Sorry for the double post, but a lot of the newer buildings will also pay the broker fees for you, just because they are trying to attract tenants. If you do that however, you often lose out on any applicable specials they may be running such as 1 month free and amortized over your lease period, etc.
As an added bonus, they welcome people named "Jorge"...which really could be beneficial in this case.
Probably not news to you, but finding an apartment in NYC....SUCKS. I moved up there in March '08 and was able to crash on my sister's couch until I found a place. I saw about 30+ places (mainly through Craigslist searches, most are legit, but there are SOME shady ones), saw a place that was okay and asked the Super who showed me the apartment if the management company had any other open apartments in any of their other buildings. They had a place literally around the corner that was the perfect size and price (the apartment was at 67th and 3rd - kinda the "upper east side"). Signed a lease for June 1st move in, so it took me about 3 months to find a place. Price-wise, lets just say I had a true one bedroom in Houston (bedroom with a living room), full kitchen with washer and dryer for about $700. In NYC, I had a one bedroom studio, 2nd floor of a walk-up building, no doorman, no washer/dryers in building - for more than double what I was paying in Houston. You're also going to be making quite a bit more than I was at my advertising job, so this will not be an issue for you, but just wanted to give you info with my experiences. After my one year lease was up, I ended up searching for another place on craigslist and ended up finding a place (at 23rd between 6th and 7th - Chelsea neighborhood) that was listed by the following company: http://www.ccrny.com/. The building ended up paying the broker's fee, so it worked out pretty well. Search for a place on that site and if you find something you like, let me know and I can get you in touch with the girl that helped me. Good luck!
For real. I know Manhattan is expensive, but lets not go overboard either. If he is making $180-$240 17,000 monthly salary which after taxes prolly comes closer to $12,000. Rent say about $4000. No car probably so no car insurance. Even $30 on food a day is another $1000. Transportation another $500? Going out every weekend and spending $200 a weekend is not even a $1000. Utilities and misc. another $500? All that adds up about $7000 and you still have a good $5000 left. That is a pretty damn good salary even to live in NY I think.
Thanks thats really helpful. Thats what I was hoping that if I decided to go higher end buildings they would have their own leasing office and I could cut out the middlemen and negotiate directly. I could visit, stake out a number of buildings and negotiate with the 10 and have them bid each other out of it directly. Unemployment is still over 9% and jobs aren't coming back that strong there so I think its still a buyers market as people 'give up' after no work and leave back to their home towns.
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Jersey's good if you're a drug dealer, an italian w****, or you're looking for 2.5 kids and a white pickett fence. Some people are into that, if you're looking to lvie in New York, you probably aren't.
Actually, in my area of Jersey(about 30 min. away from New York) a salary like that isn't terribly uncommon.
long story short is that it is never too expensive to find a decent place to live in Manhattan. I was a college student and post graduate living my lean years in the LES, Spanish Harlem, the Upper East Side, and Washington Heights. I lived in decent buildings with reasonable rent. I never paid more then $750 for my portion of rent. pros and cons are all depending what you like to do and what kind of lifestyle you plan to live. I can't answer any questions about living well within your means and still not being able to figure out how to squeak out a living in NYC.
Agreed. Am also at work, Rocketman, so I'll type as fast as possible and throw some stuff out there. I lived in NYC for a couple years working at some bulge brackets (one which doesn't exist anymore) though I made nowhere near your current salary. NYC was a blast and a curse. I hated my work but loved the city. I averaged about 5 hrs sleep/night, no time and/or energy to work out, or do any other leisure activity (movies, books, traveling, etc.). First year was at a place 30 seconds away from the NYSE known as the frat-house of Wall St., the second year was at a bldg in Murray Hill. ~$1500 for rent for both places. Utilities, dry cleaning, health care, lunch+dinner delivery, maid service, laundry, shoe shining, cabs/subway => ~$1000. As far as socializing, I buckled into peer pressure and would spend $200-$300/night every other night. We usually got $25 to spend on dinner and always ate at work so that helped out on week days. Coupled in with taxes and my student loan payments, my savings were close to nonexistent. Add in the stress of the rat race and the physical toll on my body, the place became unbearable in spite of the great night life. Granted, that may be a result of the people I worked with, but it wasn't for me. NYC is a great place to visit, but not live IMO. If you're under 30, you'll be fine. Given that I'm making five times more working here, with much cheaper cost of living, it's no big deal for me to fly up to NYC for a weekend and visit old college buddies still working there. And in a matter of hours, I catch the red-eye back and sleeping in a relatively gargantuan house. In this way, you get the best of everything: NYC's life with Houston's cost of living. I won't deny that my current job is a result of the amazing networking opportunities that NYC offers. Yet, in hindsight, I'd rather stay here, go back to Chicago, or live in LA, London, or Paris for working in finance.
be sure to allocate extra $$$ for a 2nd place outside the city or for frequent weekend retreat vacations (ie. maybe twice a month at least).....living in manhattan is quite stressful and most longtime residents have a need to get out for R&R. my advice on the primary residence is to choose a neighborhood first, based on what kind of people/culture you like and also with regard to work commute. you can post any questions you might have about differences between neighborhoods and i'll be happy to reply.
also be prepared to Summer in Southampton. you will also have to valet your Hybrid SUV, as well as tip the doormen and valets each holiday. I don't know if you can pull it off...
