Thank you everyone so much for your thoughts. You have helped us out alot. Let me just make sure I have this straight... (depending on where we get jobs) to look for an apartment in the city we should look into:

Upper East Side east of 3rd Ave
The Yorkville area of the Upper East Side (above 70th, east of Lex)
The LES
Hell's Kitchen
Washington Heights

And outside of the city we should look into:
Brooklyn Heights; Astoria, Queens; or Hoboken

Is this right? I really hope it all works out for us if we do really decide to move NYC. But the job will definitley be the first to figure out.

I have a friend who lives near Williamsburg in Brooklyn and just loves it. She can get into Manhattan in less than 30 min. Sometimes she rides her bike! Her one-bedroom apartment is nice and spacious, and she pays around $1300, I believe.

Just a clarification - the UES east of 3rd and Yorkville are the same thing. (The area used to be filled with predominantly German immigrants, but is now populated with young post college grads and couples with babies.)

Also, if the two of you would consider getting a room within a larger apt it might be sustantially cheaper. We rented a GORGEOUS 4 bedroom apt on 94th and 3rd for less than $4000... (of course you will have to work out with your roommates a fair split as there will be two of you.)

Also, don't get freaked out by the prices in the NY Times. I don't know a single person my age (25) who has ever rented through them - tends to be more high end stuff. Can't speak highly enough about Craigslist - it involves a lot of legwork, but you can often avoid a broker's fee. Search the Village Voice for no fee apts too.

The areas you've identified in your list in Manhattan tend to be the more affordable ones. Yorkville is part of the upper east side east of 3rd. No one mentioned the Battery Park area. It was devastated in the 9/11 attack and many left. I'm not up on what's happening down there, but that may also be a more affordable area.

I really think getting jobs should come first. Not only will you know where you're working to identify locations for living, but having an employer to vouch for your income will be helpful if not necessary. If you feel you have to move to the city in order to look for work, I'd rent a short term furnished apt. first that won't require so much aggro. Something like what Patrick mentioned, a few months sublet, or there are some apt/hotels.

If you're in management areas, your prospective employers might even pay some relocation expenses.

Good luck.

mitchdesj, yes, the gentrifcation you observed is constantly taking place because of high rents.

Battery Park City isn't all that cheap and I think would be too boring for someone trying to explore the city for a year or two. Brooklyn Heights is just as expensive as Manhattan.

The list you have now represent very different neighborhoods:
Yorkville - very developed, with lots of supermarkets/shopping/restaruants, not very diverse, some distance to subway but once on the subway a short ride down but walkable to many things.

The LES /Hell's Kitchen - Quickly developing/transforming neighborhoods. Good restaurants and bars mixed in.

Washington Heights - Don't know a lot about it expect passing through, but wouldn't be my first choice for someone wanting to be in the city for a year or two.

Park Slope in Brooklyn is a nice, interesting neighborhood. Astoria has some good deals and great Greek food. Hoboken has really good nightlife. In Brooklyn, might want to also look into DUMBO and Williamsburg.

As you can see, there are a lot of NYC neighborhoods, and to get it down to a manageable few, you need to first figure out your budget - how much per month and how much money you'll have to fork over when you sign the lease - and then think about your preferences once you figure out what neighborhoods you can afford.

And don;t forget the upper west side - if you get a small walk-up the apartments can be quite affordable. And IMHO much more typical of NY than the upper east side - much more diverse - in every possible way - and interesting - not dominated by brokers, arbitragers and wanna bes (not to denigrate the UES - I did live there for a few years - but it tends to be very homogenous).

Also, was not suggesting that you use the NYTimes to get an apartment - there are much better ways to find economical places as noted above - but it does give some perspective to people from out of town - so they're ready to make a decision when they see something realistic.

Sorry NYTrav, I didn't mean to imply that the NY Times was a bad idea - just wanted to reassure lw that there are cheaper opportunities out there.

I agree that the UWS also might be a good choice, depending on where lw ends up working. It's gotten ridiculously expensive overall, but you can still stumble upon some great bargains (admittedly with no elevator or doorman) and it probably does have more "character" than the UES.

What is IMHO - nytraveler? Not sure what you mean - I will defintley look into the UWS.

imho = in my humble opinion