Every so often, my father speaks about his life in the Old Country -- Brooklyn, where he was raised in Coney Island. He does so without fondness. But these days, families who want to remain in New York City while getting more bang for their real estate buck are flocking to Brooklyn. One such family may want to exchange homes with you.
JUST LOOK AT THIS HOUSE!
A swapper named Paul contacted me recently with a general home exchange question we will explore in a later column. I took a look at the home he offers for exchange and it's a knockout. Paul gave me permission to spotlight his home. The photos above show his home inside and out. You won't find outdoor space like that in a Manhattan swap home. Nor are you likely to find the four bedrooms and three bathrooms that Paul's home offers. To see more photos of Paul's gorgeous home, go to HomeExchange.com listing 86852.
BROOKLYN IS BIG
Most of Brooklyn is too far away or too dangerous to make for a fun vacation spot. Bad Brooklyn neighborhoods have houses just as nice as Paul's, but step outside at your peril. A shorthand rule of thumb is to ask how many subway stops it is from Manhattan to the exchange home. If the answer is one to three that's good: get the cross streets and try to determine the neighborhood where the home is located.
IS NEARBY NICE?
Some Brooklyn neighborhoods near Manhattan are great. Others, not. Avoid Downtown Brooklyn but neighborhoods like Williamsburg, just one stop from Manhattan, are trendy and exciting in and of themselves. Another plus if you stay in parts of Brooklyn is the spectacular views of the Manhattan skyline, available only from outside Manhattan itself.
HOW NEAR?
It is also crucial to determine how long of a walk it is from the subway stop to the New York City swap home which is not in Manhattan. Ask for blocks, not a subjective measurement like number of minutes' walk, since most New Yorkers walk faster than you do. If the home is so far from the subway that you have to take a bus to get there, look elsewhere. Bus transit in Brooklyn is relatively slow.
BROOKLYN NEIGHBORHOODS AS NICE AS MANHATTAN
A general guide for the perplexed is that the following areas are convenient and have nice homes: DUMBO, Williamsburg, Cobble Hill and Carroll Gardens. To that list I add only one which is not convenient to Manhattan: Park Slope, which has excellent restaurants and shops and is a destination in and of itself. It is a long subway ride from there to Manhattan, however.
MAP IT
Use Hopstop.com to determine how far it really is from the swap address to a Manhattan landmark. Hopstop will tell how much time it will take via subway, bus or regional rail.
PEOPLE LIE
New Yorkers are often creative about the locations of their homes. It's just too expensive to buy in the nice areas, so people may fib. If the swapper adds any directional indicator to the name of their neighborhood, avoid the location at all costs. This is a common real estate trick to enhance the appeal of bad neighborhoods. "Park Slope" is nice. "South Park Slope" is not.
HOUSING VARIES WIDELY
Make sure you see extensive photos of any outer-boro swap home you are offered. There are beautiful brownstone buildings in Brooklyn with restored century-old details. There are also crumbling tenements with the bathtub in the kitchen.
LIKE HUB BUB, BUB?
Part of what interests travelers about Manhattan is the excitement and energy of the bustling city. But those who don't choose to live in such a fast-paced urban environment may find Brooklyn a more restful place to actually sleep. The lower population density means most Brooklyn neighborhoods have a calmer vibe than Manhattan. The trade-off is fewer restaurants, shops and interesting sights.
IS BROOKLYN BETTER?
Brooklyn offers the same benefits and drawbacks for home exchangers as for the New York City residents that are drawn there: larger homes and a quieter area on the one hand; longer commutes, possible crime problems and more boring areas on the other. By including Brooklyn in your swap search you greatly increase your chances of getting a nice exchange home. Avoid the pitfalls inherent to the Brooklyn swap and it may just be your best bet for a New York City home exchange.
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