When to start looking for apartments nyc
How to Find an Apartment in NYC | Renting Tips, Where/When to Look, & More
hey guys welcome to my channel or I
should say welcome back to my channel if
you were here from my apartment or video
I first want to say thank you so much I
was not expecting that video to do so
well the comments have been so nice and
sweet and engaging and I just really
really appreciate it I've wanted to do
this YouTube thing for a long time and
to see that it's just pleasantly
surprising and also just amazing and
reassuring so I'm really excited for all
of you guys to be here also if you did
come from that video you might notice
that I cut my hair and if you are a new
subscriber here or you're a new viewer
welcome my name is Carrie and I live in
New York and I did a tour of my
apartment that you can see on my channel
ok so on that front a lot of people have
been asking various questions about how
I found that apartment how to find New
York City apartments in general renting
all of that I am going to be breaking
this up into various sections that I'm
going to cover a variety of different
topics so I will put all of those and
the times that you can watch them at in
the description box below in case you're
just here for one specific thing you can
just go and skip ahead
I thought I would first go over a little
background on my story in New York I
moved here in September of 2016
without a job and I lived in an Airbnb
actually and that was in Brooklyn on the
border of Clinton Hill and bed-stuy
I had three roommates there it was a
four-bedroom apartment my next apartment
was in Williamsburg it was a three
bedroom apartment where I had two
roommates my next department after that
was a three-bedroom in Alphabet City
which is technically part of our right
next to the East Village and then I
moved up here to the Upper East Side
where I live in a studio now in May of
this year yeah I have had porn if you
don't get to that I have had four
apartments in just over two years which
is crazy but at the same time I from
doing all that have learned a lot about
how to find apartment they've all been
found in different ways and I found
roommates for them in different ways so
while I am not realtor or a professional
at all and I don't know everything I do
feel like I have learned quite a bit
from going through the process several
times and also helping some of my
friends move out here okay how I found
my apartment I found my apartment using
straight easy calm I had been organizing
the listings by most recent posted day
and this had like just come up earlier
that day I had been looking like five
times a day I reached out right away I
came and saw it the next day and I
really wanted it so I ended up working
with a broker and I did unfortunately
have to pay a broker's fee which was not
fun I really really wanted the apartment
and there was no way around it
specifically I think the thing that
helped me I looked kind of during the
offseason peak rental season here is
basically May June to September October
my lease in my last apartment ended June
first and that kind of made me a little
worried that just happens to be a time
when a lot of people are moving in and
out of the city so the rental market a
it's a lot more competitive and be more
expensive because they know the demand
is there I was nervous about that and I
just wanted to start looking to test the
waters and basically just see what was
out there I just started looking in
early April for apartments that had like
a
first move-in and I would say it was
probably cheaper because I know other
apartments in this building do cost a
little bit more so I found it in April
and I ended up paying for two apartments
at the same time during the month of May
it's not an ideal situation it is not
realistic for everyone I'm completely
aware of that but it's something that I
think if you can financially swing it it
could help you but in terms of
everything else really the Stars just
aligned I know it's not like the best
answer but that's just the truth
so if everything written in some notes
on my computer down here so if you
notice me looking down that's what I'm
looking at
so first sources obviously the most
important thing when you're looking for
an apartment in New York is how are you
gonna find it and where are you gonna
find it personally I think there are a
lot more sources than a lot of people
think about some which are not
conventional but at the same time
nothing about living your in finding
apartments is really conventional first
is obviously website where they list
apartment so that could be Street easy
it could be Zillow it could be truly a
naked apartment they'll obviously have
different filters so that you can narrow
your search down by neighborhood by
number of bedrooms by your budget my
personal favorite is Street easy not
only is it the easiest to use it also
has an option where you can search No
Fee apartments basically No Fee means
that you don't have a broker's fee even
if a broker is showing you the apartment
it just means that you're not
responsible for covering that fee that
basically pays them to do their job it's
the only thing I really want to point
out about this specifically though is
that the man over whelming majority of
the time what you're gonna find on these
websites is apartment where you will be
on the lease
leases here are 12 months sometimes they
can be less or sometimes they can be
more it just really depends so if you
are looking for a more short-term
situation if you don't have a steady
income yet these might not be for you
necessarily the next options are really
fast suited for those who might be
looking for something shorter term or
anything like that
the first is definitely the most
controversial but it can be surprisingly
effective if you just know what you're
looking for and all of that which is
Craigslist obviously you know Craigslist
has not the best reputation in general
for everything just because anyone can
go on there and it's free if you keep
searching you can actually find not only
pretty good deals on there but good
spaces don't write off Craigslist
completely necessarily but if you are
going to go down that rabbit hole just
use your best judgment and if something
looks or seems too good to be true it
probably is
don't wire anyone any money use safety
precautions the next one that I want to
go over
is Facebook groups this might be kind of
a foreign idea if you don't live in New
York necessarily but it's actually a way
that a lot of people find their
apartment I found an apartment that way
I had a friend who did so basically it's
just these Facebook groups that are made
specifically for finding housing and
finding roommates and that kind of thing
they can also kind of be free-for-alls
these are really good if you're looking
for something shorter-term
because a lot of the stuff on there is
either subleases someone looking to fill
an apartment for a month or two oh
that's not to say that you can't find
also a lease on them and there are a ton
of different groups I will link a few of
those below so the next one is called
Nicklin it is actually a rental company
and they have a ton of apartments a lot
of them are in Brooklyn but not all of
them the reason I want to mention this
one is a because one of my apartments
was leased to them and I had a good
experience but also be because I think
they're one of the sites with like the
most advanced website and system all of
the listings list off like the trains
that it's near and all of that and a lot
of their buildings have sorry the
lighting just change all of their
buildings are usually renovated I think
they also have this system where you can
actually find a roommates kind of I'm
not 100% sure how that works but I know
if you like a list and you can like
indicate that and then you can like chat
with people I think through the website
if you've used this comment below
another one is Airbnb that is how I
moved to New York it's kind of it's just
the same as like a short-term rental but
it's a little more structured it feels
like it's a little more like regulated
if something were to happen they are
able to step in because they are a
company versus just someone that you're
messaging on Facebook I wouldn't suggest
it for like longer term than like a
month or two because the people renting
their apartments on there typically up
the price a little bit you can either
rent like a whole place or you can rent
a room I had rented a room while I
didn't know the girls beforehand who
were living there so that was a little
bit of a risk it actually ended up
working out great one of the girls had
just moved into the same Airbnb the same
day as me and we ended up hitting it off
actually and she was my roommate later
on in my off that City apartment and
we're still friends to this day and the
last one I want to mention is an email
list and it is called the listings
project I'm sure there are others out
there but the listings project is the
one that I personally use and really
really liked and have recommended
to other people it's basically a email
subscription list they have a really
nice selection of apartments on there
and it is regulated by them and curated
they have both short and long term it's
something cool to check out
this is kind of a one-off tip but in
terms of when to look for an apartment
you want to look a maximum of a month
before you would like to move maybe even
less and that is completely normal the
market is just crazy here and it's very
fast-paced don't expect to find your
space 3 months in advance basically when
you look that's what's available right
now
that's what I want to talk about is
factors that can affect the price of
your rent there are a lot of these one
of the biggest ones is where you're
living not even just the neighborhood
that you're living in but also where
you're living in terms of how close you
are to the subway
so besides amenities like is it a walk
over an elevator building is there
laundry in the building do you have a
doorman do a living super I would say
the biggest and most important thing
that can affect the price of your rent
the time of the year that you look so
like I was saying earlier if you look in
the offseason you are more likely to a
get a deal and be have more options at
your disposal one major thing though
with that that I want to point out is
that if you are signing in an offseason
some landlords may require you or ask
you to sign on to a longer lease so that
when your lease ends it puts you in peak
rental season so say you're renting in
April instead of signing a year lease
that ends again at that time they might
have you sign you know 13 14 month lease
other things that can affect the price
are roommates so the more roommates that
you are gonna live with obviously the
price is going to go down more because
you're splitting the cost of the rent
that is not to say that having roommates
in a very expensive area isn't still
gonna mean that your rent is expensive
if you are living roommates the size of
the room can affect the renter pay if
someone else has a bigger room and they
should pay more for their room then you
pay for yours so if you're willing to
sacrifice size you can get a really good
deal sometimes and then another factor
is is it renovated or not is your
building luxury if that's not
necessarily a priority or a need for you
that can definitely help you out
what can you expect to pay this is a
question that I'm not going to give like
a hard answer to and it's not something
that I think I can from my experience I
would say across the board in a lot of
neighborhoods that are deemed you know
more affordable a realistic lower number
is 1,300 I would say this is something
that you can make work but again if
you're paying that price in a more
trendy or lively area you might be
giving up more things I would say 1,500
for a real miss definitely more
realistic and then for a studio you
might be looking at something more like
17 1800 and up from there
all right the next category I want to
cover is where should you live again
this is something that is up to you
really you can get better deals in
certain areas of the city for example I
live in the Upper East Side well I
actually really do like the neighborhood
it's also a conscious decision that I
made in order to find a better deal but
in general I would say areas that tend
to run a little cheaper and I'm
definitely going to forget a billion
options of neighborhoods obviously the
Upper East Side the Upper West Side
alphabets IDIA Astoria and Queens and
then you know various areas in Brooklyn
so like bed-stuy Crown Heights Clinton
Hill Bushwick for sure East Williamsburg
places like that and then areas that are
more expensive that you might want to
avoid are like the West Village Tribeca
Soho for sure parts of Midtown Gramercy
Chelsea Dumbo
Williamsburg is very expensive Cobble
Hill
okay last category I want to cover is if
you are choosing to rent what do you
need to qualify for an apartment and get
approved for an apartment it's a little
different everywhere but overwhelmingly
there are some consistencies and
similarities that are pretty standard
when applying for the apartment they're
going to expect certain things for you
to qualify and that means that you can
pay for it and that you're legit the
standard requirement in New York is that
your income is 40 times the monthly rent
at a minimum say the apartment that
you're looking at is a thousand dollars
in rent you would need to make at least
a $40,000 income and so on and so forth
if you don't qualify for that and you
can work with the company and they will
make you no exceptions within reason or
B you're going to have to explore the
idea of getting a guarantor basically
what that is is kind of like a cosigner
so it's someone who can basically
guarantee that they will pay the rent if
you're not able to the only part though
that is not so nice is that your
guarantor has to make 80 times the red
once you do get approved for at least in
fees you're gonna have to pay the first
month's rent up front obviously you're
also probably gonna have to pay the last
month's rent and a security deposit if
you are paying a broker's fee typically
they can be a percentage of the yearly
rent it could be like ten twelve fifteen
percent or you might just end up paying
equivalent of like one month or a half
month these can be a little bit
negotiable it really again depends on
your situation depends on the broker it
could be a lot of money up front so
that's just something I would think
about especially if you don't live here
yet and you're saving up money to move
to New York or something like that so I
think that's everything I wanted to
cover I hope this was helpful to you
guys if you have any more questions if
you want me to elaborate on something
that you didn't feel like you got a full
answer to feel free to leave a comment
below like I said at the beginning I
don't know everything I definitely I
know already you forgot a bunch of stuff
so if you have something you would like
to add please leave it in a comment
below for everyone and if you like this
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know and yeah I will see you guys on the
next one bye
