O/T- Do I Pursue A Career In New York?

[jimboaldis]

I work in advertising here in London and have been since I left school almost 20 years ago.

I earn pretty ok money, but feel I have probably reach the highest level I can working in the UK.

A girl I used to work with has just got a job in New York and keeps telling me how great it is, how much more money she earns and how the quality of life is better than here.

American advertising agencies are crying out for London trained Project Managers like myself, but my problem is trying to convince my wife on why we should go (I also have 3 young children aged between 4 to 9).

If any of you guys live in or outside New York could you let me know what house prices or rentals roughly are for a 5 bedroomed house.

And if it was one of you guys that had the opportunity to move there, why would you? If you could choose, would you bring up your children there too?

I'm basically trying to throw as much positive information at my wife as possible.

Hope this all makes sense

 

[parrajm]

5 bedrooms around nyc? holy shit dude, you're talking BIG BIG money. a 5 bedroom close to a train station in jersey with an hour train ride commute (not including the drive to the station) will run you $550-600 easy for a nice house. areas with a good school system for your kids you can add another 100-200 grand to that. A 5 bedroom about a half hour train ride from nyc will cost you well over a million in areas with good schools. You can find exceptions to this in crappier areas but they're not areas I'd want my kids growing up in. If you decide to live in nyc, rent would be astronomical AND you'd need to have your kids all privately educated. my buddies are in a 3 bedroom apt in the city and they pay 2800 a month to give you a baseline.

If that 5th bedroom is supposed to be a guest room, i suggest looking for a 4 bedroom and getting a couch with a fold out bed in the living room. most of the areas around nyc actually have good schools. There are LOTS of good schools in north jersey and connecticut. In fact, jersey schools are consistently among the best in the country.

 

[VanR__]

A girl I used to work with has just got a job in New York and keeps telling me how great it is, how much more money she earns and how the quality of life is better than here.

With the right amount of money, the quality of life can be great just about anywhere...

 

[jimboaldis]

Well, let me give you an example of house prices here.

We live in Surrey, which is about an hour from the centre of London.

It's a 3 (small) bedroomed terrace house with a small lounge diner and 1 bathroom and it's market value is around £300,000 ($550,000) and if we were to rent it out it would be over £1000 ($1900) a month

We wouldn't want to live in the centre of NYC, but maybe an hour's commute away.

 

[parrajm]

theres a nice area in new jersey called chesterfield which is right next to another nice part (crosswicks). its a very quiet semi-rural area but given a 10 minute drive you're on the highway. a 20 minute drive gets you to the train station and a 50 minute express train will get you into nyc in a little under an hour. they're building brand new houses you can get for around $650,000 - 700,000 depending on the model and extras. other nice areas to look into in new jersey are west windsor, princeton, westfield, clark, rumson, east brunswick, and ridgewood off the top of my head.

 

[gooer]

LOL i live 20-30 mins out of the city in north jersey and a 5 bedroom house is going to cost you at least 1.5 mil. i dont know about rentals, but a lot. your best bet is an apt. in nyc, brooklyn or hoboken depending on what you can afford. im also in the marketing industry and you must be ceo or something to afford a 5 bedroom house

 

[VanR__]

So where do all the NYC'ers that make 30-45k a year live, in the sewers?

 

[parrajm]

waitresses in nyc make 50k a year. they live in studio apartments.

 

[G.E.R.M]

..

as far as advertising goes. one of my larger clients is an outdoor advertiser based in NYC - fueloutdoor

most live in good areas in westchester and greenwhich ct..

if you dont have a job lined up, drop me a pm..

as far as living goes.. im 5min from the train that is <60min from manhattan and 10-15min from the beach...

ok neighborhood - shortsell - 300-500, straight purchase 400-500
good neighborhood- shortsell 4-500 straigh 600-700
great neighborhood - not many shorts, stright sell- 750-2mil