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My husband was offered a position with his company in NYC and we are trying to decide if it would be a feasible move for our family. We have 7 children, ages 4 months through 13. What area would be best for a family of our size? Pros and cons of raising a family in the city? We're apprehensive, since we currently have a large home (6 bedrooms) on an acre with plenty of space and we know we will lose that, but we are willing to make that sacrifice. Our budget for renting is roughly 4-5K/month.
I hope you're husband is getting big money to move. You'll need to be in the suburbs for that amount of space, and in a good area, it won't be cheap. You'll be getting into the seven figure range, with big property taxes if you want a better school district. I would look in Westchester, depending on your budget.
I think you can still do it, just that you may have to have 4 or the kids share two room, and the infant live in the same bedroom with you. So, you are looking at 3 or 4 bedroom apartment or house. I would say 3 bedroom is doable, but 4 bedroom might be hard to find.
You say that you are willing to sacrifice a large house on an acre of land to pack up and move your large family to NYC. Will the pay be that much more? Has hubby ever commuted to work by public transit? Do your children like where they currently live and attend school? Realistically, you will have to look for housing in New Jersey, Westchester/Putnam, Long Island or Connecticut and endure the jostle and hardship of commuting. You can find decent 4 bedroom rental houses in Queens but 5 and 6 bedrooms are hard to come by and public schools leave a lot to be desired. Manhattan is out of the question unless you buy a big brownstone on the UWS or UES, a very expensive proposition. And then there is the big local and state tax bite that you will have to pay tempered only a little by your child count.
But if you've always wanted to live in NYC (or environs) then go for it. As they say, "experience is the best teacher."
You say that you are willing to sacrifice a large house on an acre of land to pack up and move your large family to NYC. Will the pay be that much more? Has hubby ever commuted to work by public transit? Do your children like where they currently live and attend school? Realistically, you will have to look for housing in New Jersey, Westchester/Putnam, Long Island or Connecticut and endure the jostle and hardship of commuting. You can find decent 4 bedroom rental houses in Queens but 5 and 6 bedrooms are hard to come by and public schools leave a lot to be desired. Manhattan is out of the question unless you buy a big brownstone on the UWS or UES, a very expensive proposition. And then there is the big local and state tax bite that you will have to pay tempered only a little by your child count.
But if you've always wanted to live in NYC (or environs) then go for it. As they say, "experience is the best teacher."
The two questions that I highlighted warrant repeating and a lot of thought. Finding suitable housing is almost certainly going to require a long and expensive commute. Reading other C-D threads, some people seem OK with this - they like the alone time, get work done on the train, etc. But if commuting time goes from, say, 20-30 minutes currently to an hour, well that's a jolt to the system. And that segues into the other question, about the kids, esp'ly the teenagers. Some kids are pliable and are OK with change (have you ever moved when you've had kids?), others ... not so much. Nominally, the move's about husband's job, but if you have to locate in a community that doesn't offer what your kids are used to now - sports, proximity to classmates, etc. - it's going to take a lot of scrambling to reconstruct an environment that they can thrive in. Plus, if commuting time increases significantly, that's a lot less time that both parents will be available (during the week, at least).
I wouldn't say "stay put," but I would say "the first year or so is going to be filled with challenges, and the rewards of the move - $, proximity to NYC - may not be equal to the stress."
Last edited by Kefir King; 01-05-2018 at 08:14 AM..
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