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.
Lots of ways to live. But I think even suburbanites have got to admit that socializing is way more difficult when you leave the city. If you try to do it out there, unless it’s with folks down the block, everybody’s got the car-DWI problem to deal with. Hence, you can have ONE drink, maybe TWO, if you’re a big gambler. Some party or night out at the bar … even that backyard BBQ gets tedious if you’re counting the beers.
With kids, same thing, hop in the car and go somewhere. But if you want to go to the city, it means $25 for parking, 2 hours of traffic, so how often are you going to feel up to that?
Even if you don’t have time for all the big culture, just being here day by day, absorbing the energy, coming and going more or less as you please … it’s worth plenty, to those it matters to.
12:15
“culture is about being surrounded by people from 100 difference countriesâ€
Very cultured but apparently not well educated. I could have given you a typo except difference is not different.
“culture is sitting on the subway seeing every color color of the rainbow while reading a book, listening to some musicâ€
How many of those colors (used only once) do you see with your face buried in the book and ipod stuck in your ears. Which of your remaining senses of touch, smell and taste are you using while riding the train when your eyes and ears are otherwise occupied? I hope you aren’t sniffing, licking or groping anyone.
i love how now the suburbs are all about nature and blue skies.
no suburb i’ve been to lately had more of either than central or prospect park.
rural areas, maybe.
but last time i was in montclair, nj it was not about nature and blue skies.
it was about traffic and fat people.
no actually 12:23, it was someone else who said it was ridiculous to say that one lives in a city to be cultured, when most do not take part in said culture.
i was voicing my opinion that culture is not strictly about museums and plays.
sounds like you are the one being judgemental to me.
and rude.
so you aren’t a hypocrite calling me judgemental but doing it yourself with me?
interesting…..
12:16–get off your high horse, seriously. Now you’re going to dictate *how* someone should live their life in the city?? Please. This has gotten really silly. Some people value nature and blue skies over “culture” and viceversa. To each his own. You are also a typical hypocrite. You purport to value diversity, yet are intolerant and judgmental of others who choose a lifestyle different than your own.
and i’m not single, 12:08.
you make time for what the city has to offer.
otherwise it seems foolish to spend so much money to live here.
cultured it not only about museums, concerts and musicals.
culture is about being surrounded by people from 100 difference countries.
culture is eating thai tonight, sushi tomorrow, ethiopian friday, turkish saturday and the best brooklyn pizza on sunday.
culture is sitting on the subway seeing every color color of the rainbow while reading a book, listening to some music and hopping off the train just to wander around a new neighborhood and explore.
my high school had one black person, 2 latins and a hand full of asians.
that is not culture.
(and btw, in the last month, i have been to the brooklyn museum twice, seen young frankenstein, new york philharmonic for the third time tomorrow evening, brooklyn botanic gardens once, moma once and a dance performance at bam).
11:37 is absolutely right. I wanted to ask everyone who been to a museum or the theater in the last month to raise their hands. I don’t think there would be many. We all use the comparative advantage of having all this culture available at the front door. Its been a year since I last went to a museum. I’ve seen one concert in 2007. Don’t recall the last time I went to a gallery. With a job and kids, after a blessedly short commute on the subway which I am thankful for, all I can do is have dinner (probably take out or delivery which is the principal advantage of the City over the suburbs), look at homework and go to bed. I would say that other than movies and restaurants, there’s very little opportunity to take advantage of what the City offers. I don’t think we’re much different than most of the families we know. Those of you who think otherwise are probably single and still think the museum is a great place to meet otehr singles.
That’s cool. To each his own.
And no, I never said it compared to NYC. It’s a suburb–the whole point is to be able to enjoy the city without having to live in it and at the same time to live somewhere beautiful with immediate access to incredible hiking, biking, sailing, swimming and all the rest that naure has to offer.