This has been a source of anger for me ever since the first episode of Freinds I saw. I look at Monica and Rachels apt (now Monica and Chandlers I think) and wonder to myself if they could seriously afford that apt on the income that they claimed to have made on the show.
Rachel was a waitress at a coffee shop that had about 10 people in it at any given time, and she only worked when her friends were hanging out there. How convienent is that? She couldn’t have made squat.
Then you have Monica who was a chef, and was unemployed for many episodes.
Is it even possible that these 2 goons could come close to affording the apt that they had? Nice balcony overlooking city. HUGE living room. 2 bedrooms? It was a pretty nice apt by any standard, but even better because it was in downtown NYC.
Come on. I don’t think that it is even CLOSE to being possible, but I don’t live in NYC, I lived in downtown Chicago where it would be impossible. Maybe there is something I dont know?
If I remeber correctly, the aprtment actually belonged to Monica’s aunt and was rent controlled. They were actually lying to the super about her aunt living there or something to that effect to keep the rent contrlloed pricing.
As to how much something like that would really cost per month, I have no idea.
I think the last realistic New York apartment - realistic in the sense that the character’s income would cover the rent - was the Kramden apartment on The Honeymooners.
I believe they are supposed to live on the upper West Side - same as Seinfeld did on his show (and does in real life), and also where John and Yoko’s building, The Dakota is.
With that as reference, and judging by what many of MY friends pay there (and what we paid when we were there a few years ago), if it was not rent-controlled (or whatever contrivance they came up with), a 2 - 3 bdrm, about 1500 sq foot apartment would be about $5,000 a month. Easily.
I think they are supposed to live in Greenwich Village.
How would that compare to the Upper West Side?
And $5,000 a month? :eek:
Who can afford that?
What about the apartments on Sex and The City?
What would Carrie have paid for her little studio? Didn’t she need something like $40,000 just for the down payment?
She and Miranda were looking at shoes, and Miranda said, “You have 100 pairs of $400 shoes, there’s your down payment.”
And Carrie said, “But that’s only $4,000.”
And Miranda said, "No, that’s $40,000."
(pathetic that I can practically quote that verbatim, isn’t it?)
What about Charlotte’s Park Avenue penthouse? What would something like that go for?
As has been mentioned, the large apartment is rent-controlled. The super, Mr. Treeger, knows this, and on one occasion blackmailed the gang into getting him a practice dance partner (Joey) on condition that he didn’t rat them out.
The small apartment (the guys’, originally) is a bit more of a stretch, but even since the beginning of the show it was established that Chandler’s crappy data-processing job paid a lot of dough.
Before my wife and I moved to the suburbs a year ago, we lived in a one-bedroom apartment (~ 730 sq. ft.) in a pretty nice building on the Upper West Side (70th street). Our rent was $2,800/month.’’
BiblioCat: many buildings in Manhattan require a 20% down payment if you are buying a co-op or condo, so it’s possible that Carrie’s apartment (which, by New York standards, would be a one-bedroom, not a studio) was going for $200,000. I doubt it, though – I’d guess more like $300,000, and probably more given that her an Aidan had purchased the apartment next door and had already started tearing down walls to make the apartment larger.
Charlotte’s apartment would be several million dollars, easily. However, note she got the apartment in a divorce and it was in Trey’s family before that – Charlotte would only be paying the taxes on the apartment (which would still be significant).
$300,000 for that little apartment?!? :eek:
Jeez, that’s just insane.
I have a 4-bedroom house, with 2 full bathrooms, a garage and a full finished basement, on a quarter-acre of land, backing to trees and a stream. Nice and fairly private. Just under $100,000.
One of the many hilarious examples of unreality on that show (that, and the fact that I have never seen anyone in NYC dress as badly as Carrie). OK, I basically had Carrie’s job through much of the Nineties—writing a humor/lifestyles column (though mine was monthly and hers weekly). I once figured that Carrie makes—and I am being extremely generous—maybe $21,000 a year. No way could she afford her apartment, no to mention all her Manolo Blahniks. They now have her freelancing for Vogue, but that would pay maybe $3,000 per article—and she has no health benefits, as a freelancer.
I figure that explains her wardrobe—Carrie rents herself out as a sex clown to eke out her income.
Yeah, that was a big motivating factor in our moving to the suburbs. Westchester County is still pretty damned expensive, but not in the through-the-looking-glass way of Manhattan. (Did I mention that NYC has a city income tax? As in, in addition to state and federal income taxes?)
Next time you hear about “outrageous” New York salaries, keep in mind that not much remains in-pocket for long.
There was an article many years ago in the Los Angeles Times about sitcom apartments and real life prices.
The upswing was that only ONE sitcom had the right apartment, for the right price, for the sitcom job.
Seinfeld.
They said Jerry’s apartment would probably be affordable on a successful comedian (Jerry’s job) salary.
They said it would have been impossible for the Friends cast to afford any of those apts (though they did mention the rent control possibility).
The biggest jokes were the apartments in Mad About You, Suddenly Susan, Caroline In The City (hey - it was an old article).
Basically - not one of those characters could ever have afforded their apartments on their character’s salary.
I have a friend in NY who rents out her one room, small studio apt on 74th and Amsterdam for $1,750 mo. People were fighting to get it when it came on the market.
Then again, I had friends in West Hollywood, CA who were paying $1,350 for a (crappy) three bedroom apt, and when they moved out last month, it was now listed for $2,700 mo.
I’m in suburban Baltimore.
It runs the gamut here. In the city you can buy a tiny little 15-foot wide rowhouse for $40,000 or so, or go into a really upscale neighborhood like Homeland and pay $1,000,000 or more for a true mansion with all the amenities like a pool and a guest house.
