Where can I advertise a room for rent, E. Village, NYC, with roommates?
December 7, 2020 5:15 PM Subscribe
There's an apartment in our brownstone that has 3 roommates, women in their 20's They need another roommate to share the rent. She'd get her own (small) bedroom. These days, it's hard to find people. Any places/websites you know of to list such a thing locally? Thanks.
Nextdoor has been popular on the upper west side. I’ve seen a few posts for people seeking rooms and for seeking tenants.
posted by RetrieverReader at 6:26 PM on December 7, 2020
posted by RetrieverReader at 6:26 PM on December 7, 2020
Oh, also NYU possibly all the graduate departments. Maybe undergrad.
posted by bilabial at 6:27 PM on December 7, 2020
posted by bilabial at 6:27 PM on December 7, 2020
Listings Project costs $30 a week to post, but has been totally worth it, in my experience.
posted by unknowncommand at 6:31 PM on December 7, 2020 [8 favorites]
posted by unknowncommand at 6:31 PM on December 7, 2020 [8 favorites]
Yeah, I’m looking for a roommate in NYC right now and I’ve gotten more good candidates from Listings Project than Craigslist this time around. It’s worth the money.
If any of the roommates are queer-identified, the Queer Housing NYC group is good, but primarily for rooms under $1000.
posted by showbiz_liz at 6:41 PM on December 7, 2020
If any of the roommates are queer-identified, the Queer Housing NYC group is good, but primarily for rooms under $1000.
posted by showbiz_liz at 6:41 PM on December 7, 2020
I have had all positive experiences on local and marketplace subreddits (the only reason I use Reddit now, to be honest).
I can't speak to this specific one, but r/NYCapartments looks like the one relevant to your situation.
posted by galleta monster at 11:00 PM on December 7, 2020 [1 favorite]
I can't speak to this specific one, but r/NYCapartments looks like the one relevant to your situation.
posted by galleta monster at 11:00 PM on December 7, 2020 [1 favorite]
seconding Listings Project, but first-ing good old craigslist: if I were the demographic that will probably be looking for that sort of place, craigslist would still be my go to. Put as much info as you can about the other roommates in the post. People say craigslist has scams. sure, it does. but they are easy to spot. if you write a paragraph of prose about the personalities of the roommates, it's not hard to stand out from bogus ads. And it is hands down the most searchable AND accessible. Listings project is useful, but a bit elitist (i would argue nextdoor is as well, for different reasons) as a)folks have to pay for the ads and b)people new to the city don't know about it at all.
if your other roommates have proclivities like "vegetarian" or "queer and or queer friendly" or "nerdy" or "Parsons student" or .. whatever.. put as many as you can in the ad, the quirkier and more specific the better: people definitely use those keywords as search parameters. I have been on both sides of this equation (the subtenant looking for shares, and the person looking for housemates), and craigslist has yet to fail me. whether you request folks to call you (at say a google voice number, if you are uncomfortable putting your own) or email you, ask them to say a bit about themselves. getting to "talking (or facetiming, etc) in real time" faster/sooner than later will save you time in your search, there's nothing worse than long email back and forth only to realize there's a bad fit in either direction a week later when actual real time interaction occurs.
If at all possible to have the women organize the search themselves, I'd recommend that - as a person looking for a spot, I would usually dismiss out of hand ads that seemed as though they were written by a landlord or other interested not-living-in-the-apartment party, rather than the housemates themselves. Even if you ..for whatever reason, feel you have to post it and deal with respondents, maybe you can get them to write the copy for it, especially the parts about them? then use that copy on all the different platforms you post it. Looking for housing in NYC is a lot and having housemates can be real good or real bad, best to game it as much on the front end as possible for odds-of-good fit.
posted by elgee at 9:34 AM on December 8, 2020 [1 favorite]
if your other roommates have proclivities like "vegetarian" or "queer and or queer friendly" or "nerdy" or "Parsons student" or .. whatever.. put as many as you can in the ad, the quirkier and more specific the better: people definitely use those keywords as search parameters. I have been on both sides of this equation (the subtenant looking for shares, and the person looking for housemates), and craigslist has yet to fail me. whether you request folks to call you (at say a google voice number, if you are uncomfortable putting your own) or email you, ask them to say a bit about themselves. getting to "talking (or facetiming, etc) in real time" faster/sooner than later will save you time in your search, there's nothing worse than long email back and forth only to realize there's a bad fit in either direction a week later when actual real time interaction occurs.
If at all possible to have the women organize the search themselves, I'd recommend that - as a person looking for a spot, I would usually dismiss out of hand ads that seemed as though they were written by a landlord or other interested not-living-in-the-apartment party, rather than the housemates themselves. Even if you ..for whatever reason, feel you have to post it and deal with respondents, maybe you can get them to write the copy for it, especially the parts about them? then use that copy on all the different platforms you post it. Looking for housing in NYC is a lot and having housemates can be real good or real bad, best to game it as much on the front end as possible for odds-of-good fit.
posted by elgee at 9:34 AM on December 8, 2020 [1 favorite]
Another for craigslist. I seek NYC renters frequently, and I've got the vast majority of my renters from Craigslist. As noted above, write a detailed ad, include key benefits of the space up top on in the title: large, sunny, private, two closets, etc. Give some sense of the vibe or expectations of the other roommates as well as their selling points. And use good, attractive pictures (with the space clean-looking, well-lit, attractively set up — made up just for pics if need be since you're trying to show, after all, what the space **can** look like.)
I also run the ad twice a day AM/PM because if your ad's not near the top folks often won't notice it, or will assume it's taken, but I also keep no more than two listings up at any given time. If I'm very nervous or a week or so has passed with few responses, I also run ads on the Listings Project as back up. (Note that I've tried Facebook, Reddit, various other online apps and so on when I first began seeking renters, and they were all a huge waste of time.)
Finally, if you're finding response in December slow, know that it is historically considered the slowest month of the year, due to the holidays and whatnot. There are seekers in December, but fewer of them.
posted by Violet Blue at 10:48 AM on December 8, 2020 [2 favorites]
I also run the ad twice a day AM/PM because if your ad's not near the top folks often won't notice it, or will assume it's taken, but I also keep no more than two listings up at any given time. If I'm very nervous or a week or so has passed with few responses, I also run ads on the Listings Project as back up. (Note that I've tried Facebook, Reddit, various other online apps and so on when I first began seeking renters, and they were all a huge waste of time.)
Finally, if you're finding response in December slow, know that it is historically considered the slowest month of the year, due to the holidays and whatnot. There are seekers in December, but fewer of them.
posted by Violet Blue at 10:48 AM on December 8, 2020 [2 favorites]
I also run the ad twice a day AM/PM because if your ad's not near the top folks often won't notice it, or will assume it's taken, but I also keep no more than two listings up at any given time.
Yes. Craigslist also lets you renew each posting once every two days, and you should do it every single time you can.
Finally, if you're finding response in December slow, know that it is historically considered the slowest month of the year, due to the holidays and whatnot. There are seekers in December, but fewer of them.
It's not just the time of year. Usually it takes me a week or maybe two to find a roommate for my apartment. This time around, it's taken me over two months. (I SHOULD BE signing a lease with someone today though.) There are just a lot of people leaving the city, whether temporarily or not. Half the people I interviewed were moving because they themselves could not find roommates to replace people who'd left.
My landlord wound up lowering the rent on the available room from $1050 to $950, which helped immensely. At least double the response rate once I made that change.
posted by showbiz_liz at 11:55 AM on December 8, 2020 [1 favorite]
Yes. Craigslist also lets you renew each posting once every two days, and you should do it every single time you can.
Finally, if you're finding response in December slow, know that it is historically considered the slowest month of the year, due to the holidays and whatnot. There are seekers in December, but fewer of them.
It's not just the time of year. Usually it takes me a week or maybe two to find a roommate for my apartment. This time around, it's taken me over two months. (I SHOULD BE signing a lease with someone today though.) There are just a lot of people leaving the city, whether temporarily or not. Half the people I interviewed were moving because they themselves could not find roommates to replace people who'd left.
My landlord wound up lowering the rent on the available room from $1050 to $950, which helped immensely. At least double the response rate once I made that change.
posted by showbiz_liz at 11:55 AM on December 8, 2020 [1 favorite]
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Streeteasy does not offer room listings
Twitter has helped some find roommates
Alum boards for any schools they attended
Also check your memail
posted by bilabial at 6:22 PM on December 7, 2020