How's the market for renting/buying in Queens or Brooklyn?

FH and I were talking about (hopefully) being able to buy a townhouse or something but we started looking around on LI and I was just curious as to how the market is in Queens or Brooklyn to buy *anything*. I just don't want to rule it out, in the end our commute to work may be shorter just moving to Queens than it would be waaaaaaay out on the Island.

Thanks for any input!

hi! I live in brooklyn (near the brooklyn bridge) and own. I can only speak for my part of brooklyn, but i know the prices well. Here is what everything seems to be going for:
1BR $400-$600
2BR $650-$900
3BR 1.3M+
Townhouse....Way too much!

sorry, for rental in my area.....
1BR $1800
2BR $2600+

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Posted by jens

hi! I live in brooklyn (near the brooklyn bridge) and own. I can only speak for my part of brooklyn, but i know the prices well. Here is what everything seems to be going for:
1BR $400-$600
2BR $650-$900
3BR 1.3M+
Townhouse....Way too much!

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Thanks, any info is always helpful. Someone told me that a Duplex in Queens wanted $1875 per month, I nearly fell over.

ETA: I just saw your other post so I guess that quote I got is right on target!

But my area in Brooklyn tends to be the most $$$$ in Brooklyn. I have found areas like Park Slope are a bit more reasonable.

Before my FH and i moved in together, he rented a 2BR in Astoria and total rent was $1800.

Haha...Sorry, but heres the deal:
In Queens/Brooklyn, houses are so much $$$, and you have to do so much work, but taxes are very low compared to LI, where houses are slightly cheaper, but taxes WAY up there....
I have no idea where to go.....

I live by the Brooklyn Bridge as well... I see the rental market to be almost as high as Manhattan. You can still find some deals to buy here though.

Check out www.corcoran.com

They have a good search engine to search out apartments to rent and to buy.

Good Luck!

It honestly depends on what area you want to be in.

I'm a Brooklyn girl my whole life, and my parents own real estate around the tri-state area.

Here's the situation:

If you want to live close to Manhattan - expect to pay more rent b/c of 'convenience' - Areas like this include:
- Williamsburg (up and coming 'hipster' area - usually known to Artists and Musicians - formally Orthodox Jewish); mostly made up of apartment buildings

- Brooklyn Heights/Cobble Hill/Park Slope - a little bit more residental, famous to the gorgeous Brownstones which run a pretty little penny; mostly made up for apartment buildings and brownstone/row houses

- Bay Ridge/Dyker Heights/Sunset Park - even more residental, and more family-oriented, still close to Manhattan; mostly made up of apartment buildings; 1 family houses; mini-mansions (shore road in bay ridge, dyker heights (huge mansions))

For renting:
- one bedroom apartment will definitely run you AT LEAST $800 per month
- two bedroom apartment will definitely run you AT LEAST $1,200 per month

As far as buying:
You can find some great deals if you have mucho dinero to put down, and run a 30 year mortgage. However, you might (90%) have to rennovate, where you can easily add another $12,000

Good Luck, and keep us posted!

I live in the mill basin/bergan beach area of brooklyn (south east). Rent for 1 bedroom approx. 900-1000...2 bedroom 1200-1300.

commute to mid-town approx 1 hr 15 min.

houses 500,000 +

queens:

My friend recently got a 1bedroom in a pre-war building in forest hills for 1250.00

I did recently see co-ops for sale in little neck and bayside that were reasonably priced, did you try there???

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Posted by jens

But my area in Brooklyn tends to be the most $$$$ in Brooklyn. I have found areas like Park Slope are a bit more reasonable.

Before my FH and i moved in together, he rented a 2BR in Astoria and total rent was $1800.

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I think all areas of lower bklyn are about the same now. i have lived in PS my whole life and it is outrageous!

I just got in from my committee meeting and our architect asked this question. We are near downtown BK and a one bedroom is going for about $275K now (coop not condo) and there is a 3 bedroom listed for like $550K that the president of the University down the street is looking to buy. And the people around here think those are excellent prices

I bought mine for nearly 1/10th and can't believe how much prices have jumped. They are building a new stadium down the street (near the LIRR) so that is driving up prices too.

me & fh just bought a townhouse in queens - they go for all kinds of prices. we actually stumbled upon it (they are not very common) - but we were avidly looking for a co-op in queens and the price varied on neighborhood, # of rooms, utlilties included, parking included, etc...

i would love to help you - fm me with specifics..

but i can tell you a house is insane!!! you can buy a DUMP in queens for $500K. so houses were not an option - cause even after that they easily needed $50 - $100K in renovations.