Has anyone bought a property in New York City?

For around 80K there is a studio in The Bronx, Barnes Rd low 2000 number.

Coop, taxes less than 600 pm and rental potential of 1800 pm. Ground floor with a cat 1 storm rating.

Does that mean for 3 months of the year the property is in the Hudson River? lol. And for the rest of the year will I get mugged at the door step every night?

 

You'll probably find its a income restricted property

eg no investors AND in order to purchase you must earn below X$ per annum on your federal tax return. (often its calculated based on a percentage of the income for that zip code)

The crazy part about that is once you own it....you can earn what you like and not have to sell.

Eg I know two people that live in Stuyvesant towers, both earning high 200k+ in their respective jobs but living in a property similar to that above AND have a country house etc.

Its a weird sysem.....but has to be done as otherwise you'd never get teachers, nurses, firemen etc to be able to afford to live in Manhattan.

 

BTW to answer your question I've never felt unsafe here in NY, but I'm pretty big etc, but we'll subway home etc any time of the night no problem, and yes we did live in Harlem on 120th and 5th for a while.

This said....Sydney is safer, the main advantage in NY is there are always people around, I don't thin I've ever been in a subway on my own at any time of the day/night and I never worry if my wife is working late until 9pm etc as there will be 20+ people on the same subway car/getting off at her stop etc.

 

@Dean Collins how hard did you find the visa & job finding process? I love it as city and would really like to move there for a few years, but it seems like a fairly complicated process vs say getting a working visa for the UK (i'm under 30)

 

It will be a work visa which means you need a bachelors degree and a job offer.

 

My daughter studied in NY for 12 months, she did require a visa and then she had an option to work there as someone was going to sponsor her, not sure what visa, did not seem too difficult at the time.

 

They have a special working visa for Australians. You would need a bachelors degree for that and a professional job offer, not a blue collar one

 

Theatre costume designer, so she was offered a job by one of the major players there.

 

Clothes horse?

 

Its bloody tough, its run by male biatches.....you may know what I mean by this, I don't want to offend anyone

 

I know someone who has a dozen apartments scattered around Manhattan, all running through airbnb. Huge tourist market + expensive hotels mean they are all pretty much fully booked throughout the year minus the odd couple of days in between stays, but says he makes much more than regular tenancies without the hassle and legal dramas as well. He even pays 2 guys to go around and maintain, collect keys etc. As far as I know he is doing very well

 

Very easy for Australian citizens to get a visa in the USA , google "E3 visa" only requirement is a tertiary degree and a job offer, there is a limit of 10,000 per year.....but that limit has never been filled......basically shows you how few aussies want to live in NY.

BTW do NOT repeat DO NOT get a green card (we did a few years after being on a L1/L2), there is something the introduced a few years call "The Heart Taxation Act" wish we stayed on visa's google it and you'll find why etc.

 

@Dean Collins, thanks I'll do some research on e3 Visas & the heart taxation act. How do you get the job offer before the visa though? Guessing travel there on a tourist visa, interview, get an offer pending visa, fly home, apply for visa, get visa and fly back?

 

Good that someone else think that way too . Hows the design of grand central compared to central station in Sydney? I have been at Union in Chicago and thought that was really weird. Its not like central where trains enter from one side and leave the other side. Its like a garage where a car is parked and then everyone leaves from the same doors. They kind of designed a bottleneck in the infrastructure which is now too big to change. Is grand central any better?

 

Yep pretty much though depends what field you are in, eg if a programmer.....its a walk up start here in NY or the west coast, the only downside with the e3 is must be renewed from outside the country.....I have had friends fly to Barbados and renew.....its a really tough 4 day trip sitting on the beach waiting for your papers to get returned [/USER]

 

They do the "big things pretty well, eg Grand Central, Statue of Liberty, Chrysler Building etc pretty well.......its the little things like, no standing water in the curb, fixing the BQE so it doesn't have potholes that can rip out your suspension
(....I really do forget how awesome roads in Sydney are until every time I come back and jump into a car).

 

Thats right. The US govt encourages risk taking...and its been ingrained in them for a long time (unlike here). As a resuly, when they do something eg buildings, iraq/afgahnistan etc...they go in guns blazing and dont focus on the little stuff as much.
Pros and cons to it ofcourse...

 

I thought you want to be buying condos generally. Taxes are ridiculous I've been told.

 

BS...