Coney Island

Coney Island is definitely the only neighborhood in NYC with its own baby walrus. The eclectic zaniness of the neighborhood encompasses everything from the New York Aquarium, to an ancient wooden roller coaster, to the famous Riegelmann beach boardwalk. The draw of the location is not shocking – during the hot NY summers, the temperature perceptibly drops to a comfortable level as you approach Coney Island’s sea breezes. Because of its widespread appeal to New Yorkers and tourists alike, Coney Island has excellent subway access on the D, F, N, and Q trains. Though popularly known for its amusement park and boardwalk, Coney Island is notorious in local history for disagreements about land use, zoning, and everything else real estate. Most recently, after a long process of developer bait and switch, the city government proposed a competing revitalization plan to that of the company that owns much of the waterfront property. For now, the Coney Island community is waiting to see what they’ll have to protest next – more confidentiality clauses in their rental agreements? High-rise condos intertwined with roller coasters? Life on Coney Island is distinctly high-rise, and homes sales are unsurprisingly rare, considering how few single family houses have survived in the area from the beach community of over a century ago. The evolving neighborhood may have more condos soon, but that remains to be seen and depends upon what kinds of development the city decides to allow on current empty lots. In other words, the median residential sales price of $400K doesn’t mean much. Rental listings are somewhat sparse, yet affordable.