Everything seems to be a bargain, once you've lived, or even visited, Manhattan.

Moving TO NYC, however, can cause sticker shock.

(It also causes "size" shock.)

Before their relocation to New York from Boston, Christoffer Eriksson and Muge Tuncel Eriksson assumed they could find a home almost as nice as their two-bedroom condominium, which overlooked Bunker Hill.

But after hunting for a Manhattan rental for $2,500 to $3,000 a month, they changed their tune. “That was fantasyland,” Mr. Eriksson said. “It was not going to happen.” First, they raised their budget; then, they decided what they could live without.

What'd they find out? If they increased their budget to $3,500, they could get a nice 700 square-foot one bedroom, in a newly converted apartment building, one block from Central Park.

Not bad, not bad at all.

Complete story: Where the Grass is Greener - By Joyce Cohen, The New York Times

*** I had the pleasure of meeting and talking with Joyce Cohen, while at the Inman News conference. She seems to be a lot of fun. She's a great writer, too.