Potential move to NYC with Kids

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:This is DCUM so people are going to say that you need $300k+ HHI to raise a family in NYC and that you need to send your kids to private. Neither are true. If you really want to live in NYC it’s completely possible to live in a 2BR rental & send your kids to the local public

Do you live in there on under a 300k HHI? Please share your expenses then.

Not PP but the median HHI there is only $127k.

A lot of people here are young and just starting out, bunking with four roommates and taking advantage of free lunches at work. A lot of people (including almost everyone I know) move to the suburbs once they have kids. It’s just so expensive to raise children here, and honestly gets tiring after a while. I’m a big law partner and even at that income a majority of people move to the suburbs.

I lived there with my parents in the early 2000s and their HHI was 5 figures. It was not difficult to make ends meet and we did not feel poor. I am also in biglaw and not surprised you cannot fully understand the lives of the poorer people who serve you.

Have you moved back since? Things have changed a lot since the early 2000s. Neighborhoods where you used to be able to find a deal have been gentrified and built up with luxury condos. The mom and pop shops have closed down, with high end stores replacing them. The whole country has gotten more expensive, but NYC has done so on steroids.

A lot of people are mentioning to the other boroughs, but you have to keep in mind that once you get far put into the boroughs, it’s not going to really feel like “the city” anymore, so it depends on what you’re looking for. OP seems to want a reasonable commute into the city and to feel like she’s living in NYC, which is why everyone is focusing on the more expensive parts of Manhattan and Brooklyn. Sure, you can live much more cheaply in Kensington or Forest Hills, but you may have to walk to a bus to take to the subway stop to travel an hour into the city on a train that only runs every 30 minutes and it’s going to feel like a suburb. It’s like, I dunno, moving to Baltimore and saying that you live in DC.

1. Both Kensington and Forrest Hills have subway lines running through them.
2. Speaking of the subway, which lines are only running every 30 mins (unless it's on a weekend after midnight and there is some construction going on)? A New Yorker and Kensington resident wants to know.

[Anonymous]

The Foresr Hills 71st and Continental station has express trains and they run frequently. There are tons of shops and restaurants and leafy neighborhoods. You can probably get to the city in about 20min and you can have a car. Best of both worlds.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:This is DCUM so people are going to say that you need $300k+ HHI to raise a family in NYC and that you need to send your kids to private. Neither are true. If you really want to live in NYC it’s completely possible to live in a 2BR rental & send your kids to the local public

Do you live in there on under a 300k HHI? Please share your expenses then.

I'm not the PP but we (family of 4) live in Brooklyn and have a HHi of $260. We own a multifamily townhouse, rent out one unit and live in the other, and both kids go to public schools (both were in a local Gifted and Talented program in Elementary, and the one now is in Middle School in the same district).

We're able to save for retirement and college and go on a couple of vacations a year (typically one flying vacation per year) and a winter ski trip. The kids do free afterschool provided by their schools and inexpensive enrichment classes on the weekend. We do a ton of free or cheap activities on the weekend, also (visiting museums and other cultural institutions, parks, go on hikes, bike ride, etc). We eat out or order in once a week, so we save in that area.

Wow, so easy to live in NYC on $260k... as long as you can bankroll a $5m multi-family townhouse in Brooklyn...

[Anonymous]

We lived in NY for 8 years and left when our kids were very little. We moved to DC (and now Bethesda) and have never looked back. Some people stay, but most leave because it just doesn’t work for so, so many reasons. No one does the reverse. I get why it seems like a good idea, but I promise you it’s not.

[Anonymous]

I lived in Douglaston Queens a short walk to the LIRR train to Manhattan. Was beautiful. By the water. Great public elementary school.

Look it up.

[Anonymous]

I lived in Manhattan before kids. I'd never raise kids there. So expensive, school situation is so complicated. I would not bring an 11 year old and a 7 year old to Manhattan. They will be miserable. It's a very hostile environment. Have you ever lived there? It's so appealing when you visit with all the things to do and the excitement of the city, but living there is exhausting. I have friends in Park Slope. Their kids went to competitive public high schools in Manhattan, took the subway there and back. That would freak me out, but the kids were born in NYC, and knew nothing else.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:I lived in Manhattan before kids. I'd never raise kids there. So expensive, school situation is so complicated. I would not bring an 11 year old and a 7 year old to Manhattan. They will be miserable. It's a very hostile environment. Have you ever lived there? It's so appealing when you visit with all the things to do and the excitement of the city, but living there is exhausting. I have friends in Park Slope. Their kids went to competitive public high schools in Manhattan, took the subway there and back. That would freak me out, but the kids were born in NYC, and knew nothing else.

Rather simplistic of you. Did something really bad happen to you in Manhattan?
Lots of kids grow up & have a good time.
You freak easily.
They knew nothing else.
You sound really insecure & very neurotic.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:I lived in Manhattan before kids. I'd never raise kids there. So expensive, school situation is so complicated. I would not bring an 11 year old and a 7 year old to Manhattan. They will be miserable. It's a very hostile environment. Have you ever lived there? It's so appealing when you visit with all the things to do and the excitement of the city, but living there is exhausting. I have friends in Park Slope. Their kids went to competitive public high schools in Manhattan, took the subway there and back. That would freak me out, but the kids were born in NYC, and knew nothing else.

Rather simplistic of you. Did something really bad happen to you in Manhattan?
Lots of kids grow up & have a good time.
You freak easily.
They knew nothing else.
You sound really insecure & very neurotic.

I grew up in NYC it was horrible as a kid. I lived there till I was 12. I was born in Manhattan.

I later moved back from 30-34 and loved it when single. I moved back out when I married at 34.

But I did get mugged at 5 years of age. Got my lunch and my milk money!!