous (obsessive/compulsive, more likely) preservationist of the family heirloom. It was spotless. You could eat off the basement floor, and all the mechanicals were pristine. The yard was less appealing - mostly concrete, but otherwise, the houses were practically identical, save the basements.

I am capable of visualizing the basement without the clutter, Sam, but I thought it spoke more to the point that the place hadn't been well cared for.

Posted by: I came I saw I rented at June 8, 2009 3:44 PM in response to House of the Day: 540 16th Street

I saw this place last fall with Brooklyn Properties. The parlor floor is quite nice, and the living room is just as stunning in person. However it had a strange situation going on in the basement that perhaps they have remedied. Son or daughter of owner was living in the basement with a family of indeterminate size, and it was like a shanty town down there, not to mention a fire hazard, as the front exit was boarded over and a couple of makeshift rooms with bunk beds. I would be quite curious to know if that all got cleaned up, because it was creepy.

Posted by: I came I saw I rented at June 8, 2009 1:26 PM in response to House of the Day: 540 16th Street

Lovely house, crazy price. If it was on the edge of Ft. Greene Park, maybe it would go for 1.2. Which is not to detract from a wonderful reno, but this is a pipe dream of the first order.

And I have to say, I admire the minimalist format of the website, regardless of its hyperbole. I don't understand where the appeal is in describing something in terms it absolutely is NOT, the way all real estate write-ups are. Is aluminum siding really "charming"? Is 900 sq ft really "huge"? Is a dump really an opportunity to "bring your architect and your imagination"? Is a former crack den on the edges of the Gowanus Canal "the home of your dreams"? Enough already. Someone, please, reinvent this wheel!

Posted by: I came I saw I rented at June 1, 2009 1:57 PM in response to House of the Day: 130 South Oxford Street

I went to the open house for the Windsor Terrace house last weekend. The parlor level is quite nice - good space and big kitchen. The upper bedroom level has a sort of common room at the top of the stairs that needs some sprucing, but again, good sized rooms. The unit downstairs is in shambles though - needs new everything. It's just a big rundown basement with (cheap) appliances. So while the price seemed motivating at first, it's not when you take into account the work and the fact that the outdoor space is minimal. In my opinion, of course.

Posted by: I came I saw I rented at May 8, 2009 6:03 PM in response to Open House Picks

I have a child going into K next year and looked at the children's school. Interesting thing about that lottery is that the district covers Park Slope, Gowanus, Red Hook and Sunset Park...maybe Windsor Terrace too, can't remember if that's our district. They can't get anyone to apply to the school from Sunset Park and Red Hook, so they divided the zone in half, and have one lottery for the North Side of the zone, which gazillions apply to, and then a separate one with the same number of slots (this is all for the gen. ed. kids, not special needs) for Red Hook and Sunset Park. Apply from those areas and your chances improve considerably. School zones with poor scores (like Red Hook) have a lot of incentive opportunities for people to apply out of the zoned school. Commuting as a variable is a constant for a neighborhood like Red Hook - schools and jobs.

Posted by: I came I saw I rented at May 1, 2009 7:03 PM in response to Open House Picks

I'm toying with a trip down to red hook to see that house this weekend. It's on a cobblestone street...like living in Nantucket with a view of Manhattan. But the commute to midtown: how? how long?

Posted by: I came I saw I rented at May 1, 2009 1:47 PM in response to Open House Picks

I have to disagree on the characterization of the lower duplex as "well laid-out". The details are actually nice, and they have left spaces wisely open. However, it felt like they were optimizing apartment units rather than laying out a thoughtful floorplan. The front, lower level bedroom faces the street and cannot be closed off - there's just a stairwell in the middle of the upper floor that descends down there. The back bedroom is nice, but it's really the only space that functions nicely as a bedroom. The kitchen is a kitchenette, carved out of the middle of the apartment, and if all you do is order takeout, then it should work just fine.

Then the lower 1 bedroom unit is shaved out of the rest of the space, and the selling point is the backyard. But the apartment itself is bizarre, because, of course, it's mostly basement. Low ceilings, random layout, strange traffic pattern to even get inside the apartment from the street.

What they should have done was make a true, spacious lower duplex unit with the yard. Instead it's two apartments that both feel illogical.

Posted by: I came I saw I rented at February 4, 2009 1:01 PM in response to Price Cuts at 502 1st Street

I lived on that block of 6th Street until last year, and I disagree - it's lovely. Lots of the owners have been there since the 70's and they take good care of the block. The hospital doesn't cause any undue trouble, though there are more trucks going down the street than usual.

I love the way that 14th street place looks, but I have the feeling there is some deception in the presentation about the carriage house. No bathroom, no kitchen, no photos.

It's another weekend for knuckle biting...if you're an owner. And it's about time.

Posted by: I came I saw I rented at January 16, 2009 1:48 PM in response to Open House Picks

Just a few words of clarification on insects;

-beetles always have legs, except in their larval stages, during which they look like short worms with big heads.They don't move very fast and die/dehydrate in open air if exposed as larvae.

-fully grown beetles have a hard, chitinous exoskeleton which protects two pairs of wings beneath.

-termites are insects too but are distinguished from beetles in that they do not have a hard shell covering.
They only have wings during the few days of the year in the spring when the colony sends off the specially bred winged offspring to colonize elsewhere. The rest of the year they are wingless and live in the soil, feeding on wood from your house.

-termites are not clearly segmented into head, thoroax and abdomen as are ants who can also have wings so that's how you can tell them apart.

-termites can be distinguished from beetles by their lack of the hard shell, size: termites are quite small (at least in New York) speed of movement as beetles can move fast on their six legs while termites are slow.

hope this clarifies things a bit

Posted by: Legion at October 5, 2009 9:06 PM in response to Unusual Bug Infestation