Potential move from UK to NYC with 1 year old DS - Advice much appreciated!

[Poppyjen]

DH and I are just researching a potential move out there later this year with our 1 year old DS and need to work out whether the money offered will allow us to live have a decent lifestyle in the city or whether a move a bit further out would be best.

I am staying at home with DS, and DH job will be near(ish) Grand Central. He wants to keep his commute to a minimum so ideally we would like to live in the city but appreciate that rent may be huge.

Just wondering if anyone can tell me what it would cost to rent a 2 bed place in:

1. Manhattan
2. Hoboken/Brooklyn Heights
3. Greenwich CT
4. Any other locations anyone would recommend

Any advice would be much appreciated!

Thanks!

If DH is employed by Grand Central you want to be either on the MTA line (ie Westchester or CT), Brooklyn (Brooklyn Heights) or Queens (Astoria). I love hoboken but the PATH goes to the west side of manhattan. It is a pain in the rear end to go cross town, especially in the rain/snow/humidity.

With a DS who is 1 I would go for either Westchester or CT. Take a look at the MTA map and go from there. The taxes in CT are lower than Westchester but DH will be paying city tax on his income anyway. Nice towns are Larchmont through to Stamford. You will need a car if you live in these areas (all wheel drive and something powerful enough for hills).

You are unlikely to get a rental in Greenwich Ct which is smaller than a 4 bed house. Its one of the most expensive places to live in the US and the recent housing boom saw a lot of tear-down & re-build projects. If you do get a rental there, it will either be hugely expensive or a bit shabby / run down.

Have you tried running rental searches online for the areas you like?

try trulia.com (for the whole of the US) and Halstead.com (for Manhattan etc)

Thanks want2bbeSupermum and anonymosity - really appreciate you taking the time to respond

I have done a few searches to look at property prices but its all a bit confusing, so many ads (especially in the city) list an apartment as having 2 bedrooms but then say its 1 bedroom with a corner of the living room that you could "convert" - makes it quite hard to figure out how much we'll need to pay to get a decent place

We don't know what DH remuneration package will be yet so we are just trying to get a general idea of how much it will need to be for the move to make sense for us. We'll only be in NY for a couple of years (at least that's the plan for now) so whilst DS is little I think we'd like to be in the city and as centrally located as possible without having to live in a shoebox

Thanks for the suggestions of other areas, hadn't considered Queens - I'll look in to that. Any other suggestions out there?

As a rule of thumb I think you're looking at $3000-$4000 for a good size 2 bed in a decent area, if you can squeeze up a bit, maybe $2750. This is the case for NYC areas and outside (as well as the West Coast, where we are). Sorry I should have said that before.

In Manhattan you are looking at around $3500+ for a true 2bed for something on the East side (do not go above 90th). For Queens I have only been to Astoria and thought it was nice but it wasn't a Hoboken or Brooklyn Heights/Park Slope. With a small child and wishes for space then I think Brookyln is your best best. Take a look on craigslist.

When they say 1 bedroom plus alcove it is basically where you should put a dining table. You 'can' convert this space to a sleeping area but it isn't a legal bedroom (must have window and wardrobe in a room to call it a bedroom).