Manhattan is an island but it isn't the only island making up the city of New York. New York City is comprised of Manhattan and four other large areas that encircle it. If you expand your home exchange search to other parts of New York City you will greatly enhance your ability to find a swap.
IF IT LOOKS TOO GOOD TO BE TRUE
A New York City swap family has sent you an offer. They have a big house and it looks beautiful! Read further. Even though the exchangers (dishonestly) list their destination as Manhattan it is almost impossible that a New York City listing showing a house is in Manhattan.
There is only one Manhattan listing I have seen where an entire house is offered. These will always be attached townhouses (called brownstones here). Most of the brownstones offered are really apartments within larger buildings. And almost all of these are located north of 96th Street in the higher-crime, lower-convenience areas of Manhattan. There are only a handful of free-standing houses in Manhattan, and most of them are museums.
No, the swapper offering you an entire house is 99.9% likely to live in one of the out-lying boros of New York City: Brooklyn, Queens, Staten Island or the Bronx.
THE BOROS TO AVOID
There are two boros of New York City that you should not consider for your swap, unless Manhattan is not your primary destination. Choose Staten Island only if you are going to spend much of your stay visiting relatives in New Jersey or doing day trips to Philadelphia. While Staten Island isn't much closer than Manhattant to either of these destinations, access is easier since fewer people travel trough Staten Island to go West than through Manhattan.
If you have relatives in upstate New York, Connecticut or Northern New Jersey, parts of the Bronx can be more convenient to those northern destinations than Manhattan, for the same reason described above.
STATEN ISLAND & THE BRONX ARE JUST TOO FAR FROM MANHATTAN
The most distant parts of New York City are in Staten Island and the Bronx. During rush hour one should allow one to two hours to get from either boro to midtown Manhattan. You do not want to commute up to four hours each day just to see the sights. Whether by car or public transit, the commutes from Staten Island and the Bronx to Manhattan are just too long.
STATEN ISLAND: A CULTURAL WASTELAND?
New York City is the safest large city in the United States. Per capita crime is a tiny fraction of what it is in New Orleans, Detroit, Dallas, Philadelphia, Phoenix or Atlanta. But every city has areas of high crime. In New York City, the highest-crime neighborhoods are in the Bronx and Brooklyn.
The convenient neighborhoods in Staten Island are just as dangerous as the worst areas of the Bronx. There are nice Staten Island houses further away from Manhattan but you need a car and plenty of time to get from western Staten Island to anywhere else and driving in New York City isn't cheap, easy or fun. The rule of thumb for Staten Island is don't swap there. If a Staten Island house looks nice it's probably inconvenient to everything. Staten Island is not a destination in and of itself.
QUEENS
Only the north-eastern Queens makes a pleasant swap destination. Jamaica, and the rest of Southern Queens, has among the highest crime rates of New York City. There are nice houses and neighborhoods in northeastern Queens, but much of the housing stock looks like those tired row houses on the old sitcom "All in the Family." In Queens, if it's a quick subway ride to Manhattan you are probably not interested in the area. And if it's far from the subway you have the same problems with driving as if you stayed in Staten Island. With few exceptions, I'd say that a swap in Queens is a bad idea. The same issues with Queens go double for Long Island.
THE BRONX
This is the only part of New York City that is connected to the United States mainland. There is really only two neighborhoods in the Bronx that you should consider: City Island, because it is unique, and Riverdale, because it is so nice. Still, the commute from either area of the Bronx to Manhattan is long, requiring that you take an express bus which has a limited schedule and route. Best to avoid the Bronx in general.
It is difficult for exchangers to know which areas outside of Manhattan are safe and convenient. In the articles that follow I will suggest some specific neighborhoods that are as good or even better than Manhattan's best. One clue: I didn't have much to say above about Brooklyn.
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