An average renter in New York, knows how unaffordable the current rental rates are in the Big Apple. Around 60 percent of an average New Yorker's income is eaten by the average rent for a one-bedroom apartment in the area alone, says AMNewYork, citing StreetEasy's study.
If you are living in Manhattan, here is your chance for an affordable living in Sugar Hill, says New York Times. Check out this neighborhood that is reportedly rich in culture, too.
Sugarhill rests on Manhattan's high point, overlooking Harlem Valley and during Harlem Renaissance, it is said to be associated with a "sweet" life, thus it was called Sugar Hill, notes Sugar Hill Map. Sugar Hill is said to be "an epicenter of cultural development in the African American experience."
Rich in culture, one will be amazed at how many famous people have come and lived in Sugar Hill. This is where Duke Ellington wrote "Take the A train" and Billy Holiday sang at St. Nick's Pub a heartwarming "Good Morning Heartache". You would also walk by famous houses of "the tapping sensations," the Nicholas Brothers, Sugar Hill Map adds.
Aside from its rich culture, Sugar Hill reportedly boasts spacious living spaces and staff quarters. Some even have small back yards intended for single-family abodes, notes Sugar Hill Map.
But the sweetest thing about Sugar Hill is its affordability. Don Moses, a real estate consultant with Exit Realty Landmark tells New York Times that most buyers "are driven by price, first and foremost."
Heva Loriston, a Haitian-American resident working at Columbia University just moved to Sugar Hill this June with her husband and three daughters. She and her husband purchased a three-bedroom apartment for only $130,000. "We were looking for something reasonably priced, and we found it in the area - but now we plan on staying there," Loriston explains to New York Times.
Loriston reveals that she was able to avail the apartment through Housing Development Fund Corporation co-op after she passed the needed requirements such as having employment but under a set income restrictions. In 2014, New York Times reported that bargain apartments may be bought by low-income New Yorkers.
Still, renters who plan to buy homes could find affordable houses in the area which are not under an income-restricted housing. Sugar Hill "has rows of four- and five-story townhouses, generally over 4,000 square feet," says Willie Kathryn Suggs, an owner of a brokerage in Sugar Hill who was also interviewed by the New York Times. "Townhouses are in some cases less than half the price per square foot of the apartments, so they're a bargain," she adds. Harlem units are reportedly listed at $800 to $900 per sq ft, but could be negotiated to about $600.
New York Times reports that based on census data, the percentage of black residents in Sugar Hill dropped from 62.5 percent in 2000 to 45.7 percent in 2010. White residents rose from 2.3 percent to 10.6 percent, while Hispanics increased from 31.4 to 38.6 percent. Sugar Hill has a recorded 12,000 population.
