Lucy Cohen Blatter

When in the market to buy or rent a new place, many New Yorkers shop for a neighborhood first. And once they have their hearts set on a location, many will sacrifice square footage and pay a premium just to live there.

Distilling each neighborhood's trials and tribulations is the aim of our Transitions column, in which one New Yorker each week contrasts their latest 'hood with the one they left behind. What’s resulted is an unvarnished firsthand guide to dozens of NYC nabes (and micro-nabes).

This $4,550 two-bedroom is in the full-service RiverEast building. Clocking in at 1,000-square-feet, it's also generously sized.

Pros: The full-service building includes a sun deck and an indoor pool and is owned and managed by top-tier landlord Rose Associates. The apartment has stainless appliances, granite countertops, marble baths and a washer-dryer.

Financing is not the sexiest part of the real estate game, but for many buyers, it's the most important.

This 1,250-square-foot $5,500 two-bedroom condo at 243 West 98th Street, between West End and Broadway, is the stuff no-fee dreams are made of (at least for those who can afford it).

There's an open house this Sunday.

Pros: The apartment has been gut renovated and has condo-style finishes (and a washer-dryer). And look at that kitchen!

Pricey as it may be, the location of this $5,000 Chelsea one-bedroom at 130 West 15th Street, between Sixth and Seventh avenues, is hard to beat. Note the building, the Sierra, is non-smoking.