Where to live near 17th Street New York, New York? (Inwood: home, calculated)

[fauve]

Check out Savannah, Georgia, Asheville, NC, and Austin, Tx or even New Orleans. I'm from Manhattan, but it's not the only place that's interesting and has character. In any of the places I just mentioned you can find a 3 bedroom house for $800 per month. Wouldn't you rather enjoy your new city rather than spending all day working and commuting? Plus, as other posters have noted, now is a lousy time to be looking for a job.

With that said, if you really want NYC, check out North Bergen, NJ. Just across the Hudson and 10 minutes from midtown. My friend has a 2 bedroom with a river view for $1400/month.

[makossa]

Originally Posted by GDK94

even if you live in the outer boros, you will still be struggling to make ends meet. on your salary, like i said before, you will be living in the ghetto no matter what boro you choose, be it brooklyn, bronx, queens, or staten island.

EDIT: for a nice, safe area with alot of amenities in ANY boro, your looking at upwards of $1200 per month. yes, there is cheap housing to be found all over nyc, but to be honest....95% of it is in undesirable areas.

I know...GDK94, what I landed here in B.R. was like winning the lottery!!!....LOL. It takes A LOT of intense apt. searching and you really have to be here in NYC to do it. Also, being in the right place at the right time and a bit of dumb luck helps.

Mad King, check out local neighborhood newspapers if you come here to research. Some of those have the best deals!!!

[MAD King]

Originally Posted by GDK94

if by 'nice', you mean lots places to see and things to do, again with your salary you won't be doing or seeing much. there are plenty of affordable (well, cheaper than nyc atleast) cities in this country with cool places to see and things to do (that are actually affordable). you just got to do your research. i will tell you now though, if you make 3k per month you will be living in the ghetto if you move here.

We tried to find this other place. But where and how to start?

[Jackson Pollock]

I would recommend Portland, Oregon.

The best thing you can do is travel. If you can't travel, then read and research.

[MAD King]

Originally Posted by newtoli

What do you do for a living aside from your online job? What type of job would you and your wife be looking for upon arriving in NY? Do you have work Visas (saw Germany mentioned). Keep in mind that work is not exactly plentiful right now.

I do have dual citizenship through my mother and father. I was raised in germany. My fahter is from Altanta/GA. This town is very nice but we do not like the south much because of all the bugs there.

Another phenomenon in this town is: Before my father past away in 2003 the street he lived in downtown Atlanta was a very nice street to live in. We were visiting this street in 2006 and almost all houses were nailed up with boards. As we stand there in front of my fathers old house, a police car with three cops in stopped were asking what we are doing here. After explaining them they said we should be very carefull here because this area was becoming a very high crime and drug place. Sad.

[bmwguydc]

Originally Posted by MAD King

Thank you bmwguydc. That helps me a lot.

You're welcome. Another strategy to consider would be to move to a smaller city that's closer to NY, but not exactly in the most convenient part of the metro area. Places like Danbury or Stamford in CT or the area around, but not necessarily downtown (which is not as nice) Poughkeepsie, NY that are on train lines to the city that will get you there in about an hour to an hour and a half. You'd need to commute on the subway after that to get downtown, but it's viable. New Jersey could work as well, but car insurance is generally much higher, especially in the cities in Northern New Jersey, where parking can be as high a premium as NYC proper. In all of these areas, you would be able to secure a decent 1BR apartment, perhaps even a small cottage in Danbury or in the towns on the Hudson near Poughkeepsie that falls within the range of the income you now have from your business.

Living outside of the city for a short time, until you're established with a job in the region, might not be a bad idea, since you're close enough to be able to look for a new job; you avoid the city income taxes on your business income; and are realistically close enough to enjoy the city, albeit with a bit of a drive and/or train ride. Then, when you're ready to make the move to the city, you have the ability to search many potential areas and find the right one before committing to the duration of a lease.

While you'd not be moving into the heart of Manhattan with that scenario, you would be taking a step in the direction to make living in NYC a reality.

[GDK94]

Originally Posted by MAD King

We tried to find this other place. But where and how to start?

first, ask yourself what exactly your looking for in a city. warm weather or cold weather or all four seasons? high density or low density? walkable or car dependant? coastal city or inland city? etc. when you find a city that you like, take a 2 week trip there and see if you like the feel of it. theres a city for everyone. i'll let others help you out with that, because other than the basics, i don't know too much about moving from city to city or state to state. the only other city ive ever lived in, besides nyc, is philadelphia, which isn't much of a move as its only about 2 hours away.

[MAD King]

Thank you all. Your advices help us a lot. I'll let you know in which city we moved when we moved. lol

[GDK94]

Originally Posted by MAD King

Thank you all. Your advices help us a lot. I'll let you know in which city we moved when we moved. lol

hope everything works out for you. good luck.

[SoftwareEngChick]

Originally Posted by squeezeboxgal

For a pretty close estimation of take-home pay, I always recommend Paycheck City (be sure to click where it asks if you're a NYC resident, as you'll have to pay City Tax).

Holy hell. Are the tax brackets on that website accurate? I put in $100,000 a year in NY and it says I'd only take home $2,372.03 per bi-weekly paycheck. I'd end up only taking in 57k at the end of the year. In my field (engineering) we make about $100,000 here in the south and I can't justify moving there unless I was offered at least twice that considering the outrageous rent prices. It's sad that someone with a six figure salary would "squeak" by every month after paying rent on a 600 sq ft apartment. Why do so many people want to live there again?