Yup. Definitely make sure you keep your hands in your pockets at all times.
Okay … let’s try again …
Sometime in the future when I get old and grumpy (which the way things are going will probably be the week after next) I’m considering a move to NYC. What are the practical aspects of this? How are rents? Is it difficult to find an apartment? Employment? Should I keep my hands in my pockets at all times? What should I know? Talk to me!
Yes the rents are outragious these days. Manhattan (depends where of course), will usually run you the most, but Brooklyn is catching up nicely. I would check out the Village Voice classifieds, they have good apt listings. In terms of employment, the market is at its worst in years right now, its damn tough.
Apartments are small and very expensive, but you do not need nor want a car here. So you don’t have to worry about car costs.
Job market is tight, but I believe work is out there if you’re willing to make a good effort.
Bottom line - NYC is one of the toughest places to break into, apartment and job-wise – but the trade-off is you will be living in the greatest city in the world.
I’ve lived in many, many cities, but nothing beats New York.
If you can find me a place in New Orleans, maybe we can swap. I’m looking to get out, myself.
The big city is wearing after a while. Don’t let that stop you though, it’s wonderous, too.
Everyone should live here once, than everyone should leave.
-Ace
But if you can make it there, you can make it anywhere!
It’s up to you,
New York, NEW YORK!
It’s true - you do burn out after a while, hence my many moves out of the city…but guess where I always move back to?
Hmmmmm???
New York is a wonderful place to live if you’re grumpy, but I’m not so sure about when you’re old. There are an awful lot of stairs everywhere, and you have to carry stuff.
The first year after you move here is awfully hard. Ending up with a job and a decent apartment seem to be largely a matter of sheer luck (even if you showed up with a job–for some reason that first job often doesn’t last long). At the end of a year, if you’re one of the lucky ones with a job, an apartment, and some friends, you’ll probably love it. After that, it’s sort of like being on drugs. It gets into your blood, so that it’s very hard to live anywhere else–other places all seem a little unreal and bland. I forget where I read it, but it’s true: “True New Yorkers believe that people living anywhere else must, in some sense, be kidding.”
Yeah, living anyplace else is “wasting time in a pickup truck.” ( – Ed Koch, erstwhile crappy mayor). Everyone should LEAVE??? They’ll take my cold dead body out of this city in a hearse. Unless a nice place opens up near Southwest Harbor, Maine.
What sort of job are you going to be looking for? What sort of apartment? Work with us here, Euty.
Well, the roads are much nicer to bicycle on than Bosston. I was there this past weekend, and was absolutely amazed that roads in a real city (and not somewhere where they never get ice and potholes) could be so good for biking. I was on cobblestones somewhere around 9th and 14th, and it was smoother than biking on a major road in Boston.
The sheer hugeness of everything there is simply astounding. Nothing I have ever seen even holdds a candle to it in terms of vastness of scale. If I was to ever leave my beloved hometown, New York City would be first on the list of places to go. I’d never go so far as to be a Yankees fan, though.
Are you sure we’re talking about the same NYC? Its one big pothole.
I think he must be talking about Manhattan Beach, California.
Most “New Yorkers” I know (including myself, Biggirl and Ukulele Ike) actually live in Brooklyn, Jersey, Queens, the Bronx. Rent’s cheaper, life’s easier, commuting’s not bad at all. I’m “only 45 minutes from Broadway—but oh, what a diffrence it makes!” I pay probably 1/3 the rent you’d be paying in Manhattan, and I still don’t need to own a car.
“One of these things
Is not like the others!
One of these things
Just doesn’t belong…!”
. . . Oh, bite me. I have a faster commute than you do, and can see the Manhattan skyline from the top of my street, too.
Are you doing this with the kids Euty?
Apartments aren’t quite as expensive if you aren’t limiting your search to trendier and/or “better” neighborhoods. A lot of areas that used to be regarded as dangerous or slumlike are much nicer now (and in a few years may be expensive as well). At any given time, there’s probably some section of the city on an upswing from slumhood, and that’s the place to look.
I came with 2 grand saved up thinking that would last me a couple months. I had to get a job about 5 days later. It’s the most expensive joint I’ve ever been too (other than Hawaii which had similar prices - both islands, hmmmm).
What did I see someone post here once? Priceless really, can’t remember who, and don’t want to strain the hampsters at this hour so no credit, but it went like this:
A great way to find work is through Temp Agencies. I discovered one my first week here that I have been with for 7 years. If you have great computer skills and are a quick typist (something tells me you fit the bill), then there is decent work in the $10-$25 an hour area. Depending on your skills, shifts willing to work (graveyard pays more), availability, and a bit of luck you will land somewhere on the higher end of that scale. This should allow you to afford a decent slice of your own kingdom in the boroughs somewhere with a roughly 30 min. commute.
If you like, e-mail me your resume and I will forward it onto my Agency (Wall Street Services) with a reccomendation. They are a downtown firm, and were hit pretty hard by last fall, but have since made a big comeback. No guarantees, if you like you can just give them a call yourself (I’ll e-mail the # if interested), but they throw most cold call resumes in the waste basket. With a reference from me you would probably at least get an interview. They may call (or e-mail) you to find out the specifics of your skills (as indicated on the resume), and then plan a day for you to come in and test on their machines. They give a bunch of tests: Adaptability, Math, MS-Office, Spelling, Grammar, and then place you. If you can handle Word, Excel, Powerpoint, Lotus Notes, and a browser (you know, for that new internet thing they got out these days) you should be what they (or many other temp agencies) need. Not great for a career, but temp work can keep you floating and beats work in the service industry as far as I’m concerned (no offense to my waiter friends!). If your looking, they can sometimes lead to full-time permanenet jobs.
If you already have a job lined up great. As far as practicality, there is no place on the planet more practical. Public transportation (all you can eat 24-hour bus and trains for $17 a week), 24 hour everything everywhere, and the worlds best music, art, and food.
For finding a pad in Manhattan, Roomate Finders in Columbus circle have been around for more than 30 years and are a great deal if you are not afraid to live with strangers. It’s a $300 flat fee and they give you great listings (in your price range). New ones every day. Great way to score a reasonable apartment with no broker fee (which is typically 15% of the rent for the year), and at rents that are below market, since people have often lived at these aprtments for a while. That place has scored me a few pads. If you don’t find anything in 6 months you are entitled to half your cash back. The less scrupulous will take advantage of this offer either way, but I would never encourage anyone to break the law.
If you’re looking for a place for yourself, look for no-fee listings places. Alot of times landlord companies will offer listings (no broker fee) at their offices. It’s a real hassle to get on a New York Lease, but if you’re paperwork is in order (ie you can prove you make 60 times your rent a year) there is no reason to drop a couple grand on a broker.
Good luck. Let me know if I can help. This city is the closes thing to my personality I have ever found - but don’t let that discourage you.
DaLovin’ Dj
New York is much harder then when I arrived in 1991, I’d say - although unemployment is lower (I think 1991 or 92 was about the nadir, at least since the 1975/76 fiscal crisis), it’s crept up quite a bit, and the astronomical rents of the last few years haven’t budged in the other direction.
But I’m still here. (And I’m not even a Streisand fan!)
I arrived assuming I’d leave when I finished my law degree. I have thus joined the vast pool of folks for whom New York becomes something of an addiction - even if we leave, we do our damnedest to recreate it wherever we land. I’ll be here for a while, I expect - I’m old enough now to make no assumptions, but I see nothing to make me want to go.
I may move to Brooklyn, though.
There goes the neighborhood.