Hi, Metalguy!
I'm not a guy, but I am in New York and I basically am going to second what the other two have said in this thread. If you want to enjoy the city, expect to pay a s***load of rent. Don't know a thing about mobile home parks, I've never even heard of anyone in New York living in one. I will tell you that rents have been going down lately, due to the recession. Cool neighborhoods close to the city are Greenpoint, Williamsburg, Park Slope, and Brooklyn Heights in Brooklyn. In Queens, I understand that Long Island City, Sunnyside, and Jackson Heights are supposed to be pretty nice. Jackson Heights I'm told is actually VERY gay, in fact they have their own LGBT center. I live in Greenpoint, where there are some good deals right now. There are a lot of artistic people living in Greenpoint, Williamsburg, and Long Island City. They tend to get these lofts that are converted from old factories and such. I used to live in one, it wasn't very comfortable, but it was pretty cool.
As for gay clubs, seriously just walk around, there are so many of them it's not even funny. And there's all different kinds, too. I prefer the queer variety, myself. You get all kinds there. I go to a place in the East Village where there's Tgirls, Tboys, gays, lesbians, straights, chasers, you name it. It's a lot of fun.
I go to one of the groups at the gaycenter that Kieron mentioned. The girls have a group and the guys have a group. They meet at the same time. I've met a few of the guys, they were pretty cool. Everyone always goes out for dinner after group, and some people (like me) tend to go to a club afterwards. Let me tell you something, we've got the staff in all the restaurants around there well trained. No one bats an eye at 20 or 30 trannies walking into their joint.
I hope this is helpful to you. If you want, I can message you some more details.