Moving to the area: LI (New York, Boston: fit in, real estate, apartment)

[vagabond1916]

First of all, I'm sort of down on my luck. I'm in the west coast with a family. Family life is not going well and I just found out my job Moderator cut: language removed me over. I've always wanted to move out east cause I grew up completely in the west. I plan to move out east by myself and start over without separating from spouse and child. I'm not running away! I might call them over there later once I establish myself. I need some space!

I'm a vocalist here and I sing in a cover band & original band (hard rock, metal, etc). Singing is my passion but I just do it for fun. I love being the front man and performing, no delusions of being the next biggest thing. I just love to go up there and entertain an audience.

Two things that are important to me:
- A thriving craigslist environment with lots of bands looking for vocalists (LI seems to be ok)
- An active environment that I can't find in California. (but not crazy like Manhattan)

I'm an engineer by profession but I graduated in the recession and got over. I never found a real job in California as an engineer. Yeah, I went to school for 5 years while raising a family, full time job, 3 engineering classes at night, ruined my family life and after all that, no job. Luckily, I do have a fall back profession which is what I'm in now (basically the same type of job before I went to study engineering). The issue now is that I have to take such a huge pay cut to start over as an engineer that I can't do it with a family. But now I have 2 career paths to choose from.

I see a lot of single bedrooms for $500 rent in LI. Is this for real? I make 90k now, how much do you need to survive in LI? What areas? I want to blindly move there and find a job. Just go for it ya know. I know a lot of people just quitting their jobs cause they can't take it anymore even though they have commitments. I've never seen that before till now!

I did my research the only thriving environments with an active music scene seems to be LI, Manhattan or Chicago (based on CL vocalist wanted ads, which is a good measure). DC is ok I suppose.

Other things I like to do:
- drive my V8 muscle car ( but I could live without it, but I do want to have a car)
- don't like waiting in lines too much (so I guess Manhattan is out)
- Where I am now, I can go to a Walmart on a Sunday and there's like 50-100 people there! Not 500! I love that, just walk in, get what you need and walk out.. no hassles. I doubt I'll get that anywhere else.

What is your take or advise to me?

[ocngypz]

$500 is a bedroom.........just that. Sharing an apartment.........probably an illegal apartment.

[RE_LI_QN_BK]

Okay i am a real estate agent that relocates clients. In long island if you are seeing $500 dollar anything just be aware. That sounds like a room share, could be with 5 other people sharing a bathroom and kitchen and also illegal. If you check wall street journal they had some positions available. My advice to you do not just pick up and go because its not easy finding a job in the New York area. They are out there just have to look.

[marigold69]

Is this post serious?!
1. For $500 there isn't a legal closet to live in on LI unless you had 5 roommates in the rarest of legal house shares.
2. LI's music scene is as dead as 4 day old fried chicken sitting in the sun. An abundance of cover bands and tribute acts struggling to make $90 bucks per player per night. It's a hobby and labor of love unless you are in very corporate wedding or show bands and there is incredible competition for those gigs. We are 29 miles from Broadway after all.
3. $90k is a decent wage anywhere and if you could make that anywhere, great, but can you?
4. Lots of good music towns like Austin, Seattle, Athens, Nashville, Ann Arbor, Chicago that have many more housing options and lower general cost of living. Brooklyn/NYC could be loads of creative fun but housing costs are extreme and that V8 auto will become an albatross.

My recommendation? The grass is always greener on craigslist. Stay with your family where you are and make $90k. Success isn't always how high you climb, it's how high you bounce when you hit bottom. I have lived all over and LI is really only beneficial as a place to raise a family and do all that PTA, little league, etc, stuff. Music related stuff I STILL only play shows in Williamsburg, Manhattan, Philly, Boston or Providence. Original music costing thousands more than it brings in.

If still adamant about trying out the east coast. Look for roommates in Brooklyn or Queens and jobs in NYC. Dive into the big city life with both feet. Send for your car later and make exciting pilgrimages on the weekends to Walmart, Target and Ikea. If it has to be Long Island, same thing, look for roommate situations near colleges but $90k jobs are scarce...and bring the V8. What LI lacks in a music scene it makes up for with a booming vintage/muscle car scene in the warmer months. Good luck whatever you do.

[InfoSeeker52]

You sound like someone who is having a mid-life crisis and chasing a crazy pipe dream to try to make yourself feel better.

Figure out how to support your family first, then worry about your musical aspirations. Seems both crazy and selfish to relocate 3000 miles away from your wife and kid who you supposedly don't want to leave, and a $90k/year job, just to have more opportunities to "be the front man."

[ClarkStreetKid]

The great Long Island music scene dried up decades ago, so scratch that off of your list.

[Jdawg8181]

I'll be blunt. I LOVE LI but I am born and raised here. For you it seems like a whole lot of culture shock. A car is all well & good but you have to insure it aka $$$$$. If you can get a $90k job here well then great and you will be fine but more than likely you will not and will be struggling to get by as everything is super expensive.

[MikeyKid]

Originally Posted by ClarkStreetKid

The great Long Island music scene dried up decades ago, so scratch that off of your list.

Come on now they still have Kid Gloves reunion shows to get by - I think. We can all relive Sunday afternoons soaked with beer at Boardy Barn.

[okellies]

Honestly OP, I think taking a moment and thinking about what is going on in life is something that should be done.

It sounds like your situation is, as mentioned, a mid life crisis. Not to say you can't pursue your dreams, but it's important to think about those in your life. Who says you can't pursue being in a band or making music, while having your engineering job? That is what hobbies are for. You can make music and post it on Youtube or on SoundCloud. You said yourself you did engineering classes at night and had a wife and family at the same time.

Think about how your dreams fit in your life right now, not how you want them to fit in.

[sbm7]

So, let say you are moving to LI and you find a 90k job "again", (it will be helpful also to know what engineering job you are at) are you going to pay your family? Or you just leave them over in California hanging and living off welfare?