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I work as a software developer in Silicon Alley. I don't know anyone that owns an apartment in Manhattan that paid for it with money they earned. A few paid for

I work as a software developer in Silicon Alley. I don't know anyone that owns an apartment in Manhattan that paid for it with money they earned. A few paid for apartments with family money, but the rest of us rent. My family has lived in the city for a long, long time, and I understand this isn't a wholly new phenomenon, but it's gotten much worse in the last 3 years. How is this sustainable in the long term? To make things worse, where I live in Astoria the local community board is so obsessed with parking (we have 2 fucking subway lines, more than the Upper East Side) that all large new buildings have underground parking, making them dramatically more expensive. This is to "keep things affordable." It feels so kafkaesque. I've thought about moving to Kansas City, where they've been building like crazy and the new streetcar is very useful.

sotojuan 10y ago
Heh, the only people I know that "own" their own places that they purchased in the last few years live down here in Sunset Park and nearby "lower Brooklyn" neighborhoods which only have a tolerable commute if you work near a D line below midtown. I'm wondering when it'll stop... Sunset Park is largely a working class neighborhood. Many of Manhattan's kitchen workers live here, for example. I can't see where they'd go if prices around here doubled. Anyway I agree with you. New York is fun to live in as a software developer don't get me wrong (you make enough money to actually enjoy the city) but when it comes to family and/or house-owning even the highest income earners I know moved upstate.
raimbowTrout 10y ago
Many of the buildings that get rented are owned by real estate companies, and professional renting organizations with lots of employees. I have very rarely (only once, actually) rented from an individual, or non-professional property owner. Figure the process is as sustainable as any other business model? Do corporations arbitrarily inflate their prices ad infinitum? What are the checks and balances to that?
mancerayder 10y ago
But it's a timing thing. I know lots of people who own apartments in Manhattan, and even more in Brooklyn and Queens. It's an age thing. If you're 25-30, even a hotshot dev making 150-200 or more, it takes a little while to save up for a down payment. Not even taking into consideration student loan debts, etc. Let's be clear, you'll have no problem affording a mortgage on a 1 bed or a large studio in a tolerable neighborhood in Manhattan at that salary, probably even today. It's the down payment that's the issue. But it's also timing. Asset prices have gotten so high, especially given that almost everything is leveraged at a low interest rate, things are inflated for someone starting their real estate ladder climb. 4-5 years ago things were a lot easier. Also expecting to live in the absolute prime areas is folly, of course people from all over the country and world want to live in the East Village or Chelsea or whatnot. No one wanted to live in LES, now they do and the prices have approached luxury territory there too now. And so it goes. I purchased a place in a gentrifying part of Brooklyn, because I was priced out of places that had just gentrified that were a little better. 10 years ago I'd have purchased in Manhattan, but 10 years ago I didn't have the down payment required. There's a lot more to it than the 'trust fund and mommy and daddy' narrative. There's a treadmill of price appreciation that seems to spill over from one neighborhood to the next.
Futurebot 10y ago
It's a disaster. No single factor affects people's decisions as much as the rent in this city; lives here revolve around it, especially if you're only making so-so money. I think about how different life here would be if everyone's rent was only, let's say, 10% of their income (jobs, hobbies, social lives, etc.) The rental increase treadmill keeps turning faster and faster, and the need to keep moving neighborhoods every few years is not a picnic. I was born in Brooklyn and have lived in NYC my whole life, and the rental situation just gets worse every year. Unless and until we start dealing with the issue seriously, it's just going to keep eating more and more of people's incomes. I wrote a post on this a while ago summarizing the issue: https://medium.com/@spencer_th0mas/fixing-the-nyc-rent-crisis-or-the-rent-is-still-too-damn-high-edb13ca853cc#.mzgoimq52 https://medium.com/@spencer_th0mas/fixing-the-nyc-rent-crisi... My rental history looks like this: 1995: 300/month sublet (Kensington) 1997: 625/month 1BR walkup (Brighton Beach) 1999: 675/month 2000: 1450/month 1BR walkup (Upper East Side) 2001: Above raised to 1650, moved 2002: 1125/month studio (Yorksvillle) 2009: 1175/month studio (Yorksville) - landlord wanted the apartment for a relative, had to move 2010: 1750 1BR walkup (Lower East Side) 2011: 1800 2012: 1850 2013: 1900 2014: 1950 2015: 2000 2016: 2180 All the old apartments I lived in are now at least 400-500+ more. It's out of control. I'm probably heading back to south BK when my lease is up; at least studios under 1400 still exist there.

sotojuan 10y ago

Heh, the only people I know that "own" their own places that they purchased in the last few years live down here in Sunset Park and nearby "lower Brooklyn" neighborhoods which only have a tolerable commute if you work near a D line below midtown. I'm wondering when it'll stop... Sunset Park is largely a working class neighborhood. Many of Manhattan's kitchen workers live here, for example. I can't see where they'd go if prices around here doubled. Anyway I agree with you. New York is fun to live in as a software developer don't get me wrong (you make enough money to actually enjoy the city) but when it comes to family and/or house-owning even the highest income earners I know moved upstate.

raimbowTrout 10y ago

Many of the buildings that get rented are owned by real estate companies, and professional renting organizations with lots of employees. I have very rarely (only once, actually) rented from an individual, or non-professional property owner. Figure the process is as sustainable as any other business model? Do corporations arbitrarily inflate their prices ad infinitum? What are the checks and balances to that?

mancerayder 10y ago

But it's a timing thing. I know lots of people who own apartments in Manhattan, and even more in Brooklyn and Queens. It's an age thing. If you're 25-30, even a hotshot dev making 150-200 or more, it takes a little while to save up for a down payment. Not even taking into consideration student loan debts, etc. Let's be clear, you'll have no problem affording a mortgage on a 1 bed or a large studio in a tolerable neighborhood in Manhattan at that salary, probably even today. It's the down payment that's the issue. But it's also timing. Asset prices have gotten so high, especially given that almost everything is leveraged at a low interest rate, things are inflated for someone starting their real estate ladder climb. 4-5 years ago things were a lot easier. Also expecting to live in the absolute prime areas is folly, of course people from all over the country and world want to live in the East Village or Chelsea or whatnot. No one wanted to live in LES, now they do and the prices have approached luxury territory there too now. And so it goes. I purchased a place in a gentrifying part of Brooklyn, because I was priced out of places that had just gentrified that were a little better. 10 years ago I'd have purchased in Manhattan, but 10 years ago I didn't have the down payment required. There's a lot more to it than the 'trust fund and mommy and daddy' narrative. There's a treadmill of price appreciation that seems to spill over from one neighborhood to the next.

Futurebot 10y ago

It's a disaster. No single factor affects people's decisions as much as the rent in this city; lives here revolve around it, especially if you're only making so-so money. I think about how different life here would be if everyone's rent was only, let's say, 10% of their income (jobs, hobbies, social lives, etc.) The rental increase treadmill keeps turning faster and faster, and the need to keep moving neighborhoods every few years is not a picnic. I was born in Brooklyn and have lived in NYC my whole life, and the rental situation just gets worse every year. Unless and until we start dealing with the issue seriously, it's just going to keep eating more and more of people's incomes. I wrote a post on this a while ago summarizing the issue: https://medium.com/@spencer_th0mas/fixing-the-nyc-rent-crisis-or-the-rent-is-still-too-damn-high-edb13ca853cc#.mzgoimq52 https://medium.com/@spencer_th0mas/fixing-the-nyc-rent-crisi... My rental history looks like this: 1995: 300/month sublet (Kensington) 1997: 625/month 1BR walkup (Brighton Beach) 1999: 675/month 2000: 1450/month 1BR walkup (Upper East Side) 2001: Above raised to 1650, moved 2002: 1125/month studio (Yorksvillle) 2009: 1175/month studio (Yorksville) - landlord wanted the apartment for a relative, had to move 2010: 1750 1BR walkup (Lower East Side) 2011: 1800 2012: 1850 2013: 1900 2014: 1950 2015: 2000 2016: 2180 All the old apartments I lived in are now at least 400-500+ more. It's out of control. I'm probably heading back to south BK when my lease is up; at least studios under 1400 still exist there.