The High Cost of Living

It's no surprise that life in NYC ain't cheap. Just do the math. Three hundred and twenty square miles, 8+ million residents, 8 of the 10 wealthiest zip codes in the country. This is not the city to move to if you value space or a slow pace of life (unless you've got a 7-figure annual income). Both come at enormous cost here. Slow down and you might lose that fabulous job--or apartment--to someone who's faster. And space, of course is at a premium. Especially in Manhattan, which is just 28 square miles, 1.3 of which are taken up by Central Park (where no one lives but the homeless and the squirrels), and home to more than 1.5 million residents. Want to buy in Manhattan? It will cost you, on average, $970 per square foot. So, for example, a tiny 300-square-foot apartment, the size of your college dorm room, will cost you $291,000 (and that's not including monthly maintenance fees, closing costs, or any fixing up you have to do).
For someone who's net worth is still negative (the amount of debt I still owe exceeds the amount of money I've got in my bank accounts + investment portfolio), this math is particularly depressing. The fact is: even if I paid off all my debt and my husband and I managed to save up $100,000 this year, we'd be lucky if we could afford a $300K apartment in Manhattan (or 1-2 subway stops into Brooklyn). And $300K won't get you much these days. As author Robert Sullivan points out in today's New York Times magazine, "a half-million dollars won't get your phone call returned by real-estate agents in Manhattan, where the average apartment now sells for more than a million."
Looks like we'll be staying in Brooklyn for awhile. Though, perhaps not in our current neighborhood: Williamsburg. Back in the 90s, it was populated largely by artists who'd been priced out of the East Village. They took over the large industrial loft spaces, living 10-20 people per floor (with living quarters sometimes separated by hanging sheets or portable dividers). But those loft spaces are now being converted to $1 million lofts and condos. According to realtor Tom Le: half a million isn't enough anymore to get an apartment in Williamsburg--or even East Williamsburg (which is where displaced residents from Williamsburg moved in the early 2000s)
As Sullivan puts it: "Real estate is so often the business of readjusting dreams."
Or readjusting incomes.
That's what we'll have to do if we don't want to get priced out of our own neighborhood.