Just Sold in Brooklyn

Absoutely, what they “look like” are the working and middle-class housing the city built at one point in time to ensure that its teachers, mail carriers, cops, firefighters, or other folks without much in the way of lots of cash were able to stay in the city (see: Stuy Town, Peter Cooper Village, the Henry Street towers, etc.). Some of them were built around the same time as public housing – though the 195 Willoughby building, where I live in a 1 bedroom, was actually later (mid-fifties).

It’s actually a great community to live in, and once you tear out 50 years of bad things, you’ve got a solid mid-century spacious box to work with. It was also very affordable seven years ago when I bought (1BR with a full skyline view for significantly under $100K); and apparently a great investment: studios selling for $225 and my neighbors just sold a 2BR 1.5 bath for $507,000. As a previous poster noted, there are always improvements, new elevators, new lobbies in progress, new floor hallways just completed.

Of course, as another poster also said, it’s likely that some lovely old places were torn down to create the “Super Block” my coop (it’s called Willoughby Walk BTW) is on; our coop is two buildings and a third is a Pratt dorm, plus, the commercial strip facing Myrtle. Just another Robert Moses crack at “progress,” but as a beneficiary, I guess I can’t complain now…

I have been in the Brooklyn Heights building on Willow Street. It is very nice, as is especially the neighborhood. While it is no “project” as someone mentioned, it is one of the “newer” apartment buildings, and has been there since at least the sixties. I don’t know what buildings were there originally. It would be interesting to know this history.

11217 and Alsawo – I could not agree more that things change a lot when you have a family. When I was young and single, I loved my tiny studio in prime location since all I cared about was being in the thick of the action, and I was going out all the time anyway so my place was basically a cute and convenient crash pad (though I was happy spending time at home too and did not need a lot of space on my own). Once I got married and had kids though, everything changed. Not that I need a ton of space, but my perceptions of space have changed a lot since kids really do take up a lot of space and while you may never want to sacrifice all that’s great about the city, many families feel differently. I know many families who, upon having their 2nd kid, decided it just wasn’t worth it to cram into a tiny apt when for much less money, you could have a beautiful house within commutable distance of the city and still enjoy many of the city perks (since, let’s face it, a lot of families living in NYC get really busy and don’t get to enjoy all the city offerings as much as they’d like anyway). I’m with you though – I love this city and am very committed to staying here even if it does mean less space for my family. But I can say that from a position of relative privilege since I was already an owner much earlier on so accumulated the capital that makes it at least remotely possible we’ll find something decent for our family that is relatively spacious for city living. But again, many first-time buyers with families have simply been priced out – although hopefully, the softening of the market will allow some of those folks back in.

Well, if the one person living in a studio finds a husband/wife/partner/friend/kept man, then they can afford double. While the prospect of affording 3 or 4 or 5 kids right now sounds daunting – there are absolutely affordable 1 and 2 bedroom apartments in Sunset Park, Bay Ridge, Kensington, Jackson heights, Sunnyside, Woodside, etc. Now, if you want an affordable 1500 sq. ft. apartment in Park Slope or Fort Greene or Carroll Gardens, good luck. But what people sometimes say on these boards is true – if you are willing to make certain sacrifices, more people can find places that are affordable to them if they really look and have an open mind.

And I personally could not care less if people who want to move to New York cannot afford to do so. As a native New Yorker (gasp!), I have much more sympathy for native New Yorkers who cannot afford to live in their own neighborhoods anymore.

After tax deductions, I pay about $1150 (including maintenance) a month to live in a great studio in Park Slope, which I purchased in 2006.

New York City IS affordable to lots of people…it’s just a matter of what you’re willing to sacrifice in order to afford it. Others in my position might think that living in a studio in Brooklyn is beneath them. I happen to love every second of it, and would much prefer to sacrifice a larger place for the opportunity to live in a city (and neighborhood) I love.

I’ll take this over a 3 bedroom out in the sticks any day of the week.