In-town NYC No-Fee Apt Hunt. Tell me your building or property mgr!
September 2, 2016 10:22 AM   Subscribe

We've lived in NYC for several years now, and for our first apartment we had to use a broker. Now we'd like to go No-Fee (obvs.) and have 2 months to find a place. We're using Streeteasy, but I know there are a lot of luxury buildings or property managers that have openings that never show up on those sites, and I'd like to find those!

Our lease is up 10/31 so a 10/15-11/1 move in is ideal, but could make a 10/1 work if no fee for the perfect place.

Open to anywhere in Manhattan south of the 100s, and in Brooklyn Dumbo, Park Slope, and Prospect Heights.

Ideal place:
Under 3K
Elevator or 2nd floor max
Solid in-building laundry room, or the holy grail: in unit laundry
Dishwasher
Close to transit, like, .3 miles or less to subway

That said, we're not asking you to find us our perfect place, just help us find more buildings and management companies to look at directly!
posted by veronicacorningstone to Home & Garden (11 answers total) 9 users marked this as a favorite
 
Just so respondents are clear, I assume this is for a 1 bed/1 bath by the use of "we"?
posted by andrewesque at 10:29 AM on September 2, 2016 [1 favorite]


Do you know NYBits? It's a website that has a massive list of all no-fee/direct by property manager apts. You can search by borough, # of rooms, price etc. Not sure if it is kept up to date but should at least show you many properties that are potentially no fee.
posted by neematoad at 10:30 AM on September 2, 2016 [3 favorites]


If you don't mind the mid-market McHotel condo look then there's a glut right now on the Fort Greene/Downtown Brooklyn border. No fees. 2 months free rent, etc.

You'll find more diverse no-fee apartments on Listings Project.
posted by caek at 10:33 AM on September 2, 2016 [1 favorite]


Response by poster: @andrewesque YES! Minor Detail! 1 Bed/1Bath for my husband and I.
posted by veronicacorningstone at 10:39 AM on September 2, 2016


NYBits.com has at least somewhat up-to-date ads. A lot of no-fee building managers aren't too proactive about dealing with potential new tenants, in my experience, so much better to call than to email, if you can.

Under $3K will be an effort in the neighborhoods you're talking about, but with luck should be doable. UES is your best bet in non-upper Manhattan, I think. I recently looked at a place from a company called SW Management that had a number of apartments around there. The tenants seemed happy. Would've taken it if someone else hadn't gotten in ahead of me.
posted by praemunire at 11:18 AM on September 2, 2016


At or under 3k would get you a 1BR in either the Avalon DoBro (the name isn't the only offensive bit of marketing - enjoy the "Chill Lounge" and group fitness classes) or its newer bigger sibling the Avalon Willoughby square. Higher floors may be over your budget (just did a quick check and it seems like 1BR/1BA on the 25th floor was a bit over $3100 but on the 10th floor it was 2800. And I think you get in unit washer dryer and gym membership and a bunch of other flashy stuff.

We moved to downtown Brooklyn a little ove 3 years ago and love it here - great transit access/shortish commutes to anywhere in town and while some blocks are a little desserted/business oriented by day its an easy and short walk to gorgeous nabes with a more traditional brookly aesthetic like the Heights and Boerum/cobble hill.
posted by Exceptional_Hubris at 11:38 AM on September 2, 2016


SW Management is my landlord they have a lot of buildings on the UES and a walk in rental office you can go to that does no fee rentals. As far as landlords go I find them pretty neutral, it's a big company and pretty by the book.
posted by SpaceWarp13 at 11:50 AM on September 2, 2016


Just a note: a lot of buildings like that will be newly constructed, and you want to be very, very careful of those. Due to the Brooklyn housing boom, a huge number of buildings have been built quickly and extremely shoddily. I lived in an apartment that ticked literally all of your boxes, and between unresponsive management and near-constant problems with the unit (including paying nearly $500 a month in electric bills in the winter, due to a combination of electric heating via the world's shittiest PTAC units and the fact that the walls had, literally, no insulation) I wound up mutually terminating my lease after six months on the back of legal threats and a consultation with a civil engineer.

All this is to say, be very careful. Prefer new renovations in existing buildings to new buildings; try to talk to a few current tenants in a building if you can to pick their brains. If you see signs around for a tenant's association, that's a red flag. Google the company that built the building and look for complaints (and avoid Adam America like the plague). And trust me, trust me, stick to radiator heat.
posted by Itaxpica at 12:25 AM on September 3, 2016


(All that being said, the Fort Greene/Downtown Brooklyn area is lovely and I highly recommend it)
posted by Itaxpica at 12:26 AM on September 3, 2016


My good friend lives at the Addison on Livingston, right on top of the Hoyt Schermerhorn stop. He really likes it and it fits your requirements.
posted by greta simone at 4:58 AM on September 3, 2016


Response by poster: @Itaxpica, thank you for such great and specific advice on new construction. Thanks to all of you for sharing buildings and/or property managers!

@neematoad Also checking out NYBits.com. TY!
posted by veronicacorningstone at 1:07 PM on September 3, 2016


« Older Am I imagining this anecdote about Trump?   |   Credit card spending and dementia Newer »
This thread is closed to new comments.