I need a place to stay in Manahattan!

September 28, 2008 9:27 PM

If I were to want to get a good, sublet apartment in Manhattan (for just 2 months) starting in January 2009 through the end of February 2009--where should I begin?

I have looked at Craigslist and a sublet site that I found in Craigslist. There are slim pickings right now for the two months that I will be in NYC.

I would love to know if you have had success with any service or website. Any tips that you could offer to me?

Ideally, I'd like the following: king sized bed, at least one bedroom (preferably two) and I'd like to be just about anywhere in Manhattan. Ideally, this would not cost more than $2500 per month (I have to dream don't I?).

Anyone who could send me some intel on this would be aces in my book! Thanks for the help.

posted by zerobyproxy to Travel & Transportation around New York, NY (4 answers total)

craigslist is the best way to find a sublet, but september/october is way way way too early to be looking on there—you'll only really start finding stuff in early december, maybe even late november if you're lucky. the housing situation is such here that apartments and rooms can be filled in a day, so no one bothers to do things as far ahead as you're trying to do them.

$2500 is a studio or one bedroom in manhattan; if you can find a two bedroom, it'll probably be very far uptown or so tiny that you'll get claustrophobic. also: no one has king beds here! queen, sure.
posted by lia at 9:41 PM on September 28, 2008

YMMVIMFM (your mileage may vary in m-f-ing manhattan) but the result of my intensive august apartment search is my nice one-bedroom, $400 below your max price on 13th and 6th ave. most of the places around here are around the same. i've seen that generally, the more you can pay and the further away from a subway stop the less competitive it is. prices for a 1br are around $2k wherever you go, but spaces are generally bigger uptown. you're probably more in luck looking to sublet during the winter. good luck!!
posted by damsorrow at 10:16 PM on September 28, 2008

Echoing lia's advice on using Craigslist and waiting until a month before. Demand in NYC is always intense and subsequently the rental market here is weird and fast.

(Also, yeah, no king beds in this city. Getting queens up stairwells and through doors and narrow hallways is hard enough.)

All that said, when the time comes consider looking in Washington Heights and Inwood for a 2 br sublet. A lot of folks priced out of lower Manhattan/Astoria/Park Slope/etc. have been heading up there. Particularly between 165-ish and 190, around Columbia Presbyterian Hospital, mostly west of Broadway.

It's still in Manhattan and the A runs express up to 168, so the commute isn't bad. Rental prices there for 2 bedrooms start between 1700 and 2000 a month. You might get away with less since it's the winter. If you look, try and find something only a block or two off of Broadway, as amenities (banks, commercial strips, big grocers & pharmacies) tend to vanish outside of that.
posted by greenland at 10:58 PM on September 28, 2008

Erm, I know two guys in Brooklyn who have king-size beds....(we will draw the veil of discretion over HOW I know they do.)

I think with a cap that high, you'll do okay. But Craigslist a month before you move is the best bet. And depending on where you need to be in Manhattan, I wouldn't rule out parts of Queens or Brooklyn entirely, either.
posted by EmpressCallipygos at 4:47 AM on September 29, 2008