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I went to view an apartment in Prospect Park SW recently and the line wrapped around the block. When I went to apply I was told most people had offered over the

I went to view an apartment in Prospect Park SW recently and the line wrapped around the block. When I went to apply I was told most people had offered over the asking for rent and how much I'd like to offer over the amount. We're blind bidding on rent in NY now. I wish this was an isolated incident but most apartments I'm looking for the amount of people applying is in the 50s low 100s I decided to just stay put and not look for bigger space. I'll either try again next year or leave the city. No rent is really worth 5k/mo at that money you can buy a palace an hour or two out of the city.

_fat_santa 4y ago
Whenever I hear about the rental market in NYC I always ask myself: why do people want to live there? In a way it's a rhetorical question but in another way it's not. Sure some will move there for a job but I'm sure not everyone is there just for work. Why do people put up with all that? Is it just the dream of living in NYC.
- hmillison 4y ago
  NYC is one of the only cities in the US with quality transit and really the main one where it's easy to live car free in many areas of the city.
  - usrn 4y ago
    The metro in DC is pretty underrated and you can live car free pretty far out into its suburbs even.
    - lotsofpulp 4y ago
      The problem with almost all public transit is that it converges on a center and branches out into legs that do not connect with each other. This is the DC map: https://www.wmata.com/schedules/maps/upload/2019-System-Map.pdf https://www.wmata.com/schedules/maps/upload/2019-System-Map.... If two friends move to the outer edges of different legs of the system, then your travel time and inconvenience multiplies a lot. It is the same reason Manhattan is so popular compared to the outer boroughs: https://new.mta.info/map/5256 https://new.mta.info/map/5256 People in manhattan can go west, south, east, north anytime anyhow with few or no connections. People in the outer boroughs have to many times go via Manhattan to get where they are going. Now take a look at a map of a good subway system: https://www.tokyometro.jp/en/subwaymap/ https://www.tokyometro.jp/en/subwaymap/ Paris is another good one: https://www.ratp.fr/en/plan-metro https://www.ratp.fr/en/plan-metro You can get from anywhere to almost anywhere without having to go to the middle of Tokyo. The Tube is okay, but still has the problem of the lines not connecting once you get out of a certain radius: https://content.tfl.gov.uk/standard-tube-map.pdf https://content.tfl.gov.uk/standard-tube-map.pdf
      - usrn 4y ago
        That sounds... expensive.
        lotsofpulp 4y ago
        Yes, it requires everyone to live in small houses or apartments adjacent to each other without large backyards and garages for cars. Hence it working well in Tokyo.
        usrn 4y ago
        Tokyo can exist in Japan because of some properties intrinsic to Japan which I'll get flagged for pointing out. The reason I tried to emphasize "expensive" is because those cross links are probably where a lot of the crazy property tax in NYC is going.
      - iggldiggl 4y ago
        The Paris example is somewhat skewed, though, because Paris proper is comparatively tiny – just 105 km² and 2.1 million inhabitants. Compared to London it's basically just Zone 1 and a few bits (definitively less than half) of Zone 2. Having said that, yes, it could still well be (too lazy to figure it out properly) that inside this city core the Paris Metro is still more dense than the Underground in London – but on the other hand beyond that, where the vast majority of inhabitants of the whole urban agglomeration of Paris live, you have similar problems regarding radial travel as elsewhere: https://www.ratp.fr/plan-de-ligne/img/rer/Plan-RER-et-transiliens.1646316579.png https://www.ratp.fr/plan-de-ligne/img/rer/Plan-RER-et-transi...
- dopeboy 4y ago
  As someone who spent 21 to 29 there, it simply is the best place to live in the US for a particular part of life. Arts, food, nightlife - it makes it all worth it. For me, I started to age out of it which made it less worth it. But it's more than a dream or "fomo" - it truly is the most enjoyable place to be in the US. I visit nowadays and it's just as magical as it used to be.
  - randomopining 4y ago
    Do you think 29/30 is aging out of NYC? Seems like people stay well into the flow of cool things there towards 40.
    - dopeboy 4y ago
      Among my friend group, yes. But everyone is different.

_fat_santa 4y ago

Whenever I hear about the rental market in NYC I always ask myself: why do people want to live there? In a way it's a rhetorical question but in another way it's not. Sure some will move there for a job but I'm sure not everyone is there just for work. Why do people put up with all that? Is it just the dream of living in NYC.

hmillison 4y ago
NYC is one of the only cities in the US with quality transit and really the main one where it's easy to live car free in many areas of the city.
- usrn 4y ago
  The metro in DC is pretty underrated and you can live car free pretty far out into its suburbs even.
  - lotsofpulp 4y ago
    The problem with almost all public transit is that it converges on a center and branches out into legs that do not connect with each other. This is the DC map: https://www.wmata.com/schedules/maps/upload/2019-System-Map.pdf https://www.wmata.com/schedules/maps/upload/2019-System-Map.... If two friends move to the outer edges of different legs of the system, then your travel time and inconvenience multiplies a lot. It is the same reason Manhattan is so popular compared to the outer boroughs: https://new.mta.info/map/5256 https://new.mta.info/map/5256 People in manhattan can go west, south, east, north anytime anyhow with few or no connections. People in the outer boroughs have to many times go via Manhattan to get where they are going. Now take a look at a map of a good subway system: https://www.tokyometro.jp/en/subwaymap/ https://www.tokyometro.jp/en/subwaymap/ Paris is another good one: https://www.ratp.fr/en/plan-metro https://www.ratp.fr/en/plan-metro You can get from anywhere to almost anywhere without having to go to the middle of Tokyo. The Tube is okay, but still has the problem of the lines not connecting once you get out of a certain radius: https://content.tfl.gov.uk/standard-tube-map.pdf https://content.tfl.gov.uk/standard-tube-map.pdf
    - usrn 4y ago
      That sounds... expensive.
      - lotsofpulp 4y ago
        Yes, it requires everyone to live in small houses or apartments adjacent to each other without large backyards and garages for cars. Hence it working well in Tokyo.
        usrn 4y ago
        Tokyo can exist in Japan because of some properties intrinsic to Japan which I'll get flagged for pointing out. The reason I tried to emphasize "expensive" is because those cross links are probably where a lot of the crazy property tax in NYC is going.
    - iggldiggl 4y ago
      The Paris example is somewhat skewed, though, because Paris proper is comparatively tiny – just 105 km² and 2.1 million inhabitants. Compared to London it's basically just Zone 1 and a few bits (definitively less than half) of Zone 2. Having said that, yes, it could still well be (too lazy to figure it out properly) that inside this city core the Paris Metro is still more dense than the Underground in London – but on the other hand beyond that, where the vast majority of inhabitants of the whole urban agglomeration of Paris live, you have similar problems regarding radial travel as elsewhere: https://www.ratp.fr/plan-de-ligne/img/rer/Plan-RER-et-transiliens.1646316579.png https://www.ratp.fr/plan-de-ligne/img/rer/Plan-RER-et-transi...
dopeboy 4y ago
As someone who spent 21 to 29 there, it simply is the best place to live in the US for a particular part of life. Arts, food, nightlife - it makes it all worth it. For me, I started to age out of it which made it less worth it. But it's more than a dream or "fomo" - it truly is the most enjoyable place to be in the US. I visit nowadays and it's just as magical as it used to be.
- randomopining 4y ago
  Do you think 29/30 is aging out of NYC? Seems like people stay well into the flow of cool things there towards 40.
  - dopeboy 4y ago
    Among my friend group, yes. But everyone is different.