cool post. i am planning the move from LA to NYC next year. and it is interesting you said that all the graduates will be moving, so now i know to move in late winter or spring. here are some sites i have been checking for apartments:

craigslist - duh
http://www.citi-habitats.com/byRental.php
http://propertyrover.com/
http://www.homesteadnyc.com/
http://www.urbansherpany.com/

i also bought the book "relocating to new york" which just came out with a new edition and helped me out a lot with explaining the neighborhoods and such.

My advice from first-hand experience: if you see something you like during busy season (esp. leading into summer and then into Sept.), act right away! Bring everything you have with you so that you can apply on the spot.

With a broker, I saw 13 apartments in one day but she advised me to put in all the applications I was interested in at the end of the day. Big mistake. I expressed interest in 5, but I missed out on all of them by a matter of hours. It was incredibly discouraging. (I wound up lucking out by finding an by-owner apartment by chance: NYC is full of stories of renters running into good luck!)

Another friend who was also new to the NYC market thought his broker was just being pushy when she advised him to put in an application right away on the 1st place he saw and liked; he wound up putting it off, hated everything else he saw that day, and then found out that the apartment he liked was snapped up within the hour after he left.

During slower times -- especially from Dec through Feb -- there is time and room to negotiate, but the influx of new students and workers over the summer gives landlords a huge advantage. Good luck to all you hunters!

Keep in mind that April-September is high rental season and apartments are available for less than 3 days. I've had brokers tell me that during the summer, an available listing can go in a matter of hours (particularly those in trendy areas).

My best advice is to get a broker. It's a pain to pay the 15% fee, but they access to the best apartments.

That article made me very glad I don't live in NY.

Finding an apartment in New York is a *terrible* experience, but it usually works out in the end, with a lot of hard work and patience. Be prepared for the following:

May through September is the hardest time to find an apartment, since you are competing with all the college graduates who are moving into the city.

Walk around the neighborhood that you like before resorting to a broker (see below). Many buildings have signs on the building with phone numbers to call for availability. If you want a doorman building, ask the doormen if their building has apartments available (they usually know).

Brokers: Brokers typically charge you 15% of the first-year's rent if you use them. You do NOT always need a broker in the city, since some buildings have their own websites or for-lease signs outside the buildings. Make sure you do NOT walk into such buildings with a broker, since you will be forced to pay the broker's fee even if you rent directly through the building later on!

If you see something you like, you must be ready to write a check ON THE SPOT! I know tons of friends who have lost apartments because they didn't put down a deposit that moment, and someone else did an hour later. In the NYC apartment hunt, he who hesitates is apartmentless!

Get all of your apartment application materials in order before you start looking. Contact at least two personal references and a business reference and let them know about your search. You may also need a guarantor.

Bring a tape measure to your apartment visits. Make sure you can fit a queen-sized bed in the bedroom, and measure the front doorframe to see if a sofa can fit through. If all else fails, there are specialty companies in New York that will saw a sofa in half, move it inside the doorway, and put it back together. It's a common problem in NYC buildings and apartments.

Don't be scared off by a little dirt and mess. There are two Home Depots in NYC, which offer plenty of cleaning supplies. Most people also tend to do DIY fixes to rentals, such as installing closet rods, hooks, new blinds, and replacing light fixtures.

If you see current tenants in the buildings where you are looking, ask them how they like living there, how the superintendant is, how the management company is, any problems in the building, etc. Tenants will be pretty honest if there are problems.

Try to find an apartment near a central subway or bus line. Location is very important, especially when it is raining or 2am and you have to get home.

Finally, don't give up hope! You may look at 20 places before you find one that you like. Good luck!

This article reminds me why I should stay in my tiny studio for at least another year. At only $1500/month (only!) for a pre-War, elevator building with a live-in super, it's a total bargain for the UWS. Thank you AT, you're saving me money.

Wow! Where to begin. I think Google Earth is your best friend during an apt search. It saved me countless times! Whenever I came across a listing that sounded too good to be true, Google Earth would show me why. For example, 3 or 4 listings were AMAZING, huge apartments with high ceilings and great ammenities. The moment I would check the satellite view of the neighborhood, I would see that the building was right next door to a huge low-income housing project (you can recognize the footprint of them), or some abandoned lot, etc. It saved me the time of making appts to go see these places or getting my hopes up about them.

I also recommend going through the city's Dept. of Urban Planning to get public information on the buildings you are looking at. The site lists inspections passed or failed. More importantly, it lists how your building is zoned and if it has a Certificate of Occupany. One of my really good friends just had to find a new place because her entire building was evicted. Turns out the building owner converted a commerical building into apartments w/out getting a building permit, requestng a zoning variance to turn a commerical building into residential, or getting a certificate of occupancy. The fire department showed up one evening, kicked everyone out, and boarded the place up. My friend came home from buying beautiful shleves at CB2 and was told she has 30 minutes to gather things and leave. Don't let this be you. Use the city's website.

it'd be nice to have something like this for LA too.

When you are looking for an apartment in ny and the apartment is either a coop or condo rental make sure you ask the owner if there are building fees associated with the lease.

Some buildings require a move-in/move-out fee refundable, application fee etc.

The money goes to the building not the owner.
The paperwork from the building is called a rental package..

If you use a broker you will pay 15% of the first years rent as a fee to the brokerage company.

It does not guarantee you a better apartment or that the landlord will accept the tenancy.

Real estate brokers are not always up front about these things.
The name of the game is "operation commission".

Believe it or not Craigslist works sometimes between the owner listing on the website and the tenant looking.

No broker fees involved if you deal directly with the owner.

It is a difficult process if you are trying to do it while you are far away.

I am a landlord and I rent to tenants diectly with no interference from a broker.

I hope the above information helps someone understand what really goes on here in NYC.

Sorry for hijacking the post

Good luck to everyone.

Ok, to those who are incredibly negative about finding an apartment in NYC : Stop.

I found mine on Craigslist about 2 months ago. Rent stabilized studio on the second floor, very decent size, cheap rent and in the heart of one of the best hoods in central NY - Chelsea.

I am very happy now, but was discouraged many times as is normal, but keep at it, and you will find what you're looking for.

I had more against my chances of applying since im here on a visa and have 0 credit, but the management company and I negotiated.

Nothing is perfect, but thats a good thing as i love fixer-uppers.

I suggest craigslist. Worked for me.

I don't know how young people deal with moving here now -- when I first came to NYC for college in the late 70's there were tons of affordable options. Prices now are insane. I encourage my neices and nephews to consider Philadelphia -- it's my back-up plan for retirement!

I just moved from LA to NY in November and luckily I was able to stay with family with a couple months before finding my apt. I'm very stubborn when it comes to paying extra for anything so I refused to get a broker and look on my own. I didn't even know apartment brokers existed until I got to NY. If you can find an apt. in LA without a broker than you can definitely find one in NY.

I found a very cute 1 bedroom in Pelham Parkway, Bronx for $975 - only paid first and last months rent moving in. PERFECT neighborhood if you don't mind NOT living in Manhattan. I'm not mad - because its the equivalent to living in Hollywood in LA (too much of everything).

Just move to Brooklyn. Easier to find and afford apartment. There's more parks, less traffic and quiet nights.
I would never like to live in the city.

You should keep in mind the following:

-Over the past six months or so, rents in Manhattan have actually flattened or declined slightly, especially in doorman buildings.

-The bloodletting on Wall Street means much less competition this year. There will be no big tidal wave of new graduates, thank Buddah.

-Anecdotally, there seem to be many more "no fee" apartments now than in previous years.

-Pay now or pay later. You may be able to find a Manhattan apartment on your own or with no fee, but invariably the rent is going to be higher than for a similar apartment where you paid the broker fee. There's always a "gotcha" somewhere. You don't catch a break in the city. Sure, there are stories of people who pounded the pavement and landed a cheap apartment without paying a fee... but you invariably get what you pay for- tiny, dark, walk-up, no view, thin walls/floors, etc. The sad fact remains that the realtor cartel has a chokehold on the plum apartment listings in Manhattan.

I just moved from a studio into a two bedroom (one of the bedrooms is really small) walk-up apartment in the east village with my boyfriend, which they were unable to rent at the listed price and dropped it by $400 to $2500. I got the feeling that prices are coming down a bit. My boss is having trouble selling her house in New Jersey. I have no data to back it up but it seems to be a buyers/renters market.
We used a broker to save us the hassle and showed up with all our paperwork in hand. We found the place 2 days after we started looking and moved in a week later!! That said, it was in March, and things will probably pick up soon.

I just moved to the city aboout 3 weeks ago and am currently in finding an apartment mode.

It is a long and sometimes grueling process. But on the other hand by checking out different apartments in different areas I have found parts of the city I was unfamiliar with before.

It isn't impossible to find an apartment without a broker, it just takes more effort on your part and the acceptance that you have a limited amount of options.

The process isn't over for me, but once I adjusted my expectations and accepted the realities of the process, the experience has been much easier.

I will be the only honest person here and say:

The cheaper the apartment, the more you have to watch out for.

1) Being too close to a housing project
2) Having loud, raucous or scary neighbors/bars nearby.
3) Having poor apartment maintenance services (no
heat, hot water, broken fixtures)

4) Having vermin (roaches, rats, mice, bedbugs etc.)

If you decide to move into a cheap "by owner apartment" that is not in some exclusive enclave in Manhattan, be very careful and check for vermin, light fixture/plumbing problems and building maintenance issues. Many “by owner”, “private house”, and cheap out of borough places have the sorts of problems I mentioned.

For some reason, rodents, bedbugs and cockroaches are rampant in this city, and many unscrupulous owners, do very poorly when it comes to exterminating. Check the corner baseboards by the fridge and sink and ask your prospective neighbors about the cleanliness of the place. They will tell you the truth.
Landlords are not always honest and may do a great job cleaning up the apartment, so that you don’t see the evidence of infestation until you move in.

If you're moving to the city for the first time - especially by yourself - I suggest doing a sublet first, or maybe a few. My first year here I did half a dozen sublets in different areas so I could try out the neighborhoods AND take my time looking for what I wanted. It was hard to give up a few of them, but I wouldn't have done it any other way. A few of those neighborhoods/buildings I HATED, so I'm glad I wasn't stuck there. Exactly a year to the day after I first moved to NY, I ended up in my current place which I totally love. I've been in this apt. now for 7 years.

Incidentally, I didn't use a broker for any of my places (in Manhattan, Brooklyn or Queens) including the apt. I'm in now. It is possible to do it by yourself.

Both apartments I had in NY I got through word of mouth. Tell everyone you meet everywhere that you're looking. Find a neighborhood you like and stop in at the grocery stores and local stores and ask if they know of anything. This is especially effective in the outer boroughs where the old school people all know each other and the guy at the grocery might have a cousin who owns a building, etc. It's not for the faint of heart, but hey, neither is living in NY. If you can't take the search you probably can't take the life there either. If you persevere, you'll find something.

SFGail, that's a great tip. I totally agree. Ask in at the local laundromat too. The women that work in the one by me are ALWAYS talking about who is moving in and out.

A sublet is a great idea if you can find a nice one in a decent neighborhood. That is how I moved to nyc as well. We had to pay for three months up front for the sublut which meant that for three months we could put everything we saved towards brokers fees, first and last months rent, and security for the next apartment. It worked really well and allowed us to find out which neighborhoods we liked/disliked.

Apartments listed on Craigslist go especially fast and you can waste a lot of time checking the site for the latest listings in order to get a jump on them before anyone else.

Instead, consider running a search for your desired criteria and then subscribing to the resulting feed with an RSS reader such as Google Reader. Using this method, I've been able to reduce the amount of time I spend checking for new listings when there aren't any, and it's become easier for me to spot and respond to listings I like just minutes after they've been posted.

(BTW: if you've never used RSS feeds before, Common Craft has produced a great run down on what they are and how they work).

By subscribing to search feeds with Google Reader I can:

• Check my feeds on whatever computer I may be near.
• Keep the reader open in my browser and see whenever it updates.
• View results from multiple searches together or separately.
• Keep track of listings I've already read.
• Mark listings I'm interested in.
• Assign my own descriptive tags to listings such as the number of bedrooms and/or bathrooms, which utilities are included in the rent, the apartment's neighborhood, notable features like walk-in closets or balconies, etc.
• Sort listings quickly using my tags.
• Share marked listings from my reader with other people or potential roommates on a pre-designed website so that they can see what I've been checking out.

This method isn't just limited to apartment listings - you could use it when searching for furniture, jobs, or anything else on Craigslist or other feed-enabled sites. Hope this helps!

I found that Times article to be typically blinkered and out-of-touch. It was written as though New York consists only of a few sections of Manhattan island. Others in these comments have mentioned Brooklyn, so I just want to second (third?) that recommendation. My neighborhood of Brooklyn is beautiful, friendly, 20 minutes to lower Manhattan on a reliable train line, a short walk from Prospect Park (no, it's not Park Slope, which is even more expensive than Manhattan), and the rents seem to be relatively sane (I live in a co-op, so I'm not sure, but I do look at the listings in local realtors's windows occasionally). I often see listings like $1700 for a 2-bedroom. Of course these always need to be seen firsthand to know whether they're nice places. But there are options. And yeah, Craigslist rocks. I've found every place I've lived on there, including this co-op.

The notion that Manhattan is the Only Place to Live is quaint and outdated. It is perpetuated by people who move here from elsewhere and think it's all just like the movies. As a local girl who grew up in Manhattan and is happy not to live there, I can tell you that this is a much bigger and more interesting city than that! We welcome people from elsewhere, by the way. We just want you to know that there's more to us than the Upper East Side.

One thing about Craigslist is that most of the pictures aren't of the apartment being listed and that is a fact, not speculation. So read the listing and check out the pictures, but don't get your hopes up until you see it. Chances are it doesn't look like that and it's a lot smaller, too.

Ditto on the making NYC look like waaaaaay too much work.

And ditto on something similar for LA. There's a whole host of different problems (is there even a busy season there?) that I'd like to see addressed. I'm probably moving back to my old building (which I found online, somehow) but a few tips if I want to upgrade would be nice too.

Good luck to all you New Yorkers!

moving to LA, to me, is so much simpler. There are so many places to live, it depends if you want to live close to the city or not. You are going to have to drive basically no matter where you live anyway. Rent in LA is cheaper than NYC, and the space you get per $ is more.. often much more. i would avoid east and south LA (used to be known as south central). check this for some good info:

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/List_of_districts_and_neighborhoods_of_Los_Angeles

you can always message me if you have specific questions, i can try and answer for you.

I am so annoyed by the NYT article. New York does not equal Manhattan. I have had sublets in Manhattan ( LES,Yorkville, Washington Heights) but I chose to live in Brooklyn (Fort Greene and Prospect Heights).

In the New York housing market (like other Northeastern housing markets --DC, Boston etc) you get what you pay for. You can pay in dollars or you can pay with sweat equity (time is money, remember). If you dont have the time or the stamina for doing the work yourself then shell out 15% of the annual rent. Alternately you can pound the pavement and find an apartment yourself.

Either way be prepared to see lots of crap, be prepared for misleading ads, pictures, square footage and neighborhood descriptions. Realtors are notorious for saying the neighborhood is UWS when its Harlem, or Clinton Hill when its really BedStuy, or its the South South South Slope when its Sunset Park. It could be rezoning (harhar) or they could be lying to get you in the door and ask for more rent.

I have never used a realtor because I refuse to pay that kind of money for a rental and for someone who is not working very hard. But its important to know that you will pay the money somewhere. Either you pay it to the realtor in the 15% fee or you pay a few hundred dollars extra a month in the non-realtor apartment. I will try to tell you what I have learned about finding an apartment without a realtor in NYC.

First, you have to work for it. Its kind of like looking for a job. Its a full time endeavor until you find an apartment. You can find an apartment without a realtor in Manhattan as well as in the outer boroughs. Its harder and easier in some ways to find apartments in the boroughs because the housing stock is brownstones, prewar buildings, multifamily houses. But its harder in the boroughs because its decentralized and there arent as many big buildings with supers and management companies. Either way, you cant be a wimp or afraid of talking to people or doing the work. Still scared- look at it this way- if you dont do it you'll be homeless. Just kidding!

TIMING Look for you apartment no more than 30 days to 2 weeks before you want to rent. You can try earlier than that but often landlords and management companies dont know what is coming up because often tenants dont need to notify their intention to vacate more than 30 days prior to when they want to leave. Also they might be gutting the apartment or remodeling/repainting it before they show it (again so they can ask higher rent).

SELF EVALUATION Figure out what is important to you. Is it about location/neighborhood, price, building amenities, size of the apartment, proximity to subway or a combination of factors. Figure out what you can compromise on and what you cant.

RESEARCH Find out what neighborhoods you want to live in. Look at neighborhood guides in the New York Times, Not For Tourists or in amNewYork. Take a walk in these neighborhoods to get a feel for them. Then get on the internet. Use realtor sites, Craigslist and www.rentometer.com to find out the average price for what you are looking for.

Then become familiar with Googlemaps and www.hopstop.com . You can figure out how to get to the apartment building. But more importantly if you know major streets and subways you can avoid dishonest brokers and management companies who lie about where the apartment building is. Dont be misled by people who tell you its only 3 blocks to the subway when its actually 8 blocks.

Be aware that often NYC neighborhoods are checkerboards- one minute you can be on a really nice block then next you are in a really shady and scary block. This is especially true of upper Manhattan, Brooklyn and some parts of Queens. The more that a neighborhood is in the process of being gentrified the more true this is. If you put the time into doing you research up front then you wont waste your time on the back end.

NETWORKING Tell everyone you know you are looking. Tell people at church, school, work. Send out emails to friends, family and coworkers. Use your alumni association if they are active in the area. Tell people on the elevator, at the supermarket, at parties about your apartment search.

SEARCHING Use all available media for your search. Use Craigslist definitely. Remember lots of people use CL including owners, management companies and realtors. But use other media as well. Check out the backpages on Village Voice. Look in the newspapers like the Daily News, the Post and local newspapers that you find in the laundromat or supermarket. There are lots of property owning little old ladies who "dont know anything about that internet" and if they could they would still be posting in the WantAds!

FOOTWORK Go into the neighborhood you want to live in and walk around. Look for signs advertising apartments for rent. Look for the big apartment buildings and look for the signs posted by the management companies and call them up. Ask for the super (if there is one) and ask after any vacancies. Hang around at the local coffeeshop, grocery store or laundromat - be friendly and ask locals if they know of anything. If you are really daring you can go stand in front of a few large buildings and ask the tenants going in if they have noticed anybody who looks like they are moving out.

PREPARATION Whenever you go to see any apartment come prepared. Have a pad of paper to write down apartment details( maybe even bring a tape measure). Have a hire letter, proof of employment, proof income, landlord reference letters, personal reference, bank statements, copy of your credit report. Have a guarantor on standby or be prepared to put more money upfront.

Finally be prepared to put down a deposit if you like the apartment. Things go quickly especially in peak renting season which is basically April to September.

Keep hope alive. You can find a nice apartment. I have found an apartment, every single one of my friends have found apartments through word of mouth or through Craiglist.

Sorry for the longest post EVAH. I get riled up about this subject. And lots of people read AT so this is a good place to vent. Plus foks can learn from my agony and my triumph of finding a lovely apartment in Prospect Heights.

Brooklyn is nice... But it isn't Manhattan.

Another approach for the hunt... A large sum of cash in an unmarked envelope can land a nice rent stabilized apartment. Worked for me... now I pay $600 under market and have no fears of large rent increases.

Funny enough, I found a great studio apartment within a week of looking. It's ghastly inexpensive, gets decent light, and is a short walk from the L train in Williamsburg! I even bullied the realty company into letting me withhold first month's rent until the apartment had been remodeled. Finding an apartment is not as hard as this article makes it sound! All you need is Craigslist, a check book, and pursuit.

Thank you thank you thank you thank you!!

I was just offered a job in NYC this morning and was starting to look into housing. It's my first job straight out of college and I'm moving to NYC in August from Texas. :) I'm so excited and all this wonderful advice couldn't have come at a better time.

Thanks to everyone commenting! :)

Great source!!

www.nestseekers.com

http://www.nestseekers.com

I help people find their perfect place. It may take months to find a great place in NYC. If you need assistance contact me directly http://www.hechtgroup.com/index.cfm?page=agents&state=profile&id=387

or
Nikki
212-203-0707x104
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