Why mostly Brooklyn? Because the other jackasses neglected to post photos. No photos, I don’t wanna know ya!

$100k: Monroe, NY

There’s something appealing about a shack in the woods. Property is 1/4 acre. Monroe is less than an hour north of the city. There are bus lines down to the city or Metro North goes to nearby Harriman.

$299k: Brighton Beach

Here’s a lovely shack near the beach. It’s cash only and needs complete rehab, but it looks real cute! And Brighton is awesome. You can’t get too much more “authentic old school Brooklyn” than this.

$419k: Marine Park

Cute brick townhouse! Personally, I wouldn’t live in Marine Park because I’d feel isolated. But if it’s this or the suburbs, I’d probably be happy to live here.

$489k: Bed Stuy

Looks like some nice details on this one! It’s a single family. If you can make it a legal 2 family and have your tenants cover most of the mortgage, that would be a sweeeet deal.

Gee, remember the good ole’ days when I had time to do my own DIY posts? Now I just look for videos else where. ThreadBanger is a great site for all things DIY and the how to videos are easy to follow. Here’s a direct link to a silhouette video if it isn’t showing up below.

I love Rosendale. It’s the perfect small town. Located within 2 hours of NYC and about 15 minutes from New Paltz, Rosendale is just too adorable for words. Colorful historic rowhouses line the main street, which is set against a backdrop of mountains, bridges and creeks.

All Pros/No Cons

Adirondack Trailways from NYC stops at the tip of town.

Rosendale Cafe is not only a great vegetarian restaurant, but has live music as well. They have the best Japanese miso salad dressing ever! I buy it by the vat to take home with me.

For something a bit more on the fancy schmancy side, hop over to Bywater Bistro.

The Rosendale Movie Theater was still $6 last time I went. It’s a Main Street cinema run by the same family for decades. They show decent films, too.

The Women’s Studio Workshop rents studio space and has classes on photography, paper making, ceramics, etc.

Hiking trails are plentiful, as is water access for kayaking. There used to be a swimming hole in town a few years ago, but it I’m not sure if it’s still accessible to the public.

Where else can you see a performance in an abandoned dolostone mine?

Town of Rosendale

Rosendale Chamber

$134,900: 2 BR

$173500: Snyder Estate Carriage House

$204,900: 2BR Farmhouse

$279k: 3BR

NYC based Super Vegan is turning 2 on June 5th! Celebrate with them at s’Nice.

But there’s more! Super Vegan will be sponsoring Vegan Drinks this Thursday, May 29th at Angels and Kings.

All info and links here.

Author: Brett

When last my house-hunting anecdotes graced the screen, we had been off to take a gander at homes in Marine Park. In the past, we had not been too interested in the neighborhood because it is a bit further from public transportation (think: bus to subway) but now that we have been living in Madison with Andrew’s parents for over a year, we were rethinking the area.

Row houses in Marine Park are priced in the 500s and a semi-detached might be in the mid-600k or even lower, but many need refreshing. One semi we saw was in decent shape. It was big and bright and didn’t even seem like “half a house” from the inside, but it only had one bathroom, which was a deal-breaker for Andrew who has his heart set on a detached single family. There was also a shared drive, which we were wary about. I mean, the whole point of buying a house is to have one’s own space, so why share a driveway when you don’t have to?

Still, I thought that it was worth buying this semi-detached, but then we took a look at the schools. The public schools are not rated so well. The elementary school in the heart of Marine Park is praiseworthy, but all but one of the middle schools is downright scary. When the neighborhood nannies and grannies tell you that they are afraid to bring their toddlers to the playground in the afternoon when the kids at I.S. 278 get out for the day, then you listen.

Prices in this neighborhood as well as in neighboring Madison are starting to drop, but they are still too steep for us both to buy AND to renovate. One detached single-family we looked at on East 28th St. between Avenues R and Quentin Road was asking $825K even though it had probably not been updated in 30 years. Another semi-detached with an apartment in the basement on East 23rd between Avenues R and S is currently asking 750K by owner. This home has a new kitchen, but that was probably the only update.

As for new constructions, there are many so-called luxury condos being slapped together all over Ocean Avenue and the streets surrounding the B & Q trains at the Kings Highway subway stop. None look particularly noteworthy or attractive, but I researched them anyway. One building on 17th Street between Quentin Road and Avenue R is asking $760k for a 3 bedroom; another on Ocean Avenue and Avenues R and S is $780k. Again, both are well above our budget.
Even if we could find an affordable, livable home in Marine Park or Madison in a pocket of the area that is zoned for a well-rated school, we have to admit that there is still the question of both neighborhoods having gone from communities with a varied mix of families to more insular ethnic and religious enclaves. It is obvious that this demand to stay within one’s close-knit community is what drives up the price of homes in these areas.

While we were wasting more precious time on our futile hunt in Brooklyn, a new listing came up in Port Washington, NY. It was priced higher than our budget allowed, but we made plans with our realtor extraordinaire to see it anyway….

Day 6

I am running out of clothing and my food rations are low. I’ve been surviving on Morningstar Grillers. Frozen bread is plentiful, but not edible. I nearly cracked my tooth eating a bialy. Why do they save what they cannot eat?

The heat is unbearable and I must stay indoors where it is air conditioned. The inhabitants of this state who move down here for the weather also stay indoors during the day.

I have not conversed with anyone under the age of 75 in days now. The pace of life is much slower than I am used to. My patience is wearing thin.

Day 7

Today I got to do a laundry and visited a Super Target. I now have clothing and some more frozen sustenance. I can survive a couple more days. I was brought to Target by my mother and her 80 year old friend. I believe we spent close to 2 hours looking for a few items. This task would have taken me 20 minutes on my own. The two women meant well. They were looking to save me money by having me purchase less expensive items that I had no desire for. It was a tiresome experience and I felt I needed to be relieved of the pain. I purchased 2 bottles of wine.

I’ve succumbed to eating dinner at 5pm.

Related: Gone South

Jean over at Renovation Therapy was kind enough to do this guest post for me. THANK YOU, JEAN!!!!

While Jackson Heights might have delusions that it’s the next Park Slope…Woodside/Sunnyside Gardens is trying to stay under the radar. We’re a very diverse hood and we like it that way. There are a few hipsters but we throw rocks at them and that is helping to keep their numbers down. Spaying & Neutering helps too – but rocks are more fun.

There are really 2 sections of Woodside, the 7 train section and the R train section. The 7 train section tends to be cheaper and not as well maintained as the R train section. Just sayin’.

The area around 39th Avenue and between Woodside Avenue and 48th Street is…gorgeous. Some people will argue with me and say that’s Sunnyside. It’s border-licious. The adorable brick rowhouse homes (typically) have shared back yards. I secretly harbor a desire to walk through them but since I don’t own one of those homes, not sure I’d be welcome. Still, I do love to peak into their secret garden-ness. Much to the annoyance of many local homeowners, the homes are now Landmark’d. Many of the gorgeous brick rowhouses were designed by Henry Wright and Clarence Stein who are better known for designing Temple Emanu-El and St. Bartholomews in Manhattan. Their vision was to combine urban and rural. They did a damn fine job. I’d love to own one of these rowhouses. Sigh. You can read more about the landmarking of the area here.

Many of the homes around here still have their “Say No To Landmark Status” signs in their windows.

Interesting current listing…

4 bedroom - $429,000

There’s an apartment building on 39th Avenue called Phipps. I have never been inside the apartments but I often sneak into the buildings piazza-like interior garden. It’s heavenly. It’s dark – with lots of trees, shrubbery and white fairy lights. OK, so they are Christmas lights – whatever, it’s heaven. There are benches in there and you can drift away sucking off the wifi for hours on end.

Across the street from this apartment building is an Italian restaurant called Donato’s. I love Donato’s. Hell, I just might go there for dinner tonight. The chicken francese can’t be beat. It’s a small family joint and it gets quite crowded after 7pm. It’s one of our hoods best kept secrets.

So there’s my quick Woodside review. I left out a million things, but come check it out…if you’re a hipster beware of rocks.

F*in Florida. The state is like a wart on the ass of America. Here are some things I’ve witnessed while being stuck down here. A few from my own parent’s home. Someone should be teaching these seniors how to live a greener lifestyle. But it ain’t gonna be me.

1. Hummers. Lots of ‘em.

2. Lack of low flow shower heads. I injured myself in the shower this morning after being blasted by the force of the water. Nearly tore off a nipple. WTF?

3. They love their styrofoam!

4. LED bulbs? What’s that?

5. Air Conditioning. I couldn’t live without it in this heat either. But the thermostats can’t be programmed? So you leave it on the entire day so the house will be cool when you get home? And my personal favorite: Leave those windows wide open!

6. BJ’s, Sam’s Club = Lots of wasted food.

7. No bike lanes

8. Sneaking out to water the lawn in the middle of the night due to water restrictions.

9. Leave the car running while standing.

10. Global warming? No such thing!

Paradise Lost

Thanks for all of your wishes for my father. I kind of thought this was the case, which is why I rushed down, but I didn’t want to say it until I knew for sure. He is in the terminal stages of the disease and his body is shutting down. We’re now hoping for a quick and painless transition.

I’m living my worst nightmare. I’m not talking about the loss of a parent. That’s an inevitable fact of life, as difficult as the situation may be. I’m talking about being stuck in Florida for an undetermined amount of time. In a senior development.

Obviously, I’m not too focused on the blog right now. But since this is my baby, I don’t want it to sit stale for too long. Let’s see how tight this blogging community really is. Anyone feel like writing a post for me….be my guest! Guest poster, that is. Home, renovations, real estate, New York, weekend trips from NYC…go for it! You don’t even have to be a blogger. You just have to know what you’re talking about. Maybe not even that.

In the meantime, I’ll probably come up with something to write about just to keep myself sane.

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