A guide to renting in NYC

It’ll be the most stressful experience of your life

“It’s OK, let us know if anything else comes up,” we said as we left a four hour negotiation meeting empty handed. We, meaning my roommate and I…and we were definitely not ok and it was definitely not ok. Welcome to the New York real estate market where sadly students, and more specifically, international students are at a significant disadvantage.

JOKES. We didn’t take it!

So far, we’ve seen over 25 apartments “under $4,500”, “within 20 minutes walking distance from NYU,” “stainless steel appliances,” “high ceilings” and “lost of natural light”, but with no luck. Whether it’s because of: a ridiculous broker’s fee, no fee, too small, too old, too far, too dark. Basement apartment for $3500 + 15 per cent broker fee = hello mole people!

Having seen so many, I feel like it is time for me to pass on my pearls of wisdom to anyone looking to rent a place. Suddenly being homeless has become a real option.

Set the parameters

Sit down with your future roommate and discuss all the details that you would like your future apartment to have. Is one of you happy paying more for a larger room? Are your budgets equal? What are you both looking for in terms of location, space size, distance to campus, layout etc? What lifestyle do you live – do you always wanna have people around or is it just somewhere to sleep? Do you need/have a guarantor? Does that guarantor make 60 or more times the monthly rent?

Remember you aren’t looking for the dream apartment, you’re looking to get as close to that as possible and when you do be prepared to jump on it. Make sure it is somewhere both/all of you feel happy with. One of our favorite apartments was taken right from under us by people who didn’t even see it back in April!

Make sure to see the place

Hello, photoshop, photo-stretch or whatever. Basically photos are awfully deceiving and what looks good online may not look, let’s say, as, “spacious” as you think. A room big enough for a queen bed probably won’t be as queeny as you think. Or one bedroom will be the beautiful king/queen meanwhile the other resembles a torture chamber with “really good lighting”.

BONUS: Make sure you have the broker’s number, agency and that the tenant currently living there knows you’re coming otherwise you’ll end up looking something like this:

BONUS: Make it fun. Race your friend to the place, take much required brunch breaks between apartment viewings and perhaps also try singing along on the way to the viewing – give your future neighbors a preview to the type of activity they will have to live with.

Much required brunch break…

Do not be afraid to offer less

Landlords want the apartment to go and often the closer you are to the “move in date” the more wiggle room you have with price. Say you are ready to take the place and then before you sign over anything offer the amount that you are more comfortable with paying. However offer it directly to the landlord. After our four hour negotiation that left us empty handed, we did manage to get the “landlord” to come down by $150 and if we offered less to begin with I’m pretty sure they would have budged more. Be confident and never be afraid to ask!

Be open minded

And by open minded I mean smart, and by smart I mean – the end justifies the means. In other words when it comes to the ruthless NYC real estate market anything is up for grabs. Yes the place may not be 100 per cent what you are looking for but if it meets most of the criteria you should grab it. Be realistic with the budget you are working with and the expectations you have for the place you’d like to rent.

Realistically seeing herself in that bathtub…

Every apartment you see, try to picture yourself realistically living there, however at the same time there will always be places available so if this one doesn’t work out there will be another, don’t worry.

Brokers are not your friends

Use websites like Street Easy, kwnyc.com, heck even CraigsList and anything else you can find where there are ‘no fee’ apartment listings. It’s OK to be working with multiple brokers at the same time as long as they don’t share the same listings. Try checking no fee firms like Croman 9300 Realty for listings that are put on the market by the landlord paying the broker fee/directly by the landlord and then look at other agencies. Be aware of who is paying the broker – wherever the money is coming from that’s where their loyalties lie.

Broker fees be anything from 10-20 per cent, and while some brokers are nicer than others many places will say that they won’t budge their fee because “they know that if you don’t take it someone else will,” try offering perhaps a year upfront, two/three months security deposit or signing a longer contract.

Be prepared

Have all of your funds ready to go. Especially if you are international – we all know wire transfers take forever. Perhaps set up a joint account for you and your roommate to save both of you the hassle of having to divide up and write separate cheques.

Start looking as much in advance as you can, but be ready to grab and go from the moment you start looking.

Happy hunting, let the games begin!

 

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