Selection for condos in 300s?

I'll be moving to NYC in August, so looking to buy fairly soon. I originally started looking in Astoria area, but nothing really good has surfaced. Prices seem higher than I would expect for the area. So I'm definitely willing to branch out to anywhere in the city. No particular desired area; mainly, criteria is accessibility to subway to Manhattan (24h), safety, and investment value (so preference for a newer building, and ruling out co-ops for ease of flipping the property). Don't need much space. Younger, more artistically/culturally inclined area would be great since I'm in design, but not absolutely necessary. Seems like there's a lot of experienced condo buyers here, so I'd appreciate any input. Thanks!