Townhouse for $600k?
My husband and I are looking to buy a 3+ BR place so we can start a family (we currently live in a little 700 sq ft Boerum Hill condo). We’re open minded about neighborhoods in Brooklyn (preferred) or Queens but want a commute to mid-town that will be less than an hour. We could…
My husband and I are looking to buy a 3+ BR place so we can start a family (we currently live in a little 700 sq ft Boerum Hill condo). We’re open minded about neighborhoods in Brooklyn (preferred) or Queens but want a commute to mid-town that will be less than an hour. We could swing $600k and it would be a dream to have a townhouse but from what we’ve seen that puts us in Bed Stuy or Bay Ridge. Would anyone have advice on what it’s like to live in either community today? Safety is a question, and value for the money. We’d also love recommendations for other neighborhoods we haven’t discovered.
I’ve been keeping my eye on this listing in Hamilton Park, Jersey City. It’s one townhouse off the park in a great brownstone neighborhood. Price just got cut from 820 to 719, but If it goes to the 6’s it will go. 3 fam with owner duplex.
http://www.armagnoagency.com/ArmagnoAgency/listings_sales_display.asp?varSaleListingID=57
This is also a nice one for 539k, it’s a 2fam and the block is all historical clapboards, BEAUTIFUL block.
http://www.armagnoagency.com/ArmagnoAgency/listings_sales_display.asp?varSaleListingID=46
Jackson Heights – TONS of young families moving in and great space for the money.
Sunnyside is also cute, but you are at the mercy of the 7 line. JH has express trains and is a major hub.
I know a house listed for 600k a block away… it definitely needs a lot of work, but the price is most likely negotiable…
this is prime clinton hill, a whole house, pretty incredible
you can email me for the info nadineiscooler (at) yahoo dot com
plus the coop school is two blocks away…
I agree with Miss Muffet; I’m a fan of my own neighborhood of PLG, but don’t move there if you must go the public route and have 2, 3, 4 kids and are assuming you can easily get into a public school outside your zone. That’s not a big revelation, it’s just common sense not to do that. If you need the larger space a house offers your money either goes towards the very high cost of buying in a top school district, or it goes towards private school tuition. OR, you’re doing the long commute. Bay Ridge is worth looking at but anything decent in Bay Ridge seems out of reach for $600K from what I’ve seen. I’d encourage you look at Sunnyside too; the houses are so cute in the Gardens. Just very small, more like a duplex condo. I don’t know anything about the schools there either.
If schools are your top priority, Bay Ridge is a great option. However, there are borough-wide lottery schools that are also great (tho no guarantee of entry) like Brooklyn New School.
We lucked out on a wreck in South Midwood (11210) and love, love, love the way our house is shaping up, but the schools suck and as a newly pregnant person, I’m choosing to ignore that for now.
There are several townhouses for sale on Bedford Ave in Midwood towards Brooklyn College that are supposed to be nice inside.
This listing has also been reduced dramatically and on the market for a long, long time. Its on a very nice block in South Midwood (21st btwn Faragut and Glenwood) http://marykayg.com/html/0537.html
We don’t have the fancy restaurants of Ditmas, but on a nice day, we walk to them and the train service is great (B/Q at Newkirk).
I live in Bed Stuy and I love it here–I feel safer than I did in Greenpoint. The Utica A train area is beautiful… I think $600K would get you a fixer upper there. I live up Stuyvesant a ways from the A, closer to the J train, where $600K would probably get you something that’s already been renovated, or a shell and a construction loan.
Jersey City has one of the best high schools in the US, McNair Academy. It’s a public high school and has consistantly ranked in the top 100 high schools in the county.
RE: “although of course that could change by the time your (prospective) children are school age.”
This is kind of off topic, but how do schools “change”? Is it due to gradual increase of more involvemed parents of the “Stressed out” variety who have to compromise and send their kids to worse schools, but then push and demand that the schools improve? Or is it from the top down — a new dean, a change in the size of the school, etc . . . ?
Just be patient (rent a duplex for the time being) and keep your eye on ‘hoods that peaked out at 1.2 and you’ll scoop up your dream for 0.6 (might have to adjust for inflation to see this though).
***Bid half off peak comps***