From the West Village to Fort Greene, With Few Regrets
This weekend’s real estate section in the Times has a story that’s likely to resonate with many ex-Manhattanites who’ve moved to Brooklyn and find the living across the East River a whole lot easier. The article is about Hali Lee and Peter von Ziegesar, a couple with three kids who uprooted from the West Village,…
This weekend’s real estate section in the Times has a story that’s likely to resonate with many ex-Manhattanites who’ve moved to Brooklyn and find the living across the East River a whole lot easier. The article is about Hali Lee and Peter von Ziegesar, a couple with three kids who uprooted from the West Village, where they’d lived for 15 years, to Fort Greene. The pair bought a house (a former crack den, actually) on South Portland Avenue in late ’05 and say that while they miss a few things about the city (chief among them their old proximity to the Village Community School on West 10th Street, which their kids still attend), Brooklyn has presented a number of quality-of-life advantages. The perks, according to Ms. Lee, include an environment that doesn’t feel like a high-end mall, as the Village did; a space where their brood’s noise doesn’t disturb the neighbors; their new borough’s down-to-earth population (There are mixed-race couples, and black people here who aren’t nannies); and the fact that their kids can now go play on the sidewalk and in the backyard.
In a House, You Can Make All the Noise You Want [NY Times]
Photo by lunalaguna.
Goodnight, sweet thread. In the end, you had it all. Class warfare, racial vitriol, hot homoeroticism and snacks. God bless!
“Have there been any snacks at this party?”
If you mean 21-25 year old brownstone-dwelling hotties, then yes.
Have there been any snacks at this party? I can’t bear to read through 299 comments in search of food.
300. Over and out.
Homoerotic cupcake, anybody?
299
8:41 – it’s 8:25 here. Okay, here’s the deal. It’s kind of nice to be near Myrtle because that’s (you probably know) pretty much the main drag in FG/CH, until the Fulton BID gets its act together. That said, it’s longer to the subway, you’re absolutely right (though you’d be close-ish to the G, which I take to Midtown and to be honest love, because you get a seat and can read and relax for the commute). Look at this beauty, a few blocks away, which is what your new house would look like after about $500K, albeit missing a floor – still, wouldn’t you love to live here:
http://www.corcoran.com/property/listing.aspx?Region=NYC&ListingID=1169108&ohDat=
So I’ll raise you, how about this one:
(overpriced by about $300K ish, but they’ve got to be desperate by now and ready to deal; been on the market fooorevvver):
http://newyork.craigslist.org/brk/rfs/570828030.html
8:25, thanks for the feedback on FG. The house you linked to is 1.4M or so and the listing says it needs a full reno. I mean, it looks nice in the photos but I can imagine it won’t when it gets ripped apart for all new services, layout, relining for fireplaces, and who-knows-what. Kind of small footprint on that house on Adelphi frankly. And it’s far over toward Myrtle making for a long walk to the subway.
So, is 1.4m the kind of deals we can expect on a house that needs a gut reno and is over by Myrtle? I guess it’s still officially in FG being to the west of Vanderbilt.
We’re looking more toward the Lafayette Ave stop with access to Atlantic-Pacific-LIRR.
Anyone have any leads on a house in that area for sale that needs a gut reno. Frankly, we’re not in the market for a 2.8M or whatever perfect house!
Thanks!
“This is a blog called BROWNSTONER. Most people here like living in beautiful old Victorian homes. If I wanted a piece of crap clad in aluminum siding, I’d move to the suburbs. NOT Queens. ”
You are clueless. In Douglaston Queens there is an entire area of huge , beautiful , Victorians on park like grounds. In one of the best public school districts in the city. If you can’t afford Brooklyn you can’t afford a Victorian in Douglaston Queens.
That said there are plenty of nice affordable areas in Queens, near lovely parks & good public schools. The houses are charming brick row houses. They may not be Brownstones or Victorian mansions, but they are sweet and not aluminum clad. (And they have a Trader Joes.) Queens is a good option for working and middle class families priced out of Brooklyn, and many young families from areas like Williamsburg are working their way up Metropolitan Ave into Queens.
Queens is a good investment. No one wants to move into a Brooklyn neighborhood and put their kids in a bad public school. And if they do they are irresponsible parents.
Threads like these need a moderator – where’s Mr. Brownstoner when you need him?
Guest at 7:50 pm, the answer depends on the type of property you seek. In my opinion, the key question is whether you are looking for a move-in condition property or a house that needs work. I think you’ll find that there are still great deals in Fort Greene/Clinton Hill – I group those neighborhoods together because they are essentially one – if you are willing to put sweat equity into your house. This is certainly the case now and should continue to hold for the foreseeable future. You’ll limit your downside buying a fixer upper, notwithstanding continued tight global credit markets and US economy doldrums. By contrast, I am constantly amazed by (Corcoran primarily) listings that end up going for top dollar in these neighborhoods simply because the house is “finished” in the right way – neutral Benjamin Moore or kindred tones, and Restoration Hardware bathrooms – kind of like Mrs. Limestone’s beautiful new home. Those that need work go for a substantial discount and as I mentioned above, you can still get those kind of bargains in FG/Clinton Hill; not so much in Park Slope, etc. these days.
If you are interested in purchasing a move-in condition home, I again see little downside (greater risk of downside, though, than buying a fixer upper and having equity from day one). That’s because these neighborhoods have arrived and because the economy is pretty much done sorting itself out from the cheap money hangover (number one looming exception, which is not getting as much press as it should, being the solvency of muni bond insurers; thereafter, I think we’re well on our way to recovery, though its likely to take another year or so before the credit markets return to normal – whatever that has become – with a lag in its more palpable effect on consumer spending.)
In any event, throw the above out the window if you are in it for the long haul. You can’t go wrong with FG/Clinton Hill, or any of brownstone Brooklyn, in my humble opinion.
Below is a listing of the type of deal you can find. Good luck house hunting!!
http://www.corcoran.com/property/listing.aspx?Region=NYC&ListingID=1160734&ohDat=