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 just know what people in the suburbs say to my face about us choosing to live in the city, that’s all, 3:45. I wasn’t talking about blog comments alone.
“Many have to insult those who stay in the city and feel very superior about the suburbs. ”
this feels like a strawman to me.
i don’t get this sense at all.
and from reading this thread, it seems more the other way around.
3:10, I think you misread 3:03’s post. As for the midwest – Montana has the biggest Crystal Meth epidemic in the country. Iowa, South Dakota and North Dakota are not far behind. Unlike crack which hit urban communities of color hard in the 80’s, Crystal Meth has devastated rural white communities because you need square footage in remote areas to make the stuff. The rural law enforcement agencies weren’t ready for the problem and still can’t get a grip on it. The social service agencies are also overwhelmed. So yes I am sure that the rural midwestern youth say thank you to their drug dealers after leaving the trap.
“By the way, in the school where I teach I can take my students to Lincoln Center to go see ballet and the NY Historical Society on a field trip. Can your children do that in the burbs?”
uhh, sure. why not?
i can remember going to Lincoln Center, the Museum of Natural History, and many other great places in NYC on field trips when i went to grammar school in suburban NJ in the 80’s.
it’s funny that city people use the word “insular” to describe suburbanites when you yourself actually believe that a school in the suburbs would not have the competance or intellectual desire to hire a freaking bus to drive them 40 minutes to Lincoln Center.
isn’t that the definition of “insular”?
Benson, you are a scholar and a gentleman. Thank you…there is hope for NY. (lol)
3:13.
Taxes for a nice sized house in Westchester come closer to $20K than $10k. We looked up there earlier this fall, and the huge taxes come close to our daughter’s tuition here in Brooklyn. The DWI issue is the main reason we moved back to the city several years ago.
…how do the suburban and rural kids end up the best and the brightest when they reject culture as political stance? You sound like one of those schizo oldmen who talk to themselves and no one listens. 3:13 hit it head on. I live in NY, but I love visiting rural places around the country that reminds me that it’s okay to slow down.
I was born in Manhattan and spent much of my early life living in a few suburban towns, two of which were NYC suburbs, the other a Chicago suburb.
Can’t complain about the overall experience except for the fact that suburban life is dull for a lot of teenagers. However, if they live near NYC, they hop into town to get a taste of things here.
Yeah, it’s still true that most city schools are poor sites for education. But let’s face facts. The quality of the school is a function of the quality of the students. Kids with lousy attitudes toward school, adults and general orderliness force schools and teachers to focus on issues other than teaching.
Suburban schools benefit from the fact that almost all students attending them are civilized. Not true in urban schools. Having worked in the school system, my opinion is based on inside experience.
But a kid with a little extra brainpower is likely to pass the test for the Gifted Programs in NY City public schools. Entrance into either the Eagle or C.I.G. programs ensures things will go well for the child.
On the other hand, if you must send a kid to private school, the lower property taxes in NYC are offset by tuition.
Meanwhile, like each of NY City’s neighborhoods, each suburb and region has its unique character. Unfortunately, as one poster mentioned, Long Island is dangerously culture-free. Forget real estate, the place is plagued with mental foreclosure.
Bottom line, NYC is a more interesting place to live. You can always visit friends in the burbs; they love to invite their old city pals out for a visit.
Oh come on, of course people in the city understand it when some people decide to leave. The problem is, and I’m tired of seeing it and hearing it, that those who choose to leave can’t seem to just go and be happy about it. Many have to insult those who stay in the city and feel very superior about the suburbs. Why are you suprised city people react to that by pointing out things that disprove the claims? We have good friends who live on Long Island and they pull that trip sometimes, “oh how can you live in the city and plan to have children”. Get over yourselves and stop being so James Dobson. Life is more simple, people are better, and all that crap. Focus on your own damn family, as people like to say!