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Help! Moving from chicago area. Have no idea where to live.
My dh will be working on wall street. I don't know if my company will let me transfer, so we may be living off of one income for a while. Therefore our budget is $3,000 per month to rent. We have 2 kids. Where can we live that is a) family friendly 2) not boring, and has a walkable downtown area with restaurants, shops, etc. 3) Under an hour commute to wall street for my dh. I don't care where it is if it meets within this criteria---upstate, NYC, Brooklyn, Northern NJ, etc.
Re: Help! Moving from chicago area. Have no idea where to live.
Ditto the rec for Bayside! That's where I live! Recently voted the top place to raise a family in all of NYC :-) It's 25 minutes from my door to Penn Station on the LIRR, but yes, the LIRR is more expensive than the subway.
i'm sure i'm the first of many who will recommend park slope, a lovely brooklyn neighborhood. (the cobble hill/carroll gardens area is also a good choice.)
DH and i lived in park slope for 6 years, and loved every minute of it. for the cream of the crop in park slope, look for places that are on/near avenues with high numbers (6, 7, 8, or prospect park west), and streets with low numbers or names (anything from 9th down is ideal).
HTH. good luck!
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I think a big question is how old are your kids? Public school quality varies wildly, and rentals in "good" school districts in the city (including Brooklyn) tend to be expensive.
With a lot of searching $3K will get you an OK two bedroom/1 bath in good school districts in Park Slope, Carroll Gardens, Cobble Hill, Brooklyn Heights. Walk-up, no doorman, probably not so renovated. All are super charming (Brownstone Brooklyn--every single ad/movie/TV show shot in NY has a scene set in one of these neighborhoods). If your kids aren't school age, you could also do Windsor Terrace and South Slope, although that's kind of quiet. Bay Ridge in Brooklyn might fit a lot of your criteria: You can get a nice big apartment, probably even an elevator building, for your price, the N/R are about 45 mins to the Financial District, the avenues are neighborhood-y, lots of restaurant, shops, and bustle. (I can't speak to the schools, though.)
Has anyone mentioned broker fees to you? Real estate brokers typically charge you 10-15% of the total annual rent. You can find no-fee apartments on Craig's List. There's also a website (nybits.com) that lists buildings with management offices where you wouldn't have to pay a fee.