Quote: (01-27-2019 10:11 PM)WalterBlack Wrote:  

I live close to the westside of Los Angeles, I pay nearly $1800 for a 1 bed, but I got lucky. The average place in my area costs around $400-$700 more. If you're willing to share, you can easily find a place $1200 or cheaper.

I lived Westside of LA back in 2000-2005, near 3rd and Robertson, Beverly Hills adjacent. Very hoity-toity area. My 2-bdr apartment was only $1450.

Things have changed, apparently.

I think most guys here would be shocked at just how many 20-and-30 something urbanites are still getting money from mom and dad. And receiving those type of handouts doesn't require a huge trust fund. Just having the parents subsidize rent to the tune of $1k a month can make all the difference. These are families that are fairly well off but not especially rich, and who feel compelled to help "launch" their son/daughter after college by providing them a leg up for opportunities in the big city. Combine that with the fact that most young people (women especially) save absolutely nothing for the future and big city living suddenly becomes within the realm of possibility.

Quote: (01-28-2019 09:05 AM)TigerMandingo Wrote:  

I'd much rather take a smaller salary in a place like Denver but be surrounded by good nature and less bustle.

I'm currently in Denver and people are moving here in the boatloads. Slowly turning into California. Locals are telling me crime has gotten significantly worse and its become more unsafe by every passing day.

I wouldn't be surprised if Denver resembles a 3rd world shithole in 10 years or less for American standards.

Quote: (01-28-2019 07:51 PM)TigerMandingo Wrote:  

Quote: (01-28-2019 06:24 PM)godzilla Wrote:  

Not an expert on LA but one of the reasons housing costs are so high in New York is that rent costs go to subsidize other people. A lot of people in New York City live in subsidized housing so they don't pay even close to the costs you might see advertised.

Yea....poor people are the reason NY rents are skyhigh

Clearly, you know nothing about the city and even just said you never would move there, so why make such an uninformed comment. And clearly, it's not the ONLY thing making New York rent high.

Look below to see how much of NYC housing is 'rent regulated'. We're talking 60%. Where do you think the money comes from to do that?

http://metrocosm.com/why-is-the-rent-in-nyc-so-high/

A lot of those who work in NYC or LA have jobs in the city and live very far away. Which means they're stuck commuting 1-2 hours to and from their jobs.

Quote: (01-28-2019 10:47 AM)TigerMandingo Wrote:  

4 Gs a month for a one BR?!

Holy shit bro, you could live like a king in EE with that kinda cash!

And I can live comfortably in Las Vegas, Phoenix, or Houston making just that amount (4g's).

But I'd have to get a sexy foreign wife from Eastern Europe, Latin/South America, or South East Asia with traditional values.

Quote: (01-28-2019 12:17 AM)Blue Bayou Wrote:  

Quote: (01-27-2019 10:41 PM)steezyy Wrote:  

You can live in Manhattan on $1200-1300 with a few roommates.
Rent: 1200
Food: 1000
Other: 800 (metro pass, gym, parties)

Gees...what do you eat? Spending almost as much on food as on rent!

Quote: (01-28-2019 01:05 AM)Cation Wrote:  

1k on food? That is insane.

1000 is assuming you eat out 2-3 days for the entire month. No groceries, no cooking.

The number is high on purpose to show anyone can make it. There are 23 year old recent grads making 70k in software sales here.

I did the NYC/LA/SF scene and paid for it to be in good locations and nicer places. First did with roomates than just made more money.

But eventually I decided I'd rather have a 6-bedroom next to the beach with a driver and chef than to blow more money on rent in the states.

Now I spend less for my whole lifestyle a month than my rent was previously.

Kept the NYC salary though.

Get my fix by spending a month or two in the states and after that it's back to living like a king in the tropics.

Quote: (01-28-2019 11:08 PM)2 Cool 4 U Wrote:  

A lot of those who work in NYC or LA have jobs in the city and live very far away. Which means they're stuck commuting 1-2 hours to and from their jobs.

I live like 5 miles from work and my commute home was an hour tonight.

Same like here in Luxembourg. Rent is ridiculous in here and it isn't even a big city like New York. It's just plain ol' Luxembourg. That's why I want to head out from here and make new adventures. I think New York in that sense might be better if you want to work in finances and if you are already a bit older and prefer the 'security' from a pay-check.

How do you keep the NYC salary and live like a king in the tropics?

Quote: (01-29-2019 06:45 AM)worldtraveler3 Wrote:  

How do you keep the NYC salary and live like a king in the tropics?

Work online? Have your own business? Know how to day-trade/swing-trade? There are plenty of options.

Quote: (01-28-2019 09:34 PM)scorpion Wrote:  

I think most guys here would be shocked at just how many 20-and-30 something urbanites are still getting money from mom and dad. And receiving those type of handouts doesn't require a huge trust fund. Just having the parents subsidize rent to the tune of $1k a month can make all the difference. These are families that are fairly well off but not especially rich, and who feel compelled to help "launch" their son/daughter after college by providing them a leg up for opportunities in the big city. Combine that with the fact that most young people (women especially) save absolutely nothing for the future and big city living suddenly becomes within the realm of possibility.

This. I knew a number of ppl in both LA and NYC that got assistance from their parents well into their 30s.

Have seen how girls even in their 30s live in New York.

A 35 year old MBA graduate was renting out a room in Brooklyn. She works full time but doesn't seemingly have a penny to her name. She stopped by a shoes store and was trying out heels (worth over 1,000 dollars). Later at lunch she told me she hasn't got any money left this month even for food because she spent it all on shoes.

Then there was another girl who is 32 also working full time, lives with a friend above some shops in a shitty looking area (albeit in lower manhattan). The place inside looks like absolute shit, no wonder she's in depression. Probably making 80-100k at best but hates her job and her life.

Daddy's money has run out. Both were desperately seeking a provider type boyfriend to save them, because they clearly can't save themselves.

Quote: (01-28-2019 08:28 PM)Brodiaga Wrote:  

Quote: (01-28-2019 09:05 AM)TigerMandingo Wrote:  

Maybe this is unpopular to say, but I wouldn't live in NY regardless of what the pay is. This city has gotten seriously dirty and disgusting, the subway is 3rd-worldish, full of non-English speaking immigrants, and it takes a toll on your mental health. These are things that may seem minor but they have a cumulative effect over time. I'd much rather take a smaller salary in a place like Denver but be surrounded by good nature and less bustle.

Shh! This goes against the general party line on this forum. Some people may even call you a troll for writing this.

Eh. Both things can be true at the same time.

New York is an amazing city. However, even most liberal New Yorkers agree that the current leadership is a disaster and that quality of life is deteriorating, in particular due to severe and naive mishandling of the homeless. Despite the polite distaste you hear about the Giuliani era's cleanups, it doesn't follow that people actually want the Bad Old Days back.

https://nypost.com/2018/03/09/upstaters-...e-program/
https://www.nytimes.com/2018/10/06/nyreg...s-gym.html

This mayor was elected with 23% turnout. 8% of New Yorkers actually voted for him. He's so unpopular that at one point, Hillary Clinton was beating him in polls by 20 points, and she isn't running.

In all likelihood, with rents deteriorating and another real estate bubble on the horizon, if somebody was interested in investing in Manhattan or Brooklyn real estate, some condos will be ripe to harvest again in the near future and hold until quality of life issues rise to the top of the city's priority list again.

https://www.cnbc.com/2018/07/02/manhatta...risis.html

Kneepads

$3k for a one bed in Manhattan would be at the low-end of the scale.

Learn some skills and you can make good coin in NYC.

NYC is very expensive but it’s also worth it as it has the best buzz of any city in the world IMO.

Many people, particularly renters, find a way to get by in NYC on run-of-the-mill incomes.

https://streeteasy.com/blog/cost-of-livi...-boroughs/

OP kind of is right. There are strong Manhattan neighborhoods where you can lock up a small studio for about $1,800/month. Hell’s Kitchen, UWS, and UES come to mind.

What boggles my mind is how the average rent in Brooklyn is now on par with Manhattan. Outside of Brooklyn Heights or Park Slope, Brooklyn doesn’t have much of a draw IMO.

Williamsburg, Crown Heights, Dumbo, Park Slope, Brooklyn Heights, are all nice areas.

Part of it is that the new buildings in these areas charge a lot for rent, and the 100 year old buildings adjacent to the newer buildings charge less.

The high cost of real estate is one of the biggest reasons I'm not still in NYC currently. It just didn't make sense to hemorrhage most of my earnings on monthly rent for a shoebox when I could be stacking up in another large city (Philadelphia) with all the amenities that I would want--and not to mention only a short bus/train ride from NYC. I do miss the variety of women and the large, transient international population, though. And one thing that's probably not stated enough is how open people in NYC (generally) are to meeting others to a degree not commonly found in much of the US.

Quote: (01-29-2019 06:38 PM)GoingHAM20 Wrote:  

Many people, particularly renters, find a way to get by in NYC on run-of-the-mill incomes.

https://streeteasy.com/blog/cost-of-livi...-boroughs/

OP kind of is right. There are strong Manhattan neighborhoods where you can lock up a small studio for about $1,800/month. Hell’s Kitchen, UWS, and UES come to mind.

What boggles my mind is how the average rent in Brooklyn is now on par with Manhattan. Outside of Brooklyn Heights or Park Slope, Brooklyn doesn’t have much of a draw IMO.

Proximity to Manhattan. A classic example of this is somewhere like Greenpoint which is an ugly area IMO, but happens to be close enough to Manhattan. One thing to keep in mind is that it's not just people straight out of college in some of these neighborhoods, but also yuppie families or middle-aged people with money (like in Park Slope or Carroll Gardens). These folks drive up the cost of living.

Don't underestimate the amount of money tech workers make. Also foreign money pouring in, my friend lives in Hells Kitchen and about half the apartments in his building are Air B&Bs or vacant owned by foreign investors. These cities are playgrounds for the global elite to launder their money. All the Middle Class/Poor Whites, African Americans and Latinos have been displaced mainly to PA.

How critical is having a vehicle in NYC? I am currently in for about $400 a month in fuel and insurance, add another $4-600 in payments if you don't own your vehicle outright.

That's a lot of coin you can put towards an apartment. Kinda makes some of the boroughs look like a steal of a deal for rent if you are close to public transit.

Kinda makes me think NYC might be a feasible retirement option for me.

$1000 for food? I can feed 2 people gourmet meals for around $15 a day. That's $450 a month. Solo I could eat like a king for less than $200 a month and have a shit ton of cash left over for restaurants.

Quote: (01-30-2019 11:08 PM)ChefAllDay Wrote:  

How critical is having a vehicle in NYC? I am currently in for about $400 a month in fuel and insurance, add another $4-600 in payments if you don't own your vehicle outright.

That's a lot of coin you can put towards an apartment. Kinda makes some of the boroughs look like a steal of a deal for rent if you are close to public transit.

Kinda makes me think NYC might be a feasible retirement option for me.

You don't need a vehicle in or "close" to Manhattan. However, it's a very good idea to have one if in a neighborhood farther away from the center of the city. This is especially true in places that are public transit deserts. Having a vehicle also makes a lot of errands easier and allows more flexibility in getting out of the city for whatever reason.