Open House Picks

I was choosing between Lefferts and Ditmas a few years ago, and while there is restoration work to do on a lot of the Ditmas interiors, Victorian Flatbush just felt much more like a large, sprawling neighborhood (3500 freestanding houses stretching from Caton to Avenue H…), as opposed to a tiny, albeit charming oasis surrounded by large, looming, apartment buildings, poor shopping, and (dare I say it), even more alarming safety issues. By the way, my 2700 house cost a little over $2000 to heat last year. We did install a new boiler and hot water tank. We have original windows which I will not replace until we can budged for wood. Ditmas is a lifestyle. You have to be the right type. Sometimes people just aren’t cut out for preserving older woodframe houses and they split. And I have nothing againt those who give it there all, cash out and retire from it for awhile (usually they head up to a serious old house in the country, although smaller, and I do know two cases that have hightailed it to coops. Even I, a Manhattan girl, miss my super every now and then). But having said that, nothing feels better (to me) than being able to feel I have the room for the large family I have always wanted, to be able to give all 4 children their own bedrooms, a playroom, still have a “room of my own”, and still be able to walk one block to the grocery store and see the comfort of the subway from my bedroom window. It’s the right choice for us, and others, but not everyone, and I don’t begrudge them that.

I own in Ditmas Park West …a 3 story
wood frame with some new windows, some old and partial newly blown in insulation. To date this year my oil heat bill is $2174.00. We belong to NYPIRG oil co-op and are paying what we paid last $1.99.

We looked at several houses in ditmas and west ditmas before finding a house that we bought in Lefferts Manor. The ditmas houses are very appealing from the outside, but I kept feeling diappointed by the interiors. They were either stripped of detail, or seemed much smaller inside because of the way rooms were laid out. The maintenance issue with wood structures also scared us away, not to mention the fear of heating bills with four exposed walls and all those windows. We’ve been in our new house for a couple of months and have been pleasantly surprised by the Lefferts Manor neighborhood. Can anyone who lives in one of the ditmas houses share with us how expensive these houses turn out to be to heat?

I don’t know where you get your information from re: the Rugby Road house being 3300 square feet. It is much larger than a standard brownstone….go to the open house tomorrow and report again. I have seen that house and it is much bigger than a standard brownstone.

why are the Abermarle Terrce houses cheaper than similar ones in Lefferts Manor? The nabe seems bettter if anything–closer to stores, restaurants, and less serious poverty around the corner. What am I missing?