<p>In 2012, my son and his roommate group of 2010 Ivy grads working in the financial industry and doing well, were looking for a new apartment. They found something they really liked – and while they felt they could afford it, the landlord wanted one of the parents to guarantee the rent. As a group, although some of us parents could qualify, we felt that the kids should stand on their own and rent something they could qual on their own for. They did. Most of them are still living in that apartment.</p>
<p>I have two kids who live in NYC apartments. One is a graduating senior, who will be staying put for grad school, the other is a rising junior. The older one is in a great 3 BR apartment on the UWS, 4 blocks from the subway, safe area and the rent is $2500 divided by 3. Also: high ceilings and lots of light. Kitchen’s not been renovated since the 90’s, but it’s fine. Why so cheap? 5th floor walkup, no doorman. </p>
<p>The younger one is signing a lease for a 4-bedroom for $2400/month in Harlem. Safe neighborhood, one block from the subway. Also a walkup. Friends live even more cheaply in Washington Heights.</p>
<p>IMO, proximity to subway is more important than a doorman–but that’s just me. </p>
<p>The hardest part of renting an NYC apartment is that parents must serve as guarantors, which is a time-consuming process. Also, the brokers fees are high (but negotiable.)</p>
<p>Define “Live Well”. The management company of the apartment building will require that your salary is 40 times the monthly rent. NYC is the home of the $6 box of Cheerios. The cable bill will be more than $120 monthly. Your Metro card is more than $100 per month. A movie is $15. The museums charge $25. A Broadway show ticket is $150. A gelato is $5. It’s not all about the rent. My D barely makes it in her UES studio, and she is 30 and has been working for 6 years after grad school . Don’t even get me started.</p>
<p>Sure, you can pay $6 for a box of Cheerios in Manhattan, but you can buy it on sale for the regular price or just a bit more. There’s even a Costco north of the Upper East Side in East Harlem, in a complex with Target and other big-box stores. Your $112 Metrocard is a lot cheaper than car payments and insurance and gets you 30 days of every bus and subway line in the city, and with many employers you can pay for it with pretax dollars. And a ride down the 6 train from the Upper East Side takes you to the land of 4 great dumplings for buck in Chinatown.</p>
<p>I have only read some of the posts on this thread. YES, NYC is very expensive. However, my 25 year old daughter, who graduated college almost 5 years ago at age 20, has fully supported herself since graduation day (in her field…performing arts), and we do NOT subsidize her, and she makes way less than is being discussed on this thread and pays way less for rent as well. She lives in Brooklyn. She has a two bedroom apartment with just one apartment mate. She is in Manhattan every day.</p>
<p>I’m a grad student in NYC, living off a graduate student stipend (so probably significantly less than what your daughter would be making), without too many problems with money, or extra help from my parents. I can eat out a few times a week (including gelato), buy new clothes, go to the movies, etc. and still have money to save. My living situation might be a less desirable - I don’t live in a doorman building and I have roommates. My rent is a bit subsidized, but it’s still comparable to a lot of places in NYC if you’re fine with buildings without doormen and having roommates.</p>
<p>We have never subsidized our daughter. She does not live in a doorman building. When she lived in her first apartment with a roommate AND her roommate’s cat, it did not work out. She made the choice to live alone at a higher cost. The shopping up there in East Harlem is in a place that she feels is sketchy, and, yes, she has gone there. Remember the poor lady who had the shopping cart dropped on her head by two boys playing with it on a balcony? And what’s the point of choosing cheap unhealthy food, instead of fresh vegetables and fruit? Yes, I know that people are into Costco, but I have never seen them dragging home giant boxes of stuff on the 6 train. And where would you store it in your NYC kitchen? </p>
<p>fafnir605, NYC is not for everyone. It is a different lifestyle for sure. I have found it to be a great place to raise my kid who is now a senior in high school and goes to chorus on the Upper East Side after school 3 days a week.</p>
<p>If your daughter wants fruits and veggies, she can go to Chinatown where they are cheap, cheap, cheap! My daughter and I live in Bedford-Stuyvesant, Brooklyn. We are fortunate to have a car but lived without for many years, and I schlepped on the bus or train with groceries, blue $.69 IKEA bag on my shoulder, or even with the granny cart. </p>
<p>I hope your daughter is happy with where she lives and works, even if you’re not!</p>
<p>The key for making Manhattan work when you are starting out is sharing costs. For me a roommate was essential, but I wanted a doorman and a neighborhood that I liked. I started out in an 800 square foot one bedroom with another girl in the East 60’s. I actually enjoyed having a roommate, as we met each other friends, and I always had someone to go out with. As you mature, having a roommate grows old, but in my early 20’s it was fine. My parents helped with incidentals like stocking our fridge, a new T.V. and furniture for the apartment. I also remember them taking care of the gratuities for the doormen at Christmas time.</p>
<p>Girls of that age tend to travel in packs, so we did take cabs to get around in the evenings more often than not. But it was split 2 or 3 ways so it didn’t ruin anyone’s budget. Most everyone used the subway to get to work. It was the most efficient (usually!). Dining out can be affordable in Manhattan. China Town and Little Italy were fun and cheap at that time. Get the most recent Zagat’s restaurant guide, I am sure they still have the section on eateries that are a “bang for the buck”. And then there were always all those young, professional NY men who were happy to take you out for a nice meal!</p>
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<p>Most Museum charges are in practice, voluntary. Most people I know…including well-heeled professionals who don’t feel like making a donation give a dollar and get in without hassles. </p>
<p>$6 for a box of cheerios?!! Only if you shop at the local convenience store and don’t look out for sales at the larger supermarkets or venture out beyond one’s local neighborhood. </p>
<p>Speaking as a NYC local here. </p>
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<p>I’d make the Chinatown part plural as there’s a bunch in the 5 boroughs. </p>
<p>A few others I frequent are in Flushing and Elmhurst. Brooklyn has Sunset Park. </p>
<p>And there are many more options if one wants to explore off the beaten path in NYC. </p>
<p>Only the city-supported museums are you pay-what-you-wish.</p>
<p>Not the Guggenheim, Whitney, MOMA, etc.</p>
<p>As for the other Chinatowns, the one in lower Manhattan is much more convenient to someone living on the Upper East Side who wants cheap veggies. Fish too!</p>
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…which is why many young people eat “Joe-O’s,” the Trader Joe’s version. BTW, Trader Joe’s has lots of fresh produce at fairly reasonable prices. So, do the Green Markets, expecially those in less heavily trafficked areas. Heck, some of the street vendors have great prices too. And yes, I schlepp some of my groceries home on the subway. If you are willing to pay a premium, Fresh Direct will deliver. </p>
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As others have said, that’s a heck of a lot less than a car! </p>
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Most NY museums have "suggested " fees. I don’t pay the whole amount and most NYers I know don’t either. . Most museums have annual memberships, as well.For example, you can join the Met for $100 a year. $70 of that is tax deductible. It has some of the best young singles networking events of any organization in the City. <a href=“http://www.metmuseum.org/give-and-join/membership/young-members”>http://www.metmuseum.org/give-and-join/membership/young-members</a> Groupon sometimes have deals on annual memberships at various museums. Additionally, many museums have an officially free night. Friday night is the ONLY night I would ever go to the Morgan, for example, because it’s free. On top of all this, many major corporations in NY have corporate memberships and all their employees can go for free with a company ID. <a href=“http://www.moma.org/support/support_the_museum/corporate_membership/index”>http://www.moma.org/support/support_the_museum/corporate_membership/index</a></p>
<p>And remember, you can live without going to a museum and if you chose to live in most other cities, you wouldn’t have the wide variety of options you do in NYC. </p>
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There’s always the half-price ticket booth, Goldstar and other ticket discount sites, and off-Broadway options. Of course, there are also “rush” tickets. Again. you can live without going to the theatre. </p>
<p>Yes, NYC is expensive. And if you want to live on the UES in a doorman building, especially a new one, you’ll pay top dollar. As others have said, there are other options. A studio in a doorman building in my neighborhood, which is NOT the UES, is currently available for $1,750. I’m sure it’s possible in other areas in the city as well. </p>
<p>^^^
What a little “hidden treasure” the Morgan is! Love the Morgan Dining Room in the original townhouse and the Morgan Cafe ( which I hear they are re-doing.) I was there not too long ago and along with the free admission on Friday evening, they had music as well. Lovely place for a cocktail and light bite.</p>
<p>I am very happy she lives and works where she does. She has a job that she loves and she is doing okay. And I am NYC born and raised, college and everything. But it is not Glockamorra. You need to have a lot of money to “Live Well”. That’s all I am saying. If you don’t have a high income or a trust fund, it’s not the easiest place to be. I find it just incredible that the tenement buildings my mother lived in when she came to America are million dollar condos now. I find it sad that so many of the places I frequent have had to close up because their rents went through the roof because of gentrification. I realize that a car costs money, you can buy cheap food, you can do free things. That’s the best part about the city. It is its own entertainment. But none of our kids want to do nothing but work. If you go out a lot, you have to be able to afford it. School loans have to be paid. If you look at todays NYTimes Real Estate section, there’s an article about what a $1M apartment is like, and it’s sad. The reader’s comments section is very telling to me.</p>
<p>When I lived in NYC, young and poor after college, friend of mine said, “New York is great if you’re rich or in love, preferably both!”…I’ll never forget it…cracked me up…so true… </p>
<p>First, recent college grads aren’t buying in NYC. 70% of NYers are renters. That’s part of the reason apartment prices are so high. There have always been relatively few apartments you can buy in NYC compared to the rental market. </p>
<p>Maybe you didn’t read the same comments I did. Many of those from people who actually live in New Yor point out that the article only focused on the most expensive neighborhoods in Manhattan. An apartment with a key to Grammercy Park has always cost a lot more than comparable apartments in Manhattan. Sutton Place? Again, one of the most expensive neighborhoods in Manhattan. </p>
<p>I hope some of this spreads as I may want to sell my larger apartment in the next year or two and the appraisals suggest it would go for about $1 million. Believe me, it’s a larger and much nicer apartment than any of those featured in the article. I think the article was an ad for Douglas Eliman–see how much we can get for your apartment? </p>
<p>So I am a native New Yorker and both of my d’s are living in Brooklyn, neither in doorman buildings for sure. Olde r d lives in Prospect Heights in a 4th floor walk-up wih her boyfriend, walking distance from Brooklyn Museum and Eastern Parkway subway connections. Area is being gentrified by the hour. They pay about $1800 month rental, they have cable for computer only, no TV. She also has rental for her art studio of about $250 a month. She makes about $40,000… and barely makes it. We pick up cellphone cost on our family plan and I do pay for lots of clothes shopping. Younger d is actor/singer/arts management and her day jobs are children’s classes for music/movement/theatre, children’s party host/entertainer. She lives in walk-up in Greenpoint and her share of rent for railroad apartment is $850. No cable except for computer access. Again, we pay her cell phone bill as part of family plan and I still buy majority of her clothes. She is still on our health plan but will age out this fall. </p>
<p>So, all museums in NY have at least one night that is free or pay what you want, including MOMA which is Friday night as is the Morgan.Jewish Museum is free on Saturday. Met is always pay what you want. Brooklyn Museum has First Saturdays with live music. I saw a wonderful free exhibit this past week at the NYPL.</p>
<p>You can get tickets for B’way shows at TKTS or other discount sites including TDF. Are you going to be able to see Kinky Boots or Book of Mormon on a Saturday night? No… but there are so many theatres and cultural events all the time that are greatly reduced in price or free. </p>
<p>If you live in NY, you soon find out where and how to shop that is affordable. It is both easy and safe to get around on the subway practically all hours of the day and night… not like it was 20/30 years ago at all. Both D’s take subways late at night and I don’t worry about them coming home.</p>
<p>BarnardGirl’s BF is graduating this month and moving to NYC on a $37K/year salary plus commission AND a second job lined up which will probably earn him another $12K/year. The place he found (with 3 roommates) is a 4 bedroom duplex in Bedford-Stuyvesant, Brooklyn. His share is $875/month. Sure, he’ll spend money on that metro card, but it will be FAR less than buying a car, paying for car insurance, gas, etc as he would have to do in most parts of the country. As others have said, they have had to prove their annual income is 40X the monthly rent or they need a guarantor whose income is 80X the monthly rent. D asked me at one point if I would be a guarantor for him if he got a studio and I declined. He’s a nice kid and may end up being my SIL, but no, not at this point. </p>
<p>Trader Joe’s is cheaper than most places in NYC because of their policy to charge the same prices nationwide, not based on geography as most stores do. So while it is one of the most expensive stores here in the Detroit area, in NYC, it is among the cheapest. We have also discovered it is much cheaper to have Amazon Prime and order things with free shipping that way- even with D just in college. </p>
<p>Ready to throw in my two cents. My d, 24, has been living in Hell’s Kitchen for about 8 months. She shares a one bedroom that was converted into a two bedroom. Her total costs per month are $1150. She earns 55K per year. The winter was rough, quite of bit of cabin fever. But now that it has thawed she loves it. She pays all of her own expenses and brings home about $3200 per month. She also saves about $500-600 per month. She does not go to $150 shows but she does go to happy hours and bowling and Karaoke and parties. She cooks a little and eats salads and such from places in her hood. She goes to the park and loves the weekend flea markets all over the city. We will be buying her some furniture but it will be ikea and she is fine with that. There is a great food truck scene in NYC and those on a budget can partake and not feel like they have to eat in all the time or buy fast food. I think if she had started at a higher salary she would have spent more on rent. But maybe not. My sons friends in finance had a very cheap place in the East Village. About $1k per month each. They did not move to the West Village until they were making over $300 per year. Hell’s Kitchen works for my d because she needs to be near Penn Station. Only problem I see with the UES is that all the fun happens further downtown. But I do think it could be a great place to live at first. </p>
<p>Almost all of the young grads I know that are living in New York have parental subsidies. Often the deal is that the parents pay the rent for the first year. I do worry about money being very tight for her but I think she is very proud of herself and enormously happy. </p>
<p>my son has been living in manhattan for almost 4 years without any subsidies from mom and dad–except for an occasional dress shirt, suit or shoes. he pays a hefty amount for rent, but this past year was able to find a three bedroom place and each of them have their own room without living in a part of a walled off living room. he loves it and has a great time–he does not have the large trust fund that a lot of his college friends have–nor have we bought him a place to live in like some of his college friends’ parents have done. he is doing just fine. he makes a fairly nice salary, though, so that helps…don’t know what other young kids out there make, but I think he is doing very well. he could live like a king on his salary back home!</p>