How do you afford to live in NYC??
How do you afford to live in NYC??
kade.ivy
Broadway Star Joined: 7/28/13
#1How do you afford to live in NYC??
Posted: 12/24/13 at 2:25pmI've been looking at NYC real estate, and the rents and home prices seem very pricey. I'm from TN, so I'm used to relatively inexpensive housing, taxes, etc. But is there any place in the city where you can rent a decent-sized apartment for less than $1000 a month? Or are small homes and high rents just a part of city life? Thanks!
#2How do you afford to live in NYC??
Posted: 12/24/13 at 2:32pm
My landlord informed me that he is selling my building. For seven years now, I have been in the 80s on the West side and currently pay $1400 a month for a 285 square foot, 5th floor walkup studio. I have been looking around at apartments for the past month, and it has been a rude awakening. Anything halfway decent (in my area - I want to stay on the Upper West Side) has been $1800 a month or more.
So to answer your question, how can we afford to live in NYC? We never go out to dinner, we spend as little as humanly possible on food, and we spend whatever we have leftover on going to the theater (that's what I do anyway). My co-worker calls it "house-poor." We have to spend so much on where we live, that there is barely anything left to spend on anything else. Even so, I'd rather call NYC home than anyplace else in the world, so I will gladly pay the high prices for rent.
Good luck with your search!
#2How do you afford to live in NYC??
Posted: 12/24/13 at 2:33pm
For under $1000 a month in rent? If you want roommates than it's doable in Manhattan. But you'll probably need to find a 5 bedroom apartment with 4 other people already living there. (The more roommates, the cheaper it is normally) But if you want your own place for that price, you'll need to look far into the Bronx, Brooklyn, Queens or Staten Island. I mean FAR.
But if you want to share with just 1 or 2 other people, you realisticaly should plan on around $1500 if you want to live in Manhattan. Of course there's cheaper (not much) and much more expensive but if you use $1500 as a guide, you should be able to find something nice.
kade.ivy
Broadway Star Joined: 7/28/13
#4How do you afford to live in NYC??
Posted: 12/24/13 at 2:40pm
But like Trace said, you live here and you learn how to make do without a lot of money. I live in midtown Manhattan and I do my grocery shopping at the Pathmark grocery store in Brooklyn (our biggest grocery store chain in the city) once a week and get my fruits/vegetables from the farmers market down the street. I have MoviePass so I only have to spend $30 a month on going to the movies and can see one a day. I have friends who give me comps to shows plus I'm a member of papering services to get free tickets. I hardly ever go out to eat and when I do, I make sure I use Seamless coupons or go to the $1 pizza places.
If you're not well off, living in this city is a trade off in a lot of ways. Just make sure you're ok with trading in those things before you move here.
kade.ivy
Broadway Star Joined: 7/28/13
#5How do you afford to live in NYC??
Posted: 12/24/13 at 2:48pm
^^^ That's the thing: living in NYC and being so close to the theater and other things would be a dream, but it sounds like it would be a trade-off. Seems like if I moved there it would definitely be better to find a place to rent in the City or surrounding area as opposed to owning for the sake of property taxes if nothing else.
It seems like I could do more with my money if I lived somewhere else and planned 2-3 trips to NYC each year. But living in the city is so tempting! Thanks again for your advice!
#6How do you afford to live in NYC??
Posted: 12/24/13 at 2:57pmNYC is also very commutable from New Jersey, unless you are in the area closer to Philadelphia. That tends to be cheaper than Manhattan. You can get a bus or train from a lot of places. Like I live an hour and a half away, but I am able to visit a lot because I just catch a bus from my area.
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#7How do you afford to live in NYC??
Posted: 12/24/13 at 3:16pm
I live in North Bergen, New Jersey in a huge house shared by myself and four other roommates, who are also friends. My accommodations include a private bathroom & entrance. I am only 40-45 minutes away from midtown Manhattan. I work in the financial district and my monthly rent is dirt cheap because it's divided among 5.
I sleep in Jersey....but I LIVE in New York City!
Except when I am staying over my boyfriend's condo, then I live and sleep in NYC. I may be moving permanently with him by February/March. We are working out the logistics.
But if you have the WILL there is always A WAY!
Much luck to you!!!
Updated On: 12/24/13 at 03:16 PM
bobs3
Broadway Legend Joined: 4/8/12
#8How do you afford to live in NYC??
Posted: 12/24/13 at 3:36pmF. Murray Abraham was on MORNING JOE the other day promoting INSIDE LLEWYN DAVIS and he talked about how when he moved to Manhattan in the late 1950s-early 1960s he had an apartment in the West Village for $80 per month, made a living working part-time as a waiter, and had money leftover for acting classes and tickets to the theater. Oh, how times have changed.
#9How do you afford to live in NYC??
Posted: 12/24/13 at 4:02pmWe are living Rockfeller's Dream as what New York City should be. Manhattan was to be the Isle of the Rich and the surrounding bouroughs were to where the support staff lived.
Those Blocked: SueStorm. N2N Nate. Good riddence to stupid! Rad-Z, shill begone!
#10How do you afford to live in NYC??
Posted: 12/24/13 at 4:10pm
" Seems like if I moved there it would definitely be better to find a place to rent in the City or surrounding area as opposed to owning for the sake of property taxes if nothing else. "
But keep in mind that to buy a condo or coop here ranges from several hundred thou to millions plus. Never mind the taxes, lol! Anyhow, where there's a will there's a way. Good luck!
<-----I'M TOTES ROLLING MY EYES
kade.ivy
Broadway Star Joined: 7/28/13
#11How do you afford to live in NYC??
Posted: 12/24/13 at 4:30pm^^^ Absolutely! There's no way I could own in the city: it'd have to be in a suburb!
Sutton Ross
Broadway Legend Joined: 7/20/13
#12How do you afford to live in NYC??
Posted: 12/24/13 at 4:49pm
"It seems like I could do more with my money if I lived somewhere else and planned 2-3 trips to NYC each year."
You could do a LOT more with your money, it definitely would be so much cheaper than living here. The cost of living (everything from food to NYC taxes) is more expensive than anywhere else in America. Brooklyn is a close second. But, I don't know what you do, perhaps you're rich. A lot of people say Manhattan is truly for the rich, and it's becoming more and more true as time goes on. I live on the UWS in a two bedroom apartment, it's expensive but since you get paid more here due to cost of living, it works out just fine. Good luck, and happy holidays!
Updated On: 12/24/13 at 04:49 PM
#13How do you afford to live in NYC??
Posted: 12/24/13 at 5:44pm
it's expensive but since you get paid more here due to cost of living.
Bwahahahahahahaha!!! Are you for real?!!! Have you read any of the previous posts from other board members that basically render this statement untrue.
But, I don't know what you do, perhaps you're rich.
If the original poster were rich do you honestly think they would start a thread expressing concern over the high cost of living here?
Phyllis Rogers Stone
Broadway Legend Joined: 9/16/07
#14How do you afford to live in NYC??
Posted: 12/24/13 at 5:52pmIf higher paychecks balanced out a higher cost of living, then the cost of living wouldn't be higher.
#15How do you afford to live in NYC??
Posted: 12/24/13 at 5:52pmCarlos, you didn't know about New York City's "Cost of Living" program where people get paid more? I'm shocked!
#16how do i afford to live in nyc??
Posted: 12/24/13 at 5:59pmi sell sperm. and plasma. and am a "guide".
r.i.p. marco, my guardian angel.
...global warming can manifest itself as heat, cool, precipitation, storms, drought, wind, or any other phenomenon, much like a shapeshifter. -- jim geraghty
pray to st. jude
i'm a sonic reducer
he was the gimmicky sort
fenchurch=mejusthavingfun=magwildwood=mmousefan=bkcollector=bradmajors=somethingtotalkabout: the fenchurch mpd collective
...global warming can manifest itself as heat, cool, precipitation, storms, drought, wind, or any other phenomenon, much like a shapeshifter. -- jim geraghty
pray to st. jude
i'm a sonic reducer
he was the gimmicky sort
fenchurch=mejusthavingfun=magwildwood=mmousefan=bkcollector=bradmajors=somethingtotalkabout: the fenchurch mpd collective
#17how do i afford to live in nyc??
Posted: 12/24/13 at 6:38pm
Carlos, you didn't know about New York City's "Cost of Living" program where people get paid more? I'm shocked!
No I didn't! It's majorly fvcked up that I am always the last to know! Where do I sign up for this program?
#18how do i afford to live in nyc??
Posted: 12/24/13 at 6:39pm
@ papa: You are all kinds of durty! And on Christmas Eve no less!
...a man after my own heart!
Sutton Ross
Broadway Legend Joined: 7/20/13
#19how do i afford to live in nyc??
Posted: 12/24/13 at 7:06pm
"Are you for real?!!! Have you read any of the previous posts from other board members that basically render this statement untrue."
Um, are you for real? What a ridiculous statement. I've have a different experience as a resident of NYC. I moved here because I was paid a lot more money for the exact same job I was doing elsewhere. So, yes, that's true for me. Different people tend to have different experiences in life. There are many jobs that pay more if you live in New York County. Look it up. They know the cost of living is higher, therefore they pay you more. If you honestly think someone gets paid the same amount for the same job here and in Arkansas you are.....mistaken and kinda dumb. It's cute you don't know basic economics, though 
Updated On: 12/24/13 at 07:06 PM
#20how do i afford to live in nyc??
Posted: 12/24/13 at 7:12pmI live in Astoria (love it) and am paying 800 a month all utilities except for electric. I also have a washer/dryer in my apartment. I know I really really really lucked out. If you are okay with not living in Manhattan come to the other boroughs. I have one other roommate so its is a two bedroom unit. Yes it is a basement but I love it and I have lots of space with a big kitchen. It is doable, I am not strapped for cash at all (as of right now, that could change).
"I think lying to children is really important, it sets them off on the right track" -Sherie Rene Scott-
Liza's Headband
Broadway Legend Joined: 5/28/13
#21how do i afford to live in nyc??
Posted: 12/24/13 at 7:15pm
"Different people tend to have different experiences in life. There are many jobs that pay more if you live in New York County. Look it up"
That is patently false.
ModernMillie3
Broadway Star Joined: 9/23/13
#22how do i afford to live in nyc??
Posted: 12/24/13 at 7:18pmSutton, you're correct. I moved here from Florida when they offered me 22k more to live here for an engineering position. It's cool when they pay staffers extra when they live in a part of the country that requires more money for housing and food. I'm thinking Carlos thinks that everyone in the city has the same kind of life. How bizarre. It has worked out for me but damn, do I hate paying so much for a goddamn meal.
#23how do i afford to live in nyc??
Posted: 12/24/13 at 8:18pmWhile there's no auto cost of living adjustment, it's certainly possible if you're coming in to the right place and in a field where you're already somewhat established. I saw a 40% increase in my base salary coming to the city. Now, did I go from a 3 bedroom/2 bath house with 2K square feet to a 700 sq foot apartment? Yes. It's all about tradeoffs. For every square foot or dollar of disposable income you give up you gain an opportunity to see and do things you won't anywhere else.
#24how do i afford to live in nyc??
Posted: 12/24/13 at 8:37pm
I live in a house in Astoria with three roommates and a gigantic room with actual windows. I'm paying $400 less per month than when I was living in a matchbox in Hell's Kitchen with one roommate and a window that faced an air shaft.
I'm not making a ton of money, either. But I'm not particularly spendy. It's not as daunting as one might think.
"This thread reads like a series of White House memos." — Mister Matt
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