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Job offered in NYC - I hope you can help me with some information
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So, my work offered me to move to NYC for one year, with an offer of slightly above 100K per year. The workplace would be around the corner of 5th Avenue and 42nd street.
Is there a webpage where I can easily calculate how much taxes I would need to pay?
I would likely need to keep my current apartment, which costs me around 950 bucks a month, so I assume that I would not be able to afford a prime location in Manhattan to live. Luckily though, I am debt free and do not need much space - 250ft would be very much enough. What would be good location? Commuting by public transport for up to 30 minutes one way is fine, I rather not have a car.
What would be good place to look for an apartment (in terms of location of the apartment and actual place to find rentable apartments) and what kind of costs would I need to expect (deposit and I don't really have an american credit history - I do use credit cards and do fine there - again no debt)? Is NYC livable on my budget with these restrictions?
Is there a webpage where I can easily calculate how much taxes I would need to pay?
I would likely need to keep my current apartment, which costs me around 950 bucks a month, so I assume that I would not be able to afford a prime location in Manhattan to live. Luckily though, I am debt free and do not need much space - 250ft would be very much enough. What would be good location? Commuting by public transport for up to 30 minutes one way is fine, I rather not have a car.
What would be good place to look for an apartment (in terms of location of the apartment and actual place to find rentable apartments) and what kind of costs would I need to expect (deposit and I don't really have an american credit history - I do use credit cards and do fine there - again no debt)? Is NYC livable on my budget with these restrictions?
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is one thing
http://webinfocentral.com/tax/
Another
Where do you live now? What do you enjoy?
pfff..hehehehahahahaha...
hahahaHAHAHAHAHAHAHA....
*gasp for breath* HAHAHAHAHAHA....
Sorry. Ahem.
NYC can be pretty rough when it comes to rent. Don't think in terms of a 30 minute commute, you won't find anything reasonable, or safe, pick one, that close to 42nd and 5th. Everybody comes to NYC and thinks "I don't want to live outside of Manhattan", then gets slaughtered with $2000+ rent for a 250 sq ft. studio. Okay, I'm exaggerating. Maybe.
Expand your horizon to Queens, Brooklyn, and New Jersey, and you'll find that you will have a much easier time finding affordable housing. Commute is not THAT bad, and depending on where you live in Queens and Jersey, it will actually be a faster commute than living in certain places of Manhattan. I don't know about a 1-year lease, as most places I know would like long term tenants. That doesn't mean there are no short-term leases out there, but you'll have to hunt around a bit. If you will be in NYC before you start working, craigslist will be invaluable. You might be able to find sublets.
Another option would be to rent in Westchester, and commute by train to the city, which is a fairly common and easy thing to do. Train passes are ~$200+ a month though, so factor that in.
streeteasy.com is a decent listing site.
Most financial management people I've talked to would say that putting about 30% of your monthly paycheck toward rent is pretty reasonable. If you have no debt you can even get up to 35 or 40%, as unlike many people you have no loans to worry about paying down.
At an annual salary of 100k, 30% puts you at about $2500 for rent. Subtract what you need to pay down rent on your current apartment ($950) and you're looking at about $1550 being what you can "afford" to pay.
Have you considered subletting your current apartment? If you can get someone to pay that rent for you, it'll free up cash that you can use to pay for a nicer or more convenient place in NYC.
I did not think yet on how much budget I want to put aside for rent - that was one of the things I hoped to better understand from this thread. The 950 is my current rent that I would likely need to keep out of other considerations - I knew that NYC would be likely more - I was hoping for the 1500 - 2000 dollar range.
The places you guys mentioned - Westchester, Brooklyn, New Jersey, maybe Long Island (?) - what would the commute time be approximately?
Brooklyn: Depends on where. Brooklyn is HUGE. If you're lucky enough to score something decent in DUMBO/Brooklyn Heights/Downtown Brooklyn, then 45 minutes to where you'll be working, including walking time. If you want the most straightforward commute, then when house hunting stick to where the F-train stops in Brooklyn, since the F has a stop at 42nd and 6th and runs at a pretty good pace. The 4/5 trains run express and also good, and you can take the 4/5 to Grand Central at 42nd and Park, 35 minutes tops. This will be your best chance of living "near" Manhattan with a $2000 budget.
Jersey also depends. If you live somewhere in, say, Hoboken/Newport, then I believe NJ Transit or the ferry system will get you to mid-town or the Financial District in pretty good time, and from there you hop onto a bus or subway (most likely 2/3) to get to 42nd. I'm not familiar with NJ though, so can't comment further than that. However, this might be your best chance at finding something for a good price. DO NOT LIVE IN NEWARK, no matter how cheap it is, if you want to return to your country alive after your 1-year stint.
Long Island is highly dependent. Most areas would require you to drive, or bus then LIRR/subway. Look for neighborhoods around Long Island Rail Road stops, as this will be the most straightforward for you.
Commute from Queens will be slightly better than Long Island. Long Island City, which despite its name is in Queens, is right across the river from Manhattan, although the G train commute will probably make you want to kill yourself. Thankfully, there are two LIRR stops in LIC. Astoria in Queens might look attractive, however there's no easy public transportation in Astoria. Elmhurst/Jackson Heights are good living for good prices, but you start looking at commutes up to an hour. Any further east than that and it makes more sense to go to Brooklyn or even Jersey from a commuting time perspective.
If you're willing to have a roommate, then of course prices get slightly less unreasonable.
Of course, all of this does not mean you can't find a good place in Manhattan for $1400. I had a friend who lived in Nolita for that price (shared space though) and loved it for the price. Two burglaries later that changed. It all depends on what you are willing to live with.
You will need a car and your commute will suck (wspecially from LI, since with upstate you land in Grand Central) and will be much more expensive with car + train
The N/Q are excellent and the neighborhood is p boss, safe, cheap, and probably hasn't been used as a backdrop on HBO's Girls.
Everything else is spot on. You can def find a studio in a decent nabe for sub $1800
Westchester is the county north of the Bronx. It includes White Plains, but also all places south of there. It starts with Yonkers/Mount Vernon/Pelham/New Rochelle on the border of the Bronx, but there are nice places if you go a little north (but need not go as north as White Plains). Commute wise you're looking at 35-50 minutes, depending on how far north you go.
There are places within walking distance of the train stations in the various villages. It is a little tough getting around Westchester without a car though, I will give you that.
I would say look into the Yorkville neighborhood (or thereabouts) in Manhattan.
I will also need to dig deeper into the offer anyway - there are some points that I do not like at the moment which might put me at a disadvantage to my current position.
most of what you've said is solid, but this really isn't true anymore. there's still large swathes of newark you don't want to go in the dark, but even those spots are way way better than they were even five years ago. newark is getting gentrified hard, and it's absolutely an option if you're working in the city.
hitting hot metal with hammers
This is true and works only if you don't plan to leave your house for anything other than your job. The public transportation system on long island is awesome at two things:
1. Getting to NYC in the morning
2. Getting out of NYC in the evening
Beyond that it's pretty awful. I don't know a single person who commutes from Nassau to NYC and doesn't own a car. I would lose my shit if I didn't have one.
in manhattan, apartment rentals are controlled by the broker mafia.... and the average 1br apartment has recently gone up to (drumroll please?) $3800/month... so all logic goes out the window in this fucked up little island.
so keep in mind that to get an apartment, you'll most likely need to pay 1st month's rent, a security deposit, AND a 15% (of a year's rent) brokers fee... so if you're looking at a $2K apartment, you'll need to pay ~$7600 just for the privilege of moving in
it's very possible to get a no-fee apartment, but it takes a lot of looking/time (or friends that know of one, etc.)... since you're coming from out of town, i assume you have neither the weeks/months to look for one, or the contacts to find one
also, you're only moving here for a year - you don't need an entire apartment. A single room in a share is more than doable short-term. Plus, you won't need to furnish it as much (which, like everything else, is expensive in NYC).
my friend has a 1BR apartment around ... 86? ish for $1800 and it's pretty nice (though almost all my other friends live with someone else, he's the only person I know who lives without roommates - and for short term it's not hard to get a room in an apt)
UES is the cheapest area left in a reasonable area of manhattan (sub 125st) and the public transport from there is good - that'd be a fast commute to 42nd and 5th
takes me like 35-40 mins to get from my apt in prospect heights park slope in brooklyn to 28th and 5th if that helps for reference
It takes me about 30 mins to get to 32nd and Broadway from my spot at the corner of Fort Greene, Prospect Heights and Park Slope.
I see 5 studio apartments under $1500 very close to the Grove St. PATH station in Jersey City. Taxes and CoL are lower in NJ, as well, so there's that. If you do want to live in Manhattan, take a look through a site like HotPads.com, which not only lets you search based on some basic criteria (using a map), it also shows the transit lines in NYC so you can make sure you don't end up in a transportation ghetto.
You can find reasonably priced apartments in Manhattan. My ex-wife used a realtor to find a 450 sqft apartment on 45th and 3rd for $1700 about 18 months ago, and from the pictures she posted on Facebook it looks like a really nice place. She actually works in Tarrytown and takes the train in a reverse commute, so being right by Grand Central was key to her.
Craigslist for apartment sublet is also a possibility if you don't already have furniture/a lot of stuff that you'll need to have in your NYC place. For YEARS I found roommates on CL and it saved me from having to buy furniture, since a lot of places were furnished sublets! Since you're looking at a year or less, this is worth the hassle of living with someone, most of the time, unless they turn out to be whoa crazy.
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hey man jsq isn't so bad
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So yeah, if you don't have a car in the JSQ area, you're relegated to shopping along the PATH lines or at shops that cater to low-income families. Most people enjoy living in Manhattan not because of the commute, but because what you live near by being in Manhattan. If you're without a car, being able to walk to get food, clothes, fun stuff, and so on, is pretty great. That also means that you should review potential neighborhoods that DON'T have those kind of amenities.
http://theworstroom.tumblr.com/
My girlfriend and I pay $1500/month for our one bedroom out here, and were able to find a place that's reasonably close to the subway, and didn't have a broker's fee.
On your salary, though, it sounds like you wont have any trouble affording a place in Manhattan. I've been looking for work since I moved here last September, which is definitely a smaller salary than what you're looking at!
Holy shit.
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And at $950 a month.
I have been looking closer at Queens - would one of the high rises near hunter's point be worth the rent they ask for? Also, how is the Upper East Side?
only downside is the 4/5 trains are super crowded
I will second the UES as being a really nice area to live, I used to go to school there and I now work nearby. If you can find something within your budget, I'd go for it. The 4/5 may be crowded, but it is convenient to most places you might want to go in the city.
White Plains has not-awesome rents but if you're going to 42nd and 5th, that is literally 5 minutes from Grand Central, and the train takes ~40 minutes to get to GCT from White Plains when it's running express. Getting to Manhattan from Westchester is not that hard if you can figure out how Metro-North works, and you don't actually need a car given where you're headed in Manhattan.
Yonkers and Mount Vernon, which are both nearer to Manhattan, are undergoing something of a re-development boom at the moment, as well, and there's available space in New Rochelle, too, which is about as close. The river towns and further north than, like, Valhalla are not a good idea, though, if you're worried about commute times.
The folks suggesting you sublet or hustle in Manhattan / not far from Manhattan but still in NYC are on-target as well. If you don't mind a foot / subway commute it should be fairly possible to live anywhere south of Central Park and north of and get to where you want to go fairly quickly assuming you can find something affordable to live in; try to land somewhere near a line with relatively few transfers on the way to Grand Central, like the 6.
Looking again I see I'm super-late to the party on this thread, but you still won't get crushed in Lower Westchester if you're having trouble with your preferred options. Good luck!
Roommates are not just for students and the unemployed as they are often elsewhere. Everyone who is under 30 has them. They enable you to afford a place in a nicer area, close to nice stuff, and spend less time on the subway than if you wanted to live alone.
Since you will be working in midtown, consider a midtown apartment share. It's a boring area to live, so they are not quite so expensive as many places in Manhattan. You might be able to walk to work.
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