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.
2.53 PM;
If it’s all about the square footage, then you should move to some depressed rural area. I’ll mail you some brochures for property in West Virginia.
As I said:sad.
Benson
What planet do YOU live on, 2:53?????
LOCATION LOCATION LOCATION
Please try and find one reference that supports any other factor as being more important than location.
2:48 points out everything the NY Times article didn’t even approach.
Once more, it’s fake news. These NY Times Real Estate section articles are not journalism. Why post them on this blog like they are? They’re totally fed to the NY Times by their big RE agency advertisers. In this case the RE agents are simply trying to help their lagging, dead suburban listings that are taking big price cuts and still not selling. It’s so transparent.
2:43…its all about the square footage!!! What planet do you live on?
It’s so true, Benson. The one thing we always hear bragged about from those who move to the suburbs is square footage. That’s it, really.
Makes sense. They do stay home all the time in the suburbs. There’s no where to go and nothing to do. My FIL literally never leaves his suburban basement. Grocery shopping once a week, that’s all.
I would rather Move to Staten Island than move to new Rochelle. Plus the fact that a lot of these suburbs have no Advocate groups , no transportation so you must own at least 2 cars, and the crime sprees go up and down because of the lack of Police manpower. If you want more police on the streets in the suburbs than we have to raise your taxes. Oh and you own a condo well we will raise your Maintance to because of all the foreclosures there is no money in reserves. Suburbs= more $$$$$$$$$ out of your pocket.
3.34 PM;
I am a Brooklyn native, and many of the folks I grew up with (from Gravesend/Bensonhurst) moved to the Freehold area. I know the world of which you speak. It’s your choice to live where you want. Let me state for myself, however, that wild horses couldn’t drag me to Freehold and those environs. It is such an insular world – it deadens the soul.
What I have found, with both my relatives and in your post, is that most of the folks who move there tend to talk about square footage, as you have done. Somehow I find this sad.
Must be pretty expensive to fill up that Explorer, no?
Benson
There are city people and suburban people. They’re different. The suburban people like 2:34 who happened to try living in the city for a while before deciding to leave, they’d be happy with the move to the suburbs. The city people would be miserable. No way around that.
If you actually read that NY Times article, all the people in it are more conservative UWS types than pioneers who buy brownstones in Brooklyn, who traditionally people who work in the arts or media.
Then there’s this quote about another woman in the article:
“She now has a doorman, more space, sweeping views of woods, a private gym and rooftop swimming pool, a shuttle to take her to the Metro-North station, and free coffee and bagels while she waits for the bus.”
So is that supposed to sound appealing, that extra block of time to eat a bagel waiting for the shuttle, then ride the shuttle to the train to the city? I just don’t see how this article applies to ourselves and most everyone we know who owns property in Brooklyn.