Date: March 19th, 2018 5:29 PM
Author: Sticky yarmulke
A Move to the West Village for a Good School
Renters
By KIM VELSEY FEB. 3, 2017
Continue reading the main storyShare This Page
Share
Tweet
Pin
Email
More
Save
Photo
Jeanne Kempton and her husband, Damien Corr, moved with their two sons and dog from a Brooklyn townhouse to a two-bedroom apartment in the West Village. Credit Stephanie Diani for The New York Times
This is a story about how the hunt for a good public school can move a New York City family out of their home.
After the birth of their first son, Jeanne Kempton and Damien Corr followed a trajectory familiar to many New York families, buying in an area Cobble Hill, Brooklyn with excellent public schools and biding their time in a two-bedroom condo until their second son was also safely ensconced in District 15.
Their childrens education seemingly settled, they bought and moved to a six-bedroom townhouse in Prospect-Lefferts Gardens and adopted a yellow lab. The boys commuted to their old school.
But two years later, their older son failed to land a seat in one of District 15s excellent middle schools and was assigned to a struggling school by the border of Boerum Hill and Cobble Hill.
Continue reading the main story
RELATED COVERAGE
RENTERS
Found: Roommate With a Completely Different Schedule JAN. 20, 2017
For Rent
Enter neighborhood, city, zip or address
Enter neighborhood, city, zip or address
Select minimum priceSelect maximum price Select number of bedroomsSelect number of bedrooms See Available Homes LIST YOUR HOME
ADVERTISEMENT
Continue reading the main story
They balked at sending him there, but neither ponying up for private school nor moving to the suburbs seemed a viable, or at least desirable, option. Then a third possibility occurred to Ms. Kempton: Why not rent an apartment in the West Village, which was in a school district that had both good middle schools and open seats?
It just hit me one day that District 2 has zoned middle schools and its own high schools, said Ms. Kempton, an associate real estate broker with Stribling & Associates. A few weeks later, shortly before the first day of school in the fall of 2014, she was signing a lease for a two-bedroom, two-bathroom apartment on the top floor of a West Village townhouse.
At 750 square feet, it was a big change from the familys 3,000-square-foot townhouse, especially given that they had occupied all three and a half floors.
The Details
Name: Jeanne Kempton, Damien Corr and their sons, John and Luke
Ages: 46 and 50, 13 and 10.
Rent: $4,700 a month. The family rents out their three-and-a-half-story townhouse in Prospect-Lefferts Gardens for $5,750.
Occupation: Associate real estate broker at Stribling & Associates and product manager at EY.
What they like about the new neighborhood: We find that if we have a smaller space, we do things out and about more, Mr. Corr said.
Downsizing: The family moved from a 3,000-square-foot townhouse to a 750-square-foot apartment. They lived on all three and a half floors of their townhouse because the deed covenant for houses on the block prohibited multifamily houses.
Before they decided to move to the West Village: They looked at a parochial school and also checked out a Waldorf school. We were just really scrambling, Ms. Kempton said.
What their friends thought when they told them they were moving: I heard a lot of, I cant believe you left Brooklyn, said Ms. Kempton, who works in Striblings Brooklyn office.
There was a playroom, a guest room, a room between the living room and the dining room that we didnt really know what it was for, Mr. Corr, a product manager at EY, said. We just called it the middle room.
They framed the move as a one-year experiment, renting out their house for $5,750 a month, which more than covered their $4,700-a-month West Village rent. Even so, they got rid of almost everything. We just left a few things there that we didnt want or expect to get back, Ms. Kempton said.
Mr. Corr said, Theres a cost associated with storage and even storage isnt safe; it can get flooded, or have a fire.
Ms. Kempton said that many friends were taken aback by their decision, especially since they had just finished furnishing and decorating the house. One commented on her lack of sentimentality. And I said: Im not unsentimental. Its just moving.
Growing up, Ms. Kempton moved frequently because her father was in academia, bouncing among Brooklyn, eastern Long Island and the Midwest. Mr. Corr, on the other hand, spent most of his childhood in the same house in Ireland, but he was enthusiastic about living within easy walking distance of four movie theaters.
The boys, meanwhile, reveled in the variety of West Village burger restaurants. Although, not yet understanding the nuances of the New York real estate market, their younger son, Luke, who was 8 at the time, worried that the drastic downsizing indicated bad things about the familys finances.
Photo
The living room of the familys new home in the West Village. Credit Stephanie Diani for The New York Times
He was like, Are we O.K.? Do we have enough money? Mr. Corr recalled.
I was like, The West Village is really nice, actually, Ms. Kempton said.
Although it lacks the grandeur of their townhouse which had original floor-to-ceiling mirrors, pocket doors and a working fireplace the apartment is a cozy charmer, and just a two-block walk from a YMCA pool. Lucy, the dog, is fawned over whenever she walks outside, though the family is still mystified whenever tourists ask to take a picture with her, which happens frequently.
Newsletter Sign UpContinue reading the main story
Real Estate
Every week, get updates on residential real estate news, covering the five boroughs and beyond.
Enter your email address
Sign Up
You agree to receive occasional updates and special offers for The New York Times's products and services.
PRIVACY POLICY OPT OUT OR CONTACT US ANYTIME
You have to build in time for it, especially on the weekends, Mr. Corr said.
There have been some adjustments, of course. It can be a challenge cooking for four in the narrow galley kitchen, though they do it all the time.
Lucy has also put on a few pounds now that she chases her tennis balls within the confines of Manhattan dog runs, rather than the vast expanse of Prospect Park.
Ms. Kempton, who lived in the East Village in her 20s, said that while she had always thought she and Mr. Corr might move back to Manhattan after the children were grown, doing it a decade earlier has proved an unexpected delight.
We were very fortunate to be able to make this move, she said. I feel lucky that my kids go to public school in New York City. Now, theyre just waiting to see which schools the boys will be going to next year; their older son, John, will start high school and Luke is headed to middle school. They will receive their placements in the spring.
They can stay in District 2 we hope, Ms. Kempton said. Or Im going to have a nervous breakdown.
(http://www.autoadmit.com/thread.php?thread_id=3923054&forum_id=2#35639828)