Tips renting in Carroll Gardens/
Hi, We’ve just landed in the city from London and after walking several boroughs we’ve decided that Carroll Gardens and Park Slope are the right places for us. We’re a young couple of academics in our early 30s with a newborn (4 months) looking for a 2.5 (the .5 being an office since we’ll be…
Hi,
We’ve just landed in the city from London and after walking several boroughs we’ve decided that Carroll Gardens and Park Slope are the right places for us.
We’re a young couple of academics in our early 30s with a newborn (4 months) looking for a 2.5 (the .5 being an office since we’ll be working from home) or a 3BR apartment. Our top budget would be 3k (bills included). Since we’re new to the city, we need some advice about a couple of things:
Is our budget in the market for these areas?
We’ve seen quite a few ads for Park Slope, but not much for Carroll Gardens, any advice about a good (no fee/low fee) agent working in the area? Or community listings?
We’re planning to move on the 1st of April, do we have time?
Any advice would be much welcomed
Thanks!
If anyone knows of where to look for no-fee realtors in Park Slope, or Carrol Gardens please let me know.
Also if anyone knows of any coffee shops or other places where people post listings let me know!!!!
Any help or advice is greatly appreciated!
Thanks a lot for all the advice. We’ve spent much of the day walking on South Slope to get a better feeling of the place. And following your advice, I’ll go tomorrow to check out Cobble Hill and Boerum Hill; the only real concern in those areas (esp. Cobble Hill) is proximity to the subway.
Thanks a million for all the useful advice!! It is really really appreciated!
South Slope (at least as far sas 16th Street) is just as good for ao yung family as North Slope IMO, as long as you don’t mind the longer ride on the F train. There are fewer services, but not it’s not barren in way. The housing is more clapboard houses than brick or brownstone, but there is certainly the latter. What is not as pervalent are the larger apartment buildings that you can find on the north end of the slope.
If take up NYGuy7’s idea of looking in Boerum and Cobble Hill (which I storngly encoruage), it may be hard to find a 2BR plus that extra space at much less than $3000/month. (E.g., see this listing for an idea of duplex apartment in a townhouse in Boerum Hill: http://newyork.craigslist.org/brk/fee/1631383950.html — the description is common configuration in duplexes of 2 more or less equal sized rooms plus a rather smaller BR that is often simply a nursery or an office). But I think the same will be true as well in Park Slope and Carroll Gardens (at least in areas relatively convenient to services).
Park Sloper has a good point about getting in touch with the local offices. Even better is go ahead and call them now and ask them what they have — oddly not every listing may make it to the website. They may also reach out to you if a listing comes in this week before they even post it on the website.
I also assume you are separating out the cost of the broker’s fee from your budget.
Also, while it is never too early in NYC to panic about schools for your child, for purposese of public schools it’s really not that big an issue until they are approaching kindergarten. Given that you are both young academics, IMO there may be tenure or other job-related issues that ould easily lead you to move again soon. I’d not worry too much about location for now. You can always move to a better school district then, and pay more if necessary or get by with less space.
Good luck with the apartment hunt.
South Slope is just a bit more remote in terms of transportation and amenities (and many of the houses are smaller) but also quieter and a bit cheaper than the Center Slope and North Slope. North Slope is attractive because of better transportation alternatives, but Boerum Hill is also near all the train lines at Atlantic Avenue, so it’s worth a look. Wherever you look, check out the blocks around where you’d be living both by day and by night, and check out the walk to the nearest train, to make sure it feels right to you. And good school advice above, if you expect to remain here that long.
You can check out some of the local real estate offices on-line to see what’s available in your price range (Corcoran, Brown Harris Stevens, Warren Lewis, Brooklyn Properties, Aguayo & Huebner, Heights Berkeley, etc.), but also check the New York Times and Craigslist.
You may be cutting it close for April 1, but if you do intensive research this week and visit apartments this weekend, you might be able to find something in time. Good luck!
As far as I know there is nothing wrong with South Slope. Your friends just may not like it because they don’t like the train line or just liked the north slope better.
Also, if you do like Carroll Gardens a lot, I would also look in Boerum Hill and Cobble Hill which is basically the same area, just at the north end of Smith St. With a budget of 3K you should be able to find something. Finding a 3br might be more difficult at that price (not impossible) but definitely you’ll have no problem finding a nice 2br.
In Carroll Gardens, you may need an extra wide house or a duplex to find 2.5 apartments. The vast majority of apartments I saw there were 1.5. Whereas I have been in many more three bedroom apartments in Park Slope. I think the housing stock there is slightly later and has more original apartments, not just single family houses divided into flats. Don’t really know about price.
Whatever you do don’t flaunt to your old neighbors that you came all the way from England ready to pay 300 dollars a month in rent. There are real hard working families in the neiborhoods and when mega rent payers like you come to the neighborhood they get the buzz going for all the other landlords thinking they can get the same amount. This is what started the housing bubble and look at where we are today. So shop around and dam all the real estate agents!
I had a great experience with Marta at Vespa Realty and she showed us excellent apartments in Carroll Gardens. We have a two and a half bedroom in a townhouse and pay a little less than $3k. Right now there is a three bedroom for rent at 375 Henry, or 357 Henry right on the corner of Cobble Hill/Carroll Gardens. Walk down Henry street and I’m sure you’ll see the big sign. Looks like a new reno, don’t know the price. Also Frank from Brownstone Realty was awesome, sweet older man.
I’ve lived in both north and south slope — south slope is definitely quieter, although certainly still has amenities/restaurants/cafes, etc. It’s just a different feel. And you have the F train, which I think turns many off. But, I didn’t find it to be so bad. Some just prefer the north slope trains — 2/3/q/b. I would personally stay closer to the 9th street than to prospect avenue if you go to the south slope, but it’s subjective, so walk around and see what you like.