Choosing the Suburbs Over Brooklyn
Are would-be Brooklynites flocking to the suburbs? The cover story in yesterday’s real estate section of the Times looks at how relatively cheap home prices in the suburbs are luring New Yorkers who find they can get way more bang for their buck in parts of Westchester, Connecticut and Jersey than in the city. While…
Are would-be Brooklynites flocking to the suburbs? The cover story in yesterday’s real estate section of the Times looks at how relatively cheap home prices in the suburbs are luring New Yorkers who find they can get way more bang for their buck in parts of Westchester, Connecticut and Jersey than in the city. While the article mostly focuses on the widening price gap between Manhattan and suburban properties, it notes that some people who would’ve bought in Brooklyn are also finding the suburbs cheaper:
Ludovic and Fabienne Ledein, who live and work as jewelry designers in Dumbo, visited nearly a dozen lofts in Dumbo, Red Hook and Williamsburg looking for something to buy for less than $600,000. They needed enough space to work at home and to put up friends and relatives from Europe. But what they wanted cost more than twice what they could afford…They found their answer in Westchester County, in New Rochelle. For about $600,000, they bought 1,350 square feet in the newly renovated Knickerbocker Lofts, a converted factory downtown that was built 117 years ago.
Any readers contemplating a similar move?
Cashing Out of New York City [NY Times]
Photo by uicukie.
The devil lives in the suburbs. Why parents subject their young to growing up there is beyond me. Suburbs are the breeding ground for serial killers, mental illness, predators, religious nuts, subprime crises, the Petersons, and the children of the corn. Because it’s about the parents not the children, truth be told.
you had me until the end, 6:48.
problem is…the cultureless suburbs are much more common than not.
there are very few nice “urban” suburban communities around the united states.
I moved from Brooklyn to the northern burbs 4 years ago, and almost all of my local friends and neighbors are recent city refugees. While there are certainly things I miss about the city, the benefits of living here are immeasurable. For me, my husband, and our kids.
As for the BS about its being “cultureless” here, I suppose that depends on how much culture one needs. We have three modern art museums, 2 art film houses, 3 performing arts centers, aprox 25 galleries, and a number of smaller music venues within 25 minutes of the house. That’s enough for me.
You people seem to ignore the fact that creative artsy new yorkers have been moving to the burbs steadily for the past 5-10 years. In the time we’ve been here alone there are many new galleries, a new museum, a huge number of new restaurants and gourmet food stores.
Another thing no one mentions is the benefit of being around nature. We live within 10 minutes of 3 huge nature preserves and go hiking every weekend–something I can’t imagine living without. The kids get to run around whenever they want, walk in the woods, climb the proverbial tree. And they split the summer between a nature camp and an arts camp.
I understand loving Brooklyn. I was born and raised there. And I understand not wanting to live in the burbs. But please don’t damn all burbs with stupid cliches that only apply to a small fraction of what is out here.
I love rural areas. But we could never commute 1.5 to 2 hours. People who do that never see their kids or spouse except on weekends.
here’s a tip for the city lovers (and burb lovers with a good sense of humor) out there:
please go out this week to your local blockbuster and rent welcome to the dollhouse.
that’s all i’m gonna say.
if you haven’t seen it, it’s amazing.
and horrifying.
The only bubble New Yorkers live in is the last housing bubble!
Forget Kensington. Forget Montclair. Wait and rent.
You’re doing your kids no favors by locking them up out in the burbs. I have 3 kids and we are hanging in there in a 2-bed in Carroll Gardens. Can’t buy now, of course.
I grew up partly in Queens and Bergen County, N.J. By the time I was 13, I was sneaking back in and riding the subways all day. And whoever said it was right … when we went on vacation my folks liked to say we were from NEW YORK.
cliches are more based in fact than a lot of the other nonsense out there.
Biggest CLICHE ever. Lame. Lame. Lame.
the city dwellers were the ones first attacked by virtue of the article, which with any remotely intelligent mind would realize is not based in fact, but on real estate spin.
i think more city dwellers are familiar with suburban living than those in the suburbs are with urban living. there are a lot of suburban lifers out there you realize who live in jersey 20 minutes away from here and are still TERRIFIED of the big, bad city.
it goes both ways, but i’d argue that most of us here have tried both, and the “green” factor does play a lot into all of this. i’m trying to make as small a footprint on the earth as possible.
i do sometimes get upset that too many people in this country are being greedy, polluting more than their fair share, using up too much water by needing to keep their huge lawns green and ruining acre after acre of land with mcmansions and walmart.
why am i not allowed to be at least a little upset about that??
it’s my world too. we are all here together and have to make this work so when i see too many people taking way too much of everything, i think i have every right to be a little bitter.
no?
i really don’t think too many people in new york city live in a bubble. anyone who has been here for 15 years has lived through horrible crime, a devastating terrorist attack and numerous other hardships just with the daily life in a big city. not everyone can make it in new york. that can’t be said for most suburban lifestyles. it’s easier there. that’s why people move there.
some people don’t like easy.