If You're Thinking of Living in ...All About 115 Great Neighborhoods in and Around New York [Paperback]

Michael Leahy (Editor)

Book Description

Publication Date: February 2, 1999

A Practical guidebook for house hunters, migrating apartment dwellers, and anyone curious abut life in 115 of New York's most livable neighborhoods and suburbs

For many people in New York, New Jersey, and Connecticut, the real estate section of the Sunday New York Times is the first part of the newspaper they read each week. This book is drawn from one of the most popular features in that widely read section, "If You're Thinking of Living In . . . " Every week, the column gives a detailed snapshot of a suburban community in the tri-state area or a metropolitan neighborhood in New York City, enabling readers to clearly understand a new area and decide if it might be the right place for them to live.  
    
Now, these columns have been updated and edited into a valuable guidebook for anyone planning a move into the tri-state area or already living in the region and considering a move to another community, as well as for browsers who just enjoy this popular and informative feature.

  Will acquaint you with 115 metropolitan neighborhoods and suburban communities in New York, New Jersey, and Connecticut

   Consists of illuminating profiles on each locale, including safety, housing, schools, transportation, cultural and recreational facilities, and quality of life

  Includes at-a-glance reference boxes that list such valuable data as median income of a community; median price of a single-family home, co-op, or condo; midrange rental rates; and commuting times and costs

  Highlights which communities have the strongest school districts

  Educates prospective home buyers on assessing the investment opportunities of purchasing real estate

Editorial Reviews

From the Inside Flap

A Practical guidebook for house hunters, migrating apartment dwellers, and anyone curious abut life in 115 of New York's most livable neighborhoods and suburbs

For many people in New York, New Jersey, and Connecticut, the real estate section of the Sunday New York Times is the first part of the newspaper they read each week. This book is drawn from one of the most popular features in that widely read section, "If You're Thinking of Living In . . . " Every week, the column gives a detailed snapshot of a suburban community in the tri-state area or a metropolitan neighborhood in New York City, enabling readers to clearly understand a new area and decide if it might be the right place for them to live.  
    
Now, these columns have been updated and edited into a valuable guidebook for anyone planning a move into the tri-state area or already living in the region and considering a move to another community, as well as for browsers who just enjoy this popular and informative feature.

  Will acquaint you with 115 metropolitan neighborhoods and suburban communities in New York, New Jersey, and Connecticut

   Consists of illuminating profiles on each locale, including safety, housing, schools, transportation, cultural and recreational facilities, and quality of life

  Includes at-a-glance reference boxes that list such valuable data as median income of a community; median price of a single-family home, co-op, or condo; midrange rental rates; and commuting times and costs

  Highlights which communities have the strongest school districts

  Educates prospective home buyers on assessing the investment opportunities of purchasing real estate

About the Author

Michael J. Leahy is the real estate editor of The New York Times.

Product Details

• Paperback: 496 pages
• Publisher: Three Rivers Press; 1 edition (February 2, 1999)
• Language: English
• ISBN-10: 0812929837
• ISBN-13: 978-0812929836
• Product Dimensions: 5.4 x 1.1 x 8.2 inches
• Shipping Weight: 14.9 ounces (View shipping rates and policies)
• Average Customer Review: 3.1 out of 5 stars  See all reviews (12 customer reviews)
• Amazon Best Sellers Rank: #1,284,278 in Books (See Top 100 in Books)

Customer Reviews

Most Helpful Customer Reviews

58 of 60 people found the following review helpful:

1.0 out of 5 stars Save you money., November 15, 2001

By A Customer

This review is from: If You're Thinking of Living in ...All About 115 Great Neighborhoods in and Around New York (Paperback)

This book paints **every** neighborhood in and around NY as being lovely and quaint, even if in reality they are filthy, graffiti-drenched, and not particularly safe. This book complicated my move to NY because, based on it's misinformative "rosey" neighborhood profiles, I went and looked at apartments in a lot of neighborhoods that were filthy and scary. I finally found a great neighborhood to live in, but this book had been no help at all. The sad truth is that not every place in NY is a great neighborhood to live. It's a big city and you have to be careful and avoid the bad places. This book **sinfully** ignores this. It's like they're bending over backwards trying to please every neighborhood council in the city instead of being accurate. I've never felt so ripped off about a book purchase before.

13 of 13 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars A great guide to living in and around New York City, January 28, 1999

By A Customer

This review is from: If You're Thinking of Living in ...All About 115 Great Neighborhoods in and Around New York (Paperback)

PLEASE NOTE:...if you want to move to New York, this book would be a great place to start. It tells you everything you'd want to know about the hundreds (115, to be exact) of places you can choose to live here, with information on schools, recreation, commuting, house prices, history, and community atmosphere. The perfect book for anyone coming to New York or contemplating moving around in New York

15 of 16 people found the following review helpful:

4.0 out of 5 stars Neighborhood Hunting Made Simple, July 9, 2000

By 

Luis Hernandez (New York, New York, USA) - See all my reviews
(REAL NAME)   

This review is from: If You're Thinking of Living in ...All About 115 Great Neighborhoods in and Around New York (Paperback)

For many individuals living or planning to move to New York City or its' neighboring suburbs, getting to know the characteristics of the area's many diverse neighborhoods can be very difficult. Moving into the wrong neighborhood can often be both dangerous and unproductive for many outsiders (and even natives) who want to move to due to reasons relating to crime, finances, or proximity to jobs.

Well the New York Times has compiled a book of essays about the area's best communities to live in, which should make the job of choosing the right neighborhood much more easier. "If You're Thinking..." provides plenty of statistical and residential information that will prove helpful to anyone looking for new communities in the city. Although the book is very outdated when it comes to rents (a 2 bedroom in story has shot up to $1,200 in 1999) and the author doesn't really cover the recent changes in the ethnic compositions of some neighborhoods (Astoria, Queens is becoming heavily Brazilian, Colombian, and Mexican; Riverdale in the Bronx has seen a huge influx of Dominican immigrants; Inwood in Manhattan has also a huge Dominican population; etc..).

Overall this is a good book to review your choices before moving to the area, however I feel that an updated version is needed in the market. If you want to check out updated neighborhood information, then search on the web, however read this book to get a good picture of life in the suburbs (most of the info in the book is still up-to-date).