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.
i think the person from weehawken all but likened the “city” with hoboken.
it has everything he/she needs.
that’s not quite the same as someone who wants to live in one of the 5 boroughs.
sorry, but it’s not.
The Weehawken guy sounds like a reasonable fellow. However, Weehawken is closer to being a 6th (or 7th or 8th) borough than it is to being the type of “soul-deadening” burb that people are talking about on this thread.
When my family was priced out of prime Manhattan, we considered and looked in Upper Manhattan, Brownstone Brooklyn, LIC, and the Hoboken/Jersey City/Weehawken/Union City/etc. area in Hudson County, NJ, as potential destinations. We thought of all of those places as cousins of one another — not Manhattan, but still urban, and definitely not “soul-deadening”.
We ended up buying in Windsor Terrace, BTW.
“People in the suburbs value big houses, big cars, a floor for every child and video games. ”
and you are proving your urban sophistication and superior intellect by making sweeping generalizations.
yes, every single person who doesn’t live in NYC is exactly the same.
great point.
People who live in the city value diversity, close knit communities with human interaction, a walkable lifestyle and culture at your fingertips.
People in the suburbs value big houses, big cars, a floor for every child and video games.
so grilling a steak and square footage are now the reasons to move to the suburbs.
ok. i’ll pass.
my reasons for living in the city are the ability to interract with all walks of life every day, go to the market and run into fellow neighbors, wander over to ozzie’s coffee shop, talk, have a smoke, hit up the greenmarket and whip up an amazing dinner and then walk two blocks to the wine bar with a few friends after and stumble home and have a nightcap before walking the dog along prospect park.
then wake up on sunday, do some shopping in soho and go to the opera, hit the whitney or a dance performance at bam, followed by dinner at blue ribbon sushi and a movie at home with the kids.
but yeah…grilling a steak and a 6th bedroom sound fun.
I don’t mind the suburbs but I would never want to live there. It’s just too boring for me. I don’t mind visiting but that’s as far as it goes for the burbs. Besides, I hate driving.
I own a large Victorian house in Weehawken, NJ. I usually check this site for renovation tips, but I thought I would chime in on this thread.
I have a large victorian with a nice backyard on a quiet block. I can get in and out of Manhattan 24 hours a day, unsually in under 20 minutes. The public schools, while not spectacular, are solidly above average and I would wager they are better than most of the public school system in NYC. My taxes are less than $6000.
I have a car, my insurance is about $1000/year. I take public transportation to work, but I use the car to shop, visit family, go to the beach, go skiing, etc.
What is my point? I guess just that it IS possible to move to NJ without forfeiting your “soul”. I have all the restaurants/museums/shops/etc in Hoboken and NYC within 20 minutes from me. Good schools, low taxes, great house.
Maybe it’s just the last “good deal” in real estate. I moved from the city, and I don’t really miss it at all since I still go in all the time.
The difference is that when I come home, I can grill a steak in my backyard without anyone bothering me.
oh please, 4:16.
you do not.
every time this topic comes up, you give the same spiel about how great the burbs are, and then when asked why you post on brownstoner so much, you say you own something.
you’d say that upfront, if that were the case.
“i love the burbs, but…”
that would be the post of a “normal” person, anyway. it would certainly make your posts seem more credible rather than by some broker in bergen county desperate to make a buck.
Don’t get it twisted. We are still originally from the hood, and don’t mind displaying our ass-kicking skills….lol.