Moving to New York

[KenNYC]

Originally Posted by hbcat

1) Real question: Can one live really much more cheaply in Brooklyn -- with easy access to Manhattan -- than in Manhattan, anywhere below, say, the 100s? I am not too picky about a neighborhood and don't need to, and don't really want to, live in a trendy place. It's just that I might have only one year in NYC and 90% of my research will be in Manhattan proper. I could compromise on the borrough, but if I don't need to, I'd prefer not to. Space is not an issue, but if I don't land any research money, I will be paying my own way out of retirement savings, etc. I am not a wealthy person.

Yeah, just moving across the East River is going to cut a good bit off your rental budget. That doesn't mean that Brooklyn is going to be cheap at all, but you'll be better off there than in Manhattan yes.

I hope to never again live in Jersey. I am happy for those of you who are happy on that side, but I have seen enough of NJ for two lifetimes. Brooklyn ok, Jersey City, probably not.

No disagreement there. You'll be paying about the same, and me personally would pick Bk or Queens over Jersey any day.

2) Another question: If I come to the U.S. (on a US passport, if that matters), how much will private health insurance cost. I hope to get part-time employment or a one-year teaching gig, but if I don't, I will need to pay my own way for health insurance as well. America is a scary place for the unemployed & uninsured. Yeah, ok, that's probably true in a lot of places, but somehow the US looks rather fierce from the outside looking in. It gives one pause.

Emblem Health seems to be big in NYC, check out their policies. As a foreigner I'm completely insured by my government (go socialism!), so I don't actually know the answer to this question. If you're moving to do any form of graduate studies/work though, your university is likely to have discounted health insurance programs.

[hbcat]

As a foreigner I'm completely insured by my government (go socialism!)

Thanks, Ken. My Grandma was Norwegian. Can I get 25% of my genes insured? Can I tell them you sent me?

That's about what I thought about Brooklyn (your response above). I guess I need to be more specific about neighborhood, etc., before I get any real advice, but I am only really familiar with Manhattan.

[MidtownGuy]

Yeah, ok, that's probably true in a lot of places, but somehow the US looks rather fierce from the outside looking in. It gives one pause.

Yes, fierce...it's the jungle. No health insurance...too bad. Die.
It's horrible.
It's not civilized compared to a place like Norway. Or even Costa Rica.

[hbcat]

Originally Posted by MidtownGuy

It's not civilized compared to a place like Norway. Or even Costa Rica.

Or even Taiwan. I checked this week, and as a alien resident of Taiwan, my insurance would cover me in my home country for up to three months.

But how ridiculous is this?: I was born in NJ, went to college in Ohio, did graduate work in NJ and Illinois, and have to rely on little ol' Taiwan for health insurance if I want to do a research year in NYC.

Taiwan spends 6% of GDP on health care vs 16% in the US.

Taiwan has one of the best health care systems in the world:

http://www.citizen.org/publications/release.cfm?ID=7685

It is not ranked by the World Health Organization (WHO), which doesn't consider Taiwan a "country," but the National Health agency of Taiwan is consistently ranked as one of the top 10 in the world by other organizations, and I heard of one ranking which placed it at number 2 (behind Switzerland).

The WHO ranks the US system at 37 worldwide.
Question: Does the US have a health care "system"?

I am thinking of flying back to Taiwan once every three months while I am "in" NY to maintain my health insurance. It would probably be cheaper than purchasing private health insurance (which I assume would take months to obtain anyway) after I arrive in NYC. Absurd? Yes, absurd, but we doing what we gotta do...

[noktulo]

So I just sort of moved to New York in September. I'm currently renting an apartment until Christmas with some friends from school who will be going back to Cincinnati then. The plan is that my sister, a friend of mine who goes to Parsons, and I will sign a 1-year lease and move into an apartment in the East Village or Williamsburg sometime between Christmas and January 5.

Since I've only ever sublet apartments for 3 month periods before, I'm not sure how to go about this. I've discussed a little in one of the NYC threads about this, but I figured it deserved its own thread. Almost all of the apartments on Craigslist seem like they're available immediately, so I'm not sure how far out I can put a deposit down. It would seem that they'd want to minimize the time between my signing a lease and my moving in and starting to pay rent. When would be a reasonable time to start contacting people whose apartments are available immediately if I want to move in Jan 1?

Then there's also the issue of subletting. My friend will probably be going home for the summer, and I might be going to Copenhagen for an extended period. Is a subletting provision in the lease a common thing, or will that be a potential dealbreaker for some apartments?

My goal is basically to know where I'm going to be living as soon as I can so I can stop worrying about it.