Ask MetaFilter questions tagged with newyorkcity and rent

Not Quite the King of Queens

acorn1515 — Thu, 11 Jun 2009 14:06:31 -0800

NYC Filter - I'm moving to Queens in August, and on the hunt for both neighborhood/broker recommendations. Astoria appears to be out of the mix. My boyfriend's in law school out on Long Island, (waaay out) in Central Islip. I work in midtown Manhattan. We've decided to move in together at the end of July, and I've agreed to meet him halfway from where I'm at on the UES -- which puts us out in the Forest Hills/Kew Gardens area.

We discussed Astoria, but he will most likely be driving to school most days for 9 a.m. classes and is concerned about traffic. We discussed Bayside/Flushing but I don't have a car and am not big on giving up life with easy access to neighborhood stores as well as the Subway and all parts of Manhattan.

We're planning to drive out around Forest Hills and Kew Gardens this weekend and begin getting a sense for the neighborhood, but would be interested in hearing other suggestions for both where we might considering living, tips about apartment hunting in the neighborhoods, or any brokers you might recommend.

The dream is for a 2 bedroom around $1,500, but it's looking like a nice 1 bedroom (without a bus ride to the Subway) is more realistic.

Is $1350 a month reasonable for an apartment on the Upper West Side of Manhattan?

oldlies — Mon, 02 Jun 2008 11:50:10 -0800

Is $1350/mo reasonable rent for an apartment on W 107th St. & Broadway (Upper West Side of Manhattan)? One bedroom, ground level, furnished, clean, utilities and cable included. Can you tell me anything about the W 107th & Broadway area? Nice? Stuff to do? Safe? If I had to pay for utilities + cable in Manhattan, approx. how much would that be per month?

Where can I find landlord/tenant laws online that will help me with this...

Jujee — Sat, 08 Dec 2007 07:07:09 -0800

The building we're living in has been sold to a management company who just put out notices while we were on vacation. The notice is dated 12/4 and it states that rent payment must be in the form of cash, money order, or bank check. Their office hours are during the same hours we are at work mon-fri, 9-5. Payment can be dropped in their box or mailed to their office. They state payments received after the 5th of the month (due the 1st) will incur a 20% penalty. I'm wondering what the tenants rights are. Can they really NOT accept personal checks?!! We don't have time to hit the bank nor do we intend to pay more money to provide payment in the form they are asking (MO, bank check) and we certainly can't make it to their office personally without having to get to work late which is very unreasonable imo. We've lived here for 11 years without any payment problems and there are other tenants who have lived here even longer without problems. Also, since we were on vacation when the notice came in, can they legally charge us that 20%?!!! I'm thinking not...but I'd really like to find something in writing online to print out for them to see (or any other tactics you might be able to suggest). Thanks for any help! oh, and we live in NYC.

Help me find a Manhattan apartment for 3-6 months

kanuck — Tue, 13 Nov 2007 13:43:43 -0800

Looking for resources / advice on finding a Manhattan apartment for 3-6 months (Feb-July 2008). Furnished would be preferable, but I can deal with buying some throwaway furniture.

I'm open on price range, though if it gets up to "corporate temp housing" level expensive, that isn't too useful.

I live in Seattle and am expecting to take a trip in order to handle closing arrangements. I've considered just coming to NYC for a week (is that enough?) to do everything in person (looking at places, haggling, signing papers etc) -- thoughts on that approach? (in particular, how far in advance would be best to maximize my odds?).

Other thoughts:

1) Craigslist: most of the ads seem to be for comparatively short term sublets (days or weeks, rather than months). I'll probably post a "housing wanted" ad there at some point, but am really looking for other options.

2) Apartment brokers: given my requirements, will they useful / required?

3) Universities/colleges: do any in Manhattan make student housing available to non-students?

How to avoid paying an insane broker's fee when renting a Manhattan apartment?

Afroblanco — Sat, 08 Jul 2006 13:41:04 -0800

How to avoid paying an insane broker's fee when renting a Manhattan apartment? My roommate and I are looking to move into a 2-bedroom apartment on Sept. 1.

All of the brokers that I found on Craigslist say the same thing - "You're moving at the worst time of the year, and our fee is 15% of annual rent."

There don't seem to be too many non-broker options.

What are some strategies for getting around this? As far as I see it, Craigslist has already failed us.

Sleep tight, don't let the bedbugs bite!

anjamu — Tue, 16 May 2006 18:17:15 -0800

[New York City apartment filter] So my future roommate and I found a place we thought was perfect. We're thisclose to signing the lease. And then a search with HPD turns up 96 open violations in the building. How concerned should I be? We're working with a broker, and we have put down the security deposit but not the first month's rent (also required) and we haven't signed a lease yet.

The place seems almost too good to be true: spacious flex 2 BR for $2200 in the Financial District, replete with doorman, elevator, laundry in-building.

(I know, I know: if it seems too good to be true, well, it probably is.)

The 96 (!) open violations, courtesy of NYC HPD, include roaches, mice, all kinds of maintenance issues, and worst of all, bedbugs. Only 2 out of 5 tenants on apartmentratings.com recommended it, but I don't know how much weight to throw behind that, as I'd never heard of the site before today.

I should note that our broker is the only broker who rents places out in this building.

My questions include:

1) If a building has bedbugs, even if they are only cited in one apartment, do I run?
2) How many violations are normal? Is this excessive?
3) Are there any other city websites I should check out?
4) How much might it cost us to escape this deal?

What do I need to know to live in NYC for the summer?

Alterscape — Wed, 26 Apr 2006 14:17:45 -0800

MovingToNYCFilter: I'm soon to be a college grad, and I'm in the running for a 6-week internship in NYC that may become long-term employment. Please help me figure out what I need to know to live in the big city. I assume that for the time frame I'm looking at, I'll need to either rent a room from someone, or short-term sublet all or part of someone's apartment. I don't know where exactly in the city I'll be, but I know I'll be working long hours (6am-9pm .. ish) five or six days a week, and I'll need access to my car.

I've never rented alone, or an apartment -- for the past three years, I've been renting various houses in my small college town, with a close-knit group of relatively like-minded friends.

Where can I look to find out about commute times, distances, etc so when I find out where I'll need to be, I can have some idea of where I want to be looking for housing around there? Besides Craigslist, where should I be looking? I hope I'll know within about a month if I get the gig, and where I'll be working; theoretically the internship begins the week before July 4th, and runs through the middle of August.

What other questions am I not asking that I should be, and what are some possible answers?

I feel pretty overwhelmed with everything right now, but I know I need to take this internship to get my foot in the door in my industry of choice, and I want to avoid looking like an idiot and not making it to work on the first day or something crazy like that.

Advice on NYC neighborhoods, for Aussie in Tokyo, moving to New York

aussie_in_NY — Wed, 01 Mar 2006 05:58:38 -0800

I'm relocating to NYC from Tokyo next month and am looking for some advice on prospective neighborhoods After 7 years in a tiny Tokyo apartment I'd like something with a bit of space, which rules Manhattan out I think. I'm looking for a 2 bedroom for around $1300-1600. I've checked out a lot of earlier posts and heard good things about Astoria. A friend has recommended Prospect Heights too, and after a look on craigslist it seems there is plenty in my price range. Does anybody have any insights on the relative merits of these areas, or have another neighborhood to recommend? I will be working around Times Square and would like to keep the commute to 30 min if possible. And finally as a related question, I am a little confused about US taxes. After federal and state taxes and then social security, what percent of my salary should I expect to have left, assuming pay of something like 80k?

Where to rent an Elliptical Machine in NYC?

dudeman — Thu, 10 Nov 2005 15:32:05 -0800

Where can a person rent an elliptical exercise machine (e.g. Precor) in New York City? I'm interested in getting a high quality elliptical machine for home use, but I'm concerned about the cost and my relative lack of self-motivation. I don't want to spend $2000+ on a machine that I use five times then ignore. I'd rather rent for a while until I'm sure it works for me. I need something at home -- gym membership is not an option. Is there any company that will rent me an elliptical machine by the month, and deliver to my apartment in Manhattan?

Advice on finding an aparment in New York City

AlisonM — Tue, 28 Jun 2005 16:14:59 -0800

I am moving to New York City this summer, and I have no idea how to start looking for an apartment. Well, I do have an idea, but it's all very intimidating. I've started combing through Criagslist ads, and while I've seen what seem to be some promising places on there, the cynical bastard in me thinks that I'll never find a place that looks as good as it does in pictures (and I'm a photo major, I know that crappy places can easily be made to look good). I've already been to look at a couple places (roommate situations), but I passed on the places that I was offered (one because I wasn't "feeling" the roomies, the other because it was a short-term thing, and she didn't tell me until after I went down to meet with her).

Right now, I live about an hour (driving) away, and I'm moving to be closer to school (I've commuted to school via train for 2 years, and I just can't do it anymore - door to door it was about 2 hours each way). I do have a full-time job at home, so I can't really go down during the business hours to look at places, even though I know this is optimal.

I'm 26 years old, female, and I'm looking to move to Brooklyn or Queens, or possibly somewhere in Jersey, as long as the commute is alright. I really don't want to live with a roommate if I don't have to, but I'm willing to give it a try if the situation is decent. I'm looking to move sometime between now and August 1. I can afford about $1,000 a month. I really want to avoid the August/September student rush (I've heard about this, but since I've lived at home this whole time, I don't really know how bad it is, or if it's just a ploy to get people to move in sooner. Either way, I'd like to be there sooner rather than later).

Has anyone been in a similar situation? Where should I start? Should I bother trying to find a place on my own through Craigslist or other classefieds? Should I just suck it up and go through a realtor that will charge me a brokers' fee? Does anyone have any advice? Anyone know/work with an awesome realtor? Should I suck it up and take a couple days off work to go down and meet with someone to look at places? How can I avoid getting totally screwed?

I don't know if this is Chatfilter or whatever, but hellllp! I simply can't deal with spending 4 hours a day commuting anymore, it nearly killed me this past spring. I'd ask the advice of my friends, but my nyc friends aren't going to be much help, I fear. You MeFites are the smartest bunch of people I've ever come in contact with (and I'm not just sayin' that), and I know there's a whole boatload of you in nyc.

Moving to NYC.

spaghetti — Mon, 11 Apr 2005 09:19:22 -0800

What neighborhood should I move to in NYC? I'm starting my Master's at Pratt in the fall and my girlfriend is waiting to find out if she's been accepted to Columbia. We'll be moving over the summer to New York, but we just can't figure out what neighborhood to focus on. The most important thing is being someplace safe, but we don't have enough money to be too picky, basically around $1200/mo.

Everyone says that Brooklyn is where it's at, but most of the places we've seen listed are either too expensive or not anywhere we'd want to be. It looks like Inwood/Washington Heights and East Harlem are relatively affordable, but what are the neighborhoods like? Where else should we be looking? Is there a good resource for learning what all the neighborhoods are really like?