Manhattan Apartment for 1st Year Associates

Hey gang,

A friend of mine is going to work for a BB as 1st year IBD associate this summer. She asked me about how much to spend on rental apartment would be appropriate. She is paid street, something like 100K base + 40k sign-on bonus. You guys have always been my source of wisdom, so would you care to share how much $$ or % of annual income would you spend on your apartment?

Also the bankerella wants to live a safe neighborhood within walking distance from her midtown office, so probably Midtown East and Murray Hills. Is this doable?

Thanks for shedding some lights on this in advance!

8 Comments
 

Just an assumption here, but let's say she's a post MBA grad. She'll probably be 28-31 years old, on average. At that age, unless you have some great friends/roommates, wouldn't you want to have your own space? (Of course, I'd like to stay with roommates as long as possible to save some dough, but just saying).

At 100k base, I feel like she could get lucky and snag a 1 bedroom for about 2500 if its somewhere un-fun like midtown east.

 
Best Response

@Oxon She can safely spend annual salary divided by fourty not including utilities. Most luxury buildings in NYC will require a salary that is fourty times the monthly rent, and some buildings even require fifty times the monthly rent. With a gaurantor this requirement is usually dropped. So in this case, $2500 would be fine. She could find a studio for ~$2.2k in FiDi, E. Village, W. Village and other downtown areas but a roommate would be a much better option because you can find a great 2 BR for $5000 compared to a mediocre studio/1 bedroom for $2500.

FYI, I live in a sizable 1 bedroom in greenwich/west village for only $2200/month. It's all about timing and luck when looking for apartments. You don't have to live in an unfun place like Midtown East to have a nice 1 bedroom.

Frank Sinatra - "Alcohol may be man's worst enemy, but the bible says love your enemy."
 

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