How to find an apt in brooklyn

August 1, 2005 8:13 AM

Looking for advice about apt hunting in brooklyn and about how to construct rooms in gigantic ballroom-like lofts.

I know this has been posted about before. But most of the posts are more manhattan-specific. I'm looking for a 2 bedroom for under $2000, ideally in the williamsburg area.

(1) Do you know if there are any services that might be helpful? For example, the ny times, village voice, rent direct, and most of the other newspapers or rental services are very manhattan-specific. I've looked at places like the L Magazine or Billburg.com but they're not very helpful.

(2) Are there message boards or forums for this kind of thing?

(3) I don't really want to get a broker. Should I change my mind?

(4) We're turning up a lot of lofts that look really good but don't have any rooms. How hard is it to build rooms? How much does it cost and how long does it take? How would I hire someone to do this?

posted by kensanway to home & garden (10 comments total)

1. Local brokers, craigslist.

2. Craigslist

3. It depends on how much you value your free time, and how much you're willing to hunt around for non-broker apartments. With a broker, they'll have a list of several apartments which are close to meeting your criteria in their given area, which you can probalby see immediatly, whereas with non-broker apartments, you'll be doing all the legwork to find them.
posted by skwm at 8:39 AM on August 1, 2005

4. What is your living situation? Are you living with a roommate, partner, family member, etc.? How many living spaces do you need? What is the square-footage / layout of the loft space you're looking at?

Framing up some detached walls isn't too hard, but you'll need to do a bit of planning first. So that you're not living in a construction zone for weeks and weeks you'll want to get as much of the work done as quickly as possible, especially the drywall (if you go with drywall), since it's incredibly dusty.

Also, do you envision walls that go all the way to the ceiling or just up to well above head-height? You may run into noise issues if you have 8-foot walls but 10-foot ceilings, but the labor will be a lot easier.
posted by bshort at 9:03 AM on August 1, 2005

I'm about to move out of a loft development (three or four buildings) that's not in Williamsburg -- it's one block east of Pratt, down in Clinton Hill (translated: western frontier of Bed-Stuy), called the Taaffe Lofts. Our 2-bedroom (not a giant open loft, but a perfectly roomy apartment for two roommates with v. high ceilings, all walls already built) was $1700 a month; the others range from $1600-$2000 depending on size/location (ignore the prices quoted on the website, they're inaccurate). If you're willing to deal with the neighborhood (it's only on the G train, which sucks, but there are some good restaurants and lots of art students), that's not a bad deal. (I'm moving out because I want a new neighborhood, not because of any outstanding problems with the apartment.)
posted by logovisual at 9:07 AM on August 1, 2005

craigslist!

and then, ive found the only lofts ive lived in by walking around and calling numbers on the sides of loft buildings.

and as for building. youre going to have to build your own walls if you want cheaper rent, usually. ones with built in box bedrooms etc might cost more or not be suited to your needs in terms of using the space. im lucky that all my friends and roomates are designers & architects with construction experience- that said you can place ads (craigslist again) or flyers asking someone to build your loft in exchange for money.
posted by c at 9:34 AM on August 1, 2005

I'm checking craiglist about every five minutes and have itemized all of the listings that work for the last week in an excel spreadsheet! (I'm not usually this anal.) But I feel like I've more or less picked through craigslist and was hoping for something else.

Lofts: is it common to hire someone to put up walls? Do you know how much this costs? How about those detachable walls? Can you just buy them? How much do they cost?

I'm also walking by a lot of buildings that look like they're almost finished w/ construction. Is there a way to get the landlord's phone number?

Logovisual: that sounds good and while I'm open to live anywhere that'll get me to downtown, my roommate is set on williamsburg. How long do you think this stuff is going to be open for?
posted by kensanway at 9:56 AM on August 1, 2005

NYC is a Craigslist town, and this advice is perfect. I was recently looking in Boston, and I subscribed to every place that put listings on the Internet. The great thing about CL is that you can subscribe to searches individually. You could do a search for the word "loft" within certain areas or with certain keywords, and within certain price ranges. There are undoubtedly several other NYC-specific sites that also have ads. I'd start with the major newspapers.
posted by abbyladybug at 10:12 AM on August 1, 2005

Previous commentors have been pretty thorough, but I also recommend reading The NYC Guidelines Board's Apartment Guide which will help you leave no stone unturned.

As for making creative use of space in your apartment, check out Apartment Therapy. A quick search for the word "loft" turns up designers, contractors, loft-specific furniture, and more.
posted by kathryn at 10:33 AM on August 1, 2005

walking around and calling numbers on the sides of loft buildings

This is excellent advice for those tired of Craigslist, wanting to take matters into their own hands. Most realtors just deal with apartment management companies anyway--you can cut out the middle man by calling the management co. yourself and asking if they have anything available that fits your needs.
posted by Civil_Disobedient at 11:55 AM on August 1, 2005

If you want solid-wall rooms this won't help much, but when we had a huge loft to divide visually we made simple walls very quickly and easily from light framing covered with paper. The advantages were speed and low cost; the obvious drawbacks were durability and sound insulation. Japanese shoji screens were the inspiration, though ours didn't slide and used much larger panels than shoji usually do. It was easy to pull the walls out when we wanted the return to open-style life.

Iirc our frames were mostly made from 1/2" x 2" pine, with some 1" x 2", and the panels were about 12" x 18". The walls lasted us about three years, with occasional kid-finger holes (easily pasted over, giving a nicely random effect.)
posted by anadem at 4:34 PM on August 1, 2005

Avoid rent-direct like the plague. I tried them a while back and had horrible experiences with them. Very few listings, crappy service, and hidden charges. Not fun.
posted by Gamblor at 11:41 AM on August 2, 2005