2

4/17/2009 12:49:53 PM

reposting:

if anyone is looking for a cheap one month sublet, my place is available for may. $725. my roommate's friend who was supposed to move in in may isn't coming up till june - http://newyork.craigslist.org/que/sub/1125123440.html

4/17/2009 1:08:58 PM

^(to whoever was talking about roof access on the last page)

The first thing I learned when I moved to NY about doing stuff in your building is you're allowed to do whatever you want until someone stops you from doing it.

Going on rooftops is one of my favorite things to do in the city, and an awesome way to maximize your space and try and escape from the feeling of living in small places with no sunlight. I try and visit the rooftop of almost every building I go in and have almost never had an alarm go off or people tell me to get down.

4/17/2009 4:08:57 PM

That would be me.

Nice tip... I have a feeling that we'll all end up on the roof sooner or later, but I'm going to let my upstairs neighbors venture up there first

4/19/2009 12:35:50 AM

bttt

4/23/2009 8:34:47 PM

just as an update, I decided to opt out from further consideration from New School. Their hiring process was an absolute mess, and I'm not sure that I wanna work at a school where they're protesting on a weekly basis. Oh yeah, and their pay is way less than I'm already making.

4/26/2009 10:32:58 PM

4^ question - the building i moved into recently is the first one that really has a roof available (the rest were house-style buildings). but the door to the roof says no use of the roof except for emergencies, and it looks like it's supposed to be one of those alarmed doors. is that what all roof entrances look like or are they all "Serious Bizness" here?

I figure I'm not gonna mess with it unless I have a better idea, but being on the 3rd floor, it would be nice to have some outdoor space to enjoy.

4/26/2009 10:59:35 PM

i live in prospect heights by the Atlantic center. i share a 2bed plus den with my gf and a one other person and it costs 2100. id guess its 1000 square feet.

4/27/2009 10:05:44 AM

^(Roof question)

Almost all doors to roofs I've seen have signs and/or alarms on them, they just aren't actually working for the most part. I would tend to think the alarm on your roof isn't set up if they have a note on it...if it was working, they wouldn't really need the note (that's my thinking anyways). Technically most roofs aren't really "supposed" to be used for hanging out, so the owner needs to have a note or something to cover themselves. Basically, you have 2 things to deal with:

1) Fear of the alarm. I just test my luck for the most part and open it up and see what happens. The worst that can happen is it goes off, you run down to your apartment and act like you don't know what happened, end of story. If you are really afraid of doing this, you can call your landlord and/or super and tell them you've got a cable/satellite installation dude at your apartment and he needs to use the roof, "Can I just get up there or is the alarm connected? He needs to be out of here fairly quickly so I can't really wait for someone to come down here to let me up"

2) Fear of using the roof if there is no alarm. There's not a lot I can say here other than what I said before about the "rules" of NYC living. It's cool until someone tells you it's not. Bottom line here is what is really going to happen if you get caught? Your landlord can't fine you and can't kick you out, and as long as you are paying your rent he probably is just happy to have a paying tenant at the time.

4/27/2009 11:04:08 AM

^^aha, i'm just about a mile away from you, near fulton and franklin. i freakin love being 2-3 subway stops from target and about 5 stops from trader joe's.

^thanks. the main concern was possible fines and/or pissing off the super. it would definitely be nice to have a spot outside to chill without having to find a park. depending on how the weather is next weekend, i may have to give the roof a shot.

4/27/2009 12:39:45 PM

^^ easier to get forgiveness than permission in this case

My buddy's building in Charlotte has a roof that's supposed to be off limits

but it turns out its one of the coolest places to smoke in the city

4/27/2009 12:44:30 PM

The renting laws in NY are so tremendously in the favor of the tenant that this kind of thing is just not even close to being a big deal. Sure the owner might not want you up there, but there really isn't a whole lot he can do about it if there's no alarm on the door. ESPECIALLY not the first time.

In my last building there was an apartment in the building next to us with a window leading to our roof, so those guys had a BBQ, table, and chairs set up. At some point the building owner put a note on the roof door saying something like, "It has come to our attention (bbq, table, etc)...the roof is not for entertainment purposes...etc...please stay off...etc...". But since the people whose stuff it was never entered that way they never saw it, and the stuff stayed for 2 years and no one ever cared.

4/27/2009 1:05:48 PM

i live in a 5-story walk-up in hell's kitchen. my roof has no alarm, but a note was put up recently saying not to go up there. i still do, just not with a lot of people making a lot of noise. usually go up there on weekends to drink a beer or three. just be respectful of your neighbors by not talking loudly and stomping around. people often have their windows open during the summer and you don't want to piss off the people on the top floors.

4/27/2009 1:32:24 PM

my building has a yard so i dont bother with my roof.

4/27/2009 1:53:22 PM

look like you made a good choice

http://gothamist.com/2009/05/07/kerrey_to_leave_new_school_in_two_y.php

5/7/2009 1:25:04 PM

bump

3/9/2011 10:33:35 PM

I think I'm gonna do the New York thing backwards.

Spend my younger years in quiet Raleigh making myself bored, and then just as everybody is really settling in with families and kids and establishing themselves and crap, I'll move to NYC and live like a bum for a couple years. Maybe even go back to school for something fun.

This will help ensure that I'm always at least two decades behind my peers when it comes to having a family, progressing in a career, or saving for retirement.

3/9/2011 11:04:40 PM

^^thanks

For the people that live in NYC - what are some trendy, modern, young professional, somewhat spacious places to live in the 1BR/1BA $2.5k - $3k range? I'm looking at apartments, and it's obviously overwhelming seeing 8000 listings in my criteria. I don't have a specific district in mind, but probably South half. More importantly want to be in a happening young professional area with at least 700sqft, and the most bang for your buck up till $3k/mo.

[Edited on March 9, 2011 at 11:10 PM. Reason : .]

3/9/2011 11:09:19 PM

Are you not familiar with Manhattan at all? Just asking based on the way you posed the question.

I haven't lived in the city for almost 3 years (wow) so I may not be up to date on prices but in the Southern part of Manhattan you have plenty of choices if you budget is $3k/month. Tribeca, SoHo, Greenwich Village and Battery Park are all nice areas to look around that fit your demographic.

3/10/2011 9:43:27 AM

Spending 2500-3000 a month on a 700 sq ft 1 bedroom in Manhattan should get you an apartment in just about ANY neighborhood.

Hard to say what's really the "coolest" area that would have what you're looking for, but I can give you the following tip:

You're using a lot of buzzwords that will pull up a bunch of luxury building hits on Craigslist and from brokers. A ton of these places are located way down in the financial district and all the way out on the water away from the middle of the island. Based on your desire to live in a cooler area, do NOT consider these places. They will all tell you how chic and nice and how they have great views and all that shit...but there is nothing, and I mean nothing around the buildings to do.

3/10/2011 10:08:23 AM

The financial district is dead at night, though I thought there was a fair amount of development going on around Battery Park, no?

3/10/2011 11:38:12 AM

Battery Park City does have its own sort of "community" set up over there...nice movie theater, restaurants, Whole Foods, etc...but I wouldn't at all consider that a "cool" part of town

Is there stuff to do? Yes

Is it fairly separated and in its own little world away from the rest of what's great about NYC? Pretty much

Not saying it's not a nice place to live, just don't think it's what this guy is looking for. I've lived here since 2004 and have never once heard, "Hey, why don't we go party in Battery Park tonight?"

[Edited on March 10, 2011 at 12:52 PM. Reason : more]

3/10/2011 12:48:20 PM

Quote :

"I live in downtown Jersey City myself. "

I'm in JC also- though we're more on the river than downtown. (Newport neighborhood, to be exact.)

As others said, apt spaces here are much smaller than down south, but in jersey you'll get more space for your money than in the city. If you can find a roommate, or go for a lesser quality complex, you can live very close to path stations or ferries. Paulus Hook is one of my favorite areas around here, just because it is much more quiet than anything else (very residential). You can get 2br near the water for a bit over 2000/mo, and if split with a roommate it's not so bad.


PARKING is hell here. It costs an arm, a leg, and a firstborn- and that isn't even for a guaranteed/reserved spot. (Throw in a kidney for that.) Insurance also is much higher, so be prepared for both of those to be more of a drain on your budget. The best thing is to live close to public transit, or close to work. (Who wants to drive in all this traffic anyway?)


Battery Park- that's the only movie theatre in the area we will go to now (thanks to having bums (yes, multiple) approach us in others.) It's nice having a whole foods and DSW there too, plus a handful of alright restaurants. But I find we never want to go there for anything other than a movie (similar to how ^ put it).

[Edited on March 10, 2011 at 5:23 PM. Reason : bp]

3/10/2011 5:18:47 PM

So would you think the South West part of the island? SoHo/Tribeca? The apt units seem kind of older inside.

Gimp, you're right about the luxury buildings in the financial district, but it seems you get a lot more for your money. Don't you live off Wall St?

3/10/2011 7:37:39 PM

Why has no one suggested living in CT or other points east of the city? WHen I lived in New Haven, I split my work time between the CT office and the NYC office (151 Madison). If I had stayed up there I would probably have moved some place a bit closer to the city than New Haven, such as Stamford or Westport.

I thought living to the east was great--close enough to hop the metro north into the city at any time but far enough away to avoid the insane cost of living. It was a bit quieter and you could get a heck of a lot more for your money with respect to rent. Admittedly though, living in CT meant that I did need a car.

3/11/2011 6:33:22 AM

living in NYC/NJ?

3/11/2011 7:33:23 AM

Homeslice:

I lived on Wall St for 2 years but just moved back up to Canal Street in November (lived there for a couple years before I went down to Wall). I'm right on Canal and Broadway now, so if you know the area you know its pretty crazy (I love it). Once you get past the annoying bag and watch pushers I'm right at the corner of SoHo, Tribeca, Chinatown, and Little Italy...short walk to NoHo, NoLita...plus it's possibly the most convenient location in the city for having short walks to almost all trains.

Anyways, I loved the space I got in the financial district (I've posted in this thread the crazy apartment I had), but I just couldn't put up with the lack of stuff any more. Doesn't make sense to me to pay so much to live in NYC but not be able to truly enjoy a lot of the stuff that makes the city great.

As for areas, I really love Tribeca and Soho...when I look for an apartment these are the first places I look. However, they are two of the most expensive areas in the city. There are basically two types of apartments: Giant lofts and tiny ones. With the lofts and converted lofts you get much more for your money. For instance, I'm in a 1500 sq ft 3 bedroom apartment, total rent $4,000. BUT, like you said, most places like this are older buildings (which I personally like, guess its a character thing).

There are newer buildings in the area though, though I'm not familiar with them exactly. Doing an EXTREMELY quick and crude search I came up with this apt

http://newyork.craigslist.org/mnh/fee/2237680349.html

The one thing that's great about looking for a place in the new luxury style buildings in NYC is you can just walk around finding them and going inside, as opposed to searching for months on Craigs List.

3/11/2011 9:46:31 AM

To hell with living in NJ or CT and commuting. You're only young once, so if you can afford to live in NYC do it. Experience of a lifetime.

3/11/2011 2:12:57 PM

nyc = ratrace

if you decide to take a job in NYC expect to be expendable. I would recommend watching HGTV "Selling New York" to get an idea of what real estate looks like in the city (at least from a gimmicky perspective).

Two of my cousins are investment bankers with offices there UBS, Ropeson-Gray respectively, and I know people who work at Barclays, so I always hear about how much I am missing, much to my jealousy and frustration with life.

But at this critical juncture, I find other places to be more enticing like Miami, so I would advise you to check out a hotter market for any reason like the DC area or even Miami because NY is still in decline. The taxes are enough to stifle any aspirations you could possibly conjecture, and you have to check your standard issue North Carolina gun and bible at the door or they'll put you in jail for three years.

3/13/2011 12:09:18 PM

^ u mad?

3/13/2011 5:02:39 PM

^lol, yeah no kidding. Also, depending on what industry you are in NYC is mostly isolated from most types of economic decline.

[Edited on March 14, 2011 at 8:34 AM. Reason : f]

3/14/2011 8:33:22 AM

Ropeson-Gray?!?!? AHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHA

Seriously, I normally wouldn't laugh at that but there's the whole know-it-all thing at play here. I'm a total rube and had never even heard of Ropes & Gray, but even I knew that something didn't sound quite right about Ropeson-Gray.

Also, you never differentiated between your cousins so there's no need to identify their places of employment "respectively." I know several douchebags. They're on TWW respectively.

Wait. Is this a troll?

3/14/2011 11:09:22 AM

I've lived Upper East, Wall St and Upper West the past 3 years and prefer Upper West. Lots of places to eat/go out, close to the parks, and easy transport to most places via the 2/3 (except Upper East Side). Not for you if you're into the clubbing/fist pumping crowd though, mostly bars.

3/14/2011 7:03:44 PM

Thank you for googling my screw up to remind me that I've been saying Ropes and Gray as RopesonGray. SORRY - I know what I meant and it was a typo

Secondly you're fat and nobody would hire you anyway

Thirdly, yes, I am frustrated and want to work in the city but it's not the coolest thing in the world, I still go a couple of times a year.

Fourthly, if you can live in NYC then you should do it.

Fifthly, I've made more money not living in New York.

Sixthly, you're a troll for googling my posts anyway to verify company names. Get a life.

[Edited on March 14, 2011 at 8:44 PM. Reason : ]

3/14/2011 8:27:29 PM

Actually, your post makes sense, and I apologize for laughing.

[Edited on March 15, 2011 at 2:47 AM. Reason : The fat part was mean though.]

3/15/2011 2:18:09 AM

Do most nice apartments you've come across require a yearly lease? I noticed most of them want a two month deposit, some offer a month free (13th month). You kind of got me thinking above about the expendability of workers, as well as whether I'd hate it after a few months - with no real out or back up job - you're still responsible for the remaining $25k+ in rent payments for the contract. Judging by the 4000 properties that came up in my search it would probably be difficult to sublease or fill it, if it were even an option...hmmm

[Edited on March 15, 2011 at 11:13 PM. Reason : .]

3/15/2011 11:12:26 PM

Most apartments will require a year lease period, whether its nice or not. If you're interested in something shorter term check out the sublet section on Craigs List or rooms shared (if you're open to roommates).

A 2 month deposit is fairly standard as well. That month free thing can usually be broken up over the year so that you just pay a lower average rent. In fact, that's essentially what those buildings are doing, it's their way around lowering the rent and having to deal with the NYC housing laws about raising rent. They most likely have rules about how much they can raise their rent from year to year, so to get around that they give the free month, that way that can still claim your rent is $2,000 a month, instead of the $1800 you're actually paying. Then when the market gets better they can jack it up to $2500 without as much of a hassle from the city.

I wouldn't pay too much attention to this dude's post. If you're making enough to support a $2500 a month rent I would imagine your job is somewhat secure (obviously I'm guessing here). But if you really are worried about that then there are plenty of places you could get for cheaper, smaller 1 bedrooms around $2,000 or less aren't incredibly difficult to find.

3/16/2011 1:07:40 PM

This is kind of a neat tool I found online

http://nymag.com/realestate/neighborhoods/2010/65355/

My top 5
1. East Village
2. West Village/Meatpacking
3. Tribeca
4. Lower East Side
5. Soho

3/21/2011 10:37:35 PM

Damn man that's a great tool...good find

Those neighborhoods seem about right based on what you've said, will throw out one cautions for you on the East Village and Lower East Side:

They are large neighborhoods that stretch all the way to the water, VERY far away from trains, and when you're looking for places in those areas price will usually correlate with location. In simpler terms, if you see a huge, awesome apartment in the East Village that's way cheaper than a lot of the other ones...then it's probably on like, Avenue C, which can be a good 20 minute walk from the train.

3/22/2011 9:01:11 AM

You surprised me a bit with your #1 pick being East Village. Granted I haven't lived in the city for 3 years but it never really struck me as a great place to live compared to it's surroundings. And there is the transportation issue as mentioned by El Gimpy.

3/22/2011 10:33:58 AM

TKE-Teg - doesn't look like NYC is

Quote :

" mostly insulated from "

anything....but don't worry, I am sure the Wall Street bonuses will come back so everyone can pay off their mortgages really soon....wait, unless you work for BofA or anyone else.... http://www.nypost.com/p/news/business/making_career_tiYKkpa7VCsOMjrWLQryZL

[Edited on March 27, 2011 at 9:48 AM. Reason : I think my favorite is Alex Rein, 31, who went from corporate attorney to dude selling slushies ]

3/27/2011 9:43:33 AM

Scratch that previous post.

I just realized who stategrad100 is.

[Edited on April 18, 2011 at 12:14 AM. Reason : ]

4/17/2011 11:59:10 PM

^^go troll someone else.

4/18/2011 8:28:10 AM

that tool is pretty neat. this is what my top 5 looks like according to its algorithm:

#1 Brooklyn Heights
#2 Murray Hill
#3 Midtown East
#4 Tribeca
#5 Park Slope

couldn't afford Tribeca. Murray Hill aka Curry Hill would be ideal. if i had a kid or more i'd go for Brooklyn Heights or Park slope. not interested in the MidEast - would rather live on the other side even if it is a bit grimier as its not far from restaurant row & my cousin's a cop in the Hells Kitchen precinct - come to think of it, i'd rather live in Hoboken/Weehawken/JC if i could get a view of the city.

4/18/2011 3:32:13 PM

Quote :

"West Village/Meatpacking Tribeca East Village Park Slope Brooklyn Heights "

I know nothing about any of these places. I need to go visit NY sometime just to see it.

4/18/2011 3:34:38 PM

^^Out of curiousity why would you rather live on the west side of midtown instead of the east side? Seeing your cousin really isn't an issue as the 7 runs all the time and is pretty quick. Being on the east side puts you close to Brooklyn, Queens and Long Island. The west side has you close to NJ. And Brooklyn/Queens/LI >>> NJ.

4/18/2011 4:13:28 PM

yeah, i probably wouldn't. i was initially thinking of family i have in NJ, but i have almost as much on LI.

i am also spoiled by short commutes. i would love to walk to work. if not, i would want my door to door commute to be no longer than 20 min.



[Edited on April 18, 2011 at 4:39 PM. Reason : too many edits]

4/18/2011 4:22:56 PM

I actually like the west side a lot more than the east side...east side is cool enough, but I think the food is much better in Hell's Kitchen and I prefer those bars slightly compared to Turtle Bay, Sutton Place, etc.

4/18/2011 4:26:33 PM

Im currenty working as a real estate agent in brooklyn and alittle in manhattan. I however currently live in Sunset Park where no one wants to move.

4/19/2011 10:29:51 PM

i've been living in same apt in hell's kitchen for nearly 7 years now. love it here. great restaurants/bars, walk to work, community garden, not far from the park, close to most trains, and got a good deal on my apt with a backyard.

4/22/2011 11:52:30 PM