[tptacek]

Presumably, you meant $2,400/month.

The average studio apartment in Manhattan is $1900, leaving you with $500 at the end of each month to cover every conceivable expense. MTA to-from work alone ate $180 of that between the two of you.

[joshu]

When I lived in NYC you could have a nice, inexpensive apartment in Astoria or Williamsburg for much less than that.

When I did delicious, one of my employees could get to our office in manhattan from wburg faster than I could from the Upper West Side, too...

[idlewords]

Back then it was possible to rent cheap in NYC without having to worry about bedbugs. I don't think I'd be willing to rent in w-burg again without paying for an inspection on any place I was serious about.

[maxawaytoolong]

You can just look at the bedbug registry. No landlord is going to let you run your own bedbug inspection. As gross as the bedbug situation is in Williamsburg, I still think there's a worse roach problem.

There's just as big of a bedbug problem in Manhattan (if not worse) and it's not confined to cheap buildings. My office building got infested and it was primo real estate.

Finally, Williamsburg is no longer cheap unless you luck out and find an apartment-by-owner rental where the owner is senile. In a weird warping of reality, you can get a better deal in the Upper East Side (if you go over towards 1st/York.)

[idlewords]

Dude, I run the Bedbug Registry. Hence the level of fear. Roaches are trivial to get rid of in comparison to bedbugs.

I agree that the problem is citywide. My intended point was that there is now a big new transaction cost to renting in NYC (and soon to renting in most cities).

[tptacek]

This comment thread is why I love Hacker News.

[neilk]

What's the future? Heat treatments every time a tenant moves in?

[maxawaytoolong]

The future is everyone in NYC has bedbugs.

[maxawaytoolong]

You cannot find a nice, inexpensive apartment in Astoria or Williamsburg for much less than $1900 anymore. Williamsburg is way overpriced now. Better luck in Astoria but honestly you have to go pretty deep into Queens or Brooklyn for any combination of "nice and inexpensive." It's not going to be a very hip neighborhood.

[chrisaycock]

Up until this summer I had a two-bedroom apartment in Astoria for $1545. My friend has a one-bedroom in Williamsburg for ~$1300 (which he moved to about eight years ago).