Back to Brooklyn (Thanks, in Part, to Brownstoner)
In “The Hunt” column in this Sunday’s NY Times, a couple leaves Boerum Hill for the ‘burbs when their family expands. Upon arrival in Maplewood, where they bought a 1920 colonial for $930,000 after selling their Bergen Street row house for $2.075 million, they miss the borough of kings. And it turns out the price…
In “The Hunt” column in this Sunday’s NY Times, a couple leaves Boerum Hill for the ‘burbs when their family expands. Upon arrival in Maplewood, where they bought a 1920 colonial for $930,000 after selling their Bergen Street row house for $2.075 million, they miss the borough of kings. And it turns out the price tag might have been cheaper, but not the upkeep. “Their Brooklyn taxes were around $3,500 annually, but in Maplewood they were paying around $23,000,” they write. The couple decides to return, just as the market is tanking, and have to put their house on the market for $35,000 below what they paid for it, even as prices hold strong and high in Brooklyn. So how’d they find the right house here? “In midsummer, she spotted an open house listing on Brownstoner.com for a detached Victorian in the Prospect Park South Historic District.” It was a five-bed, three-bath and they got it for $1.26 million. Happy ending.
Photo from Mary Kay Gallagher Web site.
I have lived in a Victorian Flatbush house for the last 28 years, after living in Cobble Hill. We have excellent schools, easy subway access, a growing restaurant row on Cortelyou Road, and lots of nice neighbors. I used to spend up to 1/2 hour finding a legal parking spot in Cobble Hill, now I have a driveway and garage. We can get to Park Slope in 10 minutes, to a variety of ethnic restaurants in Kensington, Brighton Beach, Sheepshead Bay, etc. in 10 minutes. On the Q it’s 25 minutes to Union Square, 35 minutes to Carnegie Hall. Granted, it is more suburban than the brownstone nabes, and street life is minimal, but the trade offs in convenience and quality of life more than make up for it.
It seems as though no thread on the big homes in this area is ever complete without a mention of the high maintenace and heating bills. I can tell you from experience that the cost of maintenance is about the same as maintaining a Brownstone if you exclude landscaping. However, it does take more to heat a free standing wood frame but the trade off is more space. When I lived in my brownstone I had to pay a garage monthly to park my car so that I could avoid the headache of alternate side parking and I paid for a storage unit to keep camping equipment and other seasonal items that I didn’t have the space to keep in the house. I also use to rent spaces for children’s parties and other entertaining which I no longer have to do. All of those things add up to more than the extra $50-$75 a month that I pay for heating my home. Not to mention that these houses are cheaper to purchase so the mortgages would be lower.
Welcome to Flatbush, the Heart of Brooklyn. It is literally the center of Brooklyn making access to any place else in the borough very easy. Although we don’t have the foot traffic and amenities of the downtown neighborhoods, there is enough going on locally to make the area nice but not too noisy which is the point.
When you love Brooklyn and NYC, no place else will do!
Welcome back. Nice house, Love the porch!
love the new place!
brooklynny – i went to that open house when i saw it on brownstoner. i think you definetly made a great move (sorry you had to sell for a lose but at least it sold). i love that area and like that it is suburbish but still so close to the city. i would never leave bk but i would leave my brownstone for a victorian house. the elementary schools over there are pretty good also.
good luck and welcome back!
thanks.
You don’t pay NYC income tax if you reside outside of NYC. You pay taxes in the location you live, not where you work. Taxing wages where one works is called a “wage tax” they used to do this in Philly, not sure if that’s still the case.
dittoburg–you only pay NYC income tax if you live in NYC. If you work here but live outside of the city you do not have to pay it.
Brooklynny–welcome back.