Welcome to It Happened One Weekend, our weekly roundup of The New York Times real estate section...
1)Living In
Here's an interesting article in The Times about the revitalization of Westchester Square section of the Bronx. Thanks to the formation of the Westchester Square Business Improvement District in March 2012, the area has undergone a gradual revival, with new businesses opening and residents moving in. Many have come from the immigrant enclaves of Queens, where areas are expensive and crowded. According to broker Raysa Santos, single-family homes are asking $300,000-to-$350,000.
["Westchester Square, the Bronx: Stay Awhile"; photo via Greta Mansour/Curbed Photo Pool]
2) 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 Hunter: a woman looking to buy a two- or three-family brownstone
Price
Dream: $600,000
Reality: $385,000
Neighborhood
Dream: Bed-Stuy
Reality: Prospect-Lefferts Garden
Amenities
Dream: two-bathrooms, close to A train, washer-dryer and dishwasher
Reality: spacious
Summary
This weekend's Hunt elicits some mixed emotions. On the one hand, the hunter seems relatively happy; on the other, the two-bedroom that she eventually bought has literally none of the amenities she initially wanted. At first, Ms. Cooke set out to buy a brownstone in Bed-Stuy for the somewhat optimistic price of $600,000. Unable to find anything in that price range, she expanded to apartments, eventually settling on a two-bedroom in Prospect-Lefferts that lacks a doorman, a second bathroom, proximity to the A train, and a washer and dryer, and could charitably be described as a fixer-upper. She currently has a contractor working on the apartment and has yet to move in. [The Hunt/"A Place in Brooklyn, the 'Hot Borough'"]
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