To raise a family in NYC, you need a master's in real estate
We all know that NYC is a great place to live as a single person (The bars! The restaurants! The fact that you won't feel like a freak if you're not married at 23...27...43!), but what about with a family?
That's when everything gets a little tougher--especially the real estate angle. Which is why this week we've rounded up BrickUnderground's best posts on the pursuit and occupancy of NYC real estate when kids are involved.
If your finances don't quite support your ideal room count, you will grapple with certain threshold decisions such as whether to deposit your progeny in a windowless bedroom, schlep up the stairs with a baby (or up to 4 kids!) and/or squeeze two generations into a one-bedroom.
There's also the matter of finding a place in a good school zone, and in a family-friendly building.
Once you've found an apartment/building that's suitable for your brood, you'll want to keep them all on their best behavior -- to avoid being evicted by a co-op board for loud kids and because, well, even the doorman is judging you. Oh, and in case you were wondering, hallway time-outs are not appreciated, and neither are sick kids in the playroom.
If all the rules/challenges of apartment living are making you want to run for the hills--or the 'burbs--be forewarned: sometimes the importance of a yard can be exaggerated and the suburbs have even been known to put the kibosh on residents' sex lives.
But don't take it from us (proud city dwellers), take a look at five recent suburban transplants' takes on it all (spoiler alert: there's more room and more privacy, but the costs are about the same).
For these and more posts on raising a family in the Big Apple, read below:
Finding a family-friendly place
- Help for finding a place in a good school zone
- How to find a family friendly building
- Why you may not want the place with a yard
Affordability
- Can you raise a family on $400k a year?
- You can't have it all so maybe you need to stuff your kid in a windowless bedroom
- Or maybe share a one-bedroom with your significant other AND kid(s)
- Or live in a walkup--with four kids
- Or, at the very least, a baby
Keeping your kids on their best behavior
- Can my co-op kick me out because my kids are loud?
- Even the doorman is judging you (and your kids)
- Hallway time-outs are NOT appreciated...
- ...and either are sick kids in the playroom
Space
Are the 'burbs any better?
- The last straw
- Newly suburban moms weigh in on what it's like out there
- One suburban nightmare
- The importance of a yard is vastly exaggerated
- If you ever want to have sex, you might be better off staying in the city
Who gets the real estate in a divorce with kids?
Related posts:
Moving to NYC? Here's a crash course in finding an apartment here
