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This blog will follow our search for a home, and also musings on real estate, community, art, design+architecture, and other inspirations.
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The Hunt: Part 1
A lot has happened since we started our hunt for a place to live. I’ll attempt to summarize what we’ve done so far in a few posts over the next week or so.
After joining forces and talking about what we are all looking for, we contacted a realtor and gave her the run-down. Even though we all live in Red Hook, we decided to look at other areas of Brooklyn. We narrowed it down to: Carroll Gardens, Boerum Hill, Park Slope/Gowanus, Ft. Greene, Clinton Hill and Bed-Stuy.
We scoured the web and sent her listings that looked interesting and she did the same. After selecting a good variety, one Sunday we went to go look at them for ourselves.
It became apparent quickly that most townhouses won’t be large enough to accommodate both our living and studio spaces. When we analysed our space needs, the minimum square footage ended up around 4500sf. Because most lots in Brooklyn are 20’ x 100’ (2000 sq ft), and the areas we looked at are zoned R5 or R6B, which have an FAR (Floor Area Ratio) of 1.25 or 2.0 respectively, the maximum area that could be built is 4000sf. We’ll post more about the zoning restrictions and building codes as we look at other properties.
Building on N. Oxford
Out of everything we saw, only one property on N. Oxford St. was large enough. The price was also right, and it was a brand new building with 3 apartments, a huge basement that could be a studio, and backyard. The problem was the location, location, location. It was under the shadow of the BQE and right next to a rundown Chinese restaurant that seemed to attract questionable patrons. Nothing appealing was nearby -no subway, stores, restaurants, coffee shops, nadda. I think in the back of everyone’s mind, we all wished this building was in Red Hook.
Slightly deflated but not discouraged, we met over a late lunch to discuss our options, which we decided are essentially two:
1. Find a building that already has enough room for us
2. Build a new building that will have everything we want (within our budget)
However, the most important decision came out almost organically from our conversations: we all want to stay in Red Hook. To be continued… Why we love Red Hook.
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