A Home in East Flatbush, with Room for the Car

Welcome to It Happened One Weekend, our weekly roundup of The New York Times real estate section...

The Hunt: Every "The Hunt" column begins with the Hunters describing the apartment they want, and ends with them rationalizing whatever they came away with. This is The Hunt: Dreams vs. Reality

The Hunters: A family that thought it was time to own.

Price

Dream: Up to $750,000 for a two- or three-family, about $600,000 for a single-family

Reality: $449,000

Neighborhood

Dream: N/A

Reality: East Flatbush

Amenities

Dream: Room for them, and a garage would be great

Reality: Single-family with three bedrooms

Summary

When Sara and Dan met, she was renting a one-bedroom on the Lower East Side and he shared a two-bedroom in Greenwood Heights, Brooklyn. Eventually, he moved in with her, they got married, and moved to Prospect Lefferts Gardens to reduce their rent (they also got a Subaru for camping). Then they had a daughter and thought owning a house would be a good idea. They looked around, particularly in Flatbush, and even had an offer accepted, only to never hear from the sellers. About ready to give up, their agent pointed them to a single-family home with a detached garage in East Flatbush. Unlike some of the places they’d seen, it wasn’t an obvious fixer-upper before the inspection. After, there was about $20,000 of work to be done. It’s a lot, but they’re learning and they do love it. [The Hunt/A Move to East Flatbush, Brooklyn]

from
http://ny.curbed.com/2016/4/23/11477530/a-home-in-east-flatbush-with-room-for-the-car