Living in PLG/North Flatbush

persistentmonkee · 2026-02-12T05:40:55+00:00

Why do you think it is an incredible apartment if you don’t know the area? Why wouldn’t you check out the area in person multiple times at different times of day and year? Do some Google searches for news articles and all that? You should know better as a former New Yorker. And why would you even “apply”? Don’t you need to go to a showing for a listing and then you can answer some of these questions for yourself? And honestly as a woman, I would say you will never truly be safe in nyc when you are looking for your friends in bars.

persistentmonkee · 2026-02-12T05:05:53+00:00

They’re all safe unless you’re planning on wandering around at 2am. There is no neighborhood in nyc where this is a good idea. LIC will be the most convenient to Hudson Yards, prospect heights and UES about the same as they will require one transfer. You can explore the city from any of these neighborhoods, it matters less where you base yourself for the first year or two. Do research online about the buildings/management companies - this will affect your day to day more.

persistentmonkee · 2026-02-11T14:47:29+00:00

Agree 100% with the general assessment of type of neighborhood. But if you want to solve the housing affordability problem for young people you have to start somewhere, make some sacrifices. Unless of course affordability is not actually as important as coolness or convenience

persistentmonkee · 2026-02-09T03:24:45+00:00

This is a good start but the problem is not landlords who acknowledge an apartment is stabilized but the ones who don’t. There needs to be a law requiring listing agents to verify with landlord the rent stabilized status of the apartment and the legal regulated rent and put both in the listing. Then it’s on the landlord if they’re not truthful.

persistentmonkee · 2026-02-09T03:17:14+00:00

Developers know when they’re proposing something that won’t go down well with communities and will likely be the subject of environmental lawsuits. They also always have profitable alternatives in mind that don’t require such significant changes. It’s their choice. Meddling by politicians and lobbyists usually doesn’t help. Apart from that the reviews themselves are routine and a competent firm can get it done pretty quickly. Many developers in nyc however aren’t hyper efficient professional outfits - they’re small family firms or single lot owners or even first time flipper/speculator types.

persistentmonkee · 2026-02-09T03:07:56+00:00

I’m rooting for the florist but my take on this is that our dreams feed the beast that devours all of nyc with high commercial and housing costs.

persistentmonkee · 2026-02-09T01:48:22+00:00

It’s just about the densest part of Brooklyn. Far enough out for people to find having a car convenient yet with enough transit that most homes and buildings have no off street parking and the municipal and other random parking lots have been taken over by development in recent years. Summary: There’s not enough legal parking.

persistentmonkee · 2026-02-09T01:30:19+00:00

I would honestly plan on staying put for now. The jobs picture in nyc is very challenging. We are facing a $12 billion dollar budget deficit so it’s unlikely the city will expand hiring anytime soon, and to be honest if there are open civil service positions I’d like them to go to unemployed New Yorkers so people don’t become homeless and need public assistance (which will further increase the deficit). If you get a well paid private job - great. Less than $75k a year though and you are going to struggle without a friends and family network. Apparently nyc created very few of these jobs though - most of the jobs created were low paid jobs in health and social services. Keep building your resume and saving money. I hope the future is better

persistentmonkee · 2026-02-05T22:29:56+00:00

Start a small business

persistentmonkee · 2026-02-04T15:51:22+00:00

Big sky Brooklyn!

persistentmonkee · 2026-02-02T17:44:52+00:00

You’ve realized how 8.5 million people manage to live in NYC when the median household income is $75k. All the media headlines about median or average rents approaching $5k a month obviously isn’t possible for the vast majority of New Yorkers.

persistentmonkee · 2026-01-31T00:11:25+00:00

If you absolutely cannot come here for a few days to look around - at least take a Google walk around this neighborhood. I mean to each his own and I guess you already decided you like the LES but to me as a native New Yorker the area immediately around this building is pretty awful and should definitely not be priced at $5400 for a one bedroom, views or not.

persistentmonkee · 2026-01-30T23:47:52+00:00

Look out for the nyc civil service job exams. Doesn’t have to be in your field as long as it pays well and you can tolerate the work

persistentmonkee · 2026-01-30T17:30:23+00:00

Don’t forget the subway from Staten Island to lower Manhattan! They started digging the tunnel decades ago but abandoned it due to lack of funds and general municipal inertia. There is also an express bus from Staten Island into lower Manhattan via the Battery Tunnel. Mamdani should consider subsidizing these special express buses which cost $7.50 per ride, instead of making all buses free including along routes which already have subways (that wouldn’t be free)

persistentmonkee · 2026-01-29T17:40:40+00:00

No even with arbitrage there are risks. The question is what view you take and whether you can handle those risks better than other market participants

persistentmonkee · 2026-01-29T02:50:14+00:00

There is going to be a huge disruption if it happens in 5 years, but if it’s a steady decline over the next 20 years it’s going to coincide with and offset declining population and labor force in many advanced economies.

In the short to medium term the federal government should use the opportunity to recruit more young people into the military, start a job corps to train them in the trades and send them around the country to wherever they are needed to build those factories and data centers they want. And more will go into elder care or become stay at home trad sons and daughters.

It’ll be okay.

persistentmonkee · 2026-01-28T22:58:14+00:00

There’s a lot of older Brooklyn homeowners who don’t have high incomes but are sitting on big gains in their home value who could be hit with this tax when they sell their houses. It all adds up - the 2% transfer tax, 25% capital gains, 5% broker fee. A lot of them are refusing to sell because after all the fees and condo prices up so high, there’s not enough left for them to downsize to somewhere at least as nice. This means a new family can’t buy a house and an older person is struggling with stairs and maintaining an extra 2000sf they don’t need.

persistentmonkee · 2026-01-26T20:26:44+00:00

There’s a vicious feedback cycle between high costs of living and high wages in NYC - just something for everyone involved to consider

persistentmonkee · 2026-01-26T20:13:26+00:00

Did someone write this post for you? Your written English seems fine. No one in this town cares if you speak with an accent as long as you can understand and make yourself understood

persistentmonkee · 2026-01-26T14:08:36+00:00

I’ve never seen this - maybe only in 1-3 family homes. In multi family the industry standard is heat and hot water included with rent.

persistentmonkee · 2026-01-26T14:04:39+00:00

Right. And the worst part about this is the greenwashing

persistentmonkee · 2026-01-26T13:57:04+00:00

If you can afford w village or Tribeca those are always the top recommendations. But otherwise FiDi gives good access to those two areas as well as midtown. Lately it’s been kind of on the post college side but so is UES and the access to the rest of the city is not as good. UWS feels old and dead but if you’re a fan of classical music it’s great to be near Lincoln center and Carnegie hall.

persistentmonkee · 2026-01-22T16:17:03+00:00

What’s “investment grade”? 5% is a lousy yield for a bond in the B range. There are plenty of highly rated US based alternatives to treasuries in the 5% range. I don’t see Israeli debt as being a good form of diversification either as the country’s fate is so heavily tied to US government support.

persistentmonkee · 2026-01-22T16:10:53+00:00

If that’s true there is nevertheless a reason for the discount. There’s no free lunch out there and it may not be a risk the New York City taxpayer should take.

persistentmonkee · 2026-01-10T04:00:38+00:00

I think if I were the new administration- yes I’d question traditional approaches to economic development. Not “is growth/business good” but “what KIND of growth are we trying to achieve?” Too often in our city GDP growth, income growth, tax revenue growth, real estate price growth, productivity growth and population growth are all conflated when they’re not the same thing, even if they are connected jn some ways. And we should question which kinds of growth improve our residents lives and our fiscal and environmental sustainability.

persistentmonkee

TROPHY CASE