I just sent out the following message, but figured I should post it here as well:
Hey Long List of People From My Address Book!
I’m sending this out to just about everyone I know who might live in the NYC area currently or might have some contacts or advice related to finding NYC living space. Now that I have another job lined up (if you don’t know about it, you will soon enough), Jessica and I are both going to be spending quite a bit of time in the Metro area – so we’re packing up and planning a move to somewhere on the subway line. Neither of us have lived in NYC Metro area before, and we’d appreciate any advice you could offer about decent places to live, things to look out for when hunting for apts, and anyone you know who might be good to talk to about this sort of thing. If you know of anyone who’s vacating an apartment or might know of some open apartments, please pass along their info. We’ve heard that a lot of people use brokers to find apts, and this is a new one for us – do you have any advice about doing so or any brokers you’d recommend?
As everyone who knows me will certainly attest, I’ve always been a fan of seeking advice from the brain trust of my readers and social circle. Given the wide-reaching savvy of those two groups, I’d be a fool not to do so. If anyone out there has any info they’d like to send my way, feel free to contact me at: marshall138 [at] gmail [dot] com
4 responses so far ↓
1 Steven Cloud // Aug 21, 2008 at 3:20 pm
I found my last 2 apartments via Craig’s List.
2 Steph // Aug 24, 2008 at 2:38 am
Finding an Apt. in NYC is going to be tough. If you’re looking to skip the broker fee of 15% of the first year’s rent, here are tips that will help reduce the chances of Craigslist leading you straight to a broker’s front door. This will save you a ton of aggravation.
Craigslist: All “broker no fee” postings. (Stay away!)
The apartment term “no fee” here in New York does not mean there aren’t any deposit requirements or application fees. “No fee” means there is no broker fee associated with that apartment. “No fee” are two words that will save you thousands.
However, when you see apartment brokers posting many no fee apartments on Craigslist this should automatically raise a red flag. A broker posting a "no fee” listing on Craigslist is most likely an attempt to lure you in. Getting you to come to their office is half the battle for brokers.
They will start to interest you with similar apartments that have broker fees since the apartment you went there for was “just rented”. This is known as the bait-and-switch tactic. (Tip:Bypass the “all apartments” and “all-no fee apartments” sections in Craigslist as they are flooded with brokers.“By-owner apartment only” section is highly monitored and will put you in a better position to find landlords although more brokers are finding ways to tap into this section as well.) I found my first NYC apt. in this section, but it was scary seeing so many applicants for that same apartment. I got lucky.
Try to deal directly with landlords.
Try typing in something like "nyc no fee apartments" or "skip the broker fee nyc" and you will see other no fee options besides Craigslist. Some other no fee options are websites that charge an upfront cost anywhere from $30-$300 so you can contact landlords without using a broker. The two most reputable no fee sites that charge an upfront fee are Rent-direct.com and Mlx.com, but before you pay there are also free "no fee" websites too. The best ones out there are 1) SkipBrokers.com and 2) Nybits.com. Both keep their listings fresh and have many of the same landlords Mlx and Rent-direct have except they don’t charge you anything. SkipBrokers is how I found my last apartment and I took over the lease of my current apartment from a friend of a friend just by asking around and letting people know I was looking for a new place. People are really helpful probably b/c they know how terrible this process is. This entire process will not be easy at all even with all these options, but you should be alright with a little luck on your side.
I hope this helps…good luck!
3 Chris // Sep 3, 2008 at 3:16 am
Awesome stuff…I visited all the websites mentioned above and have to say this is really helpful information. Skipbrokers has helped me the most so far, but I have yet to pay for Mlx or the other one. I don’t think I will end up paying either since I pretty much have my hands full right now. Thank you Steph! Dinner on me after I find my new place.
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