DailyHeights

It’s no secret that the housing market is in the dumps and many Americans have been forced out of their homes and into rentals. Just like anything else in a free market, when demand increases so does price. Brooklyn New York has been no exception. Below is a series of graphs illustrating the price increase of studio, one and two bedroom rentals over the last 13 months.

With the price of living increasing for everyone renting an apartment, home or condo, it’s more important than ever to protect your valuables from a catastrophe. Rental insurance will reimburse you for the cost of your possessions up to your coverage limit. That means if you purchase a $20,000 policy your possessions will be covered up to that amount. The first step is to take an inventory of the contents of your home to determine how much coverage you will need.

Depending on your policy type and the area you live in, rental insurance will cover you in the event of fire, theft, water damage and natural disasters. Imagine your neighbor next door left their stove on overnight and the apartment building caught on fire. Would you be able to replace all of your possessions out of pocket? For most of us, the answer is no. Protecting yourself from the unknown can be incredibly inexpensive. The average cost of rental insurance is $15 a month. Sleep easy at night knowing everything you own can easily be replaced with a rental insurance policy. Get free rental insurance quotes from agents in your area.

*Image by MNS Impact Real Estate

What recession? Via Curbed: “… screenwriter Todd A. Kessler, a former Sopranos scribe … appears to be the buyer of a 4BR, 3BA condo at 162 St. Marks Avenue in Prospect Heights.”

“… The apartment, in a 22′-wide brownstone that turned condo in 2007, was asking only $1.679 million when it hit the market at the end of September. Kessler just paid for the apartment: $2,005,000, or 19.4 percent over the asking price.”

Read more: http://ny.curbed.com/archives/2011/02/01/screenwriter_pays_2_million_for_prospect_heights_condo.php

More Ratner Retail updates! According to the New York Observer:

“…the tech behemoth is now setting its sights on a location near the proposed Atlantic Yards arena in Brooklyn, future home to the Nets basketball team …. (the) company has been informally chatting with potential landlords, including Atlantic Yards developer Forest City Ratner, about leasing options in the area …”

” ‘They’ve been very gun shy, the Apple people,’ said the source … it’s the only place in Brooklyn that’s super visible, close to trains and about as close as you can get to a 24-hour community in the borough.”

Read more: iRatner! Apple Digging Atlantic Yards

Sign up for computer classes here.

As reported in The Brooklyn Paper, Ringling Brothers and Barnum & Bailey Circus are coming to Barclays Center, at the intersection of Flatbush and Atlantic Avenue.

Tish James takes the bait:

Longtime Atlantic Yards foe Councilwoman Tish James (D–Prospect Heights) was unimpressed by the circus announcement, saying that it would only bring “more clowns to the Atlantic Yards-Barclays Center debacle.”

As reported on Brooklyn Ink:

On November 12, P.S. 9 and M.S. 571 unveiled a revamped school library, which they promptly closed, because there was no librarian … Sandra D’Avilar, Principal of the elementary school that renovated the library: “And it’s still not enough to make someone from the Board of Education call and say, ‘hey, we found some money. We‘re going to send someone you can interview, and we’re going to find you a librarian.’”

Link: Brooklyn School Library Opens – and Closes – its Doors [Brooklyn Ink]

As discussed on Brooklynian, the Wall Street Journal just profiled Prospect Heights as having Slope Appeal With Edge:

“… Prospect Heights has developed a reputation as the Slope’s edgier cousin. And even after years of playing development catch-up to Park Slope, Prospect Heights still offers more inexpensive housing options.”

* The median list price is $549,000.
* The median size is 1,095 square feet.

Some negatives: the schools section is a bit outdated and random, making it sound like Prospect Heights has no school options.

They also highlight the Richard Meier condo at One Grand Army Plaza as “the most ambitious new residence in the neighborhood” and are rather polite about its 34% vacancy rate despite being on the market for years: “About 66% of the 96-unit building has been sold…”

BONUS: The ultimate argument settler – WSJ calls the boundaries of Prospect Heights. Flatbush to Washington, and Eastern Parkway to Atlantic Avenue. That’s reasonable, right?

Check it out on Brooklynian and Wall Street Journal.

Census numbers are out and detail the “suburban flight” of blacks and latinos. The New York Times reports:

“The number of Hispanic residents declined in tracts in Williamsburg, Bushwick and Greenpoint, Brooklyn, and in Washington Heights, but increased in the north Bronx; Woodside and Ozone Park, Queens; and central Harlem. The black population shrunk by double digits in Brooklyn’s Prospect Heights, Clinton Hill and Fort Greene, in central Harlem and in South Ozone Park, but jumped in Canarsie and Flatlands, Brooklyn, and in Springfield Gardens, Queens.

Link: Region is Reshaped as Minorities Move to Suburbs [New York Times]