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I have a friend who is moving to NYC to work downton in the Tribeca area and he's asking for advice about where to live. Since I'm new to the city myslef I told him I'd ask here. His two priorities are cost and proximity to Tribeca - ideally he'd like to have a commute under 30 minutes, if possible. "Niceness" of the neighborhood is unimportant as he'll be spending alomost all his time in the city and basically needs a place to sleep - as long as the neighborhood is relatively safe. A studio is plenty big enough for his needs. He initially said $800/month is his budget but I told him I'm not sure if that is doable within 30 minutes of Tribeca...but I'm not really sure. He seemed to accept this and it sounds like he can go a bit higher but I guess lowest price is his priority. Everyone I've met here lives either in manhattan or Jersey City. Jersely city is supposed to be cheaper than Manhattan but I don't think it's that much cheaper - I've heard you just get "more for your money" - ie more spacious rooms, etc. Can anyone help out or give any recs for neighborhoods to look into? I'm[ thinking that maybe locations with older buildings or that are less "desirable" will be cheaper but you can tell that I'm a bit clueless.
If he just needs a place to sleep, I think he is best off to get a place with roommates(this will make utilities cheaper too). Is he willing to live with roommates?
I think $800 is do-able in some neighborhoods in NYC, but I don't think it will get him his 30 minute commute. The closest I can think of where this may even be remotely possible in relative safety would be Kensington, Ditmas Park and Lefferts Gardens (with LG being considered the least safe of those - but safe enough in my opinioin) in Brooklyn. And $800 might be too low to really find anything there - I'm just not sure.
You can check craigslist for listings and then look at google maps, which list subway stations. Check that against the MTA trip planner at mta.info for travel times. I think you will find in most cases that the actual transit times from all those areas will be around 30 minutes, which obviously means the actual commute will be at least 15-30 minutes longer than that.
Jersey might be an option but I don't know anything about it.
There are Bronx neighborhoods where people on here have said studios cost $800 but again those commutes will be too long for what your friend wants.
Thanks. The reason I'm posting, not him, is because I told him I'd ask around and found that my friends are as clueless as me about real estate in the city outside of downtown Manhattan where we live, so I figured I'd ask on here since the forum has been very helpful in the past. Plus, I like to help out. I will look into Kensington, Ditmas Park and Lefferts Gardens. Does it change anything if he could spend, say, $1000/month? He could probably be talked into spending that much.
Also, I guess the other option is a place with roommates (or a roommate). The reason he wants his own place is because he's seen my cramped, crappy share (in Manhattan) - are places much more spacious outside the city? Any suggestions for neighborhoods/locations to look into where his share would be under 800-1000?
In safe nabs close to the city. No. He might get a decent share in williamsburg for a grand but not on the north side of bedford. He might want to look at bushwick. maybe, just maybe he could get a decent share there. At his price range I think he should not come to the city. He will not find what he is looking for at his price range.
Thanks. The reason I'm posting, not him, is because I told him I'd ask around and found that my friends are as clueless as me about real estate in the city outside of downtown Manhattan where we live, so I figured I'd ask on here since the forum has been very helpful in the past. Plus, I like to help out. I will look into Kensington, Ditmas Park and Lefferts Gardens. Does it change anything if he could spend, say, $1000/month? He could probably be talked into spending that much.
Also, I guess the other option is a place with roommates (or a roommate). The reason he wants his own place is because he's seen my cramped, crappy share (in Manhattan) - are places much more spacious outside the city? Any suggestions for neighborhoods/locations to look into where his share would be under 800-1000?
Thanks again,
Luke
You should also look into Windsor Terrace and Prospect Heights. You can luck up on a studio for under $1000 in both of those areas.
As far as the size of the apartments, most of the apartments that I have went to in Manhattan that friends from out of town have moved into appear to be much smaller then what I am accustomed to seeing in Brooklyn but I don't know if that is a given.
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