This $425K two-bedroom bungalow is in Brooklyn, but you could have fooled us. With its bright, white picket fence and cheery, fire engine red clapboard siding, you could have said this place was just off the boardwalk in Fire Island and we’d have believed you. Despite its quintessential beach charm – we’re talking a sandy, weathered wood deck, sunny upstairs sleepy nooks and big airy open windows – the two-floor home is right here in New York City.
101 Abbey Court in Gerritsen Beach
Well, probably not the part of the city you’re so familiar with, but rather Gerritsen Beach, a historic beach community on a peninsula just west of Sheepshead Bay and east of Floyd Bennett Field. You’ve undoubtedly zoomed by it a million times on the Belt Parkway heading towards JFK, but perhaps never considered investing in real estate there til now. This place is pretty darn cute, so we suggest considering the option if you’re in the market for a second home. Besides, the Hamptons are so busy, the Catskills are so buggy and the Hudson Valley is getting so pricey. It might just be the perfect time for Gerritsen Beach.
Picket fences are par for the course in Gerritsen Beach
Developed in the 1920s as a seaside escape for middle-class New Yorkers, the housing stock in the area is dominated by one- and two-story beach bungalows, many with peaked roofs and shrubby gardens all shouldered together side by side on small lots. If you’re into lawn gnomes, birdbaths and homes festooned with flags and the occasional ramshackle boat parked out front, you’d like Gerritsen Beach. Stroll around the narrow, sunny strewn streets and no matter how far you wander you’re always within walking distance of the water.
The back deck at 101 Abbey Court
This place is down the street from a sandy inlet where you can take a dip – where else in Brooklyn can you say that? Walk a half a block in the other direction and you’ll hit Marine Park where you can find your fill of summer baseball leagues, paddle boats, bocce courts and cricket games. More of golfer? You can do that there, too.
This place offers cool, airy interiors
A simple staircase leads upstairs in the bungalow
If you want to impress your friends, just mention the place is a bike ride away from Fort Tilden Beach, Bushwick/hipster Brooklyn’s favorite summer outpost. And it’s quite an incredible bike ride at that – straight over the Gil Hodges Bridge where you can take in some of the best views of the whole expanse of the city and skyline.
A beach is out your backdoor
We’re pretty big fans of this place – it seems like the perfect mix of old school Brooklyn charm and all the perks of a sleepy, beach community. We’d buy it. Would you?
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