Two Pittsburghers Moving Out of Their Element
to the chase: I’m a Union Boilermaker, shes a Resident Physician (both in our late 20’s). My girlfriend will be working at a hospital around Flatbush and has no time to look at apartments. Shes counting on me to sniff around and find the best course of action for housing needs (im off of work…
to the chase:
I’m a Union Boilermaker, shes a Resident Physician (both in our late 20’s). My girlfriend will be working at a hospital around Flatbush and has no time to look at apartments. Shes counting on me to sniff around and find the best course of action for housing needs (im off of work currently). We both like the sound of Prospect heights, Park Slope,Carroll Gardens, etc. I think we are looking at spending 2k/month on rent, which from what I researched gives you a fair space in most sects of Brooklyn…for Brooklyn standards anyway. I’m finding it a tad daunting pinpointing the best route. I have a four bedroom,2000k sq ft, Tutor style house in the suburbs of Pittsburgh…this is going to be a big adjustment.
Questions:
-How far in advance should I be looking at apartments?
-I hear about the broker route, but I have a slight mistrust for them. are they pertinent?
-Should I just stay a week, look through classifieds/craigslist, and view apartments?
– I need to possibly work in New Jersey…is getting out of Brooklyn in the morning horrendous?
– I have a car, am I screwed?
– she wants to be at work with a max commute of 20 minutes each way, where to live???
Any advice or pointers would be greatly appreciated…it nice to see the sense of community on this site…makes me feel better about the move 🙂
vinca,
Au contraire!
Brooklyn College (Midwood/Flatbush) and Prospect Lefferts actually *do* have great access to the BQE…
…via the Prospect Expressway.
I live right in the center of Prospect Lefferts. It takes me about 5 minutes to go from my house, turn down Flatbush, across Parkside and arrive at the Prospect Expressway.
Then it’s less than 5 minutes on that before you’re at the BQE.
If he does the reverse commute to avoid traffic in the mornings, he can go from there southward on the BQE to SI and into NJ hitting clear roads most of the way.
I almost said Downstate, but figured better to let you ID the hospital. If you want a straight shot by subway, then you’ll either be heading down towards Brooklyn College (Midwood/Flatbush) or up towards Prospect-Lefferts or even Prospect Heights and North (Park) Slope, with the first few in the list being more in your price range. None of these neighborhoods is perfect for you in terms of quick access to the highway (BQE). Midwood’s got plenty of large Victorians and feels more like old Brooklyn (or maybe even your Pittsburgh suburb)—wonderfully slower, quieter, more mom-and-pops, not overwhelmed by restaurants and trendiness. Same for Ditmas, though access to the hospital will be via bus or car, not subway. Every Brooklyn neighborhood’s got something great to recommend it, but only you can figure out what appeals to you and your pal and your personal styles. You can find several Brooklyn guides for the more trendy neighborhoods at this link (you have to take them with a grain of salt, including the alleged names of the neighborhoods): http://bit.ly/dhl4rT
Here’s a link to subway and bus maps: http://bit.ly/ddNAhA
A realtor specializing in “Victorian Flatbush” (with a map of those neighborhoods on her website) is: http://bit.ly/aTR5fC
A good Brooklyn-specific map is: http://bit.ly/bLNwj8
I sincerely appreciate all of the feedback and hearing of personal your experiences. I thoroughly read each response. I’m fortunate to stumble upon this site. If I was moving to a sleepy North Carolina town, this wouldn’t be a issue…Brooklyn/NYC is a whole different animal.
The question Ive seen repeated in several posts was, “what hospital does your girlfriend work at?”. The answer is: Kings County. Like Ive stated before, she wants to be 20-30 minutes away.
My car is a 2003 Hyundai Sonata with 110,000 miles on it…as you can see, its in the larva stage of a beater…putting out 200-300/month for a garage is out of the question…both in principle and monetary senses. As a Union Boilermaker, my commute in Pittsburgh to the different Fossil Power/Nuclear/Steel Plants are an 60-90 minutes each way…combined with a 10-12 hour work day…I’m fairly used to the pain.
Me and my wonderful gal both have taxing and stressful careers. It would be nice to find a place in Brooklyn that is quiet and quaint, has a garden area or terrace. Has a decent place to park, nice restaurants and a fair rent price. If anyone comes across anymore info or direction, keep me posted…Bay Ridge was noted, Ditmas Park and Crown Heights drew my curiosity. I will research further 🙂
TO: Snezan and CHP: my e-mail is: cstella@live.com. If you want to forward details/photos of your place I will certainly browse them. Please title the e-mail “Brownstoner”…as all of my mail goes directly to the junk folder until I sort it.
Vinca: thanks for the straight up info and map link
Where will you be working in Jersey? This will affect commute and neighborhood advice.
BTW, if you want a decent map of NYC neighborhoods—not the ne plus ultra, but a good reference—see: http://bit.ly/chyYgy
vinca is right. Try and be on the same line as the hospital is on and Brooklyn is not nearly as crime ridden and dangerous as a lot of these posts make it seem regarding a car. It will be okay on the street. You’ll be more worried about dents to the bumper than it being broken into. I have a car and for the first couple of years had it on the streets without a problem. The only reason I put it in a lot was I was I didn’t want to move it 4 days when I moved near downtown Brooklyn and there was one at the end of our block.
A broker isn’t necessarily a bad thing. If you can find a place without one great, but I’d still look at apartments listed by them. It sucks having the pay the fee but it’ll be worth it if you find a place you really like and want to live in.
As far as commuting to NJ from Brooklyn, yeah that’ll probably be a pain either by driving or by public transportation. Although it won’t be impossible nor will it be a total nightmare. It also depends on where in NJ you’ll need to go. But you should probably look around North Slope, Ditmas Park and the areas vinca mentioned.
HI Rootweave,
I have a 3 bedroom, duplex, 1800 sq feet with private garden and entrance for rent in Crown heights. $2300/month. Very Quiet, never had a problem parking in my area (been there for 2.5 years). If you add your email I will send you more deits.
Mostly typical answers of people who didn’t grow up in Brooklyn, and only moved here lately. Everything’s too hard, too far, too expensive, too much trouble, too time-consuming, too likely to get damaged. Wonder why they ever moved to Brooklyn in the first place? Advice to live on the same line as the hospital is good advice. Advice to drive into Manhattan, rather than use the Verrazano, is penny-wise and pound-foolish. Tell us what hospital and you’ll get better input. From what you’ve written, you’ll probably want to live south of Prospect Park (Prospect-Lefferts, Ditmas, Flatbush, Midwood), or closer to Bay Ridge. You can definitely find a good place in a week with advance work and using a good broker (that’s exactly how one of our out-of-town tenants found an apartment in our building). Check the major realtors’ websites starting now to get an idea of what’s on the market (Brown Harris Stevens, Prudential Douglas Elliman, Corcoran).
This is a long shot but for 2000 a month you could easily get a 3 bedroom with a garage in Bay Ridge. From that nabe you would get to Jersey through Staten Island which is the opposite commute. You wouldn’t hit an ounce of traffic because its all going towards the city and you’d be going out. Your wife’s commute would be a about 15 to 20 minutes longer but it might be a tradoff so you could keep your space and car.
It’s a nice nabe with tons of resturuants, bars an parks.
I lived in Park Slope but when it came time to get more space this was a nice alternative to moving to the burbs.