No they aren’t. I’m putting a baseline on hyperbole: at $1000 today, you’d be close to the bottom of the market for a 2 bedroom apartment in any desirable market in the US. The OP paid (in 2018 dollars) only twice the minimum, in a fairly desirable part of one of the economic, cultural and business capitals of the world.

Basically, you have ridiculous standards if you think Prospect Park is crappy, and your price expectations are irrational. Even you admit that your next-door neighbors will be getting roughly the same deal...but they’ll be in Atlanta, not NYC. It’s fine if you don’t like NYC, but you seem to have trouble accepting that a great many people do like it enough to pay more for it.

Also, let’s talk about moving the goalposts: you’re comparing ownership and renting as if they’re the same thing.