Sandbox - Trash Talk, Tall Tales & Flotsam... It's a mess in here!

Jun 11, 2013 at 12:50 AM

Brendan, my wife and live in Washington Heights and have for the past 3 years. Prices are generally pretty good up here because the money hasn't really drifted to our parts...

But nothing much in terms of good eats and shops. We're on 157th...but if you go further up in the heights you get more restaurant-age.

Inwood is great. It reminds me of Chicago city neighborhoods. Very family oriented. Lots of art-deco inspired apartments. Also fair prices, but not as good as in the Heights. Nice parks up there for chill'n. The one significant drawback is that Inwood is as far north as you can get and still be in Manhattan. It's the end of the A train and while it is express, it is painfully slow those last few stops. It's going to take you a while to get downtown from Inwood. You might as well pack an overnight bag if you want to visit friends in Brooklyn.

The big up side to both of these neighborhoods though, is very close to the GWB for rocking riding. You'll miss out on the morning PP training sessions, but how about hill repeats up Alpine just 45 minutes from your door?

tito

Jun 11, 2013 at 09:11 PM

Yah, the training is a nice trade-off - and since Brendan has already shown he has power, now he can flex his hams on some hills!

John Sanderson

Jun 12, 2013 at 06:08 AM

Brendan Rigby said:

i will likely move to washington heights/inwood this August. anyone lived there/have thoughts/things i should know? pm me or e-mail me, rigby.b@gmail.com

Dyckman Bakery has awesome cafe con leche

tito

Jun 12, 2013 at 03:13 PM

As I told Brendan off-forum, there is a serious dearth of coffeeshops in Washington Heights - which is as good a barometer as any of how glacially the area is gentrifying. Very few decent restaurants, either - which means a lot of cooking at home and morning coffee with your partner instead of on the fly in a to-go cup, which is actually way sweeter in terms of quality-of-life.

mugwump

Jun 12, 2013 at 05:33 PM

Central Harlem is closer to midtown, downtown, brooklyn. When we moved to within two blocks of an express train, getting around suddenly got much faster. And I'm almost as close to the GWB.

More food choices, more coffee, too.

Brendan Rigby

Jun 12, 2013 at 06:22 PM

thanks JP. the neighborhood is basically my gf's decision; she wants to be close to campus in anticipation of late library nights. but i'll keep that in mind as we start looking in earnest. we can always move if it turns out we're in the middle of nowhere.

thanks everyone who's weighed in! time to mount up the climbing cassette...

Marc Bertucco

Jun 12, 2013 at 07:46 PM

Brendan...Sarah and I, 3 years ago, two middle-class salary earners with no dependants couldn't afford a 2 bedroom in JP's neighborhood.

There are deals out there, especially for low-income earners through special housing programs...check out nyc.gov and sign up for the emails. Housing developers get big breaks on taxes and what-not for offering "below market" rents. I find the window in which to qualify for these apartments extremely narrow though.

On 157 and Riverside, I'm 60 seconds from the 1 train and about 7 minutes walking from the C at 155.

Jeff Owens

Jun 12, 2013 at 09:21 PM

I'm thinking about moving up there in a year or so too, once nursing school is over. My apartment is tiny and Williamsburg is incredibly obnoxious anymore. Kissena North!

Plus BSNYC lives up there so it's cool!

Mark Clifford

Jun 13, 2013 at 01:39 PM

Jeff Owens said:

Plus BSNYC lives up there so it's cool!

i thought he had kept his location super secret?

Dan Reiners

Jun 13, 2013 at 01:45 PM

I thought he moved to Queens.

David Yang

Jun 13, 2013 at 01:51 PM

I think he has hinted that he lives way way way uptown, maybe around Inwood (I think there are mtb trails in there that he rides often).

mugwump

Jun 13, 2013 at 02:23 PM

David Yang said:

I think he has hinted that he lives way way way uptown, maybe around Inwood (I think there are mtb trails in there that he rides often).

The MTB trails of Highbridge Park? You can do them all several times in 15 minutes or so. If you're walking.

At least in Queens you've got several miles to work with.

Jeffrey White

Jun 13, 2013 at 02:32 PM

I heard he shares a garden apartment with the Sasquatch.

neilx

Jun 13, 2013 at 07:44 PM

I heard he's in the tribal border lands between Pakistan and Afghanistan.

Marc Bertucco

Jun 14, 2013 at 07:23 PM

Hey question for you car owners who live in one of the Boroughs, and actually insure your car as such...(i.e. no living in NYC and insuring your car like you live in a suburb of Omaha, NE.)

About how much are you paying for car insurance? (if you don't mind sharing that info)

I've been poking around and am amazed at the rates they want to charge us (about $180/month) for an older car. But I'm sort of clueless when it comes to these sorts of things. Little help?

Phil Maronilla

Jun 14, 2013 at 08:06 PM

@marc - I had a 2001 Jetta 4 door 1.8T up until two months ago. I had it for 4 years. I was paying about $400 every 6 months with GEICO. It's not full coverage though, just the basic minimum requirement.

I live in Astoria Queens and parked in the streets. No accident or ticket in over 15 years either.

Marc Bertucco

Jun 14, 2013 at 08:19 PM

$66/month! Wow. Befuddling. No accidents or tickets for me either. But I live in Washington Heights...could it be over twice as expensive to live here? Man...

Craig Zolan

Jun 14, 2013 at 08:34 PM

'99 Audi - a little under $100 a month with Geico with more than the minimum required.

Phil Maronilla

Jun 14, 2013 at 08:37 PM

I can't imagine the Heights being more expensive than Astoria in terms of car insurance coverage. And we're the same age too. Maybe it's the car model? Or maybe the payment option (monthly versus bi-annual, or annual).. Mileage driven per annum (I drove less than 10k miles)? Car color? Pony tail..??

In any case, Geico offers a free quote online.

eragot

Jun 14, 2013 at 09:39 PM

I pay about $2000 per year with collision and comprehensive and relatively high limits. When I only had the liability it was about $900. All with GEICO.

mperlberg

Jun 14, 2013 at 11:34 PM

It is very zip code specific. You know these insurance folks have geeks crunching NYPD data to figure out what rates to charge. It is expensive over in the the one-one-two-two-five. Probably like your neigh, marc.

mugwump

Jun 18, 2013 at 07:08 PM

Marc Bertucco said:

$66/month! Wow. Befuddling. No accidents or tickets for me either. But I live in Washington Heights...could it be over twice as expensive to live here? Man...

Cars can be a very expensive proposition. Insurance is usually just the tip of the iceberg. According to the Bureau of Labor Statistics, the average car costs $8k/year to own and operate. With a number like that, renting makes lots of sense.

I looked for calculators that could help refine costs, but didn't find a good one. So I leave you with this search: https://www.google.com/search?q=estimate+car+maintenance+costs+per+year&ie=utf-8&oe=utf-8&aq=t&rls=org.mozilla:en-US:official&client=firefox-a

mugwump

Jun 18, 2013 at 07:22 PM

Marc Bertucco said:

Brendan...Sarah and I, 3 years ago, two middle-class salary earners with no dependants couldn't afford a 2 bedroom in JP's neighborhood.

There are deals out there, especially for low-income earners through special housing programs...check out nyc.gov and sign up for the emails. Housing developers get big breaks on taxes and what-not for offering "below market" rents. I find the window in which to qualify for these apartments extremely narrow though.

On 157 and Riverside, I'm 60 seconds from the 1 train and about 7 minutes walking from the C at 155.

This didn't make sense to me. My neighborhood is hardly ritzy, and Marc's building is way fancy (it has its own Wikipedia page). Morever, I know the median income in my neighborhood is around $40k/year and I also have a benefit of a wife who loves looking a real estate listings. But this is all an aside as I doubt Brendan is looking to buy.

Marc's zip code has a median income $5k/year lower. Housing prices are lower in his, but my zip also includes parts of Morningside Heights and the west side of the Harlem crit course. I'm pretty sure there's also more public housing here. This zip is also not gentrifying yet, as most of the population change has come from people moving into either formerly abandoned buildings or new construction.

I found a pretty awesome site http://www.city-data.com/ that somehow aggregates economic data by zip code. Incredible stats. Looking at my zip code, you can get a very complete picture of what the area is like.

Marc Bertucco

Jun 18, 2013 at 07:43 PM

Well, Brendan...I guess you are just going to have to do what Sarah and I did years ago. Spend a LOT of time online, and then visiting apartments in a wide variety of neighborhoods until you find something that meets your needs.

Dan Reiners

Jun 19, 2013 at 03:32 PM

So my wife is suggesting buying a pair of these for me for the summer, when shorts seasons intersects with shaving season.

http://www.theatlanticwire.com/entertainment/2013/06/chinas-anti-pervert-stockings-might-be-greatest-joke-weibo-ever-played/66367/

Adam Fabian

Jun 19, 2013 at 04:16 PM

Dan Reiners said:

So my wife is suggesting buying a pair of these for me for the summer, when shorts seasons intersects with shaving season.

http://www.theatlanticwire.com/entertainment/2013/06/chinas-anti-pervert-stockings-might-be-greatest-joke-weibo-ever-played/66367/

You're not alone. Mine sent me the same link as well.