subject: Establishing Your Home Outside New York While Earning A New York Salary [print this page] Life in New York City is expensiveLife in New York City is expensive. Whether it is the cost of entertainment, food, parking, rent, or the mortgage, everything that has anything to do with life in New York City will cost much more than in other parts of the country.
The first time that I experienced this fact was when I moved down to Louisiana. I had accepted a well-paying position there as a real estate agent, and when I arrived I immediately began to scan the area for all that it had to offer. I took note of the kind of homes available, mortgage plans, and the going rent at the time and was totally shocked.
Most of the homes available were luxurious and spacious. I proceeded to find out details, and I discovered that an eight-bedroom house, with five bathrooms, a spacious kitchen, living room, dining room, family room, basement, and spacious backyard was available for a grand total of two hundred thousand dollars.
Of course, the exact same home in the tri-state area is a million dollar home without question. Moreover, an apartment with two bedrooms and one bathroom, a kitchen, living room, and dining room in the heart of New Orleans cost no more than five hundred dollars a month rent. In New York, that number does not exist when it comes to rent, not even in the tiniest studio apartment.
Why is this the reality? After all, these homes all have the same structure and infrastructure. They function on the same electricity and water that all homes across the country do.
The answer lies in the fact that New York City is the economic capitol of the world, and, therefore, there is a much greater demand to live in New York because of the opportunities and higher salaries that one can earn. Once the demand is large, life becomes much more costly.
There is one solution for anyone interested in getting the best of both worlds, and that is to establish a home relatively close to the city but outside of it in order to earn a New York salary without having to pay for city life. One can commute three or four times a week and stay home the rest of the week in a peaceful suburb of New York.
Luxury homes are available in upstate New York in areas that are certainly commuter-friendly to Manhattan, which can provide the city salary and luxurious lifestyle.
