Should I move to New York now or later?

[Bright Lights, Big City]

Hello people:

I'm hoping the New Yorkers on this board can give me some advice based on their knowledge of the business/employment/real estate climate in the city.

You see, I've been wanting to move to NYC for five years now, but I've been putting it off until my wife and I get our law degrees so that we don't have to worry about being poor and can take our pick of jobs and neighborhoods.

But the thing is, it looks like we won't be able to start law school until 2007, which means that even with a third-year transfer to a New York law school, we won't be able to make it to the city until 2009 at the earliest.

That's a long f*cking time, and it already seems like we've been waiting forever.

So I'm starting to wonder if maybe I should just forget about law school and pack up for NYC ASAP. I have a post-secondary education from one of Canada's top universities, and I've been working in mergers and acquisitions for the past few years. I'm also a professional writer and have four years experience working in the film industry, plus experience in print journalism, and I taught ESL for three years, one of which was spent in Mexico. I'm fluent in Spanish. My wife also has a university degree from a top Canadian institution, and could charm the pants off a priest (I know, bad metaphor).

Now there's no doubt that I'd be able to live a more - um...up-scale, let's say - life with a law degree, but I'm running out of patience and I'm seriously considering packing it in and just taking the plunge. I mean, NYC is a city of tremendous opportunity and I'm not one to sit on my butt and wait for opportunity to knock. I think I can be successful with education and employment experience I have, but I'd like to hear from some of the New Yorkers before I make and decisions.

I should also mention that I'm willing to start at the bottom, and I'll live anywhere except the projects, even the most ghetto-ass neighborhood in the city (as long as it ain't B-ville or ENY - too damn far and just too damn ghetto).

So what do you think my prospects are of landing a decent job and making enough between myself and my wife to get a decent apartment and live a decent middle-class life. I know I should wait until I have the law degree so I can make the big bucks, but some things are more important. I want to get to New York before life has the chance to sidetrack me again.

What should I do?
What would you do?

Help!

BL BC

[ablarc]

You only live once and you seem like a go-getter. New York is the natural habitat of the true go-getter. If --like Glenn Ford in Gilda-- you can say, "I make my own luck," you can take inspiration from the seventeen-year-old I know who moved to New York and got a job in a store his first day. Three weeks later he became manager of the store. Now --still seventeen-- he's taking steps to become a movie star.

[milleniumcab]

NY is tough and expensive but " if you can make it here, you can make it anywhere ".... I say come on down..

...just don't drive, allright..;)

[MartinVienna]

I am not sure about the cost of living nowadays, but i was in both Toronto and New York a couple of years ago and it seemd to me Toronto was more expensive...;)

[ryan]

Move now. If it's what you really want, there's no reason to wait - I've done that and regretted it. It is expensive here, but the oportunities more than make up for it. You could just spend the year before law school here, or why don't you try to get into one of the local schools?

[Bright Lights, Big City]

Thanks for your responses. It really is a tough choice, but it may get easier in the near future if the company I work for folds.

As far as cost of living - I think NYC and Toronto are about the same cost except for rent, which is more expensive in NYC right now (the vacancy rate in TO is pretty high at this point so you can find a one bedroom in pretty much any neighborhood for under $800/month).

The rent is really the key here, as it takes up the largest piece of the cost of living pie. And I don't want to be a renter the rest of my life, but NYC doesn't seem to offer the realistic possibility of owning at my current salary, unless I lived way outside the city. I would need to be making good money, but I'm not sure if that's possible with my education and work experience.

I'm really torn here. I gotta get out of Toronto, though. Everything is falling apart.

peace

BL BC