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My wife and I live in central Connecticut, in a 4 bedroom, 2 bathroom home (for point of reference, we paid $265K in 2007). I'm looking to make a job change and just applied for a job in Brooklyn. The job sounds good, but I don't know how realistic it would be for us to maintain some semblance of our current lifestyle (ie, living in a single-family home that doesn't cost $1 million). I don't know what the job pays, but my profession isn't a very lucrative one. I suppose the most succint way to phrase my question is, are there any reasonably-priced areas, within reasonable commuting distance to Brooklyn, where we would be able to buy a single family home in the ballpark of $350K? Please don't laugh...We had just visited some friends in Brooklyn last weekend and saw their very nice, but small apartment in Carroll Gardens, which sells for just under $1 million. That is worlds away from what would work for us.
You might want to try Sunset Park. I think Greenpoint is affordable and seems very safe. I think most of Southern Brooklyn is pretty affordable too and relatively safe. However I am not sure. Hopefully someone will tell you more. But I must warn you most of the "affordable" neighborhoods in Brooklyn are not very desirable. For example, stay away from most of Eastern Brooklyn (Bed Stuy, Brownsville, East New York, Flatbush, etc.) as these are very crime ridden areas.
Your best bets to come close to the price range will be on Long Island, which also gives you the benefit of not having to pay city resident income tax. In the city, your selections would be limited, even in Queens for a smaller house in a good area.
The downside to Long Island are the very high real estate taxes for the price point, which are higher than what you're going to be used to in Connecticut. It's certainly possible to find a 3-4 BR house that's commutable to Brooklyn, though the commute is easier from some areas than others, and it would depend upon the part of Brooklyn and method of transportation.
You don't have to spend $1M for an apartment or a small house to find a decent house within a reasonable commute of Brooklyn, though you might have to compromise on size or distance to get something around $350-$375k that's not too far removed from your current residence.
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Thanks for the input, folks. I had serious doubts about whether this would be feasible for us, given that we do not wish to make huge lifestyle changes. I was just searching for Staten Island properties on realtor.com, and there seem to be more reasonable homes, although of course I don't know the specifics about the neighborhoods. I will look further into it if this job looks to be a possible option for me.
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