Raising a kid in the city and some more.. (New York: apartments, rental market)

[JavaG29]

After searching this very rich forum for a while I got a lot of answers but still have some concerns I would appreciate your comments.

My family and I (my wife, myself and our two year old child) are considering moving to manhattan. Our household income will be roughly 185k (pre tax). We would very much like to live in manhattan and aiming for a two bedroom appartment. My wife and myself will work from home.

A few questions:

We aren't looking for an appartment in the most expensive area in Manhattan (i.e. west village, soho and such). Midtown east/ west will do just fine; is it reasonable to expect to pay up to 3000$ for a real 2 br apartment in a good condition? (no walk up)

Are there areas better then others for raising a child? How much should we expect to pay for a decent preschool in the midtown area (5 days a week, ~9-10 hours a day)? Will preschools be willing to accept our child in the mddle of the year?

Is it right to assume that during winter months rents can drop? is it significant and worth the wait?

And.. is ~185k a reasonable income to live in the city conveniently? (considering we aren't restaurant adicts).We do very much appreciate museums, theatre, galleries and such.

Appreciate your comments

[newtoli]

Park Slope, Brooklyn is very family oriented. I'd start looking on newyork.craigslist.org to get ideas on rents

[Viralmd]

Rents don't drop in the winter. I've never heard of that. I've lived in NY my entire life.

Private school is expensive: At the YMHA on 92nd street these are the tuitions: Nursery School - 92nd Street Y - New York, NY
At St. Hilda's and St. Hugh's school it's $21,000/year...about the same.

Manhattan is NOT cheap. A two bedroom apartment -with only one bathroom - MIGHT be had for $3000/month, but it's going to be small.

[JavaG29]

Originally Posted by newtoli

Park Slope, Brooklyn is very family oriented. I'd start looking on newyork.craigslist.org to get ideas on rents

Did a thorogh search in craigslist for manhattan and saw a wide variaty of apartments in the city for $3000 or less. Friends of mine living in manhattan continuously tell me that this is not a reasonable price for a 2br in a reasonable condition (and that it's really closer to $4000)

Just trying to figure what to expect when I start seeing apartments next week...

[Elvira Black]

Personally, I wouldn't consult craigslist, but I know a lot of people do. I'd look in the NY Times online for starters, I'd think, and NYC realtor's listings with photos, details about square footage, school districts, etc.

Sometimes ads can be misleading, however...square footage is not an exact science here, and what NY'ers consider spacious someone from the suburbs might consider hopelessly tiny.

With your income, you could probably buy something. Perhaps on the Lower East Side or one of the other boroughs, reasonably close to Manhattan.

In any case, you might want to hook up with a broker who can work with you...though in the rental market, you'll be paying a hefty fee, methinks.

[briarwood]

Originally Posted by Viralmd

Rents don't drop in the winter. I've never heard of that. I've lived in NY my entire life.

Private school is expensive: At the YMHA on 92nd street these are the tuitions: Nursery School - 92nd Street Y - New York, NY
At St. Hilda's and St. Hugh's school it's $21,000/year...about the same.

Manhattan is NOT cheap. A two bedroom apartment -with only one bathroom - MIGHT be had for $3000/month, but it's going to be small.

Bull****. 3 bedrooms can be had in Battery Park City for 2400.

It really depends on the area. UES/UWS are cheaper than downtown, if you can believe it.

[mead]

Also the kid doesn't need to go off to one of these $20k+ preschools. There are a lot of really good Catholic parochial schools out there that still have very reasonable tuition.

[Viralmd]

You know Mead, you seem to love the Catholic schools. And that's fine. But not everyone is Catholic.

And Battery Park City????? for $2400 for a 2 bedroom? I'm not so sure. And who wants to live all the way down there anyway? I'm sure some people love it, but not my cup of tea.

[JavaG29]

Thanks for the inputs; any additional information about places better to raise a kid than others (in manhattan that is)? Will we have a problem joining a preschool in the middle of the year?

Thanx

[newtoli]

Be careful with a LOT of those listings. You'll see apartments that are too good to be true and they ARE. Expect to look at tons of places and pay a broker fee. In Manhattan for a true 2BR, $2400 is not happening. I bet that was a listing where they'd want you to buy a "list" of apartments. I'd say in the nicer areas you'll be looking more towards $4k for a decent 2BR, but you might be able to swing $3k.

new york craigslist > manhattan > all apartments: search

The ones I see on here for $2500 are shares or WAY too far uptown to raise children.