Living in and around New York
This is probably the most challenging city in terms of discussing where to live. If you’re with one of the NFL teams, they’re out in New Jersey. That means, if you actually live in New York, you’re going to enjoy a reverse commute from NYC into the Garden State. Once upon a time, it may have been desirable to live in any of the suburban bedroom communities to the northeast, like New Rochelle, Scarsdale or Greenwich. But the I-95 commute has become such an unpredictable morass of bumper-to-bumper traffic, it’s difficult to suggest anything like that. Let it suffice to say that the famous New York bedroom communities along I-95 and up the Saw Mill River Parkway are all still there. They’re all lovely and expensive, and if you’re serious about living there, have at it. We will not dissuade you. For the purposes of this discussion, though, we’re going to look at two places in the main: 1) New York, because for some folks, that’s going to be The Only Place To Live, and 2) New Jersey, because for many, that’s going to be the only place that makes any sense.
If you’re the kind of person who simply has to live in NYC, you’re probably thinking Manhattan. And be prepared, because discussing Manhattan neighborhoods can make your head spin. We’re talking a dense city of neighborhoods. Almost 23 square miles of land mass hosts a resident population of over 1.6 million (which swells to almost 4 million during the business day), and has over 80 defined neighborhoods. And don’t let the $500,000 New York City median home price fool you. Value is all relative here. If you’re playing for St. Louis, half a mil can get you a 2,500 square-foot 3-bad/3-bath on a three-acre lot in Wildwood. In Manhattan, that same half a mil might get you a 600-square foot studio. Granted, that’s in a doorman building with 24-hour security and a live-in super. Sure, for that same 500K, you might luck into a fixer upper 2-bed/1.5-bath with slightly more square footage in a 1910 walkup on the Upper East side. This is just a warning: anything you think you know about real estate prices and value for the dollar goes flying out the window in New York. So, with that in mind, where do you want to live?
Are you young and on a budget and looking for good restaurants, bars, excitement and diversity? The original melting pot, Manhattan’s Lower East Side, has a reputation for energy and dynamism. It’s also an old neighborhood with rundown properties, though gentrification is taking hold. This is considered by some to be the quintessential New York experience. A completely different kind of place is Midtown. During the day, there are close to a quarter of a million people here. At night, you’re looking at about 40,000. Yes, you could assume that a lot of the businesses here are geared to 9-to-5’ers, and they close up when the sun goes down. And you’d be right. You’ll also find some expensive restaurants and slick, soulless pubs. It’s also an incredibly convenient location. Conversely, there’s that bastion of the unhip, Murray Hill. Its lack of hipness makes it more affordable, real-estate wise. Call it reliable and uninteresting. It’s safe with good schools, and offers a mix of surprisingly good Indian, Korean and Chinese restaurants.
For the hipster in you, look no further than the East Village. Great news: you’ll find the highest concentration of bars in New York. The amenities here are great, with much more right nearby. Want nightlife? You got it. Artsy folk? They’re here. Schools? Well, you can’t have everything. But New York University is close by, giving the East Village a degree of wealth and diversity unusual in the city. Got money to burn? Tribeca could be your home. Some folks consider this the city’s best neighborhood. If you’re attracted by the ideal of living in a big, bright loft with the city spread out beneath your window, it’s probably here—if you’re willing to pay the price. The median home price is bumping up against one million—and the prices climb precipitously. (Yes, you really can spend a million bucks on a studio apartment with a half bath.) Low crime rate, high-performing schools, easy access to transit, easy access to the waterfront. Diversity be damned. This is top-echelon New York living of a status that once belonged to the Upper East Side. While still expensive, the UES is slightly less so than Tribeca, not to mention older and more charming. Also, less densely packed with the fun stuff. But still—good schools and low crime.
Getting out of Manhattan and into the boroughs, Brooklyn’s Park Slope has lots of fans. Gentrification? Check. Great schools? Check. Affordability? Mmm…well, let’s just say it’s not Tribeca. You might find a nice 2-bed/2-bath co-op for under 800,000. And going back to that whole low-crime thing, add lots of green space, along with restaurants, bars and retail—not to mention a significant population of artists and creative people—and Park Slope is nifty. Take all those artists, add a healthy dose of investment bankers, downgrade the neighborhood somewhat, and you get Long Island City. With the diversity of nearby Queens and easy access to the buzz of Manhattan, this is a place to stretch your housing dollar a bit further as long as you don’t mind the risk of somewhat more crime and you don’t have kids in public school. The Queens neighborhood of Sunnyside has been referred to as a hidden gem. Hugely diverse, with residents from the near east, far east, eastern Europe and South America, this is a safe, quiet neighborhood with decent schools where your dollar goes a lot farther. Well, by the standards of NYC anyway.
One of the most interesting success stories of recent memory is Hoboken. A name that definitely enjoys a status as an easy punchline, Hoboken is known as the Mile Square City, (debatably) as the birthplace of baseball, and (definitely) as the birthplace of Frank Sinatra. With easy access to Manhattan, Hoboken has evolved into a surprisingly gentrified neighborhood with good restaurants and nightlife, and decent schools. Real estate here isn’t quite as expensive as the city, and residents love it.
Once we step out of New York City and into the land affectionately known by the New Yorker pejorative, “Bridge and Tunnel,” things change. For one, you’re much closer to both the Jets and the Giants. For another, the existence seems somewhat less like dystopian insanity. Don’t get us wrong: we love New York City. But after you live there, and then step back outside into almost any other part of the country with grass and trees where people aren’t living stacked on top of each other, there is a propensity to ask, “What was I thinking?” With that in mind, welcome to Fair Lawn. With a population around 30,000, think: small town with big amenities. (Bonus: 16 pizza joints!) The schools here are pretty good, and your housing dollar can go a ways further. The 300K that might buy you a really nice, 500-square-foot studio by the U.N. could nab you a 2-bed/2-bath house of about 1,000 square feet with a small yard. Got twice as much to spend? As much as double the size of the house. (OK, that might be stretching things a little. But that kind of value doesn’t happen in Manhattan.)
With an even smaller population, Westfield comes with somewhat higher home prices, excellent schools, and a virtually nonexistent crime rate. Great amenities abound, and fans describe Westfield as cozy, with a bucolic, small-town charm and ambience that seems from a different time. Somewhat more from the sprawl model of suburban New Jersey is Wayne. A town of 57,000 that has appeared on the Money magazine list of best places to live, Wayne is not exactly the punchline to a joke. But this is the town that gave its name to the power-pop band Fountains Of Wayne (inspired by a now-defunct Route 46 lawn ornaments store). And Hans & Franz of SNL fame once claimed they were going to open a gym in Wayne. All that said, this one-time farming community gradually turned into a summer vacation retreat for wealthy New Yorkers. In the 20th century, the summer cottages evolved into full-time homes as folks realized what a pleasant place it is to live.
Like Victorian, Tudor or Roaring-20s architecture? You can find some of those old gems in West Orange. Somewhat smaller than Wayne, West Orange has a reputation as a lovely town surrounded by two large parks. The nation’s first-ever planned community is here, Llewellyn Park—a Victorian-architecture enclave that was once home to Thomas Edison. Located in the First Mountain neighborhood, you can find older homes and estates here, some with sweeping vistas of the New York skyline. North Bergen Township is somewhat more culturally diverse, with a large Hispanic population, and more geographically diverse, located as it is on the Hudson Palisades. It’s known for having more hills per square mile than any town in the country after San Francisco. Add water views, cliffs and meadowlands to eclectic and attractive old neighborhoods, and it can be a charming town. It can also be a great place if you want a sizeable, million-dollar condo with a view of the Hudson River and the Manhattan skyline, and quick drive to Giants stadium.