2. PICK A NEIGHBORHOOD.
Once you've determined how much money you can spend on an apartment, you need to decide what areas to look at. We should inform you that New York City is made up of five separate sections, or "boroughs": Manhattan, the Bronx, Brooklyn, Staten Island, and Queens. Most people want to live in Manhattan because it's where most of the jobs are, and because it's probably the most happening place in the world. Many choose to live in one of the other four boroughs (where housing is infinitely cheaper) and commute into the city. Hey, it's your call, but everyone should experience living in the Big City at some point, so for the rest of the article, we're going to assume that you're searching for a dwelling in Manhattan. Manhattan itself is divided into many informal "neighborhoods," from Battery Park on the southern tip of the island to Inwood on the northern tip.Each neighborhood has a different flavor; you can learn more about the neighborhoods by going to here, for starters, and/or you can have a look at books that describe New York neighborhoods, a couple of which we suggest in our related books section. You should also visit neighborhoods you might want to live in, if you can. Just walking around a neighborhood can be a real help in deciding where to live. When reading about or visiting neighborhoods, keep the following factors in mind:
- Is the rent affordable? Are the stores, shops, gyms, and bars in the area affordable? (No matter what they say ahead of time, most people spend their money in nearby establishments.)
- Is the neighborhood safe?
- How close is the public transportation you'll need to take to work, school, etc?
- What are the nearby schools like?
- Who lives in that neighborhood? Yuppies? Students? Kurds?
Once you have a basic idea of the neighborhood(s) you want to live in, you should make the broker decision.
