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Old 05-24-2011, 01:06 PM
 
12 posts, read 22,349 times
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I have also had alot fo people tell me to look into Chicago. Apparently, Chicago is alot like NYC culture and entertainment wise on half the budget, and since I would make the same amount of money either way, I would have alot left over to go out and enjoy things.

Is this the case? Any New Yorkers that are from Chicago, or vise versa? I dunno, Chicago just doesn't have that same epic feel to it as NYC, but then again, I have never actually physically been to either place so...
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Old 05-24-2011, 01:21 PM
 
Location: New York City
4,035 posts, read 10,276,057 times
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Originally Posted by TaylorH View Post
I have also had alot fo people tell me to look into Chicago. Apparently, Chicago is alot like NYC culture and entertainment wise on half the budget, and since I would make the same amount of money either way, I would have alot left over to go out and enjoy things.

Is this the case? Any New Yorkers that are from Chicago, or vise versa? I dunno, Chicago just doesn't have that same epic feel to it as NYC, but then again, I have never actually physically been to either place so...
You’ve never been to New York? It might be worth a visit before you decide to move. Some people love it and some people hate it. It would also be well to spend time in your likely neighborhood. Hanging out in the East Village or Park Slope is very different than hanging out in Woodside or Jersey City.

Also, are you very, very, very good at Web design? The market here is global and highly competitive. Getting freelance design gigs is not easy, especially if you have no contacts. I wouldn’t bank on that as a source of income unless you have existing clients out of town.
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Old 05-24-2011, 02:45 PM
 
Location: UWS
140 posts, read 268,533 times
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Just to add to what others have said, it's not a good idea to make a decision like this based on what you've read or watched on TV. Definitely fly here first and see for yourself what the different neighborhoods are like. Also, make an effort to meet new yorkers via the social networking sites before coming here. That said, thousands of people from all over the world do what you want to do every year and live to tell te tale. They might regret it eventually, but then again, you do have some advantages.

About the outdoors, it's actually fairly easy to go skiing/snowboarding from New York. You just need to take a bus to one of the ski resorts upstate and do the same in the opposite direction at the end of the day. There are some excellent mountains about 2.5 hours from the city itself.
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Old 05-24-2011, 06:43 PM
 
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Portland isn't necessarily the polar opposite of NYC that you might think it is. Most of the popular younger outer borough neighborhoods that are close to Manhattan have a similar vibe to the Pearl and Hawthorne areas. If you're a Beer lover, NYC is no Portland, but it is miles better than what it used to be, with NY and PA producing tons of excellent brews that are often very different than the hop head stuff you get from the West Coast breweries. If you like hiking/snowboarding, the lower Catskills are probably the most convenient to get to for great hiking and so so snowboarding. The East Coast is basically a crap shoot for good snow, since most mountains top out between 3000-6000 ft, you tend to get a lot of heavy wet snow the farther south you go. Hunter and Windham are decent for Catskills, Gore and Whiteface are good, sometimes great Adirondack mountains. I know there are bus rides pretty much every weekend to Windham during the winter, but if you do move here, PM me and i'll get you involved with a snowboarding group and that goes on trips each weekend. There's some good hiking not terribly far in Harriman(hour or so by car, 1.5 hours by train), though it does get crowded on the weekends. Adirondacks are where its at, especially if you like waterfalls, scrambles, and some steep inclines.
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Old 06-11-2011, 11:46 PM
 
1,812 posts, read 3,351,590 times
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Originally Posted by TaylorH View Post
So I am seriously considering moving to NYC. Always been a dream of mine. Want to know if it is financially feasible.

The nice thing is I have a job. I work for a web design company, work from home. Pull in about $40k a year doing so. Also, I am going to start doing freelance web design on the side, hoping to bring in another $5k-$10k a year starting, hopefully more eventually.

Can I make it in New York on that? Now, I am not expecting downtown loft apartment and partying with models every weekend of course. But getting a decent 1 bedroom somewhere in the metro area, not having to worry about a commute, could I live and have enough money to enjoy some of the things that NYC has to offer on a semi-regular basis?

I currently live in Portland and do fine on my salary, with a car payment. If I move to NYC I will probably sell the car, so there's an extra $500/mo with payment and insurance there, hoping that's a big enough buffer to compensate for the higher cost of living there.

Again, I want to live in the metro, but I am not talking downtown living. I would also like to live in a place where I am not mugged every time I leave my apartment obviously, but I don't need anything too ridiculously fancy.
I would check out queens and brooklyn or even long island or westchester then you can keep your car.
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