Singlespeed & Fixed Gear - Moving to NYC?

I'm thinking about moving to NYC this sept. Any advice on where to live for relatively cheap? I'd like to be able to commute into manhattan on my fix.(I'm hoping to land an I.D. job) I'm thinking brooklyn or maybe bronx, but I don't know a lot about the city.

Brooklyn is closer to lower Manhattan and the rent is higher than Queens or the Bronx. The Bronx probably has the cheapest rent and is really close to Washington Heights and Upper Manhattan. Queens is middle of the road a far as rent and is closer to Mid-town Manhattan. These are all rough generalizations, best thing to do is come here check out the neighborhoods you can afford and go from there. Good luck!

http://www.fixed.gr/nyc is our local board. lots of advice there, and possibly roomies too.

what's an ID job?

Interior Design?

International Dancer?

Intelligent Design...er?

i live in the bronx. it's a little inconvenient, cause everyone i hang out with lives in brooklyn or queens. but whatever - end of the night training rides, plus a 20mi r/t commute to my job in manhattan, gives me good legs for alleycats and all day rides.

PM me if you want some bronx ideas.

ID = industrial design

I do have to go there and check it out.

buuuushhhhwickkkkkkk

corona is the best. u get to live with latinos, the rent is cheap, 25 mins from midtown. i'm just saying that cause i need a roomate.
u could move to brookyln like everyone and their mother, but that's wack. or u could move by eddie in the hip downtown area of nyc, but u'd probably succumb to selling drugs and probably urself to pay the rent. best bet is to come down, hang with the kids and see what works best for u.
it's customary when a new out of towner shows up to buy a round of drinks as a token of appreciation.

Realize that most things in NYC are farther apart than they are in Boston (where I spent five years). Come down for the weekend or a week and just ride around to get the feel for neighborhoods. Some, particularly Bed-Sty, can be entirely hit or miss. One block may seem nice and there may actually be a bodega on the corner but the next few blocks could be entirely run down.


FYI, the apartment searching market sucks. Ive been looking for two months: if you see a craigslist ad, you have to see the apartment that night or the next morning and make a move on it immediately. If you are looking with a roommate, they probably need to see the place with you in case the landlord wants to meet both of you.

If I was starting out again in NYC, I would look for an apartment on Broadway in the east Riverdale section, in the mile or two north of 242 St. Apartments are typically 2/3 the rent of apartments in similar neighborhoods in very northern Manhattan (i.e., north of 168 Street).

There are many rental apartments, and rents are not inflated by either hipsters or yuppies. Old-fashioned apartments, too, not carved up brownstones or tenements.

It is walking distance to a reliable subway.

It is across the street from Van Cortland Park, home not just to running and biking paths, but to NYC's best cricket, rugby, Gaelic football and other international games, all free.

7 bikable miles to midtown. Also, easily escape north via Broadway or Riverdale Avenues and/or MUPs to good road biking in Westchester County.

A little further north, there are abundant "cheap" rentals in Yonkers, and you will not have to pay NYC Income Tax, but mass transit into midtown will involve either a direct "express" bus, or a bus to the subway, which makes the commute more of a pain.

A lot less crime than anywhere in Brooklyn and other parts of the Bronx.

There are also many reasonably priced (for New York) residential neighborhoods in umglamorous and slightly out of the way sections of Queens. Just do yourself a favor and try to be within walking distance of the subway.

If your tastes are a little more bourgeois (i.e., white, middle-class, family oriented), one of the fabulous under-valued NY neighborhoods is Bay Ridge in Brooklyn. The subway ride from midtown Manhattan can be a bit of a pain (in the range of 35 minutes), but it is possible to find a moderately priced studio or 1-bedroom with views of lower NY harbor, which is priceless.

Lastly, if you know your job is going to be in downtown only, you could consider neighborhoods in Staten Island within walking distance of the Staten Island ferry.

The person who told you you have to generally be more or less ready to rent on the spot is correct. But look at a few places to get the feel of the market first, so you don't get hosed into some slum.

have you heard of Astoria? Woodside? Sunnyside? Jackson Hights?.... check them out - rent is cheap to moderate. Also the places tend to be cleaner and safer than say... Bushwick/Bedford-Stuyvesant?... I live in Astoria, and commute to work (upper west side Manhattan) and it takes me 20min max...

have you heard of Astoria? Woodside? Sunnyside? Jackson Hights?.... check them out - rent is cheap to moderate. Also the places tend to be cleaner and safer than say... Bushwick/Bedford-Stuyvesant?... I live in Astoria, and commute to work (upper west side Manhattan) and it takes me 20min max...

I'm even further out in Forest Hills, but I'm married. If I were single Astoria and Sunnyside would be my first Queens choices.

check nyc craigslist.

S/F,
CEYA!

corona is the best. u get to live with latinos, the rent is cheap, 25 mins from midtown. i'm just saying that cause i need a roomate.
u could move to brookyln like everyone and their mother, but that's wack. or u could move by eddie in the hip downtown area of nyc, but u'd probably succumb to selling drugs and probably urself to pay the rent. best bet is to come down, hang with the kids and see what works best for u.
it's customary when a new out of towner shows up to buy a round of drinks as a token of appreciation.


everything she said, especially about moving to my neighborhood and buying the round

HOBOken? Not NYC, but as close as you can get with rents that are little cheaper, but its freakin yuppie-ville there. And I guess taking your bike on the PATH would kinda suck.

from being here 8 months, i would guess living above 60th in manhattan would suck teh balls with it either being super far away or living in an area that dies at 7 o'clock. i need a little atmosphere, but anywhere in manhattan is super accessible by train or bike.

i live in astoria. it's cheap, laid back and a 10 min bike ride to midtown. brooklyn is great... greenpoint/bushwick and even bed stuy if you can find cheaper rents that are near a train. everywhere is pretty much getting gentrified or will be in the next few years. williamsburg is a total farce and costs more than the village now, but its fun to party in.

if i could have everything, i'd want to live in the village in a big space, but that doesn't exist.

if you're serious about moving, come up here with the money to put down a deposit and find a place to stay for a week, then just go look at places constantly and don't sleep on one you like because it will be gone tomorrow, especially if its on craigslist. that was the hardest part to wrap my mind around, but i just took it in the nuts and went through a broker.

buuuushhhhwickkkkkkk
i move there tomorrow! goodbye out of control manhattan rent...

i move there tomorrow! goodbye out of control manhattan rent...


moving from manhattan to the shwick is the 2nd best decision i ever made, right after high-fiving the passer-by. it's the jam. whereabouts are you living? i'm in the mckibbin lofts.

I don't know boys, I'm paying almost nothing for a place two blocks from the subway at 114th and Freddy D's.

Don't forget neighborhoods like Prospect Heights (can be kinda pricey sometimes), Crown Heights, and Flatbush. I lived in Flatbush when I first moved here and it was great. Tons of places to eat (and Im only counting the vegan places), great dumpstering, a quick ride into manhattan by bike or train (by bike, maybe 20 minutes; by train, about 30 minutes but I was at the north tip of Flatbush near the Prospect Park subway), cheap, big rooms, and nice. I now live in Bushwick and while the trip into Manhattan by train is about the same, the ride is quicker but things close really early and the eating/nightlife is fairly limited in some sections of Bushwick.

Also, craiglists and brokers rarely use the real name of the neighborhood. They will say Williamsburg when it is clearly Bushwick and I have even seen a few say East Williamsburg (it isn't just a hipster or real estate term) or Bushwick when the place is basically East New York (a fairly far out section of Brooklyn that is getting nicer but still pretty ****ty and was the setting in the movie Goodfellas). Brokers in Brooklyn can charge a fee between 10% and 12% while brokers in Manhattan can go from 12% to 15%. I've had at least two brokers tell me that because the broker was based in Manhattan, he could charge a Manhattan broker's fee for a Brooklyn apartment. I haven't done the research on that but I'd place a hefty wager on that being illegal.

And I second the comment about seeing a few places to get a feel first. Maybe even schedule to see a few you know you can't afford so that you get an idea of how much a place like that costs. Maybe it wont' be as shocking.

Brokers in Brooklyn can charge a fee between 10% and 12% while brokers in Manhattan can go from 12% to 15%. I've had at least two brokers tell me that because the broker was based in Manhattan, he could charge a Manhattan broker's fee for a Brooklyn apartment.


Are broker fees based onthe first months rent or is it a monthly thing? I've been curious about this as I'm heading up there later in the year.

Also, craiglists and brokers rarely use the real name of the neighborhood. They will say Williamsburg when it is clearly Bushwick and I have even seen a few say East Williamsburg (it isn't just a hipster or real estate term) or Bushwick when the place is basically East New York (a fairly far out section of Brooklyn that is getting nicer but still pretty ****ty and was the setting in the movie Goodfellas).
Williamsburg is now know as West Bushwick, haven't ya heard?

Observe the neighborhood at various times. Early on a Sunday morning sometimes seems artificially-peaceful for lots of towns.

You'll find no cheap rent in NYC, obviously here at the forum is ground ZERO in your research. Parts of Brooklyn were less expensive, not so much now. A co-op in Washington Heights which is a neighborhood in Manhatten,bordering the Bronx costs $780,000 , I know my neice just bought one. 15 years ago, it would have cost $50. The Bronx is less expensive. Being from Boston, I'm sure that you know how much a place costs to rent. NYC S/S,maybe worse. The Bronx has yet to increase as much. Riverdale being an exception, though Riverdale IS a great place. Being just north of Manhattan, it's convenient,it ought to cost more than it does. Old maps call that aera "Upper Manhattan" really old maps,old folkes as well. Park Slope , Brooklyn WAS a fine, non-expensive place, ten years ago, so was Carol Gardens, Brooklyn, not any more. Anywhere in Manhattan, expect to pay two per month to start for less than 800 sq. feet.

great dumpstering

Always amongst my first criteria when looking for a great New York neighborhood!

brokers fees are based on a year thing. well that's what my broker told me, it was going to cost me 3000 dollars to pay his ass.

quick questions...
my wife and i are going up in june for a week to nyc to find a place for august, is that totally nuts? we'll probably live in brooklyn, because our friends do... how long of a ride am i looking at from the pratt area to hunter college?
also, when are brokers worth it? we're on a pretty tight budget (for nyc)
thanks

My sister is a broker in the Bronx and Harlem. Basically everything is negotiable. But I don't think any broker is gonna come out and tell you that and take food out of their mouth. Just be smart, don't be afraid to ask questions and if you see something that seems too good to be true it most likely is.

corona is the best. u get to live with latinos, the rent is cheap, 25 mins from midtown. i'm just saying that cause i need a roomate.
u could move to brookyln like everyone and their mother, but that's wack. or u could move by eddie in the hip downtown area of nyc, but u'd probably succumb to selling drugs and probably urself to pay the rent. best bet is to come down, hang with the kids and see what works best for u.
it's customary when a new out of towner shows up to buy a round of drinks as a token of appreciation.


i live on the upper east side, and it's the best cos i don't have to see anyone i know unless they're decked out in spandex, riding around in circles.

I'm moving to nyc in August. Anyone have any friends leaving an apartment? I'm looking Bushwick/Wburg/Downtown-up to Harlem