With a population of nearly 2.6 million, Brooklyn is New York's most populous borough. At 96 square miles, its relatively large availability of land have made the Brooklyn real estate market quite attractive to those interested in being near Manhattan without incurring such a high cost of living in such compressed apartment or condo living space.

Architecturally, Manhattan is known by many for its forest of high rise office buildings and 10+ story apartment buildings. By contrast, Brooklyn has become symbolized by mid-19th century row houses, brownstones, classic brick walk up apartments, and palatial standalone houses with generous yard space.

Culturally, Brooklyn is where memories are made. While Manhattan's often young, professional, fashionable and occasionally high-strung singles scurry back and forth at a lightening pace to meetings, bars and restaurants, Brooklyn more commonly affords scenes of parents pushing strollers to nearby cafes, art festivals, parks, or museums hosting child friendly activities.

However, Brooklyn is no stranger to youth or youth culture either. It's just that Brooklyn's singes are often searching for a more laid back and low cost living experience. Known for its underground parties, warehouse concert halls, fabulous local music scene, bars, restaurants, and independent art galleries, Brooklyn is a cultural breeding ground for much of the contemporary art, music, and movements which have been exported from New York City across the US and to the rest of the world in recent times.

And while space in Manhattan is quite narrow (causing home buying and rental prices to continue their seemingly endless upward trajectory), Brooklyn still possesses a fair amount of "unexplored" and underdeveloped frontier space, in addition to easy train and road access into and out of Manhattan. Today, neighborhoods such as Greenpoint, Bedford Stuyvesant and Bushwick are undergoing much of the tremendous development that neightborhoods such as Dumbo, Williamsburg, Park Slope and Fort Greene experienced over the last 10-15 years.

It is no wonder that Brooklyn holds such a special place in the hearts of folks who live there. For those looking to buy or rent homes here, Brooklyn offers a more affordable life, diverse culture, engaging events, a more tangible, arguably grounded sense of community, and ample green space. Which is why many who buy or rent homes in Brooklyn say they'll never leave!