NWR: Qs for people who live/work in NYC

DH and I are thinking about moving back to NY --- I have a job offer at a law firm in midtown. I grew up on LI and never lived in the city, and DH has never lived in NY period.

Please tell me what it's like to live in the city (what areas would you recommend? what would an apt there cost? where do you go grocery shopping? do you have a car?)

also, if you work in NYC and live outside of the city where do you live? how long is your commute? How long would the commute be from Queens? Are there nice areas in Queens? how does the rent compare to NYC? how long would our commute be? are the apts bigger?

we're used to living in a pretty spacious 2br and own 2 cars. we also have 2 cats and a lot of crap.

any info you can give me here or via FM would be very useful

Midtown is a great place because you can have access from everywhere. Where in midtown is the job (streets)?

I grew up in Queens and yes there are really nice places in Queens where you can have a car and not have to worry about alternate side of the street parking.

There are parts of Brooklyn that are really changing around (Brooklyn Heights) but you have to deal with the parking issue.

If you want to live in Queens or Brooklyn, there are plenty of places to shop - big grocery stores, Target, etc.

Depending where in midtown the job is, you can live in LI and take the LIRR into the city. It's better if you live in Nassau so it's not that far. FH and I bought a house in Valley Stream and it's only a half hour ride on the express train to Penn Station.

If you want to live in Manhattan I don't recommend having a car. There aren't big grocery stores either and there is NO Target or Walmart.

Well, I probably don't need to tell you its expensive to live in NYC. Even the areas that used to be 'dangerous' are expensive.

My favorite neighborhoods are Astoria (Queens), Bay Ridge(Brooklyn), Park Slope(Brooklyn), and I'm warming up to Sheapshead Bay(Brooklyn).
I also like Rego Park(Queens), but it feels very suburban and odd to me.

Long Island City (Queens) and surroundings is the new up and coming area... before that it was and probably still is Williamsburg(Brooklyn).

One big difference about city living is noise and population. You will see every walk of life in your face on a daily basis. And if you need complete silence to sleep, forget it.

For me its invigortaing, for others its too much.

FM me if you have more questions. I love NYC :D

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Posted by bluegreen08

DH and I are thinking about moving back to NY --- I have a job offer at a law firm in midtown. I grew up on LI and never lived in the city, and DH has never lived in NY period.

Please tell me what it's like to live in the city (what areas would you recommend? what would an apt there cost? where do you go grocery shopping? do you have a car?)

also, if you work in NYC and live outside of the city where do you live? how long is your commute? How long would the commute be from Queens? Are there nice areas in Queens? how does the rent compare to NYC? how long would our commute be? are the apts bigger?

we're used to living in a pretty spacious 2br and own 2 cars. we also have 2 cats and a lot of crap.

any info you can give me here or via FM would be very useful

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the city is pretty pricey, are you looking to buy or rent. Downtown is REALLY pricey now, midtown is also pretty pricey and now you can get SOME ok places on the upper west side but still pricey i think. Ive been covering for my friend helen at work, and they do real estate for the city. I have been looking at all these listings and many of them are in midtown. I see listings for 7k a month and higher and some not that big. I know a lady who lives midtown and she pays $4k a month. SOmetimes you can get a deal but with the city you pay alot for small spaces.

I grew up in queens. I LOVE LIC, but it also is pretty pricey now. THeres new high rise buildings everywhere and these are about $600k for 1 br so its bad. ALthough there are 2 family houses where you can find an apartment for a better price. The best part is that the 23rd street ely ave station in LIC is 1 stop away from lexington ave, so youre actually closer to midtown than if you lived in another part of the city.

Astoria is also VERY close to the city. If you were to live by the last stop in astoria which is ditmars area, that is exactly 13 minutes on the dot from lexington. ANd of course if you live by other stops its even less time. I grew up in astoria and love it, many girls on here also live in astoria. You can find a bit better deals here, although its gotten pricey too. ANother good part of queens is forest hills. If you take the LIRR its 15 mins to penn station, if you take the NYC trains it can take about 30 mins or more.

Let me know if theres any specific information you want to know. I grew up in queens so can help out and even give you general prices and what to expect.

lol I just realized I never even mentioned Manhattan.

I would love to live on the west side anything from Chelsea to the 80's. If you go high enough you can actually keep a car and just deal with parking a little (its not worse than parking in some places in Queens/Brooklyn).

Hey, we lived in the city from 2006-2008 and now bought a house in LI. I can't help you with the cost of the apt to rent b/c we owned it.

We lived on the Upper West Side, on 70th and Columbus. It was an awesome location...the problem is that it was difficult to get to work. I used to work on 40th and park, and it would take 1/2 hour by subway, 45 minutes by bus, or 45 minutes to walk (I chose to walk every day). The subways are smelly and the buses are slow b/c of the traffic! The area is otherwise okay. There are a lot of stay at home moms in that area that you see in the morning pushing their Bugaboos....It is an extremely safe area. The restaurants.....can't say anything bad! We had so many different options walking distance and we had a coffee shop around the corner with the best scones and iced coffee!!!! We used to have our 'cheapy italian' when we didn't feel like cooking, pizza, burgers, dallas bbq, then we had our restaurants for nice occasions right at our doorstep.

Another downside is that it is far from 'the action.' All our friends used to hang out in the meatpacking district and it would cost us a $20 cab ride to get back home at night (we were definitely not taking a subway back).

We did not have a car in the city but my father works in Manhattan so whenever we needed it he would bring it to us. It is difficult to have a car there b/c of alternate side parking, unless you are willing to fork over ~$400 per month for a parking garage.

We used to go grocery shopping at Fairway on 74th and Broadway. I'm now truly a Fairway w h o r e......that supermarket is extremely reasonably priced and it has everything from all over the world. I now go to the Fairway in Plainview. lol.

If you are in a big firm I would not recommend living outside the city. Getting home at 1:00 a.m. in Brooklyn or Queens is not that much fun, although you would get a car service home....

The reason we moved out is b/c we do not want to raise kids in the city. The fact that I didn't have a car when I needed it last minute drove me up the walls!!!! It was always hard to plan things b/c it was always around my father's schedule! The fact that I requested a transfer to the LI office and got it also helped us make our decision to move to LI

GL with everything!!!!

I live in Manhattan. I love it here. I work in the city and my closest friends are in the city too, so its a good place for us to be. Fh and I live together and we live in a small 1 bedroom and we pay over $2,000/month! Its very expensive here. I don't think you could get a 1br for less than $2,000/month anymore. We used to live in a 1br for $1700 and it was tiny and had mice, so we left! I live in the east side, Gramercy. I used to live in Murray Hill. I prefer the east side more downtown, but that's because I work/live there and all my friends are on the east. Upper East may be cheaper, not sure though. Bottom line is though, you pay a lot of $$ and get very little for your money in Manhattan.

We don't have a car and def. don't recommend having one in Manhattan. If you move to Queens/Brooklyn you could have car. But parking in Manhattan can run you like $300 and more a month to park your car!!!!

FM if you have questions! Good luck with your search.

Give me a holler if you want a lot of info -- have lived in the village and in hell's kitchen, have always worked in midtown, and now currently live in Forest Hills Queens. Have lived in non-doorman, part-time doorman, and full service/doorman/gym/pool buildings.

If you want a 2-bedroom in a decent location, be prepared to pay for it. Friends with a 2B on the UES pay over 3K/month easily. Studios in decent buildings are now approaching 2K month. A friend in a walkup on the LES pays about 1500/month and the place doesn't even have a real closet.

Heading out to Queens, the dollar goes much further. I have a 3 bedroom near an express subway stop and I pay 2600 (about the increase by a few percent next month).

thanks everyone! this decision is so stressful and i have so many Qs but i dont know where to start

as a start... i'm interested in hearing more about Queens. we'd be renting at least for now. how far from manhattan is it? is the commute bad? are the areas safe? is a 2br apt unreasonable? i picture queens as being scary (sorry, i'm a sheltered LI girl and accidentally got off the LIRR at the wrong stop in queens once ) but i know there are supposed to be some beautiful areas in queens. we'd probably be making somewhere bw $225-250k combined so I'm not sure how far that goes in NYC/Queens

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Posted by bluegreen08

thanks everyone! this decision is so stressful and i have so many Qs but i dont know where to start

as a start... i'm interested in hearing more about Queens. we'd be renting at least for now. how far from manhattan is it? is the commute bad? are the areas safe? is a 2br apt unreasonable? i picture queens as being scary (sorry, i'm a sheltered LI girl and accidentally got off the LIRR at the wrong stop in queens once ) but i know there are supposed to be some beautiful areas in queens. we'd probably be making somewhere bw $225-250k combined so I'm not sure how far that goes in NYC/Queens

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You should def. consider LIC. There are many new rental buildings going up there. There are two Avalon buidlings and the City Lights Co-op allows owners to rent...you just have to go to the building and askfor their listing. A friend of mine lives in that building and ended up buying his apt. from the prior owner he was renting from. He works for a firm in midtown as well and his commute is super-easy.

I have another friend that lives in LIC and she owns a house and has a 2 bedroom she's renting out for $2K. The apt. is fully renvoated. There are definitely many options in LIC now.

I live in Forest Hills...it's more of a developed neighborhood than LIC and has a little more 'suburban' feels if you can even call it that. I would def. recommend living there...you can either take the subway or the LIRR to the city.

Queens isn't too scary...FH used to think the same (he's a sheltered LI boy) and he likes the convenience of living in Queens so far. The only thing that he hates is looking for parking and not having a yard. Honestly, I don't think a car is worth it if you move to any of the nicer areas of Queens, unless you can get a garage spot., or you know you will be using it. FH is a teacher so he leaves and comes home before any parking rules are in effect. Both my friend that live in LIC now have permanent spots in garages because it was just getting crazy with the parking and all the development going on in LIC. Forest Hills you'll def. want a parking spot in a garage.

FM with any questions.

I live in Brooklyn and have lived here all my life on about 5 different neighborhoods.

Personally I think you are better off in Bklyn or Queens b/c its a lot less expensive than the city and depending on the neighborhood, parking is less of an area.

If you are a very Metro couple and aren't looking to have kids anytime soon and/or don't worry about parking LIC, Queens and Brooklyn Heights are your best bets. The trains commute is under 20 mins to Midtown. Astoria isnt too bad either.

Bay Ridge, Brooklyn is a great area too. (from 75th Street up) if you are Metro but want kids. Parking is becoming an issue.

If you are going for more of a place to raise a family, be able to park your car with ease and still be close to the city, I'd go with Dyker Heights in Brooklyn. It's 30-45mins by train to the city.

I live in Dyker Heights and honestly of all the neighborhoods i've lived in - its my fave! Its so beautiful and EXTREMELY safe, and for a 2br. in this neighborhood you are looking at 1000-1600 a month in rent. We pay 1000 for a 2br. in a private house with ample parking. FBIL pays 3000 for a 1br. in an apt. building with no parking in the city.

ETS: We go grocery shopping 2 blocks away. Shopping for other stuff is a 5 mins walk. lol. The train is 2 blocks away. The express bus is 2 min walk (I highly recommend the express bus. so comfy!!)

If you want more info, let me know.

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Posted by bluegreen08

thanks everyone! this decision is so stressful and i have so many Qs but i dont know where to start

as a start... i'm interested in hearing more about Queens. we'd be renting at least for now. how far from manhattan is it? is the commute bad? are the areas safe? is a 2br apt unreasonable? i picture queens as being scary (sorry, i'm a sheltered LI girl and accidentally got off the LIRR at the wrong stop in queens once ) but i know there are supposed to be some beautiful areas in queens. we'd probably be making somewhere bw $225-250k combined so I'm not sure how far that goes in NYC/Queens

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LOL not every part of queens is scary. I think you would be surprised by quite alot of parts. There are alot of very nice residential areas that are very much like the suburbs. Queens also has some very expensive areas that are extremely safe and even gated communities. Places like whitestone and especially malba you have homes in the $3million-10million range and it is a gated community. SOme parts of forest hills is also very rich and when i look at what the real estate costs in this area, its about $4million-8million BUT the thing with forest hills is that there are condo's and co-ops everywhere and you have more choices and with an apt you can get a very reasonable price, check out MLSLI.com, for listings in all these neighborhoods to see what you would get for your money. YOu have LIC that is also pretty expensive, its about $600k for a 1 br apt, but you also can definitely rent there, theres also sort of a seaport here its where gantry park is, if you look at my epic album its where i took my pics its beautiful and theres great restaurants there and also a bunch of high rise luxury buildings all around. Its becoming alot like williamsburg bklyn and now becoming a trendy place to live. Places like astoria and LIC you have SOOO many city people moving there now. It was very family oriented when i grew up in astoria. It was a big european community, alot of old school europeans, mom and pop shops and a little different than it is now. Now many ppl i know from the city come to astoria to eat, astoria is pretty popular for ppl from all over NY. And like i mentioned in my post above, its 13 mins by train into the city.

Trust me that if queens was scary, i wouldn't live here hahaha. Of course you'll have some bad parts of queens but i doubt you'll move there. But thats like anywhere else, theres bad parts of LI, there are bad parts in the city, bklyn and everywhere else.

I think those who dont frequent queens get a very very very different idea of what is like, and have the same ideas as you do. Theres nothing wrong with it, you just dont know since you haven't been here so only go by what you hear and the bad things you hear are about bad neighborhoods. And let me tell you that many of us from queens dont even go to the bad neighborhoods haha.

yes you can DEFINITELY get a 2br in queens. You will have no problems with this.

do research online about certain areas. Whether looking at real estate in the areas or by looking up random info.

I would check these neighborhoods out:
Long island city
Astoria
Forest Hills
Kew Gardens
Whitestone
Bayside
Rego Park
Fresh meadows
Douglaston

if you need help with certain buildings you want to check out just let me know.

Now this one is VERy expensive but not sure what it is to rent. Check out NOVO 64. These are condos and the building is amazing. They have a private movie theater, spa, maid service and so many services, they also offer free shuttle service for tenants to the train station.

Avalon in LIC is nice too

your best bet is to go to these neighborhods to check them out yourself. If you want i can tell you certain places to go in the different neighborhoods mentioned above. Either to go eat, a lounge, bar, a park, etc., just so you can see what its like. Until you see it for yourself you won't know. ANd i promise i wont tell you places that are scary and you'll be perfectly safe.

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Posted by bluegreen08

thanks everyone! this decision is so stressful and i have so many Qs but i dont know where to start

as a start... i'm interested in hearing more about Queens. we'd be renting at least for now. how far from manhattan is it? is the commute bad? are the areas safe? is a 2br apt unreasonable? i picture queens as being scary (sorry, i'm a sheltered LI girl and accidentally got off the LIRR at the wrong stop in queens once ) but i know there are supposed to be some beautiful areas in queens. we'd probably be making somewhere bw $225-250k combined so I'm not sure how far that goes in NYC/Queens

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I work for a large firm in the city and live in Queens. I know PIPA said she thinks it is a no for her but I have done it for 4 years now and it has been just fine for me (and I work all the way downtown). I worked in Skadden's offices for a few months (LONG STORY) (they are on 42nd)and in took 30 minutes on the subway door to door with a coffee stop). I live in Astoria and it actually takes me ten minutes less to get to work that it did from the upper eats side where I lived when I summered). I rent a small two bedroom (I like space too) for less than my friends pay for a city studio. A two bedroom in the city is north of 3K even in a so-so neighborhood. In Astoria a very small two bedroom is about 2,200 [you can prob. get something recently renovated in a home for that money] or so if you get a good deal and it is very safe in most areas. I rent a garage too (250 a month but i am in a great location). On your salary you can absolutely afford to life modestly in mnahattan but you will get far more space in queens. Astoria or LIC are the two closest neighborhoods in queens to midtwon. Another option is Brooklyn. As for the commute. I give myself an hour in the morning to get downtown but midtown you can give yourself 30 minutes. At night, my firm provides cars and I am home in about 20-25 mintes and getting to most neighboorhoods i like in the city would take just as long. Most people living in Queens (in most places in NY acttually) do not make the $ you are making so you have MANY options!

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Posted by Kristina2009

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Posted by bluegreen08

thanks everyone! this decision is so stressful and i have so many Qs but i dont know where to start

as a start... i'm interested in hearing more about Queens. we'd be renting at least for now. how far from manhattan is it? is the commute bad? are the areas safe? is a 2br apt unreasonable? i picture queens as being scary (sorry, i'm a sheltered LI girl and accidentally got off the LIRR at the wrong stop in queens once ) but i know there are supposed to be some beautiful areas in queens. we'd probably be making somewhere bw $225-250k combined so I'm not sure how far that goes in NYC/Queens

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I work for a large firm in the city and live in Queens. I know PIPA said she thinks it is a no for her but I have done it for 4 years now and it has been just fine for me (and I work all the way downtown). I worked in Skadden's offices for a few months (LONG STORY) (they are on 42nd)and in took 30 minutes on the subway door to door with a coffee stop). I live in Astoria and it actually takes me ten minutes less to get to work that it did from the upper eats side where I lived when I summered). I rent a small two bedroom (I like space too) for less than my friends pay for a city studio. A two bedroom in the city is north of 3K even in a so-so neighborhood. In Astoria a very small two bedroom is about 2,200 or so if you get a good deal and it is very safe in most areas. I rent a garage too (250 a month but i am in a great location). On your salary you can absolutely afford to life modestly in mnahattan but you will get far more space in queens. Astoria or LIC are the two closest neighborhoods in queens to midtwon. Another option is Brooklyn. As for the commute. I give myself an hour in the morning to get downtown but midtown you can give yourself 30 minutes. At night, my firm provides cars and I am home in about 20-25 mintes and getting to most neighboorhoods i like in the city would take just as long. Most people living in Queens (in most places in NY acttually) do not make the $ you are making so you have MANY options!

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oh wow i never knew you lived in astoria.

and i agree, its faster to get to midtown from queens than if you live on the upper east or west side. Infact from LIC its 1 stop to midtown so takes 5 mins if that.

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Posted by Kristina2009

I actually grew up in Astoria. My family moved away my senior year of HS and I moved back here after grad school first chance i got! I LOVE it!

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What part of astoria? thats so funny but yeah i feel the same way. I moved from astoria a few short years ago but i think about moving back or maybe LIC. Even though I moved, i see myself as living in forest hills/kew gardens area but im an astoria girl and always will be so i completely understand what youre saying. Plus youre croatian right? theres a very large croatian community in astoria

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Posted by Espo22

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Posted by Kristina2009

I actually grew up in Astoria. My family moved away my senior year of HS and I moved back here after grad school first chance i got! I LOVE it!

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What part of astoria? thats so funny but yeah i feel the same way. I moved from astoria a few short years ago but i think about moving back or maybe LIC. Even though I moved, i see myself as living in forest hills/kew gardens area but im an astoria girl and always will be so i completely understand what youre saying. Plus youre croatian right? theres a very large croatian community in astoria

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Yes! So many Croatians here and I always loved that. Even when I lived a 30 minutes drive away I felt like I came here every weekend! I live on 30th ave now . Around the block from avenue cafe. As I kid I lived off of Broadway and went to MPB.