Park Slope Versus The Burbs
New York has a reputation for being an expensive town, which of course it is. But the high housing prices and rents don’t tell the whole story. You see, New Yorkers don’t necessarily need cars. And our property taxes are pretty low. Which is why a Times story this weekend comparing the cost of living…
New York has a reputation for being an expensive town, which of course it is. But the high housing prices and rents don’t tell the whole story. You see, New Yorkers don’t necessarily need cars. And our property taxes are pretty low. Which is why a Times story this weekend comparing the cost of living in Park Slope versus Orange, NJ found that a family of four with a household income of $170,000 could actually live more inexpensively in Brooklyn than Jersey. In fact, monthly expenses were $1,285 cheaper in the County of Kings. “Specifically, each month, the suburban family needs to lay out about $5,668 to run their home and commute to work in Manhattan, compared with $3,852 for the urban family,” said The Times. “That includes most relatively static expenses — from the mortgage, property taxes and homeowner’s insurance, to transportation, utility bills and, for the house, landscaping. ” The major caveat: If you want to send your kids to private school, fuhgettaboutit. You’re better off moving to the burbs.
High-Rise, or House With Yard? [NY Times]
Photo by Betty Blade
Basing this on a 675k fringe Park Slope 3BR is the bogus at best. I really would like to know what fringe Park Slope means here. Proper 3BR CANNOT be found for 675k in Park Slope. Period. Cheapest you can go is 699k list price for 1060sqf 3BR or 550k for 798sqf. Hardly a fair comparison with a house in a suburb.
@thwackamole1: You’re forgetting the shame attendant to having to tell people you live in New Jersey.
Ridiculous assumptions… like working in Manhattan! If everyone works in the dense city centers but continue to live in far-flung suburbs, the world is gonna die even faster than it already is.
What if I work in the community in which I live? (Like I do now… I don’t even use the subway for my commute!) What if this was the standard? It would mean healthier communities, a healthier environment, and a city that doesn’t concentrate ALL of its resources on the island with only 1/7th of the population!
Another ridiculous assumption. This $170,000 figure. Oh gawd! How do they ever survive with such high taxes! Woe is me. Jaysus. How about looking at the comparison for a family with more modest means?
It now costs just about $4 every day to go anywhere in the city. A figure that continues to grow. It’s actually getting to the point where, if you don’t work in Manhattan, commuting by car is an *economical* alternative! Very sad.
Furminator – becuase if they’re not creative professionals they don’t count
For those of you smart enough not to waste your time on the article. Here’s the abstract:
“Hey, It’s actually cheaper to live in a small apartment in Park Slope than a full house in New Jersey!…..Hmmm, but we kinda forgot to factor in the cost of NYC income taxes and the whole school issue…soooooo maybe it’s not. I dunno.”
Really, really shoddy reporting there, NYT.
Their comparison assumes the Brooklyn family owns no car and sends the kids to private school when they reach middle school age.
A) If you have kids, a car is a necessity, even in the city. One kid is bad enough, but when you have 2 kids, watch out. They’re not factoring in the cost of a car at all for the city family, much less any garage costs, parking tickets, extra maintenance from the crappy Brooklyn streets, higher insurance costs in the city, and so on.
B) This writer has no grasp on the reality of NYC schools. Generally speaking, if you want to send your kid to one of the top private schools, you need to get them in either at age 3 or at age 5. They are in lala land when they say the hypothetical family will send their kids to private school for middle school. It is extremely difficult, if not impossible, to get your kids into a good private school that late. Don’t even get me started about the stress the kids are under taking the ERB, G&T, etc. tests to get into a good public school.
C) A 1000sf 2 bedroom coop apartment is an equal comparison to a 2000sf 4 bedroom house??? Come on. Let’s have an apples-to-apples comparison. Poor journalism.
there are numerous diverse burbs, esp. in jersey
issues is schools, above all most Bk schools overcrowded and will get more so with massive education cuts coming down this year and next
The newly burbized woman in the article refers to “the requisite cuteness of Montclair.” What does that even mean? The idea that the suburbs are so unbearably backwater to these self-proclaimed sophisticates is really astonishing. Upper-middle-class towns on the commuter lines in the tri-state area were always populated by Wall Street big-wigs, corporate executives, attorneys, and other top-tier professionals, so why do these dolts think they’re not only breaking new ground, but compromising some kind of principles by moving to them?
I looked briefly at the article – the comparison graphics. So they are comparing, for a family of four, a two bedroom in PS with a four bedroom in Orange, which completely skews it.
I have a 10 yr old daughter and a 3 yr old boy – there’s no way they are living in the same bedroom. Why not compare a 3-bed Orange house (cheaper than their 4 bed shown) with a 3-bed PS place (more expensive than shown) if you are going to do a fair comparison.