Who Rents Here?

The real story here is ass who hung this giant sign above the pleasant little green space at the corner of 5th and President.

Posted by: guest at June 18, 2008 10:11 AM

"twentysomething artsy freelancer who makes $50,000 a year"

this demographic must be few and far between.

Posted by: guest at June 18, 2008 10:54 AM

Nokilissa
Probably the 40 min journey into Manhattan from PS.
It's 15 min from Hoboken.

Posted by: guest at June 18, 2008 10:59 AM

welp this article fits me and most everyone I know if your going for anecdotal info. Im 23 and work at a record company making alittle over 30k a year. I rent with 3 other people in prospect heights and pay 800 a month for a large 3 bedroom with an extra "guest" room that we use for storage and desk space. Suprisingly a large chunk of my friends are teachers who all live in the park slope/prospect heights area. I dont save alot but have a 401k and have enough money to eat out at decent resturants, go to shows, and drink more than I should.

Posted by: guest at June 18, 2008 11:06 AM

more like:

"twentysomething artsy freelancer who "earns" $50,000 a year in interest income from a 1.5 million dollar trust fund."

Posted by: guest at June 18, 2008 11:13 AM

I agree with 10:59. For those working in Manhattan the rent/ameneties ratio is out of line unless you put a huge premium on the label of "living in Brooklyn" when you talk to your friends back in Toledo

Posted by: guest at June 18, 2008 11:13 AM

i make about 75k a year, live in park slope, work in the music industry, live alone, am in my early 30's.

i'd never consider new jersey. it's not on my radar. i love brooklyn and want to stay.

Posted by: guest at June 18, 2008 11:24 AM

11:06 here.

I know no one with a trust fund. Everyone I hang out with lives in brooklyn but none are from brooklyn and none have trust funds. Actually I dont even know what a trust fund really is.

also hoboken does not have the same train access as brooklyn and queens. The trains dont run as often and you have no options.
Oh and have you been to hoboken? Its worse than murray hill.

Posted by: guest at June 18, 2008 11:27 AM

I've been to Hoboken. Once. For a one night stand a few years ago. Never going back.

I didn't move to NYC to live in the Garden State. If I wanted to live outside NYC, there are places 1000 times nicer than NJ.

And there's no way in hell it was 15 minutes. I remember my "ride of shame" taking well over 30 mins.

Posted by: guest at June 18, 2008 11:30 AM

Here's a little anecdote for you...

I've been trying to date a lot more, and I'm on this website and have been meeting a bunch of people. Yesterday, for like the 3rd time in a month I got a note from someone outside of NYC saying..

"Seriously...why are ALL the hot guys in Brooklyn..."

Posted by: guest at June 18, 2008 11:32 AM

50K even, computer programmer at a nonprofit. We're everywhere!

I like how that income figure doesn't jive with the asking rents at all, though...

Posted by: guest at June 18, 2008 11:42 AM

"Probably the 40 min journey into Manhattan from PS."

Hmmm...I live in Park Slope and door to door I'm at Union Square in 20 mins and Times Square in 30. Do it every week multiple times.
One day I week I go all the way up to 96th and it's 40 mins from my front door on the 2/3 train at Grand Army Plaza.

Posted by: guest at June 18, 2008 11:49 AM

i'm a music editor, make about 60K a year and live in park slope. i'm single, gay and 29.

Posted by: guest at June 18, 2008 11:50 AM

The freelance video "artsy" guy that used to live upstairs from me, in my old Brooklyn apartment, was a Trust Fund guy.
His last name had a V (5th) at the end, and the mailman would leave his huge envelopes from the Private Bank division on the floor in front of the mailbox (apparently when you have enough money to weren't the Private Bank, they have to oversize the statements).

Posted by: guest at June 18, 2008 11:51 AM

Re: Trust Funds kids...

Who cares???!!!

Do you not realize that for every trust fund kid in Brooklyn, there are 20 in Manhattan.

You all are so stupid.

So we should shame people who were born into money...something completely out of their control?

Get a life, please.

Posted by: guest at June 18, 2008 11:59 AM

i WISH i had a trust fund.

Posted by: guest at June 18, 2008 12:02 PM

Wait...everyone on Brownstoner tells me that only Wall Streeters live in Park Slope. Who are the people on this thread who work in the arts (some single...GASP!!! no kids!!! GAY??!!!WHAT??!)

They must all be lying right...?

We all know the only people in PS are married with kids and work on Wall Street.

Posted by: guest at June 18, 2008 12:28 PM

The average brownstone Brooklyn renter in the first quarter of this year was a twentysomething artsy freelancer who makes $50,000 a year, says the Eagle.

A chronicle of wannabeeism.

Posted by: guest at June 18, 2008 12:38 PM

Are these people bitter?

Posted by: guest at June 18, 2008 12:39 PM

Tdeezy thats retarded and you know it.

thats like sayin everyone wants to rape children.

HOW DO WE KNOW???!!!!!!! THEY NEVER TELL US!!!!!!!!

Posted by: guest at June 18, 2008 12:41 PM

im not bitter.

im happy

and I rent

Posted by: guest at June 18, 2008 12:48 PM

You raise an excellent point 12:39. I think, anecdotally, that they are not. In fact, they seem to be having quite a good time!

Posted by: guest at June 18, 2008 12:49 PM

My husband is 34, a freelancer in media and makes $100K a year sometimes more. (And not from a trust fund). In the specific kind of work he does, it would be unlikely to get much paid work at all in another city elsewhere in the country, and what he did get might add up to $40K a year. Maybe. Plus he wouldn't have the networking opportunities in his field he has here.

Posted by: guest at June 18, 2008 12:51 PM

I'm 32, live in PS, make roughly $80k a year working for a classical music record label.

No kids, homo.

Posted by: guest at June 18, 2008 1:00 PM

This post is like a renters anonymous meeting. "Hi, my name is doug and I am a renter."

The first step to recover is acceptance.

Posted by: guest at June 18, 2008 1:03 PM

11:50 and 1:00 might make a cute couple...

Posted by: guest at June 18, 2008 1:04 PM

"...Probably the 40 min journey into Manhattan from PS. It's 15 min from Hoboken..."

Either you've never been to Park Slope or you're joking. You could *walk* to Manhattan from Park Slope in 40 minutes.

Posted by: guest at June 18, 2008 1:11 PM

Most people who say it's 40 mins from Park Slope to Manhattan have never been there, 1:11.

Technically, from my house to the first stop in Manhattan...Wall Street, it's roughly 12 minutes. Happened to time it this morning.

Posted by: guest at June 18, 2008 1:15 PM

I live in PS, make 85k in tech, and live alone, for what it's worth. As for the commute time to Union Square, it totally can take 40 minutes. Seriously. Sometimes it's 20, sometimes it's 40, and I've even had it take longer than that, although admittedly it's rare to be that bad.

Oh, and re: murray hill - hoboken comparison: doesn't Hoboken have way more fraternity types than Murray Hill? I dunno, as a native of NYC I tend to avoid NJ :P

Posted by: guest at June 18, 2008 1:29 PM

"You raise an excellent point 12:39."

Well, actually I didn't raise a point, I asked a question.

Posted by: guest at June 18, 2008 1:30 PM

Tdeezy... I wish you had touched a nerve.

because then I would have a trust fund and most likely not be posting on this website.

Posted by: guest at June 18, 2008 1:45 PM

NJ sucks! No question. Whoever claimed that was a better place to live is high off the trash in New Jersey.

Posted by: guest at June 18, 2008 2:18 PM

New Jersey is BANKRUPT.

btw.

Posted by: guest at June 18, 2008 2:21 PM

i work at a hedge fund, make $200k (and rising rapidly, assuming i keep my job). i rent in a floor-thru brownstone in prime north slope paying 2500 with wife and 1 kid (and yes we have a stroller, gasp). i am not buying RE for at least another year b/c this market is going to get way weaker. i also wouldn't live in manhattan even if it was half the price (though most of my colleagues do).

btw, i specifically work in financial equities and this is environment is way worse than most "artsy" types currently buying in bklyn can even imagine. a ceo of mid-size NY bank (NYSE traded) is calling for an NYC housing crash. this is a guy who has been lending in the NYC RE market for over 20 years. who would you rather believe, him or your listless corcoran broker or recent underwater buyer posting here?

Posted by: guest at June 18, 2008 4:19 PM

4:19, keep in mind that for every year you continue renting you are spending $30,000.

You need to factor in if you REALLY think prime areas (if that's where you are looking) are going to be significantly cheaper years down the road, because you are essentially throwing money down the tubes right now, while you wait out the alleged downturn.

btw, where is the article link to this guy's prediction for the "nyc housing crash"

is his name "the what" by any chance...?

Posted by: guest at June 18, 2008 4:29 PM

4:19 here. there is no link. i talk to bank CEOs very frequently as an institutional investor. it's an off the cuff and off the record remark, but it is real. and this is not just NYC. bank management teams from all over the US look like deer in headlights when they talk about credit (esp. housing). i'm not making this up.

so keep trying to convince less connected or less financially savvy people. i can do the math on my own. keep in mind that closing costs alone on a $950k new construction condo would pay my rent for two years. all i need is a 10-15% price chop on that place to justify my position, which i have seen in my area already. good luck w/ the broker job.

Posted by: guest at June 18, 2008 4:45 PM

If you are such a smart investor, why did you just miss out on buying in the largest run up in prices in our lifetime???

I bought for 450K and now own a 3 million dollar brownstone.

If the market tanks a bit, I'll survive, as will many...

Posted by: guest at June 18, 2008 5:06 PM

Anyone who bought property in NYC prior to 2006 has already seen enough price appreciation to weather a downturn. Even 30% drops will be negated by the appreciation since that time.

It's only people who bought in fringe areas in the last year to year and a half who might be slightly in trouble. And they are only in trouble if they have to sell. Many people who buy homes in NYC (because of the difficulty) were not flippers and bought to stay for a while.

I really don't see the reason for the panic, 4:45.

Sounds like you just want to justify why you didn't buy.

Posted by: guest at June 18, 2008 5:26 PM

The Royal Bank of Scotland has advised clients to brace for a full-fledged crash in global stock and credit markets over the next three months as inflation paralyses the major central banks. "A very nasty period is soon to be upon us - be prepared," said Bob Janjuah, the bank's credit strategist.

A report by the bank's research team warns that the S&P 500 index of Wall Street equities is likely to fall by more than 300 points to around 1050 by September as "all the chickens come home to roost" from the excesses of the global boom, with contagion spreading across Europe and emerging markets.
Such a slide on world bourses would amount to one of the worst bear markets over the last century.

Posted by: guest at June 18, 2008 6:02 PM

i'm a 25-yr old single male living in park slope making $50k a year. i enjoy long walks in the park and going to indie music shows. i'm about 5'-10" and extremely good-looking. seeking attractive female with similar interests.

Posted by: guest at June 18, 2008 10:53 PM

seems like you are trying to justify why you didn't sell

Posted by: guest at June 19, 2008 8:27 AM

RE: Polemicist

>>>>I would say this survey is not scientific. The most represented groups are the most probable readers of an internet based survey. Seriously. The entertainment business? What is that? Hookers? Bartenders? Musicians?

I'd be more interested in the household sizes. When I explain to most 20-something renters in the neighborhood that increased zoning density regulations and the elimination of rent stabilization would guarantee they would be able to afford their own apartment rather, they all seem quite eager for "change". <<<<

You seemed way too quick to judge the "scientificity" of the data... and to be honest I had a similar reaction at first. So I asked the source for more info--and I reviewed the original report that Ideal put out... apparently this wasn't an internet based survey, but a statistical report on actual rentals they had in Q1 2008.

You certainly do have a point in being more interested in the household sizes--so maybe you should go ahead and do a study of your own... ? I'd be really interested in seeing this.

Posted by: guest at June 19, 2008 2:27 PM

Posted by: guest at June 18, 2008 11:50 AM:
i'm a music editor, make about 60K a year and live in park slope. i'm single, gay and 29.

Posted by: guest at June 18, 2008 1:00 PM:
I'm 32, live in PS, make roughly $80k a year working for a classical music record label.
No kids, homo.

Posted by: guest at June 18, 2008 1:04 PM:
11:50 and 1:00 might make a cute couple...

Ha ha, 1:04 :) Please, all of you, tell us if this happens!

Posted by: guest at June 21, 2008 12:21 AM