GKW,

Carroll Gardens doesn't play second fiddle to Cobble Hill. In fact most people don't even know where Cobble Hill ends and Carroll Gardens begins. If you have kids, I don't think the apartment is zoned for PS 29, but PS 261. I'd rather live in the Henry Street apartment and be zoned for PS 58, which I hear is a great school with a dual language program.

Personally I like both apartments. I find the Henry Street one to be a real deal though. This one is pretty good too. The deck rocks and you are literally steps from the subway.

Posted by: brooklyn44 at November 24, 2008 7:40 PM in response to Condo of the Day: 56 Bergen Street FSBO

There is a middle school on the 2nd floor of the school and the kids get really aggressive. Many times I've seen them all storm into Carroll Park for an after school fight. Usually the police break it up. It's get really loud over there when school lets out.

Posted by: brooklyn44 at November 13, 2008 5:30 PM in response to House of the Day: 356 President Street

Isn't this on the corner by Hoyt? If so, it's Carroll Gardens not Gowanus. That said, I'd be concerned about the kids from school across the street destroying my property since they hang out over there. However there is Black Mountain down the street, which is nice. To me this seems like a deal. I didn't see a floorplan, but if you live on the parlor and garden level and rent the top two floors out, you should get a nice amount in rents. I wonder how much work it needs though.

Posted by: brooklyn44 at November 13, 2008 4:15 PM in response to House of the Day: 356 President Street

I totally agree with you wine lover. We bring our kids up in Brooklyn because we like the community and aren't isolated in our backyards/homes all day. I couldn't imagine driving everywhere and not having a sidewalk. Also I grew up in the city and also couldn't imagine having to take a commuter train like LIRR and Metro North to work and to be forced to live by a train schedule. I jump on the subway for work and am a quick ride to our neighborhood if there are any issues at school like having to come home for a sick child, etc.

I will admit that when we had our second child we looked at houses in the suburbs but the taxes in most commutable neighborhoods run about $12,000 for a 600k house and heating averages at least $500 a month in the winter and when you add in two cars and two commuter rail passes, it's no bargain. Also home repair is quite costly, boilers break, roofs need to be repaired, septic tanks go and that adds up. We might have the occasional assessment for our building, but we share it amongst all the owners. This is the reason families of four squeeze into an apartment. Also we don't need a yard, we have Prospect and Central Park and are always doing stuff in the city like seeing plays at the New Victory, going to museums, etc. I love that when we are bored, we walk to the transit museum and check out the old trains or walk across the Brooklyn Bridge. I don't want to have my kids stuck in a suburb sitting in a basement or playroom playing XBox all day. I love that it takes ten hours to walk down our block because my kids keep running into their friends (of course that's also a bit annoying at times).

Posted by: brooklyn44 at November 4, 2008 11:03 PM in response to Quote of the Day

The parts of Brooklyn that will remain stable are the ones zoned for good schools. The reason real estate isn't dropping that much is because the public schools in these areas are unbelievable. In parts of Cobble Hill, Carroll Gardens and Park Slope there are tons of parent-involved schools with dedicated teachers and outstanding programs. Those who can't afford private schools and want to live in the city will still flock to these neighborhoods. Families of four will squeeze into two bedroom co-ops and sacrifice space for these schools.

Schooling plays a key role. Even prices in the N. Slope are much lower than Center Slope because PS 282 is not as good as PS 321. The same goes for parts of Carroll Gardens that are zoned for PS 32 not PS 58 or PS 29. Also in our public school, half of my children's class are folks that moved from Manhattan for the good schooling and a bit more space.

That said, the middle schools still aren't all that good, so I do see people moving when kids are a bit older. I have a children in public school and applying to middle school is a huge deal. Many folks with kids in younger grades often reference that they might consider moving when their older child is in 5th grade. Of course if people stick around the middle school landscape might change drastically in the next few years.

Posted by: brooklyn44 at November 4, 2008 8:27 PM in response to Quote of the Day