Leaving Brooklyn For The Burbs
After 10 years we are leaving Brooklyn for the suburbs. The primary reason is a desire for consistently decent public schools for our 2 kids. Other reasons are the typical ones you hear – more space, a yard, etc. Despite our rationale for moving I find myself deeply saddened about leaving and am worried that…
After 10 years we are leaving Brooklyn for the suburbs. The primary reason is a desire for consistently decent public schools for our 2 kids. Other reasons are the typical ones you hear – more space, a yard, etc.
Despite our rationale for moving I find myself deeply saddened about leaving and am worried that I will have a hard time adjusting to suburban life.
What have been the experiences of others who have blazed the suburban trail before me? How long did it take to adjust (if ever)? Were your reasons for leaving ultimately justified? What do you miss most about Brooklyn?
8:43 lives in new jersey.
8:43- it’s clear you love being a ranting raving venting jerk but could you do it on whatever your favorite neo-nazi white supremacist web site is instead of here? Thanks- take the white sheets with you too. And the trailer with the wife, the spawn and the hound dawg. Oh- and the cookbook with all the fried squirrel recipes.
its such a damn shame that these inner city screaming animal kids hold our children’s future hostage because of their dysfunctional upbringing. all the gentrification in the world unfortunately cannot drive out the scum that infests the public city schools. sure, there are exceptions to this, but just ask a few teachers what a public school is like in new york city. crime, underachievment, parents who cannot provide proper guidance, lack of nutrition and manners for their children to move up in the world. a total conundrum. people who try and achieve in this world yet again get punished by the leeching scum from the hood who poison this great city. i just assume build some projects in the middle of Area 51, put up a chinese take out, 99 cent store, check cashing place and a clinic and the inhabiants won’t know the difference from Nevada to Brooklyn, as long as their flat screen has Direct TV hooked up. It’s like that!
also, take all gang members and send them to siberia. they can be all bad and macho in the land of the bear
I grew up in Jersey and hate my parents for it.
It was not a fun are to grow up knowing that all the fruits of the city were so close, yet so far.
Not all schools in the suburbs are good and very few are great…especially given the fact that you do not have choice as we do here in Brooklyn. To be in a great school district will cost you in taxes. I grew up in the burbs and have many friends who remain there and most are jealous of my kids public school education. I am very happy with my choice to remain in Brooklyn and keep my kids in public schools.
For New York families with 2+ kids and aspirations in either schooling or neighborhood, the suburbs have been cheaper since at least the 1950s. If family-sized real estate doesn’t get you, the private school tuitions will.
After 20+ years in brownstone brooklyn (me) we’ll be moving to West Orange, NJ in August.
Honestly the move is driven purely by economics. As a middle class family of 4(160HHI) we’re struggeling. Pre-School tuition and childcare eat up about 40% of take home pay, mortgage and utilites another 40%, leaving us very little to live on.
Paying the high “burb” taxes is still a quarter of the private school tuition facing us.
We chose West Orange right on the border of South Orange, because it’s diverse, artsy, has a great community feeling, is a closer commute than where we are right now, has a good public school system, and most importantly you can get a nice house for 400K. It took us over a year to make this decision, but I think it’s the right one for our family.
If we could afford a 3 bed apartment, lived in a good school district or private tuition was not an issue we would absolutely stay.
Am I melonchaly a bit, absolutely. But we can always come back and visit.
One of my neighbors moved to Matawan three years ago for these same reasons: kids, yard, privacy. Another neighbor kept in touch with them and said they regretted it. They’re paying an add’l thousand/month in taxes, the fuel, car upkeep and commuting overhead are killing them and they still come into the city for dining and entertainment when they can afford it.
I know its not what you want to hear but DON’T DO IT. Well, that’s the way I feel about it. Both my wife and I grew up in the suburbs, and she looks longingly at it when we go out there, but I’d never move there permanently. Seems like a prescription for depression/alchoholism. That said, there is a real estate company in Montclair I think that rents busses to bring people out from Park Slope to look at houses. You may do better with public schools if you live in a great town, but you’ll be paying the taxes for it. My advice would be this: if you have friends and/or family out there and a reason to be in one suburb rather than just “get me out of New York,” go for it. If not, you may find it ain’t as great as it seems when you live in the city.