<p>Stamford isn’t cheap, either – at least not the parts you would be willing to live in. This worked in my favor (I inherited a half-share in a condo there when an elderly relative died), but it doesn’t work in yours.</p>
<p>OP: Options in the borough of Manhattan, the outer boroughs, NJ, CT, Westchester and LI, and folks on this CC thread who live in all of these, so I guess you just have to figure out what you can spend and how you want to spend it.</p>
<p>I know about many LI neighborhoods and most have their fair share of commuters. I commuted into NYC for work on many occasions but now am thinking of moving it but so far can’t bear the thought of selling my house and garden.</p>
<p>Good luck.</p>
<p>Marion said: <stamford isn’t=“” cheap,=“” either=“” --=“” at=“” least=“” not=“” the=“” parts=“” you=“” would=“” be=“” willing=“” to=“” live=“” in.=“”> </stamford></p>
<p>I agree, and neither are the surrounding towns and 'burbs along the MetroNorth corridor to from Greenwich to Fairfield.</p>
<p>And again, without knowing your housing budget, I would not necessarily recommend Stamford, or any of the whistle stops.</p>
<p>And don’t worry about moving and your freshman in college…she will be jsut fine,and if she isn’t, you moving is not the issue…if she wants to go “home” to see friends at the breaks, let her go!! Don’t put your life on hold or worry about your adult child’s feelings about her “home” enough to stop making what could be an amazing life change!</p>
<p>My D is in school in NY, we saw her at Christmas, and she isn’t coming for Easter and will most likely be interning on the East Coast for most of the summer…her “family” home, well, that a place to store her clothes it seems from now on, and it could be the same for your D…</p>
<p>If she thinks she will miss her old home because of family and friends, she can still go…</p>
<p>One tip, make sure in your new place, you have supplies- air mattresses and such for when she wants to come home and you can bet she will have friends who want to come to be near NYC too!!</p>
<p>If you’ve got money to burn, you can also try West Village/Greenwich Village (NYU area) or Battery Park. But you may need upwards of $2 million for a nice 2-3 bedroom condo. However a loft in the SoHo area may go over $10 million.</p>
<p>If it’s 35th and 5th, then you’ll need to take the B/D/F/V trains over to 34th and 6th and walk over, since that’s the closest subway, and the buses are a nightmare.</p>
<p>I find that doing a Yahoo real estate search is a good way to get a feel for the area’s prices. Greenwich Village/West Village/Chelsea is 10011/10012 and Battery Park City is 10280.</p>
<p>don’t forget Craigslist as an option!!
being a new empty nester myself, but currently stuck in our high-tax Long Island suburb here’s what I would consider,now knowing your intended locale as the Grad Center:
Monclair NJ…not a bad commute, nice little town,interesting housing stock.Nephew from California just relocated here …is renting…it may skew a little young for you but prices are reasonable
The Ft Lee,Jersey City waterfront areas,Hoboken.You’ll be able to rent something newer,possibly waterview at a fair (for NY area) rate.Pretty good commuting including a water taxt option right into midtown Manhattan.Sis in law until recently (she relocated to the Jersey shore) owned two condos in a waterview building in Ft Lee one which she rented out.Full service building with pool,concierge,etc.
Hoboken(also New Jersey) is happening but also might skew on the young side for you.
In Manhattan proper, you might have to go through agents .NY is a tight rental market as well as condo sales market.
I like the Long Beach (Long Island) idea.Its a great beach community, really the only one on the Island with apt rentals, a real boardwalk and a commuting option on the Long Island RR.Its where I would go.Its a mix of residents of all ages and theres decent dining,shopping,etc.
You might explore Brooklyn, but it would skew young for you.Its overrun with twenty and thirty somethings.
In Queens, you can take a look a little further out in the borough than someone else suggested…google Forest Hills and Forest Hills Gardens.Its a lovely area with good commuting,all price levels of rentals ,good dining and shopping, and some fab pre-war (as in WWII) apt buildings with lots of space.
For Manhattan you surely can peruse the online NYTimes ads just for a sense of price and neighborhood.You really need to know what your budget would be.Just thought of another area…downtown,Battery Park.Lots of rentals,not cheap but a newer,interesting area.
But the options are there…if the job becomes a reality,have fun looking!!</p>
<p>Staten Island is also lovely. There are gorgeous North Shore neighborhoods that would allow you a 40 minute commute and a lovely lifestyle at a reasonable price.</p>
<p>Depending on how many days a week you H needs to be in the city and he is willing to have an hour train commute I would look at Huntington. It’s a great town with an art house cinema with three screens, clubs, performing arts center, art museum. LIRR has a station that goes directly to Penn Station with no changes. Has condos, apartments and houses for rent. </p>
<p>Very different from Long Beach but also charming. LI Sound is its north boundary.</p>
<p>mythmom
LOL Huntington is the high tax spot I’m going to try to get out of asap.But you are correct, it might be a nice place to try and rent but I don’t think it would come cheap,and I’m not sure about the quality and quantity of apt stock… and the ride is way long on the LIRR (at least an hour,10 minutes) Love the art house cinema and lots of good eating here,though.</p>
<p>cathymee: I was just at the cinema this week! A very good friend went through a divorce. They sold their house in Northport and she found a very cute apartment in Huntington.</p>
<p>An hour and ten minutes seems like a dream! We’re two hours to NYC and I used to go in three days a week! I must have been crazy.</p>
<p>I’d definitely rent in NY. The future colleagues may have some suggestions too. Westchester train towns are good for commuting to east side locations, NJ is probably better for the west side. I personally wouldn’t choose to live in Scarsdale, I prefer something a little more diverse with lower taxes. I like gardening and now have many friends in the 'burbs, but all else being equal I’d probably want to live in the city if I worked there.</p>
<p>OP has been given a lot of good suggesttions here, but I will specificlly suggest Brooklyn as a place to look. Consider nieghborhoods such as Ft. Greene, Prospect Hieghts, Clinton Hill, Park Slope, Cobble Hill, all w/in an easy commute to midtown, Wiliamsburg (north side), Dumbo & Brooklyn Heights are also near in neighborhoods though more expensive than the first four. Somebody posted earlier that Brooklyn skews young with a lot of twenty thrity somethings. Nonsense. Many of theese nieghborhoods encompass a full range of “grown” people, and many, such as Park Slope, are favored by families. But they are all what I would consider sophisticated places compared with other palces that you might consider within the borough. </p>
<p>Brooklyn has a definite urban feel, but not the prices not congestion of Manhattan. Though parking a car will still be a headache unles you pay for a garage. All of these neighborhoods have been gentrified and are comfortably middle or upper middle class. </p>
<p>The Apple sure isn’t Southern California, but wehave our charms. Good luck!</p>
<p>I will definitely second the motion for Brooklyn, in particular Park Slope, because S has a wonderful apartment in a great neighborhood, and the rent is quite reasonable by ny standards. If you’re interested, feel free to send me a pm, as I think he may have an opening at the present time.</p>
<p>Another fan of Brooklyn. Have lived in Brooklyn Heights which is lovely, and have several friends in Boerum Hill, also very nice.</p>
<p>Those parts of Brooklyn are all very convenient to Manhattan, and would be fun to live in - but they are very congested and parking is still a problem. H and I took the kids to an Italian feast in Wiiliamsburg last summer, and we all loved it - but I just don’t have the patience right now to deal with worrying about where my car is parked each day (you have to worry about alternate side of the street parking in most parts of the city). We live in western Nassau County and we’re just over a half hour from the city by LIRR which works for us just fine. I grew up living in parts of Brooklyn and Queens and attended high school in Manhattan, so I do miss certain aspects of city-living, but I also like living in the suburbs and being able to drive and park easily.</p>
<p>operamom: I realize that most of Manhattan can be expensive (we still don’t know your budget, but if DH is faculty at CUNY it may be a safe bet that your budget is not 2-3M). </p>
<p>However, NYC is just a perfect place for empty-nesters and I would urge you to look at being in the city and within Subway access. It could be Brooklyn, Queens, or really uptown (as in Washington Heights- Ft.Tryon park area). There are sketchy parts of Harlem between 125th and say 165th St, but then above the GWB (172 etc) there are some very nice residential areas. Also, the “A” subway line is an express and can spirit you to midtown very fast. (With your screen name you may be happy to know that the A and 1/9 lines bring you straight to the Met Opera.).</p>
<p>Its interesting how different views of Brooklyn can be. I’m the one who thought it skewed young and family oriented as in the young family way.someone else said thats nonsense.I guess you would just have to place yourself there and look around.Being an empty nester now,while liking children and advocating that all ages live together, I don’t want my sidewalks choked with strollers,my bars/cafes needing to hang signs saying "no strollers"and my neighbors extending their glory undergrad days or being tragically hipster.Park Slope,Ft Greene are overrun with youngster families,Williamsburg,Dumbo are just so “hip” now.Maybe Brooklyn Heights is age appropriate but so costly and then theres that pesky where to park the car issue.</p>
<p>Just to throw something else out. Do you have any intention of coming back to Ca to live. And if so do you like your present home and area. Why I am asking is I have seen several people who have moved away and now can not afford to come back into the housing market. Plus the increase in property tax.
We have some neighbors who we didn’t meet till about 5 yrs ago. They moved away maybe 10 yrs earlier and had stints in a few other states. They rented their home in Ca. The rental carried the cost of the house including taxes. Plus they had some tax writeoff’s. They rented in the other locales. They moved back 5 yrs ago at retirement into their old home. To repurchase the same type of home would have been prohibitive plus the property tax would be unmanageable.
I also have a friend who moved to a less costly area for work. She is renting out her home in our town and was able to purchase a condo in her new town. Granted you can’t do that with NYC. She plans to return when she retires.</p>
<p>Park Slope is very age appropriate for young college grads in their twenties. We are so impressed with not only S’s apartment, but the entire area is just incredible - it’s got everything you can possibly think of in terms of lifestyle - it’s just great! Wish we could live there!</p>
<p>Park Slope is really nice, there are very nice neighborhoods in Brooklyn Heights (Near courts), but I think you folks would most likely like a place in the city. Many nice apartments float for around $1,0000,000 (1,000 square feet) which believe it or not is a steal for a nice place in Manhattan. Brooklyn probably has the most friendly environment for folks from the west. </p>
<p>+1 on Park Slope, you can even get a nice place right on the park, a beautiful neighborhood, majority of the neighbors will be well educated and very hipster-esque, which I think is reminiscent of many parts of California.</p>
<p>This is the biggest realtor in Manhattan, they have a bunch of stuff in the suburbs too.
[Manhattan</a> Real Estate Listings of New York Apartments & Lofts for Rental & Sales](<a href=“http://www.citi-habitats.com/]Manhattan”>http://www.citi-habitats.com/)</p>