Someone forwarded me this NY Times article yesterday. Basically it has 4 or 5 stories of people/couples in New York City and what they went through in order to buy a co-op, condo, or house. Go ahead and read it, I’ll wait…………….. Done? Ok.

I have no idea whether that article was supposed to just be informative, whether it was supposed to show how difficult it is to buy a place in NYC, or whether it was supposed to be some inspirational stories of how people managed to overcome the odds. I think it was supposed to be an inspirational story. If so, it failed.

Basically, that article gave me some serious doubts about moving back to NYC. I’ve been up in the air about that for the past few years, but that article put me on the non-NYC side of the fence for now. The type of deprivation and scratching and clawing they had to do really kinda sucks (except for the couple that quit smoking – that was good). And it’s not like their self-imposed deprivation ended once they bought the house either, they still gotta make those monthly mortgage payments. They should do some follow-ups after a year. One person used her credit card to make up the last 6 grand she needed — not exactly the best recipe for success, hopefully she manages to knock that debt out real quick. I want to find out what happens to her. I didn’t have to go through anything close to that out here and honestly, if I had to do that kind of stuff at 25 to get a house, my ass would still be renting right now, until I fully appreciated the value of owning a house. I will freely admit, I’m just too lazy for that right now, even if it would encourage some good habits that I should have.

The article also confirmed something that I had been thinking about the difference between living here and living in NYC, because I always wonder how my friends there can afford stuff when it seems expensive as hell just to rent a nice apartment (unless you get lucky or know someone). I think I would be able to live in NYC on what I’m making right now, but the difference between living there and here is that here I’m actually able to save up money, not a whole lot or anything, but something. I’m already not the most fiscally sound person (steadily improving though) and I have a feeling that living there would just do me in. Maybe that’s just cause I’ve spent just about the whole time I’ve considered myself an adult outside of the city though. If I was there I might have figured it out. There’s also a difference between living in Manhattan and staying in BK, I guess. How do y’all NYC people do it?

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