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I have to move right at the end of January, I just found out I'm relocating last week!!
Okay so, I have no kids, it's just me. I have pretty much narrowed it down to Brooklyn. I feel pretty good about living there. Haven't been there yet..lol..but I've been doing some independent research on my own. I'm a 27 y/o female, so I really want to be around young professionals like myself. Now that I've narrowed it down, any suggestions on Brooklyn neighborhoods?? I have a car, and I have NO IDEA what I'm going to do with it. How's parking in BK? I'm in D.C. now and I would like an area that sort of feels like one of the safe D.C. neighborhoods! Home away from home I guess...Thanks in advance for the help.
garages cost a lot in ny parking on the street is pain because of alternate side of street etc. we lived in manhattan and did it but you have to move it almost everyday tickets are up to $100 now. i am moving in two weeks and know no one there. what i am doing is finding local groups on yahoo that are very active. you have to do a membership thing.. i saw brooklyn in there brooklyn is nice mine friend lived in carol gardens and loved it she had to move she due to her kids
Look in the south end of Park Slope, or in Prospect Heights. Not quite as pricey for rentals. Plenty of young people, increasing nightlife, etc...
Good luck.
Well, how much you have to spend on housing will have a lot to do with where/what you end up with. I think that if you are used to DC you'll do fine in NYC- and I believe that NYC is for the most part safer than DC is. Proximity to a subway station is usually a plus when looking at apartments, etc., especially if you're working in Manhattan and living in Bkln. Williamsburg is twenty-something hipsterville, with lots going on, lots of restaraunts, bars, galleries, shops- but expensive (it seems like alot of these must kids have, er.... independent means, or they're living 3-4 to an apartment!). Carol Gardens and Park Slope are a bit more 'adult,' but also very nice (and expensive). In general, the farther 'out' you go the cheaper it gets.
A car in NYC is a real pain- it's like having a kid! It's probably marginally easier in Brooklyn than in Manhattan (you'll spend forty-five minutes driving around looking for a space instead of an hour and a half!). Unless you are leaving the city very often you really are better of without the car. The city is very harsh on cars, even if they're just sitting parked. Invariably you come out to find it with a new dent, trash on it, even someone living in it (really... a street person that looked like a posessed Nick Nolte moved into my station wagon one winter when I left it parked in one spot for a month- he had himself set-up quite nicely in there!). You're probably better selling the car and buying another later when you leave the city.
Brooklyn is so incredibly huge and diverse you can spend a lifetime living there and have a new experience in every different part of brooklyn.
my opinions: williamsburg is the spillover from trendy manhattan. not the snooty upper east side, but the artsy village. very young and hip. restaurants are excellent, i spend a lot of time in their bars (not overpriced, some live rock venues) and my fiancee loves to shop there. but the housing prices reflect manhattan and a LOT of new expensive condo construction going up all over. park slope more "adult", dont see as much shaggy haircuts and black rimmed glasses, but still has some very nice parts and not as expensive as williamsburgh. but its so huge that there are safe and not safe parts (i lived on 4th avenue in the 20s streets and the deli guy across the street had a gun pulled on him). still park slope!
You really need to spend some time in the neighborhoods. Brooklyn is HUGE. You can spend 90 minutes, easy, crossing the borough on surface streets. (try driving from greenpoint to coney island!)
I would suggest getting rid of the car. Beacause i have given the city hundreds of dollars learning the alternate side of the street parking patterns. Free curb side parking in brooklyn (or anywhere in NYC) is not the best thing. I've been broken into twice in the last 4 years. And if you live in a neighborhood like Cobble Hill, you will NEVER find a spot unless you come home from work EARLY and not move use your car until the next day. But then again unless you work in the suburbs you never use your car for commuting.
I love getting away on weekends so even though i had the subway for work i couldnt get rid of my ride.
best of luck to you, you will either love or hate it here, regardless it will be a great experience! and dont forget to fire away the questions!
Park Slope and Prospect Heights would be nice for you. Greenpoint is ugly. Williamsbridge is uglier and due to it's location more shaddy (Close to Bushwick, a high crime area).
May I suggest you sell your car asap and invest in some metrocards. Otherwise, Bayridge is an up and coming neighborhood, still cheap, but nice overall. Still has that old brooklyn feel, too.
Bay Ridge and Dyker Heights are nice areas, but they are often far from the subway. I am most familiar with southern Brooklyn neighborhoods. Coney Island is not safe, but others are ok. Trains are nearby, and if you have to take a bus, the transfer to the train is free (which was not the case when I was growing up). Check into Sheepshead Bay, Brighton Beach, Marine Park, Bensonhurst. These are residential neighborhoods, with small commercial centers nearby where you can buy your paper, buy some food, etc. There is a big mall near Marine Park. And in southern Brooklyn, you can visit the ocean very easily, without making a big trip. (Although the beaches are much nicer in Nassau and Suffolk Counties.)
But southern Brooklyn is a relatively long commute to Manhattan; during the rush hours the commute is not pleasant.
Also, these areas are less "hip" than places like Williamsburg or Park Slope. They are more surburban, although they can be congested, and they can be somewhat provincial. You will find people who have lived there all their lives or at least for decades. You will find many immigrants and elderly people. You could find these neighborhoods boring, without the "happening" feel of Park Slope or Williamsburg. I don't know Williamsburg, but I adore much of Park Slope.
You may also have better luck with parking spaces.
I'm fortunate in that I have a driveway of my own. I've always taken it for granted, but I really shouldn't.
If you are able to find an apartment in a private home you may very well have access to a driveway. Or if you move into one of the many new apartment (really condos or coops) buildings sprouting all over the place, they may provide on-site parking for you (probably for a hefty fee, but you'd have to research that).
Park Slope is expensive, but from what you have written, it appears to be a good place for you. It has character, beauty and a cosmopolitan feel.
But, as others have said, Brooklyn is incredibly huge and diverse. The neighborhoods have their own distinctive feels, and even different parts of the same neighborhoods feel different. There are some high-crime neighborhoods to stay away from, but there can be some crime anywhere. A deli man was murdered in a robbery a few weeks ago, about 4 blocks from my home, and I live in a relatively "safe" neighborhood. But D.C. is like that, too.
No decent place is inexpensive, unless you want to share a place with several other people.
By the way, car insurance is very expensive in Brooklyn.
Yeah, i commented in another brooklyn thread, that Brooklyn is one of the most expensive counties IN THE US as far as car insurance premiums go. A brooklyn resident being quoted $2000-$3000/yr for basic coverage is not unusual.
And yes, a "nice" neighborhood will usually be not close to the subway or the city (Dyker Heights) and be more expensive (think $2000/mo for a 1-2 bedroom).
Why not think of queens? I live in Forest Hills and think there's nothing better. 40 minutes from midtown and more trees and front yards than you can imagine in the middle of a city. I lived in Brooklyn for 3 years and will not go back (nevermind the fact that I'm trolling the California forums for my move out there next year)
I always though that "hip neighborhood" stuff was stupid. You live where you can afford to live, safely, in an enviornment where living is high quality. Not some ugly area like Williamsburg blocks from the ghetto. The place you live doesn't make you "cool". If you want to have fun, you can live somewhere in Staten Island, and travel into Midtown. It's usually out of towners who are facinated with the bright lights and big city living. It usually wears off quickly.
The best areas to live in NYC are in Northern Queens and Staten Island. South Brooklyn and Manhattan are too expensive, they also have trouble spots (Coney Island for example is a ****ty area). The Bronx, Northern Manhattan, Northern Brooklyn, and Southern Queens are the ghetto.
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some help for.
Otherwise, Bayridge is an up and coming neighborhood, still cheap, but nice overall. Still has that old brooklyn feel, too.
