1 bedroom co-op for under $200K?

Forest Hills, Rego Park, Sunnyside in queens

Area 51 ?

Look at Elmhurst and Jackson Heights. 36 minutes on the #7 from 82nd Street to Times Square.

Or try the commute map at http://www.triptropnyc.com/

Tell it Grand Central or Times Square and it'll show you where to look.

Have you looked at Hamilton Heights? Great Transportation (5 subway lines in the neighborhood) and less than 30 minutes to much of midtown. The neighborhood is still a little gritty, but changing very rapidly. I know of 8 new restaurants/cafes that have either recently opened (within the last 2-3 months) or are opening shortly.

http://streeteasy.com/nyc/sale/832629-coop-3692-broadway-hamilton-heights-new-york

Semerun, nice find! $160k in Hamilton Heights... that's with almost anyone's reach. (Trivia: that apartment is the exact size (to the square foot: 405) of the apartment my wife and I live in now.)

semerun, good catch. Not quite a real one bedroom at 11 feet, but.

But can Hamilton Heights offer JMHunt a good array of storefront medical businesses, pawn shops, beauty/barber parlors, plexiglassed T-bird flask purveyors and fast food? What about corner boys and bodegas? How far will JMHunt have to commute for those? How long will JMHunt have to wait before they are introduced to the area? What if JMHunt wants to see disgusting fat old men airing their bellies out all summer long on his/her walks to the subway ... how far from Hamilton Heights must (s)he stray?

Mostly, though, I still want to know how Peggy Olson on Mad Men bought a parlor unit only on the Upper West Side in 1968, with Diverse people living in the same building.

I would have to second hofo's recommendation and say that the 7 train between 40th st. and 61st st stops (Sunnyside/Woodside) or the R train between Rego Park and Kew Garden stops (which include Forest Hills)are both nice residential areas where that price range buys a nice average sized 1-br coop. Either option is within 45 minutes of midtown, so a similar commute to Washington Heights.