Boulevard Gardens (Woodside)

The Times ran a piece on this place recently. Seems like a good deal, especially for families. .

http://www.nytimes.com/2006/12/10/realestate/10hunt.html?ex=1168578000&en=dc434ed3c10818b3&ei=5070

thought so too until i timed it. it's about 40-45 mins from there to midtown.

40-45 minutes??? I used to live right across the street from blvd gardens. It was pretty rare that my commute to midtown was ever much more than 30 minutes.

Even 30 minutes may be a stretch. Psychologically, though, it's a few hours away. And that's not such a bad thing.

I live there for more than a year and I love it!

i really don't get the whole "an apartment in queens is so far removed from manhattan" thing. Yes the neighborhoods of queens have a different feel (no all of them though), but who in their right mind can justify to themselves the cost of living in manhattan? I guess if you are a super rich stock broker it doesn't make a difference but how can anyone who makes even 100K a year possibly think living in manhattan is a good idea? A few months ago I was out one saturday evening down in the west village. I happened to bump into a former coworker who lives in the upper east side. We spent a few minutes catching up and she said "it is so great that you were able to trudge here all the way from queens." It took me 30 minutes door to door from Woodside to that restaurant in the WV. I asked her how long it took her to get there. She said about 40 minutes door to door. WHAT??? I really don't understand the mindset of manhattanites. Maybe it is just me...

I couldn't agree more. Manhattan is full of people who make 350K a year and are broke because of their housing costs.

Jealous?

some friend

can anyone justify buying a 700 sq apt in woodside/ for 400k that's on a the 2nd floor with no view?

Can you justify paying 700K for a 450 sq apt on york ave in manhattan? Also no view?

It's so much more than just an income thing. Manhattan is a lily-white gated community. Many of these gilded types I've met say they love New York for its "diversity." Manhattan doesn't even have income diversity (do you know any cab drivers or electricians who live downtown?), let alone racial or ethnic diversity. It's a member's-only country club. Manhattan has basically become a high-density suburb. I find the Upper West Side indistinguishable from Greenwich Village. Jackson Heights and Woodside, which border each other, are more distinct than the aforementioned two "neighborhoods." Living in Queens is like, well, living in New York. Living in Manhattan is like living in a television sitcom, where the biggest concern is which bar you want to buy your $15 mojito from.

Jealous? Hardly. I live a middle-class life in a middle-class neighborhood in a middle-class county. Where I'm from, there's no shame in being middle class. Earth to Planet Manhattan: People outside Manhattan work just as hard as those inside it, maybe harder. We just don't have the selfish, insulated pampered precincts to show off. Jealous of what? People in vast houses shouldn't stow thrones.

Oh, and if I hear one more person use the inherently condescending term "outer borough," I'm going to cringe. Outer to what? I live in an "inner borough." Western Queens is actually more centrally located than the Upper West Side.

That 700-square-foot apartment in Woodside doesn't cost 400K. It's closer to 150K. That's about how much dinner cost last night, isn't it?

I agree 100% I feel no pity WHATSOEVER for all the people on this board who claim to be making crazy six figure salary's and are complaining because they can't afford a one bedroom apartment (or even a studio in some cases). Eventually we will get to the point where it really is impossible for people to afford apartments here and when these owners need to sell they will lose a lot of money. Have any of you people paying crazy amounts of money for these apartments given any thought to what will happen if we enter a recession and people start losing your jobs? I am not saying people should rent instead of buying a place. I am just suggesting that buyers keep these crazy prices in check and refuse to over pay for 500 sq ft apartments.

$150k? not being snarky but point me in that direction if you know of any 700sq ft apts in woodside for $150k.

I am not the poster of the 150K comment, however i did just go through an apartment search and there are many apartments in Woodside that are 700 sq ft or more that are on the market for around 180K. No joke.

Last I heard this is a free market economy. If you can't afford to live where you want, thats your fault. Don't blame the market.

Manhattan was bought for 24 dollars and you better believe there is still some bad karma that will be around for a long time.

Yes, I suppose not living in Manhattan is ultimately driven by market forces. I cannot afford to live in Manhattan. But that is *not* my "fault," as you say. I have a good job and a college education, two things most New Yorkers don't have. But if you doubled my salary, I still couldn't afford Manhattan. (That 700-square-foot apartment? In Manhattan, the maintenance alone costs $1,000.)

By saying those who can't afford to live in Manhattan have only themselves to blame, you're assuming that we don't work as hard as you do. To which I respond: If you think driving a bus or teaching or sweeping the floors is such easy work, I invite you to try it for a day. Better still, I ask to try surviving if these "underachievers" weren't doing the thankless work that Manhattan stock brokers and lawyers consider inferior.

Face it: Manhattan is a fantasy world. Everybody there wants to ride subways, but doesn't want to live next door to a train motorman. Everybody there wants to ride taxis (and can afford to), but doesn't want a gas station on their block. Everybody there wants clean streets but no one wants a garbage truck parking in their corner of town. Rather than telling the inner-borough masses to eat cake, perhaps you should be grateful you have us.

I am the poster previous to last,

Manhattan is not mecca, ok? There is let me remind you Metro-North Railroad where you can be safely deposited into the suburbs within 40 minutes from GC AND get a better value for your dollar.

You wrote: By saying those who can’t afford to live in Manhattan have only themselves to blame, you’re assuming that we don’t work as hard as you do.
The blame has nothing to do with "not working hard enough" no the blame is your job is not paying enough or your parents did not build substantial wealth to be past down.

Actually I think you would get more for your money in queens than you would taking metro north to the suburbs. If you look at houseing costs queens is relatively the same as the burbs (for coops and condo's houses in the burbs seem to cost more based on the quick peak i took at prices). When you factor in the cost of Metro North to a Metrocard (plus the fact that you need a car living in the burbs and you can certainly get by without a car in queens) it makes the burbs more expensive than queens.

Also, having rich parents who past down wealth to you is certainly not working hard and yes it kinda makes it your (and your parents) fault that there is such a housing crisis in NYC. And yes there is a crisis because when people can't afford to live here and decide to move to other cheaper cities NYC will hit a major recession/crisis and a lot of people will lose money.

woodside & $180K : was you search under this site or elsewhere? does anybody have info on condos in woodside?

elsewhere. go to www.mlsli.com you can search the entire mls listings for queens.

You can certainly get by without a car in Queens but you'd be very limited in where you can conveniently go and it kind of makes the point of living in Queens moot. Buses in Queens also do not run as frequently on weekends and without a car, its hard to really enjoy Queens. Some of the best restaurants and shops are not easily accessible by subway.

All the posters should stop being so catty about your comments; the bottom line is, it's a personal choice and based on what what each person prefers and can afford.

True, some parts of Queens really do require a car. But it's more of a personal preference. The added cost of owning a car is still much less expensive than living in Manhattan. Woodside, however, is definitely not a car-dependent neighborhood. The Flushing line and the Queens Boulevard line are both walkable. Yes, it should be noted that public transportation isn't as reliable outside Manhattan. You also won't find nearly as much parkland, and libraries aren't open as frequently. But I guess that just brings us back to the whole class-discrimination thing. Trust-fund folks wouldn't tolerate the bus service that Queens is left with, and they probably will never be asked to.

I've been living in Woodside for almost 4 years now. I work in Manhattan and take the subway to go to work. I drive mostly when I go out at night/on week-ends or when I do my shopping. In 4 years my car mileage went from 19Kmiles to 23Kmiles. Public transportation is pretty good in Woodside: you have the 7 (always packed at rush hours though), E, R, V, F, the LIRR (very convenient but expensive), the buses. As a comparison I found Williamsburg less practical in terms of public transportation: unless you live around the L line (G service is bad!), you have to walk quite a bit to catch a train. I found myself driving much more in Williamsburg than in Woodside. This is my personal experience.

By the way, all the people who talk about how convenient Woodside is are probably referring to the part near Roosevelt and Woodside Avenue. I've lived for over 20 years on the other side of Woodside, and believe me, a car is necessary. As for Millefeuille, it's not surprising that you've only increased you car mileage by 4K miles in 4 years.... You can drive a lot within NYC and not rack up much mileage. After all, Midtown Manhattan is only 4 miles away from Woodside and Long Island only 16 miles. At that distance, if you took a trip to Midtown and back and Long Island and back once a week, you'd only rack up ~2.1k miles. NYC's actually not that big mileage-wise. Weekend subway schedules also do not help (e.g. the 7 stopping at Queensboro Plaza and not through to Manhattan on weekends, etc.).

If you live on the other side of Queens Blvd, you would need a car. I agree with you. Obviously we cannot have a subway stop on every block. I just wanted to point out the fact we have several subway lines and the LIRR that run through Woodside, which is very convenient.

just a comment regarding the commute time- I live in Boulevard Gardens and work in Rockefeller Center. The commute is 30 minutes door to door. The walk to the V train is just under 10 minutes (there is also a bus going there if you don't mind waiting.) then from Northern Blvd to Rockefeller Center is 15 or 20 minutes.