“I came across a video on YouTube about a woman who relocated to NYC recently and was reminded of my own move to NYC. She took the viewer around her room, and included what she did to find the $1,800 bedroom in a 3-bedroom apartment, located in lower Manhattan. Suddenly, I was transported back 4 years ago to my first apartment in a trendy neighborhood in Brooklyn and the biggest mistake my husband, Brandon, and I made when moving to NYC.
When we first started apartment hunting, I saw the $2,550 price of a studio loft and thought, “Well this is NYC, I’ve heard rent is horrible,” so Brandon and I accepted it. I lived in Michigan and Brandon was in Georgia so we couldn’t make a ton of trips out here to apartment hunt. Luckily, we only signed a 5-month lease, something long enough that we could get to the city and look somewhere else after moving to NYC. We also had no idea which neighborhoods to look in, so we were completely blind when hunting and I only knew one person out here at the time.
Our place in Brooklyn really did look like the movie version of what you expect an NYC loft to look like. I fell asleep staring at the skyline from my 5th-floor walk-up. I was able to hang out on our rooftop on summer nights and listen to the man next door play his saxophone on his roof at night.
Sadly, eventually, reality set in, our very trendy brick wall had holes where you could see outside which resulted in our electric bill skyrocketing. Our hip, old, factory of a building had a cockroach problem with no one controlling it which made for a visit from a roach every two weeks. But this is New York City, right? This is how it is here, right? NO!
My biggest mistake when moving to NYC was accepting the vague idea I had heard about how expensive and hard it is to live in the city. Don’t get me wrong, NYC is more expensive than most places in the U.S. but that doesn’t mean that you can’t make it work. As in every location across the
world, there are expensive and affordable homes. I recently spoke with a woman who was considering moving out of the city and she noted the recent price hike of renting in other cities is similar to NYC.
If you’re planning on moving to NYC and currently own a car, just sell it now. Your cost of transportation will go way down, to around $137 a month for a subway pass or even cheaper if the company you work for offers a transportation discount. You can find everything you need to know on
the subway here. I’ve found that groceries are also very similar in price if not the same as small-town America. It depends on which items you’re looking for but I shop at Whole Foods and my almond milk is cheaper here then when I’m home in Michigan. You also have to remember that NYC has one of the highest minimum wages in the country and an insane amount of free things to do.
It took me about 2 years to find an apartment I fell in love with after moving to NYC. I now see the benefit of experience, not only do you get to check out different neighborhoods but you get to ask other people what they’re paying for rent. Which may seem taboo but it’s very common for people to ask here and very informative.
When I say I’m obsessed with my apartment and my neighborhood I’m not kidding. My love for this place runs deep. I live in Washington Heights. It’s more residential, but we have one of the most beautiful parks, great restaurants and we’re only 20 minutes to midtown on the train. Then there’s the matter of my gorgeous 1,000 sqft 2-bedroom for $2,050 a month. When we finally came to check out the place and asked all our questions including do the windows lock and unlock ( I swear to you this is something I’ve had a problem with every time) we ended up traveling 80 blocks the next day in a snowstorm to sign a lease. When you find real estate gold in NYC you do not sleep on it, snatch it before anyone else can.
We’ve been in our current place for about 2 years now and so far we’ve only had maybe 4 cockroaches, which sadly is inevitable in NYC. It’s the first place we’ve lived in that, even though we’re renting, feels like a home. I know with Coronavirus some of you may be reevaluating whether
or not you still want to take the leap of faith and move to New York City but I would love to give you a bit of food for thought. Historically, the world has always recovered from a pandemic. New York will go back to its old ways, we just have to weather the storm for a bit. Additionally, with so many people moving out of NYC rent prices keep going down so this may be your chance to nab something great at an amazing price.”
About Claire Crawford-Braun
Claire Crawford-Braun is the writer and creator of The Modern Traditionalist, a lifestyle blog focused on living and making it in the city that never sleeps with a modern mindset and traditional values.
