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.
2:17, it’s ok. It’s called white privilege.
Not everyone wants to live in a transitional neighborhood.
Period.
I don’t plan to spend my short life living like that. In the end, the money is never worth it.
2:13, I just don’t understand how you could have bought in CG in 2005 at that income. We bought in the neighborhood in 2001, but 4 years later the prices were way out of reach. It seemed like the average 4 story was 1.5 million, which would mean you needed $300,000 for a downpayment plus renovation money. How did you save $350,000 or more on a $150,000 salary?
On the other hand, I think you made a great decision, rents are going up, and the neighborhood is a wonderful place with kids.
2:19…yes, you make such a good arguument.
don’t quit your day job to become a debater anytime soon.
hmm I am in my 30’s and will be buying a brownstone in the next year or so IN CASH – dont have a trust fund.
Made my money by investing in real estate in “transitional” neighborhoods.
Conversely, is it not unreasonable fo rme to think that people like you who didnt pay cash and have a mortgage are dumb at business, slackers, not worthy of living in the neighborhood etc?
Watch how you stereotype as it may be used against you.
2:17, you are satan spawn and your post proves it.
My parents had help from their parents and their parents helped them.
This is nothing new to people who had a little money.
Isn’t that kinda the point of having a family…to help them?
You all make it seem like you are spawned from satan to have grown up in a middle class family, and after years of working hard my parents wanted to help me buy a place.
So what??
The only reason you’d be pissed off about that is if you’re jealous. Sorry, but it’s true.
I went to college and grad school on full scholarships and then my parents gave me some money for my down payment.
So f*cking what??
2:03.
First, you’re an asshole.
Second, spending money at stores and restaurants in the commumity makes the place better. Hording money and then investing outside the neighborhood does nothing to improve the area.
Thirdly, property taxes don’t pay for schools in the New York (unlike most other places). Income taxes and others account for proportionately more of the revenue in the city’s budget. So your fantastic deal-making acumen does a little, but not a lot, for the schools that you don’t send your kids to.
2:03pm, oh please.
You really don’t know what you are talking about when you claim you “pay property taxes that pay for your kids school”. Ha ha ha ha. I own a $2 million dollar brownstone and pay barely $3,000 in taxes — don’t you know that Brooklyn Brownstones are some of the most undervalued taxable properties. But I also use the public schools, and work hard to keep them good for everyone. You don’t pay for my kids’ school, your taxes barely pay for the services you get for yourself.
Not everyone who owns a brownstone has a trust fund (we don’t), but when you see a 30 yr old husband and wife buying a 2 million dollar property, it’s not unreasonable to think they might have had a little help getting started in their real estate investments.