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Old 01-14-2014, 03:48 PM
 
1,058 posts, read 1,988,041 times
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Quote:
Originally Posted by leoliu View Post
It is worrisome that you started an instant fight with one of your future fellow residents in NYC before you even have an idea where to live in NY. Are you sure that you could cope with living here in the future? There are a lot of barbarians loose on the streets everywhere in NYC---they do not hide from normal humans as those in Chicago...think it over before you sign the lease, LOL.

If I were you and am burning to move to NYC on that budget, I would look into Kensington/Midwood sections in Brooklyn, which are quiet, safe and with 30-45 min of commuting time to lower manhattan.



Well that the OP did start and instant fight with that post--- it was completely out of line and uninformed.
It is natural and right for a woman to want to be near her parents if she is thinking about having a child.
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Old 01-14-2014, 03:58 PM
 
Location: Chicago, IL
424 posts, read 971,420 times
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Quote:
Originally Posted by isaac2004 View Post
My head is going to explode with all these different forms of public transportation
You'll get the hang of all the subway lines, it just takes a bit of time, studying a subway map and remembering which trains are express and which run local. Even native New Yorker's get lost trying to transfer to various lines. Once you have the subway down it's easy to get around.

The 2 top neighborhoods for families who are looking for an area with a suburban vibe in the city are Riverdale and Forest Hills. They're comparable to Sauganash and Oak Park/ River Forest in Chicago.

The Google estimate for the commute in on the 1 train is a bit off though, transfer to the express A train at 168th Street in Upper Manhattan to save time since the 1 train makes a lot of local stops... Think of the Purple Line express vs the Red Line into Downtown. Riverdale is one of the best neighborhoods in the city and but is also one of the most expensive so that's something to consider. You'll need to raise your housing budget anyway though. There's a Metro North stop (Westchester and Fairfield Counties version of the Metra fyi) in Riverdale which takes about 20 mins into Grand Central Terminal on the Hudson line. I don't know what a monthly costs from Riverdale, probably around $150. Though, you'd need to take the Times Square shuttle (the S train) crosstown from GCT to Times Square to get to the west side subway lines. Getting from the west side to the east side in Manhattan and vice versa on the subway can be a bit of a hassle and transfering adds to the commute time.

For Forest Hills subway stations there's 4 lines you can take: the E, F, M and R train at 71st/ Continental Ave. When I lived there it took 35-40 min to get to 34th Street which is not too bad, some days I would take LIRR which can be expensive for a monthly pass but is worth it if you use it on the weekends also. It obviously makes more sense for suburbanites to buy monthly passes since they don't have an alternative option of subways to commute on.

There's also more reasonable areas (for NYC standards though) for families; I'd look into Sunnyside and Astoria in Queens (which reminds me a lot of Rogers Park and Andersonville), Ditmas Park in Brooklyn around Beverly Rd near Rugby Rd which has tons of beautiful Victorian single family homes. Pelham Bay Park/ Pelham Parkway in the Bronx is also decent served by the 4, 5 and 2 lines and has a Metro North stop at the Bronx Botanical Gardens.

It depends on what you find in the city though. Maybe living in the burbs for a while would be cost effective if.... but that's a post for the suburban sub forum.

Last edited by ehanson; 01-14-2014 at 04:07 PM..
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Old 01-14-2014, 04:43 PM
 
650 posts, read 2,513,339 times
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In the more Southern End of Brooklyn (where I am, areas like Gravesend and Bensonhurst) you can easily find a 2BR for roughly 1500 (some deals closer to 1400ish).
For this price, most likely will be a smaller (I live in a 4 unit bldg, typical around here) building with no laundry in building and no dishwasher. I have always found dishwashers rare in basic no frills rentals.
The larger elevator buildings with laundry room should run a bit more.

You can take the L to the N train (Union Sq) and transfer to the N train (stops like Kings Highway for example) - I do not commute to Manhattan but this will likely exceed 45 minutes.
The D train covers much of Bensonhurst but this line is not really good for your job.

You also have a better chance if really want to keep the car (I do not own one), parking here is "meh" but better than more dense nabes. Skyhigh insurance is likely will what dissuade you from keeping the car.

Last edited by pureistheword; 01-14-2014 at 04:45 PM.. Reason: added details
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Old 01-14-2014, 05:00 PM
 
7,296 posts, read 11,833,709 times
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Quote:
Originally Posted by isaac2004 View Post
My head is going to explode with all these different forms of public transportation
As a general rule, anywhere close to a good subway is going to be expensive, but this is compensated by you not having to settle for a studio/1BR or fake 2BR. At least you can live in a real 2BR. Also you can probably bring your car with you since street parking in those areas is easier. Of course the discount in the rent reflects the less desirable commute. If there are some days when you can work at home, that would help as well.

Commute will no doubt be a pain. When I ended my lease in Kew Gardens after 4 years, my landlord told me he was astounded that I did not leave much sooner. I would not recommend in those places for the long term. Like I said earlier, they are good for a couple of years until your circumstances improve such that you can more easily afford a more convenient but expensive location. That is what I did.
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Old 01-14-2014, 07:48 PM
 
Location: New York City
4,035 posts, read 10,276,057 times
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Quote:
Originally Posted by isaac2004 View Post
Thanks, we will look at that option. Is the 1.25 hour commute on the 1 train pretty accurate ?
I obviously don’t know you, but most young consultants who are able to pull in +$80K a year don’t want to live in the middle of nowhere. For those types of people, the whole point of living in New York being in a cool neighborhood, meeting a lot of peers, and going out all the time. If you have anything like a 1.25 hour commute you won’t want to stay in Manhattan for drinks and try out a new restaurant, etc.

The people in the less-connected, further parts of Queens and Brooklyn are true middle-class New Yorkers: teachers, civil servants, nurses, clerical workers, police officers, etc. They’re great people, but have very little interest in hip and creative Manhattan/Brooklyn culture. The lifestyle there is more about nesting, which is why they are willing to sacrifice convenience for space. Those neighborhoods can be a bit dull.

You have to be clear in your own mind what kind of lifestyle you want.
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Old 01-14-2014, 08:19 PM
 
Location: Washington, DC & New York
10,915 posts, read 31,326,603 times
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Quote:
Originally Posted by isaac2004 View Post
Thanks, we will look at that option. Is the 1.25 hour commute on the 1 train pretty accurate ?
It is fairly accurate, but you can save time by switching to a 2/3 express train at 96th Street (UWS). You could also switch to the A at 168th, as well, which can save some time versus the 1-train. Once on the UWS, it only takes 15 minutes to get to 14th Street on the 3, for example, so you'd save 10-15 minutes over the 1 train, especially if the 3 is at 96th when the 1 arrives.

You could also take a local bus to the A-train, since from W207th in Inwood, the A takes about 30-35 minutes to get to 14th Street. Getting to 207th would be about 20 minutes from much of Riverdale, such as from Spuyten Duyvil, via bus.
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Old 01-14-2014, 08:24 PM
 
1,058 posts, read 1,988,041 times
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Quote:
Originally Posted by tpk-nyc View Post
I obviously don’t know you, but most young consultants who are able to pull in +$80K a year don’t want to live in the middle of nowhere. For those types of people, the whole point of living in New York being in a cool neighborhood, meeting a lot of peers, and going out all the time. If you have anything like a 1.25 hour commute you won’t want to stay in Manhattan for drinks and try out a new restaurant, etc.

The people in the less-connected, further parts of Queens and Brooklyn are true middle-class New Yorkers: teachers, civil servants, nurses, clerical workers, police officers, etc. They’re great people, but have very little interest in hip and creative Manhattan/Brooklyn culture. The lifestyle there is more about nesting, which is why they are willing to sacrifice convenience for space. Those neighborhoods can be a bit dull.

You have to be clear in your own mind what kind of lifestyle you want.

I don't know this guy (OP) sounds to me like a little more advanced than the vapid young people in this city who think that New York is the end all to beat all and do the bar scene. Do you think that any of these lightweights would worry about making sure that their wife was near their mother when having a first child.
I just find that people in their late 20's and early 30's think they really know what they are doing when nothing could be further from the truth. Living in other parts of the country injects a little realism into one's life much more than hanging around the Meat Packing district and planning the next LBO,
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Old 01-15-2014, 01:26 AM
 
11,597 posts, read 12,633,715 times
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With your salary, you might be able to afford a little more. Remember, that heat and water is usually included (but not gas and electric) if you end up in an apartment building. Apartments in buildings are old and very rare to have W/D or dishwasher in nonluxury, older buildings. Central A/C is also rare in these older buildings too. Plan on budgeting on a single salary for a while. I'm afraid that your wife will not find job prospects much better. Also she will need to jump through the hoops to get NYS certification, which will require a obtaining a masters degree if she doesn't already have one in her field. She might be able to get tutoring work, which is great while caring for your own kids. Something to consider, NJ certification is easier to get but job prospects are also problematic. The transportation sounds confusing, but I'm sure that you will get the hang of it within a month or two.
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Old 01-15-2014, 08:09 AM
 
106 posts, read 172,754 times
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I am absolutely amazed for all the kind words and advice I have gotten on this forum in just one post. I know a small amount about NY, but I had no idea I had housing options in so many ways, even with my budget. My reason for only wanting to pay $1500 is because I do not want to make the mistake of raising it to $2K, finding a place, and after the luster wears off, we are miserable and we have to start this all over again in a year. My goal is to pay lower rent, so even if my wife can't find work (she has told me she will work retail or whatever if she can't get a job right away, which is what she is doing now), we can save to put a down payment in on a house.

We are both "mature" for our age (I am 27, she is 24). We don't drink other than in once in a blue moon, we don't party, we go to bed before 11, we are a boring lot, but we are happy. If anything is "hip" about us, we love museums, zoos, farmers markets, finding new places to eat, trivia nights and general "touristy" things (I am really bad whenever I get in Times Square). So more than likely, we will be in Manhattan a lot (due to her parents living there, and all the "activities"), so commute to there can't be brutal, but we will about 35 minutes from DT Chicago and its just fine for us, so a little more wouldn't be awful, but over 1.25 hours each way is just too far.

I have gone through all the posts so far, looked at their commutes on Google (not accurate but gives me an idea) and listed them here

Bushwick - commute 30-50 minutes, interesting have heard decent things, but still is a bit sketchy in parts
Kew Gardens - commute 50 - 70 minutes, a few came up with this, not familiar but looks promising
Riverdale - commute 70-80 minutes, car friendly, easy access to in-laws at Lincoln Center
Misc places in Queens - North Richmond Hill, Glendale, Fresh Meadows, North Flushing, East Elmhurst, Jackson Heights (not in the historic district), Ozone Park and Middle Village, commute varies but over an hour
Kensington/Midwood - commute 30-45 minutes, easy commute
Rego Park - commute 45-55 minutes
Southern Brooklyn - 45-60 minutes

and the final option which I am leaning towards
Hoboken NJ - Commute 20-45 minutes depending on where you live. Going to be far cheaper than anywhere in NY with that commute, can possibly keep a car, will find more options closer to price.

Again thank you all for the extensive help, and drowning me in NY Public Transit options

At this point, I will start looking at prices in these areas, but NJ seems like the best option at my current salary if my wife doesn't get a good job right away.

Thanks again!
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Old 01-15-2014, 08:24 AM
 
571 posts, read 789,265 times
Reputation: 596
Some of these NYC posters LOVE to scare people and make it seem like you need to be a millionaire to live there. If you use public transpo and sell your car, that monthly savings will likely just about make up for the difference in rent.

Last edited by punkfan39126; 01-15-2014 at 08:54 AM..
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