$3000 — 4br loft: I just had to do it. I actually think the price could be lower, I just took the bedroom price and quadrupled it. Okay, it’s partly because of the cool stuff the tenants have, but this place is completely amazing. What a gluttonously spacious paradise. And if you get sick of the wonderland of capitalism that is the Myrtle JM (no more Z) hub, with its tropical fruit stands and fried chicken and organic convenience store and donuts and tacos etc, etc, you can walk a few feet to the train and be in the city in 15 minutes.
Broadway and Myrtle | street view | Myrtle JM

$1200 — 2br: Apparently not a railroad — this is pretty cheap if so. Not much to go by photo-wise, but for the price it’s worth a look. Location is great, between trains and close to cool Bushwick businesses.
CATS OK | Jefferson St. and Central | street view | Myrtle JM/Morgan L

$1300 — 1br: Decent apartment in an adorable brick townhouse off Bushwick Avenue with all utilities included. Close to the train and Goodbye Blue Monday.
Greene and Bushwick | street view | Kosciuszko J

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$1295 — 2br rr: Your basic, clean railroad apartment on a convenient corner walking distance to either train line.
PETS OK | Jefferson St and Evergreen | street view | Morgan L/Myrtle JM

$1250 — 2br rr: Cheesy, misspelled broker-talk clogged ad, but this is not a bad apartment. Some sloppy details here and there, but it’s okay for the price and is in a decent location.
PETS OK | Stockholm and Knickerbocker | street view | DeKalb L

$1250 — 3br rr: Even cheaper, from the same broker as above. Can’t see much from the photos but it looks okay for the price. Sort of a crud area but three long-blocks to new bar The Wick.
PETS OK | Madison and Central | street view | Gates J

$1150 — 1br: Rather inexpensive and nice inside, on a high floor — could use a paint job. On lovely Bushwick Avenue.
PETS OK | Bushwick and Bleecker | street view | Kosciuszko J

$1050 — 1br: Pretty dumpy, but close to train and groceries and very cheap.
Bushwick and Suydam | street view | Myrtle JM

It’s complete crap architecturally, but 38 Covert Street is in a leafy pocket of South Bushwick and seems to be inhabitable as is. It’s hard to glean from the available information, but it might be a three-bedroom duplex with a three-bedroom above that. Either way, it’s gigantic and if you commute, just seconds on foot to the train.

38 Covert Street | $419,000
3200sqft | 20ft-wide | 2-family, 3ba | frame
Halsey J

$1195 — 3br: The location is not much but something about the light coming in through those windows gives me a good feeling about this place. That and the bonkers low price. You’ll be living cheap for a long time if you stick around.
CATS OK | Wilson and Schaefer | street view | Wilson L/Chauncey J

$1250 — 2br: I know it doesn’t look like anything special, but the beauty here is in the price and location — very cheap for two bedrooms (convertible or not) and a short walk to the JM hub at Myrtle/Broadway and all the delights in its shadow.
Jefferson St. and Bushwick | street view | Myrtle JM

$1300 — 2br: Nice bright apartment with many original details, updated kitchen and bath. Good neighborhood and near lovely Irving Square Park.
Covert and Knickerbocker | street view | Halsey L

$1400 — 2br: This place is huge! Sun-filled, renovated, floor-through 950sqft two-bedroom one block from the L station and three from the J.
PETS OK | Cooper and Central | street view | Wilson L/Chauncey J

from the wtf file: Williamsburg-Bushwick? Not even EAST Williamsburg? Not that that would be okay either — this is on COVERT Street. It’s more East New York than it is Williamsburg.

Andrea Mersits of Lady Magma. — Photo by Phoebe Waterson

Bushwick-based band Lady Magma played to a packed crowd at K&M Bar Friday night as part of a benefit for the AIDS Resource Foundation For Children. The band, made up of singer Andrea Mersits, Brian Derdiarian and Teresa McMahon on guitar, bassist Chelsea Vigue, and drummer Max Dunlop, rocked out with an energy so contagious that it led to a crazy dance party afterwards!

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The Castle Braid Apartments at 114 Troutman. The revised plan calls for a café at the bottom left.

The real estate market is famously not for the weak of heart. But the light of heart are welcome: developer Mayer Schwartz, chatty, ebullient, sporting a permanent smile, met me on Sunday to talk about his huge new development at 114 Troutman. Originally slated to be the Troutman Gardens condominiums, plans changed once the market began to soften and they will now be 146 rentals.

Decades back, the huge site was home to the Castle Braid Company, which made clothing trims. Upon reading this bit of trivia in these pages, Mayer recognized the name: several main characters in the book A Tree Grows in Brooklyn worked there. As a nod to the history and culture of the borough, Mayer decided to name the building for the factory that once stood there.

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There’s no opportunity like this one right now — a well-priced brick house in the most popular area of Bushwick. Sure, it’s on a mostly industrial street, but we all know that M-1 zoning will go bye-bye in time for the next housing boom. In the meantime, nobody will ever complain about your loud parties. Inside, the house is no luxury pad but it’s liveable and looks Home-Depot-updated in the recent past. Outside, everything seems intact, including its huge cornice. Half a block to the train and Northeast Kingdom and the upcoming retail strip on Wyckoff, the same distance to Maria Hernandez Park, and a slightly longer walk to everything else interesting and fun and tasty in Bushwick right now, this place is IT.

367 Troutman Street | $529,000
2000sqft | 20ft-wide | 3-family, 3ba | brick-brownstone
Jefferson L

$1400 — 2br: Very decently renovated two-bedroom with a back yard. Also central a/c and you control (and pay for) your own heat. The location is nothing special and not close to trains, but a 10-12 minute walk will get you to both lines.
CATS OK | Putnam and Central | street view | Gates J

$1157 — 1br: The price is weird, but low. A decent, spacious apartment in a well-kept area. My guess is the landlord lives in the house. Cool old moldings, and hey, maybe you can get the owner to pull out that linoleum.
Covert and Knickerbocker | street view | Halsey L

$1595 — 2br: If you’re looking for prime Bushwick, this is it. Decent apartments on a popular and convenient block.
PETS OK | Troutman and Irving | street view | Jefferson L

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$2300-2500 — lofts: Some huge, beautiful, well-appointed apartments available here — loft living without the slob aspect. The Bushwick side of Flushing has the more “grown-up” conversions. And props to the agent for saying it’s near East Williamsburg instead of in it.
Troutman and St. Nicholas(?) | street view | Jefferson L

$1600 — 2br/2ba: One of seven apartments in Bushwick with more than one bathroom! But seriously, that’s rare, and it has a dishwasher. Location isn’t terrible either — only a couple blocks from Caffe Europa, with the best espresso in NYC.
PETS OK | Himrod and Knickerbocker | street view | DeKalb L/Central M

$1350 — 1br: This location (not bad, just not the best) wouldn’t normally warrant this price but there’s a lot of square footage here — 850 is big (measure it). The bit of the bathroom we can see looks kind of kooky but the place overall seems decent. And it’s a block from Mr. Kiwi’s for some of your organical needs.
PETS OK | Bushwick and Myrtle | street view | Myrtle JMZ

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30 Woodbine Street, one of five foreclosed homes on a single block off Broadway. — Photo by Diego Cupolo.

Bushwick has been prominent among New York neighborhoods in news of the country’s foreclosure “crisis.” Much sap has been made of a few people losing their houses in the neighborhood, but do the facts justify the hysteria?

While 3.7% of Bushwick’s housing was in some part of the foreclosure process in 2006 [pdf], and it’s likely even higher now, it’s important to keep the proper perspective: the vast majority of homes in Bushwick are not in foreclosure. However, there are some clusters in the 2-to-3-family areas south of Myrtle that might look alarming to the casual observer.

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