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<p>This isn’t right. Murray Hill is headquarters for the 20’s crowd; it’s known as a post-fraternity neighborhood. </p>
<p>You get up into the 80s and 90s east of 3rd there are plenty plenty of young people attracted to the bigger apartments for the money. There’s nothing but young people on the 86th St. shops. This applies to Hell’s Kitchen too and midtown east around 1st Ave.</p>
<p>Murray Hill to me is too sterile.</p>
<p>Murray Hill is packed with kids in their 20’s. It’s a very popular area for this age group. I understand your reaction oldfort, but this area has changed quite a bit over the last 5 years. The kids like the easy access to both uptown and downtown, and there are plenty of bars and restaurants now for them in the neighborhood too.</p>
<p>My sister has lived on the Upper East Side for the past 20 years and loves it there. She just purchased a new apartment within 2 blocks of her old one since she loves the area so much. She is single and not old btw.</p>
<p>D1 is looking to live in Manhattan next year upon graduation. She wants a hip place. I want her to live in a doorman building. I am telling her to get a studio instead of sharing with roommates. We lived in NYC for 15 years when kids were younger, but I am sure a lot has changed. I watched a lot of those buildings go up in Murray Hill and visited many of them. We have lived every where, except upper west side because lack of parking. This discussion is interesting.</p>
<p>My son has lived in Stuyvesant Town for the past 4 years with two room mates. It has become a young area and there is everything he needs within a couple of blocks. He lives closer to 1st Avenue. It’s in a park-like setting in the midst of Manhattan craziness.</p>
<p>Union Square. On top of having everything your son wants, it’s also a major transport hub. The NQRW, 4/5/6, and L trains all converge here.</p>
<p>And it’s not as expensive as the Village/SoHo, I think. AND if you play your cards right, you can get an apartment with a park view (not to mention the park being right outside your front door). Not staring at a building does wonders for your mental health you know. It does get a little touristy but having lived here for 2 years for college I’m used to it and everyone I talked to said they got used to it too. It’s walking distance from the Village, close to just about everything (20 minutes to midtown, 10 minutes to SoHo) except for maybe Wash Heights.</p>
<p>And the 4/5/6 is perfect for 50/park.</p>
<p>if he’s considering Queens at all,Astoria is a location he can probably afford to live w/o roommates.Neice is living there now.Very young and getting hip,lots of ethnic touches.More services/restaurants than Long Island City.
Watch out for Brooklyn Heights (very pricey),Park slope (very family oriented) Williamsburg (unless he’s totally a hipster type).
He must be doing well to consider Manhattan areas w/o a roommate.Friends S lives Chelsea…pays 2500 for his share ( 3 people)…but its three bedrooms with outdoor space.</p>
<p>I agree on the Union Square area. We lived in the East 20’s, and found it to be very liveable.</p>
<p>Union Square is only for those who are OK with crowds. It’s a zoo. It’s full of shoppers from all over and overrun with students. I go to the Whole Foods and Trader Joe’s occasionally, but only if I have time to stand in line for half an hour. The area just south of it (technically the East Village) is OK though. </p>
<p>As for Chelsea, it is very expensive. Also very gay, although of course there are many kinds of people given that it’s NYC. I really like it but it does have a very distinctive vibe. The gallery district way over on the west side is also very interesting, but not worth living there for.</p>
<p>I’m enjoying reading this as I have a D who lives in NYC who is a recent college grad. She lives in Williamsburg and so I guess that means she is a hipster? I also was at the Whole Foods in Union Square about a week ago with her and only waited in line about four minutes at around 7 PM.</p>
<p>Williamsburg is totally hip. Associated with hip is the reality that residents often take their rent in cash out of the ATM because that’s how the Polish landlord wants it.</p>
<p>I would say either Union Square, Hell’s Kitchen, Upper West Side or the village-if you are on Park & 50th, easy to walk from Grand Central or the local #6 stop on 50th St… and not a bad walk unless really cold or really raining or really hot to Rockefeller Center/50 St stop.
For those financial offices where you need to be at your desk literally at 7 AM- streets aren’t so crowded and easy to walk around, even crosstown bus will make quick time. Astoria is also an easy commute to that area- and for years I lived in Brooklyn Heights and commuted to Grand Central… Brooklyn Heights is glorious but the profile isn’t necessarily young/hip/single… For the most part the independent bookstore scene in NYC is a thing of the past other than a few still hanging on and specialty stores like Drama Bookshop.</p>
<p>I agree that Murray Hill has become a haven for post collegiates in the past five years. Lots of bars and restaurants have opened up along Third Avenue. People have made many good suggestions. The problem is that it’s hard to find something reasonable in these areas.</p>
<p>I was helping my daughter find an apartment in a city 400 miles away (I wasn’t much help, frankly), but I found Google Map’s street views to be a fun way to see what each block looked like. If you can’t get an exact address, you can search for intersections.</p>
<p>I don’t have any first-hand experience with this firm, but they appeal to young people moving into the city. They renovate tenements on the Upper East Side, and they seem to do a pretty good job.</p>
<p>[Eberhart</a> Brothers - No Fee Manhattan Apartment Rentals](<a href=“http://www.eberhartbros.com/]Eberhart”>http://www.eberhartbros.com/)</p>
<p>Just wanted to add that in order to save money in Manhattan, renters often have to make compromises. One idea that I think is good is to look east of Second Avenue. Yes, it’s farther from the subway, but those streets are filled with young people, and assuming your son doesn’t have a problem walking, it should be fine.</p>
<p>cbreeze, my son works in the same neighborhood as your son, 53rd and Park. He and gf moved about a year ago from 83rd near York, to 86th and 2nd. They felt the increase in rent for living much closer to the subway was worth it, and I tend to agree, much as I despise NYC rents (they did negotiate a 10% reduction this current year vs last year). </p>
<p>They like the quiet and relative affordability (?) of the upper east side. Restaurants, coffee shops, bars…they’re everywhere. Lots of young people, but also families, and it seems lots of dogs. Also, now that the weather’s nice, son walks home from work, plugged into his ipod. A beautiful, safe, interesting 40 minute walk. His first NYC apt (2005 college grad) was in Stuyvesant Town. This was perfect for a recent college grad, but unfortunately I believe rent control was lifted since he lived there 4 yrs ago. They prefer their upper east side neighborhood to Stuy Town, your son may not.</p>
<p>He doesn’t complain about noise from subway construction on Second Avenue, but he’s on a high floor. One cool thing about New York (don’t know if this has been mentioned on this thread)…there’s a phone number you can use to complain about, for example, noise. Son did this once…something like construction noise early on a weekend morning. Within minutes, the noise stopped (I concluded there were multiple complaints besides his).</p>
<p>Wow, so many good suggestions. My plan is to fly to NYC next week (had already planned this trip months ago to visit my d who lives in Hoboken) to scout out a few potential areas and make appts to see as many places fitting son’s criteria. S will fly in the weekend after, on a red-eye immediately finishing his last day in his present job. Hopefully we’ll find the near perfect apt.
My H and I had not planned on apt hunting for son on this trip but we’ll squeeze in this daunting task without altering our original plans too much. I’ll bring my best pair of walking shoes.
Will update you all but please continue with suggestions.
Another tidbit that may make any “helicopter” parent proud…my S negotiated a RT airfare for me in J class no less as part of his moving package to help him coordinate with the movers when his stuff arrives in NY. And no, he hasn’t lived within 500 miles from home since he left for college so I couldn’t “helicopter”.</p>
<p>Forgive my ignorance, but what’s J class?</p>
<p>Here’s another place you can try. If nothing more, it will give you an idea about prices. A friend of mine used to live in a Jakobson building, and he said it was “okay.” </p>
<p><a href=“http://www.nofeerentals.com/apartments.asp[/url]”>http://www.nofeerentals.com/apartments.asp</a></p>
<p>Another piece of advice: If you’re going to be co-signing for your son, come prepared with bank statements, copies of your last three pay stubs, identification, a checkbook, etc. Be ready to pounce on something good when you see it.</p>
<p>Booklady- J is business class.</p>
<p>LurkNess- thanks for the advice. S will go by the guidelines of rent not exceeding 40-45X his annual income. I’ll have a copy of his job offer letter and pay stubs from his present job ready.
Is there room for rental negotiation at present?</p>
<p>Well, hard to say. Of course, give it try. But as a new tenant, you won’t have much leverage unless you are committing to an apartment that no one else would want. And that’s unlikely to happen in the areas of Manhattan you’re looking in.</p>
<p>Rent concessions ARE being given to current tenants who find out that vacant apartments in their building are being advertised for less. In those cases, the landlord will cut some money off the rent to avoid having to look for a new tenant.</p>