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.
Congratulations brooklyny! I remember that open house listing and thinking what a beautiful home it was. Enjoy it!
I am one half of the couple profiled in the Times piece, and it’s really just a rudimentary outline of some of the issues that caused us to reconsider our move to the burbs. Ever increasing property taxes (20% increase in the 2 years that we lived there) were really what tipped the scales in favor of a move back to Brooklyn where I had first planted roots in 1990. I have never considered Brooklyn a homogenous neighborhood – I have always loved the many and varied neigbhorhoods that make up this borough, and even when living in downtown Brooklyn, my husband and I spent weekends going all over. I’m actually really loving where we are right now in PPS. True it has more of a suburban vibe, but as noted above, in 10 minutes I can be on Atlantic Avenue in one direction, at Difara’s 10 minutes in another direction, and 15 minutes from Floyd Bennett Field if I want to take my kid for a great bike ride. I can get a Jamaican patty two blocks away. We’re close to really good friends. What wasn’t clear in the article, and what has half of Maplewood apoplectic at the moment, is that several of the children who were adopted from the orphanage when we adopted our daughter live close by. So nothing against the adoptive community out there- it’s great, but some of the girls our daughter shares an important part of her history with, are a mere 10 minutes away which makes for great spontaneous playdates. The gist of the story is that we tried the burbs,but for a variety of reasons it just didn’t feel like the right fit for us, and thanks to Brownstoner’s Open House pick back in July, we feel incredibly lucky to be back.
Awww. Welcome back, Kotter (or whatever their name is).
setancre – they weren’t they still working in the city?
Yeah! It’s never too late to correct a mistake!
The one thing with the whole propery tax issue that everyone forgets is in NYC you have to pay extra income tax to the city and the NYS tax is also slightly higher then NJ. So if you’re making a lot of money the increase in property taxes will be offset by the decrease in income taxes. And NJ allows you to deduct property tax paid from your state taxes. That being said property taxes in NJ are still pretty extreme right now.
But they’re going to be close to ‘city life’ – a quick subway or cab ride away as opposed to 1 hour away by car. It’s the best of all worlds for them – if they make the schools work that is.
It’s really silly to speak of moving back to “Brooklyn” as if it is a homogeneous neighborhood. Prospect Park South is a short bike ride away from Park Slope, Bed Stuy, Windsor Terrace etc., but they are all very different neighborhoods. I love certain areas of Brooklyn but would not choose to live in Prospect Park South. The detached Victorians are beautiful but a pain to maintain and heat, there is no street life, and it feels like the suburbs. If they wanted to move back to “city life” they ain’t gonna get it there.
There is no other place like Brooklyn.