If I'm working downtown in NYC, should I live in the financial district and walk to work or live in Midtown (or elsewhere) to be more social? Any current (or former) analysts working downtown have any insight on this?
How to Decide Where to Live?
When moving to a new city, it can be a challenge to figure out the best place to live. A few things to consider:
- Hours/Commute: How many hours a week will you be working? Given your hours, is there a benefit to living closer to work in order to cut down on commute time in the morning, late at night or on weekends?
- Lifestyle: What kind of area do you want to live in? Do you want a lot of nightlife and restaurants? Or do you want something quieter?
For analysts working in downtown NYC, here are a few suggestions to help you with your search:
- If you're in IBD as a first year, live as close to work as humanly and financially possible, those extra 30 mins of sleep in the morning are golden
- If you work in FD in IB, the only part of Manhattan you’ll see for the next few years is south of 23rd (if you get a night off to go out, you’ll be going out in LES, the Village, Chelsea, SoHo, etc.)
- Lots of buildings in Battery Park City as well
- Although you’ll have a longer commute if you live outside of FD, it seems like you can maintain the appearance of social normacy by living in midtown/Murray Hill/somewhere else
- Union Square and Gramercy aren’t too far away
Related Reading
If you're in IBD as a first year, live as close to work as humanly and financially possible. Those extra 30 mins of sleep in the morning are golden...
Yep. There are tons of places to live in the financial district. You don't want to have to get on the subway to get to work, trust me.
but if i go out in midtown, it's at least a $20 cab ride home to financial district....
also, any building recommendations for financial district? i'll be on broad street...
Dude, you won't be going out in Midtown. There is nothing to do in Midtown. You'll be going out in LES, the Village, Chelsea, SoHo, etc. So the only part of Manhattan you'll see for the next few years is south of 23rd st. Think about it that way....
Trust me, you'll be going to work a whole lot more frequently than you'll be going out. Additionally, if you're smart, you can expense taxis or black cars for one or both directions. For instance, if you're going out on Saturday night and you live close to work, you can just take a black car from work.
I live at 90 Washington, intersection of Washington and Rector. Nice building, very expensive, studios and 1BRs only, $2500-$3500/month. Gym, valet, white-gloved doorman in morning coat, sauna, very discerning seasonal ikebana displays in the lobby changed every three days, restaurant in the building, hardwood floors, 12-foot ceilings, black marble counters, 180-degree views of the river. Only downside is that you can't pay $2500 a month for a studio on an analyst salary, and it's hard to share a 1BR for $3200/month. So if you don't have a roommate you can sleep with, it can be hard to afford.
Now's your chance...ask Ms. Ind if she has a roommate...lol
Heh. Anyone who knows me on this board knows I have a roommate, Vadremc.
This seems to be a common theme on the forum...
And I still maintain that even if you work in the FD (as I do), it's worth the trip to live somewhere that's got more going on outside your door (such as Midtown, where I live).
If and when you have to head into work on a moment's notice or a weekend, you can take a cab and get it reimbursed. Takes 15 minutes....
Anyway, some other buildings down here that a lot of young banker-types inhabit are 2 Gold, 99 John, and 45 Wall. Lotsa stuff in Battery Park as well.
How long does it take you to get to work on a normal day from midtown though? I thought the rationale behind living close to work was that you would save precious minutes on your daily commute. Do you take the subway to work?
Yeah, I take the 6 from 51st street to Grand Central and walk across the platform to the 4/5, and get off at Fulton.
Door-to-door takes 35 minutes.
I aim to be in around 8:45, but if I show up at 9:15-9:30 nobody cares. Luckily we don't punch time clocks in this business.
I'm inclined to agree with TireKicker's sentiment, seems like you can maintain the appearance of social normacy by living outside of the FD.
Are apartments in FD generally cheaper than those in Midtown/Murray Hill?
Where is it recommended to live if working midtown?
I lived in Battery Park my 1st year--I didn't mind, the subway wasn't too far and it was an express train to my stop which took about 10-15 minutes. Rides home are expensed so who cares, you could sleep while in the car.
is the financial district the best place (best value) if working in lower Manhattan? Is Battery Park better?
well ultimately the issue for me isn't the relative price differential between the FD and midtown, but to prevent getting stuck in FD all the time, would it be worth it to take the subway once a day (car home at night) to see something different/more social by living in the murray hill/flatiron/gramercy area?
i'm not really worried about the extra half hour of sleep in the morning.
Financial District is the best deal in terms of size, doorman, gym etc. in the building. Especially if you work downtown (GS or ML).
Go to a rockrose building (www.rockrosenyc) and avoid paying a broker fee
Rockrose has buildings all around the city btw.
While I understand that many people will live in the FD for a variety of reasons I feel like living and working down there may make one feel trapped (also, the lack of nightlife down there aside from Ulysses). Wouldn't it be better to live in a comparably priced building in murray hill (like windsor court[with gym, roofdeck,doorman etc.]) and just commute 20 minutes a day..?
rockrose buildings = solid
does anyone know anyone that lives in 1 irving place and whether or not living there is feasible for the salary that an analyst would be living on
windosr court is a decent bit more expensive than financial district.
You'll love saving an hour (30 minutes commute time) each way. I personally GUARANTEE that, after having done both.
You don't appreciate how nice it is to live 3 minutes from work when you're sleeping 4 hours a night until you've done it.
Take cabs to go out the 2 nights a month when you might actually be off..
not all of us are working in ibd....some are ficc/eq etc.... so given you actually get to have some semblance of a social life, does it make sense to live downtown. also another argument to look at is that if you are working so much, lets say you get out early one night and wanna grab a beer with someone, nobody is going to come down to the financial district to do that...
what about union square? does anyone live in that area? it seems like it'd only be 3 or so stops on the subway, maybe a 15 minute commute with a much better social life....
If I could choose anywhere to live in Manhattan it'd be Union Sq or Gramercy. Great spots and central to pretty much everything.
any other no-fee property mgmt companies worth checking out? i'm trying to decide between paying the broker's fee or doing my own search.
also when is the appropriate time to start looking for a july 1 move in date
Due to cheap airfaire, I ended up flying out of New York for my vacation between school and work. I drove here in late May and had six hours before my flight to either find a place or resign myself to living out of a hotel for at least a week or two when I returned. Fortunately, the first place the broker showed us was nearly perfect, so I took it. This was May 20th for a June 15th move-in. I think three weeks is a pretty good lead time.
we looked for a july 1 movein around june 3rd-6th and it was almost too late. You want to be about 5-6 weeks out.
Perhaps I just got lucky. I've heard of 1-month lead times being too short, but then 6 weeks can also sometimes be too long.
The real question should be: where do the hottest broads in NY live ?
I still remember my sophomore year summer, I lived in a building on 34th and 1st in a building called Gateway or something similar, the broads in that building were mind-blowing, I hooked up with a girl on my floor a week after I moved in, but It's a lil far from where I'm gonna be working full time so that sucks.
whats your definition of far...that building might have been Rivergate which is on 1st in murray hill...
Yup, it was Rivergate, right by FDR, the place I worked at was in Midtown...
problem with something on 1st ave is that its over 3 avenue blocks to the green line
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Meh, you can walk three avenue blocks, even if you're an out-of-shape analyst.
yeah you can walk it, but around now, when its 20 degrees outside you're not going to want to...
Why walk three long blocks only to take the subway for 30 minutes, when you could live close to work and walk 1.5 or 2 short blocks total to get to work?
Right now I still walk 30 minutes each way to work. Refreshing and head-clearing.
because there is nothing to do in the financial district
Right but you can cab it everywhere. It is not like living in another city where you have to worry about driving after drinking or anything.
Any place in the city is accessible to you in any physical condition (read: any state of alcohol consumption).
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