Londoner moving to NY (Pawling, Chatham: apartments, to rent, home)

[Morgan05]

Hello everybody

I have been offered a job in NYC, office close to Grand Central.

I'm in two minds: Either live in the City, in a place that is close to Central Park and enjoy City life or look for something rural, with about 3 acres of land but commutable within, say 30-40 minutes. 2 bedrooms are fine. No kids.

I would be looking to rent first (for at least a year or two).

I don't have a good grip on prices relative to the salary offered (which looks pretty generous by UK standards). Any thoughts from locals would be highly appreciated

[slope95]

Originally Posted by Morgan05

Hello everybody

I have been offered a job in NYC, office close to Grand Central.

I'm in two minds: Either live in the City, in a place that is close to Central Park and enjoy City life or look for something rural, with about 3 acres of land but commutable within, say 30-40 minutes. 2 bedrooms are fine. No kids.

I would be looking to rent first (for at least a year or two).

I don't have a good grip on prices relative to the salary offered (which looks pretty generous by UK standards). Any thoughts from locals would be highly appreciated

Living near Central Park is generally very exprensive, so depending on your salary, you may need to look elsewhere.

Try Park Slope, Brooklyn. It can be very expensive, but is a very walkable area with lots of restaurants and stores. And, there is easy access to Midtown by the F train.

You probably won't find something very rural within 30-40 mins of the city, but a little over an hour commute, there are more rural communities, near the Metro North train lines, which run to Grand Central. Look in Northern Westchester county, Putnam or Dutchess counties and you might find a town you like, such as Pawling or Cold Spring.

Or, look in New Jersey, near Long Hill Township or Chatham Township, and commute to Penn Station by NJ Transit.

[proulxfamily]

Generous by UK standards is probably generous by NY standards too... people would be able to give more advice if they knew the net/take-home range.

[Chava61]

I suggest you also post your question on the NYC forum (rather than the NY state forum only which you have done so far).

[Morgan05]

Thanks guys, this is super helpful. Take home is about 11k. a month, if that helps.

[violetnights]

Welcome (in advance) to NY!

As a single person without children, your salary should allow you to live just fine here. The standard for most landlords in NYC is that your salary must be 40X your monthly rent. My understanding is that your salary is 132k, so you have a monthly rent budget of 3.3k. Some posters may interject and say that this calculation stretches the budget too much, but without children most of us manage just fine.

With your budget, you could rent a 1 BR apartment in most of the desirable neighborhoods in the city, including those in Manhattan. If you really want 2 BR that can be done but it would likely eliminate some areas. Brooklyn and Queens are lovely too but some of the more desirable areas of Brooklyn rival Manhattan's pricing. Queens is more affordable; Astoria in particular is a safe, active, hip area with a quick commute to Manhattan and Grand Central.

Midtown apartments near Grand Central are very expensive. I would recommend considering the Upper East Side. I live there and pay $1,500 for a studio and I love it as the neighborhood is safe, quiet, and close to parks and the East River. The Upper East Side is also a quick commute to Grand Central on the 4/5/6 line with no transfers.

I can't speak to rural areas outside of the city, but hopefully this was somewhat helpful for considerations of living in the city.

Best of luck, and don't hesitate to post additional threads..we are a pretty friendly bunch.

[VA Yankee]

Consider renting for the first year to get the feel of things. Finding acerage within the commute limit would be a major challenge and probally cost prohibitive. Good luck in you search.

[Morgan05]

Thanks everybody, this is just great and exactly the information I needed!