First year associate rent Forum

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1styearlateral

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Re: First year associate rent

Post by 1styearlateral » Mon Apr 11, 2016 4:27 pm

Mlk&Ckies wrote:
1styearlateral wrote:
purpleparrot wrote:
1styearlateral wrote:I live in Hoboken and split a 2br/2ba/washer/dryer with a parking spot for $2,800/mo. Since I don't use the parking spot, my share comes out to be like $1,225. It's honestly pretty affordable but still sky high compared to the 4-floor HOUSE I rented in law school with two other guys for $1,500 total. Ahhh... secondary markets (goes to show you how desirable biglaw in secondary markets is... still a pretty decent paycheck and much lower COL).

Commute to my office is ~45min. on average, but could be as short as a half hour or as long as an hour depending on traffic. I take the bus to Port Authority and then the subway. Not too bad but would love to move into the city after my lease is up in order to turn my commute into a solid 20-30 min.

Looking at apartments in NYC has become a past time of mine. I can assure anyone looking to move to Manhattan that you won't find something for less than $2,500 worth living in (1br... I'm 26, not looking to live in a studio). Best scenario would be to have a working SO so that you can split that hefty rent in half.

I don't work for the company nor have I ever used the website but it looks like it might be a good way to save on broker's fees (NOT A PLUG). https://nestie.co/
Question from someone new to NYC housing. I've perused through streeteasy, zillow, and some random management/brokerage company websites and it seems like there are lots of 1 bedrooms in the $2000-$2300 range. Most are in Yorkville, where I'm primarily looking, but I've seen them sprinkled around other neighborhoods as well. Typically older walk ups, but that doesn't bother me. Should I be wary of these? I dunno if these are bait and switch situations, or people saying $2k is not possible just have higher standards for apartments/neighborhoods than I do.
I've never been up that way but as someone already commented you're going to have quite a walk to the subway. When your commute to the office is only 20 min., every minute counts and every minute added to your commute can seem like an hour. Personally, the shorter my commute, the more time I can spend in the office and the more free time I have when I'm not at work.
Anonymous User wrote:How reliable is the bus from NJ through the lincoln tunnel and the water taxi and then free bus across to Midtown East Grand Central? If its a 30 min commute and OK with commuting from Weehawken.
As I stated above, it takes me anywhere from 10 min. to a half hour to get from North Hoboken to Port Authority, which is right across the street from Proskauer, Pepper Hamilton, etc. So living on the Hudson and working in that area is pretty doable. As far as getting to Midtown East... I have no idea. I would think the subway would be quicker than the bus.

FWIW, in my opinion, the less "links" you have in your commute, including walking, the better.
Jersey City is also good if you're in FiDi or Midtown West.

As an aside, do you not pay NYC tax if you're in Jersey? That comes out to a not-insubstantial amount every month, right?
Yeah, so if you're in NYC downtown, the Path is pretty great. If you're working in midtown... depends on where you're at in Jersey. For example, I work in downtown Manhattan but live uptown in Hoboken. Rather than taking a bus all the way downtown to Hoboken, then take the Path into the city, AND THEN walk to the office... it just takes too long. Much easier to hop on a bus that stops right outside my condo and then take the subway to a stop only a block away from the office. It's a little more expensive per month, but I value my time and sanity. YMMV.

And yeah, you bet your ass you pay that NYC tax aka "privilege." It's about 12 percent if I remember correctly; however, I got quite a bit back from NY on my tax return. If you live in NJ and work in the city, you'll file in both places (NY + NJ).

Also, JC is pretty expensive now. If you were renting 5-10 years ago you'd have a pretty solid place for super cheap, but it's becoming about just as pricey as Hoboken/NYC. The same goes for Weehawken/West NY. It really depends on how close to the Path you are... so if you live too far away, plan on walking/taking the bus to the Path, which will add to your commute.
Last edited by 1styearlateral on Mon Apr 11, 2016 4:29 pm, edited 1 time in total.

Mr. Peanutbutter

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Re: First year associate rent

Post by Mr. Peanutbutter » Mon Apr 11, 2016 4:29 pm

Filing in both sounds mildly obnoxious, but saving ~$600/month in taxes really changes the rent comparison game

ExhaleSolutions

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Re: First year associate rent

Post by ExhaleSolutions » Tue Apr 12, 2016 11:02 am

I live in Chicago and spend $750/month with utilities included and I live 9 minutes from the loop.
You can always hunt down a deal if you look enough. My buddy lives in Ukrainian Village and pays like $666/month.

patentlitigatrix

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Re: First year associate rent

Post by patentlitigatrix » Tue Apr 12, 2016 2:44 pm

jessuf wrote:
PvblivsScipio wrote:
Anonymous User wrote:
PvblivsScipio wrote:How much do you LA people pay? Working in Century City and I need to figure out where tf to live while being able to aggressively pay loans down.
West LA is probably your best bet. Santa Monica and Venice are going to be more expensive. I guess the valley would be cheapest, but then you have to live in the valley.

I work in Pasadena and live in Los Feliz for $1750.00 (1 bedroom), which is cheap for this area :| .
Yeah the struggle is trying to figure out where exactly. Most people live in Culver/SM/Miracle Mile. Also trying to figure out if my girlfriend will live with me but she works in SGV. I hate finding a place to live
I would live somewhere that doesn't require taking the 405. That thing is a fucking nightmare in any direction, all hours of the day or night. Pretty much every area around Century City will be safe but kind of residential and boring. I don't know your budget, but there will likely be some apartment in every neighborhood on the west side you can afford. Just use westsiderentals.com. I personally would probably opt for WeHo if I worked in Century City and had a parking garage at work.

I currently live in Santa Monica in between Santa Monica Airport and the 10. I pay $2200 for a renovated 2br for frame of reference. I found it on Craigslist, but most of the apartments I viewed before signing a lease were found on westsiderentals. Craigslist stuff gets scooped up so fast in competitive neighborhoods like Santa Monica, so be prepared to schedule a showing asap and make a decision on the spot.
If you hate commuting, consider limiting yourself to east of the 405.

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Re: First year associate rent

Post by Anonymous User » Tue Apr 12, 2016 3:47 pm

Living by myself in a 2BR for 1650 in Wilmington in a desirable part of town.

One of the places I was shown in my price range (1700 and under) was currently occupied by a family of 5. When I learned that I felt super awkward.

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Re: First year associate rent

Post by Anonymous User » Tue Apr 12, 2016 4:42 pm

Anonymous User wrote:Living by myself in a 2BR for 1650 in Wilmington in a desirable part of town.

One of the places I was shown in my price range (1700 and under) was currently occupied by a family of 5. When I learned that I felt super awkward.
Can those words be used in the same sentence?

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Re: First year associate rent

Post by Anonymous User » Tue Apr 12, 2016 6:56 pm

Anonymous User wrote:
Anonymous User wrote:Living by myself in a 2BR for 1650 in Wilmington in a desirable part of town.

One of the places I was shown in my price range (1700 and under) was currently occupied by a family of 5. When I learned that I felt super awkward.
Can those words be used in the same sentence?
Yes? As someone who's lived in a lot of places, I'm looking forward to moving back there. And depending on what's important to you (commute time, saving money/paying off debt, having a pet, having kids, grilling outside, etc.) it could be preferable to much more expensive places in and around NYC.

(Nice use of anon)

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Serett

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Re: First year associate rent

Post by Serett » Tue Apr 12, 2016 7:00 pm

Why is anyone anon in this topic? COWARDS.

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Re: First year associate rent

Post by Anonymous User » Tue Apr 12, 2016 7:03 pm

I (Wilmington apartment renter) am because the number of new associates is small enough that all you need is my law school and I'd be doxed. Not that posting the amount of money I pay in rent is a HUGE deal, but I'd rather stay anonymous while providing a data point (which is the original purpose of this thread).

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SLS_AMG

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Re: First year associate rent

Post by SLS_AMG » Tue Apr 12, 2016 8:54 pm

buddhabelly wrote:Honestly I think it's silly to spend $2500+ for some tiny shitty place in UES/UWS for yourself when you can grab a few roommates and spend less than $1500 each on a fancy relatively huge place in a trendy part of Brooklyn. Especially makes sense if you're working downtown, but you can do LIC if you're in Midtown.

Plus side is that you save more for when you eventually burn out and take a 50% paycut to have a life, and you always have friends at home to talk to without having to go out after a long workday (godsend for extroverts). Down side is that you can't ugly cry and eat a grilled cheese sandwich seasoned with your tears on your couch at 3am.
If you're taking a paycut of 50%, you're doing it wrong. Also, some people don't want to live in Brooklyn, and "trendy Brooklyn" is often just as expensive as Lower Manhattan. HTH.

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Re: First year associate rent

Post by Anonymous User » Tue Apr 12, 2016 9:21 pm

Anonymous User wrote:
Anonymous User wrote:$2200 in a luxury doorman building. You need to circumvent a broker to get these places, but from a building's perspective, you're close to a perfect tenant. It's very unlikely you'll get fired, very unlikely you'll miss a rent payment, you will live normal hours, etc. A lot of times buildings that don't go through a broker are cheaper, because the brokers fee is often 2 ways. I'd also recommend going for luxury - it's worth a few hundred extra month. It covers my gym, I can get packages delivered and I haven't had any bug issues because they have a maintenance staff. NYC is notoriously bad for roaches. Even when I was spotlessly clean, I'd always have a small to moderate roach problem in non-luxury buildings.
mind PMing the details (LIC, NJ?)?
Can't pm because you're anonymous, also isn't really necessary. It's in Manhattan but unless you're in a few neighborhoods it's not really an outrageous deal. The square footage sucks but I prefer luxury to space. Financially the roommate rate is the way to go, but I'm not easy to live with and Internet roommates are hit or miss. Granted I was paying a 1000 a month when I did that, and had mostly good experiences, but some of the stories are so absurd that anyone who wasn't a witness called bullshit when I shared them. I'm talking roommate converts to Hare Krishna, dumps my booze and plasters cow dung into the infrastructure of the living room for worship, and the whole place reeks of shit because the 90 degree weather baked the odor in kind of insanity. You could control for this by only agreeing to live with people in the corporate world, but there's always some risk.

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Re: First year associate rent

Post by Anonymous User » Tue Apr 12, 2016 10:44 pm

For Chicago, when should one start seriously looking at apartments for a September 1 move-in date? Eyeing River North, Old Town and Lincoln Park primarily.

Also, any good resources to find condos up for sublease? I have a friend who scored an AWESOME 1 bedroom condo in River North for $1500/mo on an 18-month sublease because the tenant was headed out of the country for work and just wanted to get something for it. He lucked into it through connections but I am wondering if there is any place that these kind of arrangements are posted?

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Re: First year associate rent

Post by buddhabelly » Tue Apr 12, 2016 10:59 pm

Anonymous User wrote: Financially the roommate rate is the way to go, but I'm not easy to live with and Internet roommates are hit or miss. Granted I was paying a 1000 a month when I did that, and had mostly good experiences, but some of the stories are so absurd that anyone who wasn't a witness called bullshit when I shared them. I'm talking roommate converts to Hare Krishna, dumps my booze and plasters cow dung into the infrastructure of the living room for worship, and the whole place reeks of shit because the 90 degree weather baked the odor in kind of insanity. You could control for this by only agreeing to live with people in the corporate world, but there's always some risk.
LOL

Also corporate people go nuts too. Your best bet is to live with an SO (best deal because you can save $ and get a one bedroom), your BFF who is basically your platonic SO or a fringe friend who's friendship you don't mind losing and who you don't mind being a bitch to if needed.

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People you have already lived with in the past and enjoyed.

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Re: First year associate rent

Post by Anonymous User » Wed Apr 13, 2016 1:14 pm

buddhabelly wrote:Your best bet is to live with an SO (best deal because you can save $ and get a one bedroom)
Yeah, this. You can make due with not a ton of space even with a crew of people. We only have a 2 bedroom (+den), with two kids. This is cramped, but we are saving to buy a 3-4 bedroom home soon so it feels worth it. My kids are growing at a nuclear rate and it would be nice if they could have their own rooms/space as they get older.

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Re: First year associate rent

Post by jess » Wed Apr 13, 2016 2:10 pm

.
Last edited by jess on Thu Oct 26, 2017 1:53 am, edited 1 time in total.

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Re: First year associate rent

Post by Anonymous User » Wed Apr 13, 2016 2:19 pm

My SO and I pay about 2400 for rent and parking in a large 1 bedroom in a luxury building in downtown LA.

1styearlateral

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Re: First year associate rent

Post by 1styearlateral » Wed Apr 13, 2016 2:26 pm

Anonymous User wrote:My SO and I pay about 2400 for rent and parking in a large 1 bedroom in a luxury building in downtown LA.
Ah, the dream. So lucky.

How do you like DT LA? I spent a couple days there a year or two ago and really enjoyed it. Thought it was an exceptionally clean city (from Philly/NYC standards).

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patentlitigatrix

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Re: First year associate rent

Post by patentlitigatrix » Wed Apr 13, 2016 2:26 pm

jessuf wrote:
patentlitigatrix wrote:
If you hate commuting, consider limiting yourself to east of the 405.
I don't think this is absolutely necessary for work in Century City since Century City is so far west. Pvb could just take side streets to skip the 405. I often do that when I am trying to go to Culver City for Target or whatever and the 405 is a hot mess. I have to drive on the 405 on Friday night during rush hour to go to San Diego and am dreading it.
Agree it is not entirely necessary, but even crossing the 405 on surface streets is not something that I can stomach on a daily basis (but I really hate spending time commuting).

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Re: First year associate rent

Post by Anonymous User » Wed Apr 13, 2016 2:47 pm

$1850 for 1650 sqft in Kansas City. Cerner execs, Royals/ Chiefs players, various other established and sophisticated looking folks... and then someone photoshopped me in there

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Re: First year associate rent

Post by LAsonic » Wed Apr 13, 2016 3:08 pm

jessuf wrote:
patentlitigatrix wrote:
jessuf wrote:
PvblivsScipio wrote:
Anonymous User wrote:
PvblivsScipio wrote:How much do you LA people pay? Working in Century City and I need to figure out where tf to live while being able to aggressively pay loans down.
West LA is probably your best bet. Santa Monica and Venice are going to be more expensive. I guess the valley would be cheapest, but then you have to live in the valley.

I work in Pasadena and live in Los Feliz for $1750.00 (1 bedroom), which is cheap for this area :| .
Yeah the struggle is trying to figure out where exactly. Most people live in Culver/SM/Miracle Mile. Also trying to figure out if my girlfriend will live with me but she works in SGV. I hate finding a place to live
I would live somewhere that doesn't require taking the 405. That thing is a fucking nightmare in any direction, all hours of the day or night. Pretty much every area around Century City will be safe but kind of residential and boring. I don't know your budget, but there will likely be some apartment in every neighborhood on the west side you can afford. Just use westsiderentals.com. I personally would probably opt for WeHo if I worked in Century City and had a parking garage at work.

I currently live in Santa Monica in between Santa Monica Airport and the 10. I pay $2200 for a renovated 2br for frame of reference. I found it on Craigslist, but most of the apartments I viewed before signing a lease were found on westsiderentals. Craigslist stuff gets scooped up so fast in competitive neighborhoods like Santa Monica, so be prepared to schedule a showing asap and make a decision on the spot.
If you hate commuting, consider limiting yourself to east of the 405.
I don't think this is absolutely necessary for work in Century City since Century City is so far west. Pvb could just take side streets to skip the 405. I often do that when I am trying to go to Culver City for Target or whatever and the 405 is a hot mess. I have to drive on the 405 on Friday night during rush hour to go to San Diego and am dreading it.
Agreed: As a SA I commuted from Santa Monica to Century City everyday and took Olympic. Almost always only took 20-25 minutes (unless Obama was in town, of course). If you live west of the 405, just avoid crossing the 405 on Santa Monica Blvd.

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Re: First year associate rent

Post by RaceJudicata » Wed Apr 13, 2016 3:13 pm

Anonymous User wrote:For Chicago, when should one start seriously looking at apartments for a September 1 move-in date? Eyeing River North, Old Town and Lincoln Park primarily.

Also, any good resources to find condos up for sublease? I have a friend who scored an AWESOME 1 bedroom condo in River North for $1500/mo on an 18-month sublease because the tenant was headed out of the country for work and just wanted to get something for it. He lucked into it through connections but I am wondering if there is any place that these kind of arrangements are posted?
Early July will give you more than enough time. You can do it in a pinch (start in august) if necessary.

Condos up for sublease is tough, but its the dream. I too know many folks in chicago who have found amazing places this way. However, there doesn't seem to be any rhyme or reason to it.. There are few websites (try google), but I have also heard of people just walking around lincoln park or old town and looking at signs people have up on buildings, or folks finding out about places via coworkers, etc. Its really a crap shoot.

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Re: First year associate rent

Post by Anonymous User » Wed Apr 13, 2016 3:39 pm

Anonymous User wrote:You can easily find a good apartment in SF for 2500. Just don't live in SOMA or the Mission.
What's a good place to start with this (is there a preferred website that is used in SF)? I'll be commuting to the financial district if that helps. Any neighborhoods to definitely avoid?

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Re: First year associate rent

Post by Anonymous User » Wed Apr 13, 2016 7:56 pm

$850/month, outer boroughs, kind of crapholish but very cheap and the saved money goes straight to the bottom line. NYC biglaw is only expensive if you make poor choices like living in manhattan.

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Re: First year associate rent

Post by Anonymous User » Wed Apr 13, 2016 9:06 pm

patentlitigatrix wrote:
jessuf wrote:
patentlitigatrix wrote:
If you hate commuting, consider limiting yourself to east of the 405.
I don't think this is absolutely necessary for work in Century City since Century City is so far west. Pvb could just take side streets to skip the 405. I often do that when I am trying to go to Culver City for Target or whatever and the 405 is a hot mess. I have to drive on the 405 on Friday night during rush hour to go to San Diego and am dreading it.
Agree it is not entirely necessary, but even crossing the 405 on surface streets is not something that I can stomach on a daily basis (but I really hate spending time commuting).
People live East and work West. Traffic in the morning from Santa Monica is not bad at all. However, if you try to leave Santa Monica at 4 PM or later, then crossing the 405 will take you an hour on the 10 or on the surface roads. Unless traffic patterns in LA have changed in the last 4 years, living in Santa Monica and commuting to Century City should be one of the easiest commutes in the city.

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Re: First year associate rent

Post by Danger Zone » Thu Apr 14, 2016 7:33 am

Anonymous User wrote:$850/month, outer boroughs, kind of crapholish but very cheap and the saved money goes straight to the bottom line. NYC biglaw is only expensive if you make poor choices like living in manhattan.
More info please. Studio? Sq footage? Borough/neighborhood?
Last edited by Danger Zone on Sat Jan 27, 2018 3:26 pm, edited 1 time in total.

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