Advice moving into the city (Ridge, Red Hook: neighborhoods, restaurant, price)

[NJkid]

Within 8 months or so I'm looking to move into the city, and I believe my destination choice is Brooklyn. I'm from Jersey and I have some though limited experience with Brooklyn in particular, I'm wondering what neighborhood would be a good place to start looking that is relatively safe and inexpensive?

[Viralmd]

Please check the sticky, 'Need info on moving to NYC' at the top of the board.

[stillife]

For safe and inexpensive, you'll probably have to sacrifice convenience to Manhattan. Bay Ridge is a beautiful neighborhood, safe and relatively inexpensive, but it's a long commute on the R train into Manhattan. Sunset Park, just to the north of Bay Ridge, is slightly less inconvenient, probably cheaper but less safe (although from what I hear, it's improved considerably in recent years).

I don't think Williamsburgh is that cheap anymore. As for Brownstone Brooklyn, fuhgeddaboudit! Park Slope, Brooklyn Heights, Cobble Hill, Carroll Gardens, Boerum Hill - all of these are pricey. Clinton Hill and Fort Greene are a bit cheaper, as is Prospect Heights, but they're also slightly less safe. Prospect Heights seems to have a burgeoning bar/restaurant scene and a lot of people really love it.

Bushwick is supposedly up and coming with a lot of artsy type Williamsburgh refugees moving in, but I wouldn't recommend it.

Red Hook has become very cool and funky in the last few years but it's not convenient to transportation and is probably not that cheap anymore. Plus there are some projects there.

Then there are the unfashionable "deep in the heart of Brooklyn" nabes which are probably really safe - Sheepshead Bay, Bensonhurst, Borough Park - but are also kind of boring with a long commute to Manhattan.

I would suggest that you spend some time walking around some of these neighborhoods to get a feel for them. Mod cut: no competing sites, per TOS