Tonight is the birthday party for a friend of ours who just got into home exchange. He and his partner were fascinated by our stories of (almost) free travels to exchange homes in exotic places. They signed up with HomeExchange.com and have planned a weekend swap close to home to get started.
Normally we avoid driving within Manhattan, but tonight we are going to make an exception. You see, our friends live in a neighborhood that can most diplomatically be described as "improving".
Don't get me wrong, their apartment is fantastic. It's a big place with two bedrooms and two bathrooms. It's new, has a doorman and they have done a great job decorating it. It's a comfortable and pleasant retreat. But we're a little worried about walking on their street, even though the subway goes directly from our home to their corner. Our friends are upfront about their neighborhood's drawbacks and somewhat remote location in their listing. That's important to avoid angry swap partners.
Despite the reservations I have about our friends' swap apartment, it has one huge advantage for potential swap partners that we cannot offer in our prime location: parking. Our friends do not have a free parking space to offer, but the garage below their building is so inexpensive that, by Manhattan standards, it almost qualifies as free parking.
We can keep our car in their garage from the start of the party until the next morning for only $6. Swappers driving to Manhattan and staying at our friends' home for a week would pay only $12 per 24-hour period. The garages in our neighborhood cost twice as much. A week's parking where we live is over $100 more than seven miles uptown in the less expensive neighborhood.
The same math applies to places to eat in our area versus theirs. They have lots of Haitian, Latin American, African and Soul Food restaurants near their home where exchangers could get a nice dinner for about $10. Chelsea, where I live, was named "Best Restaurant Neighborhood" in the US for its uncommon concentration of fine restaurants but "fine" can mean "pricey".
To do this research, I used two resource every home exchanger should know about: NYCgarages.com and MenuPages.com.
With NYCgarages,com you can check the rates of all the garages in a given area and even make reservations to park. This might sound odd, but in Manhattan it can be crucial as garages do fill up, Despite the name, NYCgarages also finds parking in Boston and Philadelphia, with more cities to come.
Menupages offers a similar service for restaurants, including on-screen and printable menus so you can easily order you meal. Most restaurants in Manhattan deliver so with Menupages getting a great dinner is just a few computer clicks away.
Home exchange is mostly free, but in expensive urban areas, meals and parking can really add up. Consider these extras before you commit to a location. You may find that a more out-of-the-way swap home has added benefits for the home exchanger.
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