Where should we live?

We just got back from Greece.  Now we need to decide where to live!

I start work on August 16, and it’d be nice to be moved in by then.  My father has repeatedly offered to let us stay in the apartment over the garage in Fairfield, so we don’t have to make any forced decisions.  We are very lucky to have this fallback option…we don’t feel forced into anything.  At the same time, we’re anxious to get settled.

There are 3 general locations we’re considering:

  1. Manhattan
    1. This is where most of our friends in the tri-state area live.
    2. Before Tuck, we lived in SoHo, and we loved it.
    3. The best food and nightlife
    4. Commute to Stamford, airports, and local clients is relatively easy.
    5. Expensive!  We could probably find a 1-bedroom in our price range
  2. Brooklyn
    1. Lots of young, intelligent, diverse people
    2. Food and nightlife are supposed to be good
    3. Most blogs per capita (I think I read this somewhere)
    4. We might be able to find a 2-bedroom in our price range
    5. Commute to Stamford would be pretty hellish.  Commute to airports and local clients not too bad.
  3. Suburbs (Westchester/Fairfield counties)
    1. Rich white yuppies (some would say that this is what we are.  nothing depresses me more!)
    2. We’d have to drive most places (for some reason we like walking and public transportation)
    3. Easiest commute (driving and train both options)
    4. Cheapest option: we could probably find a 2 bedroom, and save more money
    5. No one would ever come to visit us, except my family (better babysitting potential)

There are lots of issues swirling around.  We start looking on Monday.  Any thoughts from the peanut gallery?  As you can tell, we’re pretty confused.

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This entry was written by Chris and posted on July 15, 2007 at and filed under Too Lazy To Cagegorize: Life. Bookmark the permalink. Follow any comments here with the RSS feed for this post. Post a comment or leave a trackback: Trackback URL.

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    BROOKLYN. Ok, here's the deal. From Boerum Hill, where I lived, it wouldn't be that much longer to Stamford than it would be from most places downtown in Manhattan. And if you were slightly more north and west than I was, it might even be easier than most places in Soho and the W. Village. The Borough Hall stop on the 4/5 trains (1st stop in Brooklyn) is at Joralemon and Court St. A lot of the awesomeness of Boerum Hill/Cobble Hill is along Court and Smith just south of Atlantic, so you could live at the northern end of one of those neighborhoods (Joralemon is technically in the Heights, which is as spendy as Manhattan) and have just a 5 minute walk to the train.

    One advantage to the area is how many other trains there are, too. Depending on where you're staffed in the city you're close to the 2/3, F and A/C, and the W isn't far either. I lived a block from the F at Bergen, and my commute to Rockefeller Center including walking on either end was 25 minutes door to door.

    There are a few reasons I think Brooklyn will be better. With a kid, it's a much more friendly and walkable place. There are lots of families as well as lots of hip young people, so you won't be the only ones with the strollers but you won't be the only cool people in a Suburb of Lame. Greta won't feel isolated when she's home with the baby because there are tons of places to go right nearby without having to load into a car. The food and bar scene is AWESOME and much cheaper than Manhattan. The brunch options alone are endless! There are more trees, especially on the side streets, than most areas in Manhattan, so it always felt cooler and cleaner to me. And it feels like a neighborhood. The guys at the bodega on the corner would take packages for us, that sort of thing. And there are lots of cool preschools and stuff in the area, plus some great public elementary schools (there's a magnet arts school on Pacific between Hoyt and Smith) so you wouldn't need to move in two years unless you wanted to.

    I did not want to move to Brooklyn; I ended up there by a fluke. But I loved my three years there and am glad that we moved to Cambridge, which is more like it than Boston would be!
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    Chris and Greta,
    I think you should live in a place that makes you both happy. I think you both really want to be in New York City because you lived there before and you reaally loved it. The only drawback to New York City that I see to is that it is so expensive that the baby might not be able to have it's own room. I also love Manhattan and I would come to visit you.
    If Manhattan doesn't work out, I think you should look for a community where you can walk or have access to public transportation within a short distance if this is important to you.
    Look at all your options. When you see the perfect place that has everything that you and Greta want you will know it. Good luck.
    Love,
    Eleni
 
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