house me plz

May 16, 2015 1:05 PM

I'm interning in NYC and I think my housing just fell through. How should I secure something for June 1st for <$1200 a month?

So: I thought I had a room in some dorms, but it looks like they won't be able to accommodate me after all due to being full to capacity. My internship was supposed to start on May 26th, but I will be able to push it back a week or so, so I'm thinking finding something for June 1st is my most likely solution. I'm a 20-year-old woman and a college student, FWIW.

I'm currently reeling from losing housing I thought I had secured and have no idea what to do. I need a room for two months. My budget is $1200 a month. My internship is on the Upper West Side, so something not entirely inconvenient would be ideal, but at this point, I'm just desperate. I'm not at all picky; I am comfortable sharing a room or having a private room. I've already asked my friends with connections in the city, but everything is coming up dry.

How should I find something? Should I just try contacting people on craigslist? Thank you.

posted by there will be glitter to Travel & Transportation (16 answers total)

Craigslist is a good option, but also: was the internship arranged by any kind of college? If so, check the college's off-campus housing as well. I've been the person with the room available and didn't know that this was an alternate place to even post my apartment until recently, and that's how I found my current roommate (via the NYU housing board - he's a PhD candidate). You may especially luck out because someone may be trying to fill their space for just a couple months.
posted by EmpressCallipygos at 1:13 PM on May 16, 2015

Craigslist is your best bet. Check out Washington Heights - it's easily subway accessible to the UWS and way way cheaper. $1200 a month should be super doable.
posted by Itaxpica at 1:30 PM on May 16, 2015

Agreed - Craiglist, sublets & temporary housing, then use the map view of the search to find something convenient. $1200/month with roommates (sharing the common spaces, not the room itself) is *totally* doable and should actually secure you a much nicer place than the dorms - this might actually turn out to be great for you. The key with Craigslist is to only contact ads that sound like they're written by real people - avoid the ones that are being churned out by real estate agents and use ALL CAPS and weirdly airbrushed photos and exclamation points!!!!!!!!!!!! It's really not shady to find housing on Craigslist - it's how I've found every place I've ever lived and it worked out really well for me.
posted by pretentious illiterate at 1:38 PM on May 16, 2015

Sign up for Stephanie Diamond's Listings Project.

Seconding Washington Heights as a good, affordable neighborhood. Also Inwood.
posted by merejane at 1:52 PM on May 16, 2015 [1 favorite]

Have you checked availability at International House? I have friends who live there who like it-- it seems to suit your short term student needs: http://www.ihouse-nyc.org/
posted by zem at 1:52 PM on May 16, 2015 [2 favorites]

Seconding the Listings Project... it comes out on Wednesdays, so I pasted this week's housing listings to your me-mail.
posted by xo at 1:54 PM on May 16, 2015

You may well have tried this already, but googling "nyc summer intern housing" turns up some options that might work -- e.g., summer housing at the Fashion Institute of Technology.
posted by merejane at 1:56 PM on May 16, 2015

Check the Columbia off-campus housing list.
posted by melissasaurus at 2:16 PM on May 16, 2015

I'm seconding all of the above, but I wanted to say that you might also have luck writing your own ad in the "sublet wanted" section of NYC Craigslist (or whatever the section is called). There may be people in the inverse situation to yours - they had a summer subletter who flaked, and now they need to arrange a summer sublet ASAP. I am a grad student, so I have similarly had to set up short-term housing in far-away cities, and I had great success with this method the one time that I used it. Pro-tip: punctuate appropriately and write in proper English (not text-speak). The woman who rented a room to me said she chose my Craigslist ad because I "seemed sane and interesting, and could punctuate". You probably know this, but you can map out your journey via public transportation on Googlemap (just put the potential sublet address, your internship address, and then click on the little bus icon), so you can see which options are most accessible by public transport. Also, in my experience you often have to move fast for Craigslist folks - I've had experiences where I replied to ads later the same day and the place was already gone. Not sure about NYC though.
posted by ClaireBear at 2:28 PM on May 16, 2015

Also, while in my experience AirBnB is typically better for shorter stays, I'm looking right now for you on AirBnB at options from 1 June until 1 August in Manhattan, and it looks like there are 13 options available right now under $1195/month. Here's a link. Some of those appear to be shared rooms in Upper Manhattan under $1000/month, but some are single rooms. Here is one option for $1017/month that looks like a single room (a grad student gone for the summer) around 180th and here is another one in the same area for cheaper; here's one around 160th for $1047/month; here's one option for $1068/month around 135th street; here's one for $800 around 120th street. In my experience sometimes AirBnB hosts don't update their AirBnB availability if they get a subletter via some other method (e.g. Craigslist), so if you try to book on AirBnB and don't hear back within a day or so, and you're working on a tight timescale, you might be best moving on to other options. If you decide to go the AirBnB route, you might want to send out an email to all potential AirBnB options now, and then move forward on the best one that you hear back from by this evening. One nice thing about AirBnB compared to Craigslist is that there is a modicum of accountability (others often have reviewed the place or host, you can see pictures of the place, etc.). That said, AirBnB does take a cut, and the prices tend to be higher than Craigslist if you're staying more than a week or two. That said, if Craigslist doesn't work out, AirBnB seems to have some fine options within your budget. If you wanted to broaden your options, you could always check out June and July separately on AirBnB and move at the end of June, as some people might have one month available but not the other. Also, on AirBnB - unlike Craigslist - you can start without penalty on a random day of the month (like 25th or 26th), so you could potentially start your internship when you had originally planned if any of the above places have late-May availability...
posted by ClaireBear at 2:45 PM on May 16, 2015 [1 favorite]

One possibility (since you are a lady person):

http://www.thebrandon.org

I don't have personal experience, but I knew a postdoc who stayed here, and she was content. It fits your budget and location. Good luck!
posted by girl flaneur at 3:30 PM on May 16, 2015

If you're queer, post your parameters on the Queer Housing New York City facebook group. Great resource.
posted by valeries at 4:38 PM on May 16, 2015

Similar to the Brandon Residence, there's also the Webster Apartments. It's a little over your budget, but includes meals, so it seems like a pretty good deal. No personal experience though.
posted by dysh at 6:25 PM on May 16, 2015

Seconding International House if they have space open. They're amazing and the price should be right.
posted by wiskunde at 6:59 PM on May 16, 2015

I sent you a MeMail. I'm an hour from the UWS, but my second bedroom is open, and I'm less than $1200/month.
posted by unannihilated at 2:56 AM on May 17, 2015 [1 favorite]

I sent you a MeMail also
posted by jcrcarter at 6:05 AM on May 17, 2015