Housing
If there is a shared quest in New York, it is housing. If you have an apartment, you seek a bigger one or one in a different neighborhood or one with a doorman. If you rent, you want to buy. If you own, you want a better, trendier address. And, everyone wants more space and more closets.
And, everyone is looking for a bargain. Bring your horseshoe and your rabbit’s foot.
New York City offers a variety of housing options, from studio apartments that redefine “cozy” to single, two and three-family free-standing homes. The Bronx is home to Co-Op City, what many claim is the world’s largest apartment complex. Conversely, Staten Island has more homeowners than renters, the only such place in the city.
Like life in the city itself, housing here is different. Many residents are as likely to buy an apartment as they are to rent. More and more old commercial and industrial space is being converted to housing. People, who would normally live alone, seek roommates to make an apartment affordable. And, some folks really do read the obituaries in search of open apartments.
As with any major city, many of those who work in New York live elsewhere. Called “the bridge and tunnel crowd”, many live in northern New Jersey, much of Long Island, southern Connecticut and about halfway up New York State’s Hudson Valley and commute to the city each day.