This is the country we live in...and I am ashamed of a story like this.

Not sarcasm in my case. I'll save enough to retire way before most people. And then I'll take my damn Yankee cash to "flyover country" where it will last twice as long.

Have fun, suckers.

 

What, exactly, is a "good, but not astronomical, salary" in NYC? $50k? $75k? $100k?

 

There are people who work in my office who have a 1 1/2 hour commute each way to and from work.

If it's not rush hour, it might take them 40 minutes.

Their argument is: I'll spend 3 hours each weekday of my life to sit in traffic so I can own a 3000 square foot house out in some autombile-only godforsaken suburb instead of only being able to afford a 1500 square foot place in Toronto with a yard that's 25' wide and 60' deep.

But those people living and working in Toronto have a 20 minute drive or a 30 minute subway ride to work .

I'll take the latter every time.

 

People who have lived there awhile and don't own their apartment usually are living in rent-controlled apartments. Their rents can often be shockingly cheap by any city's standards. As for anyone moving in now, different ballgame. It's been a while, but we lived in a rent-stabilized apartment -- there are laws about how much the landlord can increase the rent each year. When someone leaves a rent-controlled or rent-stabilized apartment, the landlord can get "market price." Those massive rents are being paid by new people. A long-timer isn't paying anything near those rates and is probably socking away some savings.

I think most people who choose to live there are not looking at it from the dispassionate financial perspective you suggest. It's where they want to be, it's what it costs, so they pay it. I did not share their desire to spend the rest of my life living there, but to negate their feelings via some financial equation is completely missing the point. It would be like your great aunt telling you that you ought to marry for money instead of love when you (theoretically) want to be guided by your heart rather than the financial side of your brain.

 

What cash will you have left?

You will have put 0 into equity while paying, what, 2 grand a month rent for 30 years?

 

Well, if you don't have kids, it's a different ball of wax.

Agreed.

 

Thanks, Frank.

 

2 grand a month rent...ha, ha...I laugh in the face of people who pay that. It's not that hard to find bargains if you don't care about being a "show off."

 

When I left my law firm and its subsidized parking garage ($170 pre-tax a month) and before I moved to the burbs, the cheapest parking spot that I found within 3 blocks of my apartment was $425 a month. Some were more than $500. If you want a wide spot with no chance of contact with another car, that's up to $800.

While I certainly didn't "need" a car when I lived in Manhattan, it makes life a heck of a lot easier on the weekends. Especially with a kid.

There is an insane amount of money in the city. Do people "need" to spend $150 on the tasting menu at Daniel or $200 on a bottle of Insignia? No. But if you are bringing in $100,000 a month, what is $500 on a parking spot?

 

I had a friend of mine who, back in the late 70's, moved from Toronto to New York to head up the book club division of Scholastic.

He loved every minute of being single, working in the high pressure NYC environnment, going out every night to the opera and the symphony and as he said, "Fucking more guys than I thought imaginable" (Yes, he was gay).

He came back after five years but still says he wouldn' trade those five years for anything in the world -but he couldn't take the pace any more.

To me, to really appreciate living in Manhattan, you either have to be very rich or very young.

 

Who in this biz is doing that?

 

Oh... I appreciate it.

Would love to live there for a few years at least.

Could not afford it in a wet dream.