NYC Townhomes

[WestCoastNative]

First off, I don't know where this thread belongs. There isn't really a general discussion category on this forum, but this doesn't have anything to do with medicine either. Anyways, there are thousands of town homes in Manhattan and most of them are in the tens of millions. How do New York natives afford these types of houses? Obviously there are the investment bankers and certain lawyers that got lucky, but I doubt that that's the only type of professions that can afford those types of homes. What gives?

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[ChemEngMD]

First off, I don't know where this thread belongs. There isn't really a general discussion category on this forum, but this doesn't have anything to do with medicine either. Anyways, there are thousands of town homes in Manhattan and most of them are in the tens of millions. How do New York natives afford these types of houses? Obviously there are the investment bankers and certain lawyers that got lucky, but I doubt that that's the only type of professions that can afford those types of homes. What gives?

Some people got in a LONG time ago before those places cost as much...I know someone with a bomb apartment on the upper west side that only pays $500 a month because her family has owned it since the 1950s, rent control can be awesome.

I think what you'll find is that Manhattan has a lot of people that don't live there full time...people who live in Cali, Florida, Texas, Paris, Tokyo, Beijing, etc....who are super, duper rich and want to have an apartment in Manhattan...New York City is a very global city and people from around the world own property there.

 

[WestCoastNative]

Some people got in a LONG time ago before those places cost as much...I know someone with a bomb apartment on the upper west side that only pays $500 a month because her family has owned it since the 1950s, rent control can be awesome.

I think what you'll find is that Manhattan has a lot of people that don't live there full time...people who live in Cali, Florida, Texas, Paris, Tokyo, Beijing, etc....who are super, duper rich and want to have an apartment in Manhattan...New York City is a very global city and people from around the world own property there.

I see what you're saying, but how about the townhomes on the Upper East Side between 5th and Park Avenue? If someone is willing to drop that kind of cash on those types of properties, than I'd think that they'd spend most of their time there? Maybe that's just me though..

 

[ChemEngMD]

I see what you're saying, but how about the townhomes on the Upper East Side between 5th and Park Avenue? If someone is willing to drop that kind of cash on those types of properties, than I'd think that they'd spend most of their time there? Maybe that's just me though..

If you are an oil tycoon who works in Texas and are worth ~50-100 million dollars and your house in Texas is the size of a castle and probably cost 10 million you'd probably live there...then your family wants a place in NYC so that they can stay at when they go up on vacation to go shopping or for weekends.

I agree with you though...I think a lot of those places in that area are families or people who live locally, but I think people underestimate the amount of people that have alternative homes in NYC. It's also a status thing.

 

[WestCoastNative]

Status definitely plays a role the buyers, but for me, I think the homes are just beautiful.

 

[dcamkl1]

Most brownstones in NYC have been converted into multi-family apartments/condos. The rent for these apartments varies, from a couple thousand a month to even higher. Owning a unit in these buildings can also vary, from a few hundred thousand to millions. If you want to own the entire building and convert it into a single-family brownstone, that's about $10 million in Manhattan. However, if you go to Brooklyn, you could get a single-family brownstone for much less than that.

Can a physician in NYC without "old money" afford that? Not likely, IMO.

 

[inycepoo]

Realize that first of all, NYC ≠ Manhattan. Those not from the area tend not to know this. Leave "the city," by which I mean go anywhere south of Chinatown and North of 96th in Manhattan and of course into the other four boroughs, then life is not at all spent in brownstones and cage-like apartments.

Even in the prime real estate parts of UES and midtown, sets of townhouses may cost tens of millions, but even the rich investment bankers almost never own anything. They rent for thousands a month or something else that fits their [extremely high to high] salaries. No one goes and buys up tons of apartments for that sum of money.

As for your other question, unless the person is super super super rich, you bet your ass that they are living there most of the time. For the average rich Manhattan-working class dude/dudette, there's no reason to live in that prime real estate spot and not reside there most of the time.

 

[WestCoastNative]

Realize that first of all, NYC ≠ Manhattan. Those not from the area tend not to know this. Leave "the city," by which I mean go anywhere south of Chinatown and North of 96th in Manhattan and of course into the other four boroughs, then life is not at all spent in brownstones and cage-like apartments.

Even in the prime real estate parts of UES and midtown, sets of townhouses may cost tens of millions, but even the rich investment bankers almost never own anything. They rent for thousands a month or something else that fits their [extremely high to high] salaries. No one goes and buys up tons of apartments for that sum of money.

As for your other question, unless the person is super super super rich, you bet your ass that they are living there most of the time. For the average rich Manhattan-working class dude/dudette, there's no reason to live in that prime real estate spot and not reside there most of the time.

Yes, my bad for naming the topic NYC Townhomes. I'm specifically talking about the Upper East Side. Are there any physicians or surgeons that own townhouses there? Let's say they drive a prius, never go out to eat, and decide to drop 80% of their cash on property? <---- Half assed question for those that didn't get it. I guess a better question is, are there any doctors that can afford to live there if they choose not to live a flashy lifestyle?

 

[ChemEngMD]

Ef it. Move to Jersey and take the train (God forbid.)

 

[ChemEngMD]

Yes, my bad for naming the topic NYC Townhomes. I'm specifically talking about the Upper East Side. Are there any physicians or surgeons that own townhouses there? Let's say they drive a prius, never go out to eat, and decide to drop 80% of their cash on property? <---- Half assed question for those that didn't get it. I guess a better question is, are there any doctors that can afford to live there if they choose not to live a flashy lifestyle?

I'm sure there are some. I have a family member who is an accountant and likes to talk about his very wealthy clients...one was a doctor living in the UES who he said was trying to write off a 40k cost on a hummer because it had faster acceleration (quicker 0 to 60) and thus could get him to the hospital faster in an emergency situation...my relative didn't think that was a valid write off...

He may have been more than a physician though...maybe head of a department or some sort of hospital administrative role as well...his accountant claimed he breached >$1,000,000 annually...with good investments you could end up in a neighborhood like that I think

 

[WestCoastNative]

Ef it. Move to Jersey and take the train (God forbid.)

Speaking of transportation, I completely forgot that most people in Manhattan don't own cars. Not my type of living. Living out on the west coast, cars are something that you can't go on without.

EDIT: Over 1,000,000 annual? Holy ****. I wonder which specialty he went into ;P

 

[inycepoo]

Yes, my bad for naming the topic NYC Townhomes. I'm specifically talking about the Upper East Side. Are there any physicians or surgeons that own townhouses there? Let's say they drive a prius, never go out to eat, and decide to drop 80% of their cash on property? <---- Half assed question for those that didn't get it. I guess a better question is, are there any doctors that can afford to live there if they choose not to live a flashy lifestyle?

Yeah, if you live in the city (i.e., Manhattan), you don't drive. I'm 20, not from the city, and even I don't know how to drive yet.

 

[nemo123]

Ef it. Move to Jersey and take the train (God forbid.)

Or live in the Northern most parts of NJ, where almost all the doctors live and take the bus or commute into the city through the GWB (~20 minutes with no traffic) or the Lincoln tunnel (~40 minutes with no traffic).

 

[WestCoastNative]

Or live in the Northern most parts of NJ, where almost all the doctors live and take the bus or commute into the city through the GWB (~20 minutes with no traffic) or the Lincoln tunnel (~40 minutes with no traffic).

Alpine, Cresskill, Tenafly, ..? Yeah they're not bad either lol, but the prices aren't much different from the town homes on the UES.

 

[inycepoo]

Or live in the Northern most parts of NJ, where almost all the doctors live and take the bus or commute into the city through the GWB (~20 minutes with no traffic) or the Lincoln tunnel (~40 minutes with no traffic).

lollololol you kidding? How can you avoid traffic on either the GW or Lincoln if you're commuting in and out when the rest of Jersey is as well? It takes an hour and hour plus to get into and out of the city, respectively, during the two rush hours.

 

[yehhhboiii]

Speaking of transportation, I completely forgot that most people in Manhattan don't own cars. Not my type of living. Living out on the west coast, cars are something that you can't go on without.

EDIT: Over 1,000,000 annual? Holy ****. I wonder which specialty he went into ;P

surgical subspecialty

 

[nemo123]

Alpine, Cresskill, Tenafly, ..? Yeah they're not bad either lol, but the prices aren't much different from the town homes on the UES.

Yeah, and Demarest, East Englewood, and Englewood Cliffs also. Also I don't think many doctors live in Alpine, since house prices there are probably like $3-4 million+ there and even doctors probably can't afford something like that. But I don't know.

lollololol you kidding? How can you avoid traffic on either the GW or Lincoln if you're commuting in and out when the rest of Jersey is as well? It takes an hour and hour plus to get into and out of the city, respectively, during the two rush hours.

Lol, well depends on when you leave your house. Poeple always talk about how the GWB and the Lincoln tunnel have soooo much traffic, but there's not a traffic jam everyday commuting into the city in the morning. There are only horrendous traffic jams maybe once a week (or twice on a bad week).

 

[inycepoo]

Lol, well depends on when you leave your house. Poeple always talk about how the GWB and the Lincoln tunnel have soooo much traffic, but there's not a traffic jam everyday commuting into the city in the morning. There are only horrendous traffic jams maybe once a week (or twice on a bad week).

...you're kidding, right? Are you going based on hearsay or personal experience? I've never seen either road in the morning not packed with traffic or listened to 1010 WINS and not heard of 20- to 30-minute delays as well.

 

[nemo123]

...you're kidding, right? Are you going based on hearsay or personal experience? I've never seen either road in the morning not packed with traffic or listened to 1010 WINS and not heard of 20- to 30-minute delays as well.

Personal experience. I have commuted into NYC using both the GWB and the lincoln tunnel. Traffic tends to be greatly exaggerated. Either way, you will find times when both have lots of traffic but it isn't as bad as everyone makes it out to be. And the Lincoln tunnel tends to have a little bit more traffic because it's situated more conveniently near midtown as opposed to the GWB which will get you into Washington heights. However, if you are traveling on I-95 and are crossing into NY via the GWB in the afternoon, there will be lots of traffic on the inbound side.

What time do you commute into the city then?