Why we moved from London to NYC: We always wanted to live abroad and fell in love with Brooklyn
- They left a $2,000 two bedroom for a $5,030 one bedroom in a new development
"You see so much bad press and comments online about New York not being safe, but we have never felt unsafe here," Helen said.
Londoners Ian and Helen both work for the same U.S. firm. A few years ago, they decided to experience NYC like New Yorkers and live here full time. Brooklyn felt more their speed and they landed at a just-finished new development in Prospect Heights. Here’s their story as told to Kelly Kreth.
Ian and I were both raised in Suffolk, UK, and have been together nearly 15 years. For the last 10 years, we lived in Upminster in East London.
Our two-bedroom, two-bath UK apartment was rather large and had outside space and underground parking. But it had no other amenities, aside from laundry. It was a small development, nine apartments in total. We paid £1,500 [about $2,000].
We liked that we had two bathrooms and a garage. We had our own terrace with a BBQ that we used regularly in the summer. There was nothing that we particularly disliked about our apartment.
[Editor's note: Brick Underground's series The Newcomers features first-person accounts about why a renter or buyer decided to take a chance on NYC.]
The area was well located—it only took us 25 minutes to get into London. Upminster itself is a great town with lots of restaurants and shops.
We had a Waitrose five minutes from our apartment so we would shop there for items midweek. We would do a monthly order from Tesco, which would be delivered to us. We also went to a local farm shop once a week for fresh produce.
At least once a week, we visited the Upminster Taproom, where they have a good selection of rotating beers and ciders. We had a few great Indian restaurants in Upminster; The Village is our favorite. Sorrento’s is also great; it is a family-owned Italian restaurant that has been in Upminster for 15 years.
I work as a client executive and my partner, Helen, is a portfolio manager in private equity with the same firm.
Why they moved
A few years ago, we fancied a change. The firm we work for is based in the U.S. and we always wanted to be abroad, preferably in an English-speaking place. Everything started to come together.
First we lived in temporary housing in Chelsea for a month before signing a lease. We had visited NYC before and explored some neighborhoods, but this gave us a chance to really look.
We brought clothing in suitcases and shipped larger items, which arrived around six weeks after we got to the U.S. All the electronics are different in the U.S so we had to buy a lot of new ones, including a TV.
Rents are higher in NYC. But that’s ok, we baked it into our budget and there are some advantages for renters here (such as taxes and some utilities included in the rent). In the UK, the landlord pays the broker fee, so the concept of having to pay an agent was strange. We had to factor the fee into our budget.
Selling the car was one of the saddest parts of moving. I loved the car. It was a Porsche 911 Turbo.
How they did their search
We looked on Google, StreetEasy, and Reddit. We eliminated areas with long commutes—we didn’t want to change trains and needed to get to our office in Midtown preferably in 30 minutes or less. I’d say we toured 10 properties total in Manhattan and Brooklyn.
Initially we thought we wanted to live in Manhattan and we searched all over. We wanted a newer building with amenities, but there weren’t many of those on the Upper East and West Sides. We didn’t want to live in Midtown because we work there. We thought FiDi would work out, but the shadows cast by the tall towers here put us off. So we expanded our search to Brooklyn and Queens and looked in Williamsburg, Long Island City, Prospect Park, Park Slope, and Downtown Brooklyn. We spent days walking through neighborhoods.
When we visited the Prospect Heights area, we just fell in love with it. The transportation options are amazing, there are so many nice bars and restaurants, and there is a real neighborhood feel. It’s walkable and easy to get to Downtown Brooklyn or Fort Greene. You’re really in the middle of it all.
What they think of their new place
When we first looked at 595 Dean, a new development in Prospect Heights, and we originally looked at a different apartment, on the ground floor. That one was nice but had less privacy. Then we saw a fourth-floor apartment and right away we could tell it has great storage. Back in London, we used our second bedroom as a closet and dressing room. We noticed the front room at the fourth-floor apartment has built-in wardrobes for that purpose.
The apartment also has a gas stove. That was a non-negotiable as Ian enjoys cooking. We wouldn’t move into any apartment unless it had a gas stove.
The most challenging thing when you move from overseas is you have no U.S. credit history. Thank goodness the property’s management developer, TF Cornerstone, worked with us on that.
Once we said yes to Dean Street, we moved in within two weeks, leaving our Chelsea place a little early. We were some of the first people to ever move into the building so in the early days, it was especially quiet. For the most part, it still is.
We pay $5,030 a month for our one bedroom, one bath, and got one month free. The apartment is about 900 square feet. We love all the amenities, especially the pool, gym and the homework communal areas, which you call a work from home space here. There’s a laundry room in the building.
What’s their take on the neighborhood
As for restaurants and grocery shopping, we’re into doing food prep for the week. I like going to Mr. Mango in Fort Greene for fresh produce. We also hit up the regulars, Stop & Shop, Foodtown, etc. But we only get meat from London Meat Co. in Manhattan, and have it delivered. It’s the best. Mr. Wonton hits the spot for takeout.
We really wanted a nice neighborhood bar. That was important to us. We found McMahons Public House and that was it. Now we pop in multiple times a week. It’s an Irish bar with great food and vibes. We feel like we have friends here. It’s also only a short walk to Finn’s Corner, which is a great spot. We also like Miriam for Mediterranean, Brooklyn's Homeslice Pizza, Patsy’s, Weather Up (they make the best cocktails), French Louie and Chez Moi (good French food). And Idashi Omakase and Sushi Lin are great for a solo meal (Ian doesn’t like sushi, so I like to visit sushi sports when he is away).
Our commute to work in Midtown is about a half hour. It’s not bad at all. We mostly commute together since we work at the same place. You can get anywhere from Barclays Center. We usually take the B but can also take the D, Q, 2, 3, 4, or 5.
We have no regrets. Our lease is up in May and we’ll likely renew. We are so happy that we moved here and feel really settled. You see so much bad press and comments online about New York not being safe, but we have never felt unsafe here.
We have only had a couple of visitors to the apartment and neighborhood, but they have all really liked it. They all commented how much more relaxed it is compared to Manhattan, which is most people’s experience of NYC.
One thing we are doing while in the U.S. is trying to visit all the NFL stadiums. So far, we have visited 16, so we have 14 left. It’s a great way to see the U.S. Two of our favorite cities so far have been New Orleans and Nashville.
We have made some friends through work and the local bars but mostly it’s just the two of us, going out in our neighborhood. We love it. We’ll go back to the UK eventually, but not anytime soon.
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