Buying a house outside the borders

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Forum -> Inquiries & Offers -> Moving/ Relocating

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amother

Pink

Sun, May 31 2015, 7:54 pm

We are considering a house in Brooklyn well outside the borders of the frum community. It's a beautiful huge house which would be over $2 million if it were in the heart of the neighborhood, but because it's not such an in-demand location it is selling for about a quarter of that.

We do have a large family but I'm wondering what we'll do with all this space since I don't think people will be coming to us on Shabbos. It's quite a long walk. About 1.5 miles outside the frum neighborhood.

It is not currently set up as a 2-family although apparently at one point it was. There's a huge dining room, living room and kitchen on the first floor. The second floor has 3 bedrooms and a kitchen. There are another 2 bedrooms in the attic.

I never thought this would be a problem--what to do with so much space! The upstairs is fine, but the downstairs is just vast and I don't know how to fill the space.

We could close it off and rent it out and just keep the 2 upper floors for ourselves. Even then we'd have to do some work to convert it. But if we did use the whole house, any ideas for what to do with a very large dining room when we most likely will not be hosting large groups? (It's a catch-22--we always wanted to host, but within the neighborhood we can't afford anything big enough, and in the area we can afford, nobody will want to walk Sad

)

MamaBear

Sun, May 31 2015, 8:17 pm

What kind of square footage are you talking about? Anything 3000 and under is just a nice house, you don't need to "fill" it up more than your own family.

Are there literally no frum people within a few blocks? You still want the house?

amother

Burlywood

Sun, May 31 2015, 8:25 pm

Do you mind saying where you found. We're searching around and co soldering moving out to boarder line areas.

Dolly Welsh

Sun, May 31 2015, 8:40 pm

Well, you could host by having people sleep over, as you have the room.

Lots of young adults without children can walk that far.

You might also use the money saved to acquire a couple of houses that are already occupied and collect the rent, between this house and the frum community.

When those people gradually leave, rent to frum people, thereby expanding the frum community in your direction.

Or there may be a few empty houses in tired, but usable condition, between this house and the frum community, or even just one. You could rent that to young couples who don't have any or many children. That would also extend the frum community in your direction.

Just because a house costs X doesn't mean you need X to buy it, obviously. You need only a fraction of X.

But maybe you have no taste for being a landlord. Not everybody does.

You might house a live-in maid.

Dolly Welsh

Sun, May 31 2015, 8:41 pm

Ah. Another poster on this thread might buy alongside you. Instant frum community.

amother

Pink

Sun, May 31 2015, 8:44 pm

It is 4200 sq feet.

There are frum people within a half mile but even they are considered on the outskirts.

A modest size house in the borders is going for 1 million. 2 million and up for anything close to this size. And we are seriously choking where we are now.

amother

Blonde

Sun, May 31 2015, 8:45 pm

My house is Is 7500 square feet with a huge dining room. You get used to the space quickly. You don't need to fill it up unless you want income.

amother

Chartreuse

Sun, May 31 2015, 9:01 pm

Ive always thought living a little out of the frum community is a plus (and I dont have little kids), and cheaper BUT:

Whats the plan if you have kids- who will the kids play with?

Where will you daven?

Dolly Welsh

Sun, May 31 2015, 9:29 pm

If you can attract enough people to your home you will have extended the boundaries of the frum community to include your house. Just don't sit there yourselves.

The live-in was to wash all those sheets and dishes when you put people up.

There is no magic in the current borders of the community. They can be expanded.

Maybe get this house while another family you know personally is also getting a nearby house for the same reasons. Once there are two families, there are playmates and a minyan, one could hope.

So talk to people.

seeker

Sun, May 31 2015, 9:48 pm

Any potential for kiruv hosting? Maybe , there are interested not-yet-frums outside the frum community - are you near any universities?

Maybe if you share what neighborhood it's in someone can give you an idea of whether it's likely to grow more or less frum. Brooklyn does evolve like that. I have more than one friend, in different areas, whose parents bought houses on the cheap when no one else lived there and it turned out enough other people were looking for cheap housing that within 10 years (not that long when you are a young, growing family) the frum community had filled up all around them.

But you're definitely taking a risk. Where I live, I am on what you could consider the outskirts of the frum community - not by a mile, only by a couple of blocks, but the rest of the community is so concentrated on the other side of those two blocks that I really feel out of it sometimes. I always have to be the one making an effort to get into the community, if I want my kids to play with frum friends I almost always have to be the one going or at least initiating, I never just bump into anyone on my way anywhere... you get the idea.

Dolly Welsh

Sun, May 31 2015, 10:42 pm

You need two families. Don't be the only ones.

amother

Pink

Sun, May 31 2015, 10:46 pm

Well we were not the only frum family looking at the house. Right size+right price

Wish I had taken their name and number.

amother

Chartreuse

Sun, May 31 2015, 10:50 pm

Once youve finalized (so no one can grab it away from you), can you tell us the location? Then maybe others would look there too.

amother

Pink

Sun, May 31 2015, 10:53 pm

I don't mind saying. It's east flatbush, south of crown heights. People are already expanding in that direction but not quite so far out.

flowerpower

Sun, May 31 2015, 10:54 pm

I would suggest making sure you have at least one frum neighbor your kids can play with on Shabbos. What will dh do about shul? I just met someone today that said she lives in a beautiful neighborhood and gorgeous house but her kids are very lonely. She comes in sometimes for the day so they can have company.

amother

Chartreuse

Sun, May 31 2015, 10:58 pm

amother wrote:

I don't mind saying. It's east flatbush, south of crown heights. People are already expanding in that direction but not quite so far out.

How is that area crime/safety-wise?

What nationality is the bulk of the population?

amother

Pink

Sun, May 31 2015, 11:00 pm

To be perfectly honest--I live within the borders now. People don't come over. I'm embarrassed to have them over. Yes, my kids go to friends. If we moved We could have sleepovers. And the kids could keep their schools. And moving within the community is just not an option. Our options are moving OOT (as long as jobs and everything else lined up) or buying outside the borders.

amother

Pink

Sun, May 31 2015, 11:01 pm

amother wrote:

How is that area crime/safety-wise?

What nationality is the bulk of the population?

It's about as safe/unsafe as the rest of CH. People just have a false sense of security when they're in a jewish neighborhood.

seeker

Sun, May 31 2015, 11:09 pm

amother wrote:

Well we were not the only frum family looking at the house. Right size+right price

Wish I had taken their name and number.

It's not so much a question of whether you were the only ones looking at THAT house, as much as whether there are other nice, attractively-priced houses for sale in that neighborhood. If lots of people are looking at this house because it is a metzia because well-priced houses don't come up very often, then you could probably expect the neighborhood to develop very slowly and possibly never. But if people are looking to live there because there is available housing, then I suspect it is very likely to grow. Very many frum Jews in Brooklyn are looking for new housing ideas. Look what's happening in Marine Park. But if Marine Park had already been filled with non-Jews who were not looking to move out, then it would not have happened. The opening needs to be there. If it is, it will fill up soon enough.

amother

Pink

Sun, May 31 2015, 11:13 pm

Let's put it this way. This house was the most attractive of the lot but it was by no means the only well priced home in that area. Many people simply cannot pay a million for a house and aren't ready to move OOT either, so faced with those options whats a mile or two?

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