From Cali to Brooklyn - culture questions and more! (New York: 2014, apartments)
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My husband is interviewing for a position in the Sunset Park neighborhood of Brooklyn. I'm a third generation California girl and have never been to New York. If he gets the job, we'll be moving from Oakland, Ca (across the bay from San Francisco) sometime this summer.
Here are my many questions (sorry if they seem obvious! ):
1) If he works in Sunset Park, Brooklyn, is it simply easiest to live IN Brooklyn? Less than a 30 minute commute is a MUST.
2) We have two school-aged children and one on the way. I want a 4 bedroom/2 bathroom dwelling (are they called flats or apartments or lofts - is there a difference? And what's a brownstone?), preferably with a small yard (yes, I realize the mini-yard might not be possible in an urban environment). I MUST have a washer and dryer in unit and we need to be zoned for an 8+ school. I want his commute to be 30 minutes or less. Is it possible to get all this in Brooklyn with a budget of $4,000/month for a rental? I've seen some CL rentals as low as $3300/month and obviously some much higher. What is the "cheapest" I could get all this for? And what's the average cost of everything on my wish list for a decent place (meaning updated)? We need to know for salary negotiation. If he gets the job, we'll be working with a relocation specialist which I am assuming will use some kind of broker to help us find a rental (and I read we might find something nicer/cheaper with a broker than on CL? Is this true?). Are there specific neighborhoods that would be better to focus my search on? Are there other boroughs that we should look at too (keeping the commute to 30 minutes or less)?
3) What is typically included in the price of rent? On the CL listings, it looks like heat & hot water are included in rent. Does that mean the landlord covers the electric/gas bill and the water bill? Do NY landlords also cover trash removal? I am assuming we'd have to pay for our own cable/internet bill.
4) We are Jewish but not Orthodox. We've belonged to both reform and conservative shuls but do not keep kosher. Will we find a welcoming Jewish community?
5) What is the little league situation like in Brooklyn? In Oakland there is essentially the white-middle class little league which has annoying parents bickering over organic snacks, and the black-working class little league where the kids learn how to play ball & is quite competitive even in the seven year old bracket. My son is thriving in the competitive league and I would like to make sure I can get him into a good little league. What are the popular sports for kids? In the Bay Area, depending on what city, lacrosse and soccer can be very popular and no one plays pop warner football.
6) I'm a stay at home mom. Are there lots of other stay at home moms in Brooklyn? Or if I went to the park would I mostly meet nannies?
7) Do rentals usually come with an off street parking spot? We'd have at least one vehicle (I'm not sure we'd need two). Is it advised to rent a separate parking spot near by? If so, how would we find that?
8) Where do folks usually grocery shop? Here in Oakland, I can walk 5 blocks to a wonderful butcher, baker, and produce market but I often drive to Trader Joe's, Target and Costco to do my regular shopping.
9) How many hospitals are in Brooklyn? What is considered the best one to give birth at? I'll be giving birth in September and will have to find a new OB in the middle of my pregnancy. I'll also be having a scheduled c-section. Is there like, a website for finding a great OB in the NYC area? How long will I get to stay in the hospital? The hospitals I've given birth in before actually let you choose your own menu and the food was totally decent and edible.
10) For visiting family, what's the best airport to fly in and out of? (California-NY)
11) I'm sure not all of Brooklyn is equal in terms of crime. What are the most common crimes committed in a neighborhood that meets my above criteria (4/2, good school). We live in a nice area of Oakland (that meets my above criteria) and have had our house broken into, our car broken into twice, and there are frequent muggings in the 'hood plus I've heard gunshots several times. However, we don't have to deal with prostitution or finding needles strewn about. Our neighborhood actually pooled our money together to hire private security (and the muggings dropped significantly). Along these lines, if we call the Brooklyn cops because our house was broken into, do the cops show up in a timely manner? In Oakland they show up 12 hours later - if at all.
12) How do people decide if they are Mets or Yankees fans (other than being born into it)? What is the geographic line?
13) How quick is it to get over to Manhattan from Brooklyn? Like, for a date? Is it insane to think we'd drive over there and just pay for parking? What is the average parking cost if we were going to be out on the town for 3 hours? (In SF we'd pay $20-25 for a night of parking).
14) Does Brooklyn have fabulous restaurants? The hubs and I LOVE to eat out and I'm wondering if we'd mostly Uber over to Manhattan to eat or if Brooklyn is rockin' it's own food scene?
15) Does Brooklyn have Uber?
16) What is the average cost of a babysitter for 3 children? Not a nanny but a high school or college kid to watch the children from say, 6pm-midnight (children going to bed at 8pm).
17) Does the Brooklyn bridge have a toll, and if so, how much is it? Do y'all have Fast Track (that's what we call it here - a device you stick on your windshield and then you auto pay once a month for whatever charges you racked up and it allows you to go in the [theoretically] faster lanes so you don't have to stop and pay a cash toll).
18) My husband plays music on the side. How much would it cost to rent a studio for him to set up all his equipment? How easy would it be for a 30-something year old guitarist to find other guys to play with (and share the cost of the studio)? He likes to write songs and would eventually like to record and play out (but not looking to get famous). He's recorded two albums already and is a solid guitar player, so it's mostly just a super serious hobby.
Too many questions for me to absorb at the moment so I'm just going to start with #5. I'd go with either the Bonnies or Latin Souls. Maybe even Bergen Beach LL, but it's further out in Brooklyn.
Also I'd say that most Brooklynites are Mets fans (question #12). When the Dodgers left, the Mets came 5 years or so later, so it made sense to transition over to the Mets.
Location: Subconscious Syncope, USA (Northeastern US)
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I sooo miss California! I remember the Geneva Drive-In theatre near Cowtown Palace. Good times! I love Northern Cali the best though - Humbolt and Del Norte counties mostly. Best times!
1.) Does the Geneva Drive-In theater still exist?
See how I asked just one question so that I didnt make anyone repulsed by looking at my 'Ivy-league college entrance exam' quality post?
How could anyone answer all those questions in one single reply, lol? Would you want to? Seriously.
Arent Californians supposed to be laid-back? All the ones I met were. You make me think SF has drasticly changed since I was last there.
You might want to wittle that down to a couple questions that are important to you, and expand from there.
You need important questions with useable information like how much you are looking to spend on an apartment for where to live. Sure, Brooklyn has big-box stores, small specialty shops, and different neighborhoods specializing in different types of peoples needs and desires.
But gosh, you would have to find someone with completely no life to even attempt to tackle your first post. Please at least put a space line between the questions. Thanks.
Last edited by ConeyGirl52; 03-28-2014 at 04:34 PM..
Close to Sunset Park, you could live in Park Slope (has a granola ish vibe that might be familiar to you back in the Bay Area). Four bedrooms might be hard to find, three bedrooms for maybe $3500 or a bit higher could be possible. Bay Ridge is another good choice, and cheaper (but further from Manhattan). I don't know the details of school quality, could be issues for older children. There may be other good choices in Brooklyn, not sure. Some rentals could have a small yard, off street parking spot is less likely. A brownstone are stone clad rowhomes, over 100 years old, often considered more desireable for the style:
Park Slope has a good selection of restaurants, Bay Ridge has some. Driving into Manhattan and then parking is possible off hours, but the subway may be more practical.
3) Heat and hot water are usually included in the rent. Sometimes heat is not included, especially in buildings where the heat is electric. You would be in charge of your own electric bill, cooking gas bill (figure $20/mo) and internet bill. Electric can get very expensive, even if you're not paying for electric heat. I would imagine the electric bills in a large house like the kind you're talking about could be around $150-$500 per month. That is a pure guestimate. My electric in a large one bedroom with gas heat is around $80 to $200, with the higher bills due to a/c in the summer. Tenant does not pay for trash removal or for water service.
Location: Subconscious Syncope, USA (Northeastern US)
2,365 posts, read 2,146,337 times
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10) For visiting family, what's the best airport to fly in and out of? (California-NY)
Probably JFK. It really depends on their chosen flight. There are 3 major airports in or near NYC - JFK, LaGuardia, and Newark for trips to the city. JFK and LaGuardia are in Queens and Newark is in NJ. JFK is an International Airport and tremendous compared to LaGuardia. Not sure what the Newark Airport is like, but I know the most direct flights Ive tried to book for west of Denver are out of Newark.
If he's working in Sunset Park, it would definitely be easiest to live in Brooklyn. 4 bedroom 2 bath could be an apartment, a loft or a house. A brownstone is a rowhouse made of brownstone or brick and brownstone. A loft means an apartment with an open plan.
I think you have the best chance of finding what you're looking for in Bay Ridge. Bay Ridge is the neighborhood directly south of Sunset Park. It has good schools and is a safe neighborhood with good housing stock. The prices are low compared to other "good" areas of Brooklyn. The trade-off is that Bay Ridge is a hike from Manhattan.
Another possibility is Park Slope which is just to the north of Sunset Park. It's a very nice neighborhood but it is pricey. I'm not sure if you would be able to get anything within your price range. Also, if you don't like annoying parents arguing about organic snacks, Park Slope might not be a good fit!
I think you should work with a broker. There are a lot of scam artists on Craigs List and given that you're not familiar with the neighborhoods and have a long list of requirements, you should search through a broker.
Generally, heat and hot water are included but you'd have to pay your own electric. There is no charge for trash removal. I doubt very much if you'd get an off-street parking spot without paying extra.
You will find a very welcoming Jewish community in Brooklyn.
My kids are in their 20's so I don't have up-to-date information on child-related issues but baseball and soccer are big. Also there's basketball. My son played all three when he was a kid.
People in Brooklyn shop at pretty much the same types of places where you shop. There's a TJ's, a Whole Foods, Costco, farmer's markets and Target.
As for crime, I've lived in Brooklyn since 1986 and never had any of the problems you cite. I lived in Park Slope for 10 years and I've been in Boerum Hill (near downtown Brooklyn) for 16. Obviously, my experience is purely anecdotal but there's not a lot of crime here. Brooklyn is a large borough with many different neighborhoods. In general, if you stick to the western (closer to Manhattan) neighborhoods of Brooklyn, they are the safest.
A lot of old Brooklynites are Mets fans but there are a lot of Yankees fans as well, being as the Yankees have been a better team for many years now. There's no geographic line. My son is a Yankees fan and his best friend (who he's known since childhood) is a Mets fan.
Sure, you can drive to Manhattan from Brooklyn for a date night. The parking is expensive unless you find street parking (good luck with that). Brooklyn has some excellent restaurants. Smith Street (in Cobble Hill/Carroll Gardens), Park Slope, Williamsburgh, Bay Ridge, Dumbo - all have good restaurants. We do have Uber. Brooklyn Bridge has no toll. For other bridges, there is EZ-Pass which is probably like your Fast Track.
This might be too personal but I'm a bit puzzled. You have a budget of $4000 / month on just one income but the job is in Sunset Park? I didn't realize Sunset Park would have much in the way of high paying jobs, it's mostly warehouses, small industry and ports. Whatever's left of it, at least.
This might be too personal but I'm a bit puzzled. You have a budget of $4000 / month on just one income but the job is in Sunset Park? I didn't realize Sunset Park would have much in the way of high paying jobs, it's mostly warehouses, small industry and ports. Whatever's left of it, at least.
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