To those of us suffering the consequences, the following statistic will not come as surprise: the price of New York real estate rose 5.2% over the past year alone.
CBS Money Watch ranked Manhattan as the number one most expensive city to live in in America, based on the prices of things like rent, a cup of coffee, a meal out, a haircut and other everyday expenses. The average rent for a 2-bedroom apartment in Manhattan is $4,042 per month, or about $48,500 a year, while the average annual take-home salary is $84,000. Considering real estate agents and financial experts recommend spending no more than 25% of your salary on your rent, these numbers are not matching up.
The sad truth is not that New Yorkers want to overspend on their shelter situation or that they can’t bear to give up the luxury living they are accustomed to – luxury living is hardly the case for the majority of these urban dwellers. Rather, Manhattanites are forced to dig deeper and deeper into their pockets just in order to live somewhere that is barely sanitary and functional.
It’s not just the young professionals who are feeling the squeeze. With its prestigious preschools, expansive parks and attractive lifestyle, more and more young families are putting down roots in this historic city. Yet these hard working mothers and fathers feel trapped in apartments that are way too small for their growing families…but how could they afford a place with more bedrooms?
As families get older, siblings who used to love the fun of sharing a room are now teenagers who no longer find it so appealing. Even upper middle-class business owners and employees making generous, comfortable salaries can’t shell out the sums required for a bigger place; rent prices are rising disproportionately to salary increases.
Now, more than ever, city residents need a solution – a clever way to sidestep the issues without dishing out more money or giving up on the privacy they need.
It’s amazing what a pressurized wall can do.
Temporary, non-damaging pressurized walls are the solution for New York City students, professionals and families. These stable structures are just as sturdy and unobtrusive as an ordinary wall, yet they can be installed wherever your apartment needs it most. All of a sudden, one shared bedroom is two separate havens for your privacy-seeking teenagers or the perfect spot to put your precious new arrival.
With customizable heights, a pressurized wall can be fit exactly to the specifications of your apartment, so that it runs from floor to ceiling with no gaps or spaces. A door frame and standard size door complete the look, so that no one is even able to tell which wall was not built originally.
To take it one step further, pressurized walls can include windows, closets, French doors…just about anything a standard wall includes, from the most basic college dorm to the most luxurious Manhattan penthouse.
Maybe one day in the far off future, salaries will tenfold while rent prices drop, but until then, New Yorkers will find that a temporary wall offers them the solution they are seeking.