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So my husband and I would really like to be able to live in NYC on his salary, currently 100k. He can telecommute from anywhere in the Western Hemisphere so that makes it easier. I could easily work too but we are planning on having a child in the next year, seems like it would make more sense (daycare costs) for me to stay home and try to work it out on his income, and then any per-diem/part-time work I pick up could be a bonus.
Is it possible to live in a decent neighborhood with some cafes, restaurant (nice ambiance) on this salary? I have looked at a ton of HDFCs and once in a while they have a max income of 100,000 but its extremely rare, and I guess we'd have to wait until a baby comes along to have a household of 3. I have also looked at Affordable Housing and doesn't seem like there are any for a max income of 100k. Maybe its me who is being ridiculous thinking there should be some kind of special help for families who want an affordable place to live. But otherwise, I don't see how any small family could possibly stay under the age-old "30%" rule in NYC! Exa. His take home is about 6k/mo after taxes/some retirement contributions, so basically looking at 2k/mo for a 2 bedroom if we tried to do this in a financially responsible way. Hah!
Any suggestions of where to look? We want to stay in a neighborhood convenient for family from NJ to come visit us. We've also taken rides through Jersey City but can't seem to find the more fun-looking neighborhoods. Weehawken could work but I have heard it takes 40 minutes on the bus to Midtown! Also looked at Hunter's Point but that seems out of our price range for now. Hoping the affordable housing being built there will have an option for us but I am beginning to doubt it
Your salary is perfect for the uws. Dont listen to some people here who are going to say you need more money to live in that area. Im a real estate agent and can tell you theres places from 55st-103st that would easily work for you.
With 100k a year you can probably find a 2 bedroom (nothing super fancy) on the UWS and on the UES (east of Lexington Avenue) or a pretty nice 1-bedroom apartment, but perhaps the 2-bedroom can wait until you definitely are expecting a child.
If I were you, I'd sign a 1-year lease somewhere for a 1-bedroom apartment (nothing too fancy) maybe on the UES/UWS just to see if it is potentially an area you would like to buy/rent in once you have a child. That way you'll save a nice amount of money that could be put to use for a 2-bedroom when you are expecting a baby
As silverbullnyc said, don't believe these clowns on here saying you can't live in Manhattan for 100k; there is a lot available.
I think you'll have to adjust your concept of financial responsibility and raise your budget to $2500, but once you do that you can afford any number of good neighborhoods. In addition to the above-mentioned UWS and UES, there's Park Slope and Prospect Heights in Brooklyn and Astoria in Queens. Do not live in New Jersey, there's no reason to do that.
We want to settle down close to our family in NJ (both mine and his), somewhere we won't need a car (just prefer walkable areas), with lots of interesting things to do, farm markets, festivals, niche meetups, etc. My husband wants to get more involved in groups with similar career niches. Sick of the nightmare traffic and suburban sprawl of NJ. I used to do home visits in NYC and I could spend hours just walking around people watching. We've been to a lot of cities now and there is just a vibe about NYC we are deeply attracted to.
I guess we will continue to long-term travel as often as we can if we can't afford NYC. I was hoping to apply for affordable housing in Hunter's Point but based on another thread I just saw, we missed the application period in August :/ We are also open to Brooklyn but aside from the obvious (Park Slope, Williamsburg) don't know any of the other possible neighborhoods. Will keep searching I have a lot of perseverance.
Don't go to Patterson, Newark or Brownsville its too dangerous
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