Our Search for a Single-Family Home in Brooklyn

:: Since Rachel and I are just starting to think about buying a home, right now we aren’t sure what things we should be considering.  There are general questions that we will have to ask ourselves (e.g. do we need to live in a neighborhood that is great now or is it ok if we think the neighborhood will improve in the next 3 years?) and questions that we will have to ask others (e.g. how difficult/expensive is it to install central heating or air if it is not already available?).  Before we get into the weeds, here is a general checklist of what we are looking for:

• A single family home (e.g. brownstone, townhouse, etc)
• No more than a 10 minute walk from a subway station
• Less than 45 minute subway ride to Times Sq (1 transfer ok)
• Cost should be between $600,000 and $700,000 (all in)

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:: When looking for a new home or condo in Brooklyn, there are a lot of questions you have to ask yourself to help you decide which home is right for you.  However, when it comes time to break out the checkbook, how will you decide how much you are willing to pay for something that doesn’t have a clear dollar value assigned to it?  For instance, it is easy to say that you would pay another $20,000 for a home with a pool, because you could just as easily buy a home without a pool and spend $20,000 to have one installed.  But what would you pay to be one minute closer to Manhattan?

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