<p>I am bumping this thread again for more advice. My daughter just accepted a job starting next Summer, in finance in Midtown East. Park ave, and 46th street-( a different area from Dad of 3s son in the original post). She will be working very long hours. She is hoping to have a roommate from college to share an apartment with to make it more affordable. They are hoping to spend each $1800 or less a month. They are determined to live in Manhattan. The area she mentioned was East Village, but this seems like a tough commute (long walk - just to get to a bus or train). Just out of college, she wants to have fun in the little free time she has. What is the midtown east area like for young professionals? Turtle Bay? Murray Hill? It would be nice to be able to walk to work, then take a cab on weekends to go out. Union Square would work if close to the subway or bus. Any suggestions from those who have been there. The most important thing is being in a safe area. She is moving from the Midwest.</p>
<p>Our NYU daughter lived near Union Square (seven subway lines!) and loved it. Quite safe, lots going on, great stores, quick to Grand Central.</p>
<p>I think you mean 1800/person, right? Murray hill would be less expensive and walking distance to work. There are a lot of young people in the area. They could take the lex line to Union square and cross town (i think L) to the meat pack district They’ll be able to get a convertible 2s. </p>
<p>I think I know where your D will be working. I don’t think she’ll need to worry about fun because she won’t have time. D1’s roommate just left the bank this year after 2 years of analyst program. D1 rarely saw her roommate.</p>
<p>Commuting to Midtown East is pretty easy from anywhere in the city. Being determined to live in Manhattan really limits one. I think rents in Manhattan are very, very high, especially the Village, where you’ve mentioned they want to live. Maybe they should look in Brooklyn. They want to be near the 4, 5 trains in Brooklyn, or the 4, 5, 6 trains in Manhattan-- the East Side lines (Lexington Ave). You can always transfer from the West Side to the East on the subway, there are more west side lines, but that could be time consuming. Brooklyn is very hip, and it’s easy to go from, say, Prospect Heights to midtown in about 25 minutes. They should broaden their sights past Manhattan.</p>
<p>If they’re willing to spend nearly 4K a month on rent it’s definately doable. Keep in mind they’re going to have to have double or maybe triple that cash in hand for move-in costs. As a life-long New Yorker I don’t understand why anyone would be willing to throw such a huge % of their take home pay into living in Manhattan but I guess when you’re young it seems like a coup. I would also really encourage them to at least look at Brooklyn or the North Bronx. Easy commute and they’d get so much more for so much less.</p>
<p>I have few analysts commuting from Brooklyn now, and every few days I would get an email - Ahh, L line is not running today, I am going to be late. If your kid is looking outside of Manhattan, just make sure there are a lot of good subway lines nearby. It gets old about subway not running after a while. If your kid wants to party after hours, taxi could be expensive outside of Manhattan.</p>
<p>Agree with oldfort. If your D is going to be working as an analyst, she’ll want the shortest and easiest commute possible. Long days, heading home late at night and needing to be back early the next morning. She won’t want it to be any longer than is absolutely necessary. Parts of Brooklyn are great but I wouldn’t recommend it for anyone heading into this type of job.</p>
<p>Totally agree with oldfort and the outer boroughs have more trouble with weather-related transportation/traffic issues in the winter. The marginally smaller rent is not worth the stress for a young professional wanting to build a reputation and enjoy life, and then there are the addeed expenses of taxis. The young people certainly seem to have an appropriate budget for Manhattan.</p>
<p>There is no reason your D and her friend could not find a place for their $3,600 budget. Murray Hill is a good area as well as the UES. Since she will be working such long hours I would suggest she live closer to work. She can easily get down to the East Village and places she wants to go out to on the weekends.</p>
<p>My D is uptown on the westside and decided to live there versus Brooklyn or Astoria since she feels the trains run so much better in Manhattan.</p>
<p>Also your D and her friend will probably have to pay a broker’s fee to get an apartment which runs about 15% of rent for the year.</p>
<p>Just moved our 22yr old daughter into a Murray Hill apartment this week. Still recovering from the experience! She and roommate found a converted 2BR rental in a co-op building for $3200/month. On the plus side, the building is quite nice, the neighborhood safe and she can walk to work. The apartment is very old and in need of updating but the girls seem happy with it so I’m trying to keep my mouth shut.</p>
<p>We found the whole process to be quite challenging. I guess with vacancy rates of <1% the landlords can choose to be as difficult as they want. This was our first foray into NYC real estate and it was an eye opener. Decide upfront whether you are willing to cosign the lease as the landlords want to see very high income compared to the rent. Our daughter and roommate could not qualify without our help. We were amazed by the hoops we had to jump through even after my husband cosigned.</p>
<p>If your kid has an employment letter with high income, he/she will not need you to co-sign. D1 and her RM didn’t need us to co-sign. Some employers will give sign on bonus, which maybe sufficient to cover all move in expenses. Just make sure your kid has all necessary document and a check when he/she is looking at apartments. You may be able to jump the line with good credit and employment.</p>
<p>I just read an article about Manhattan real estate. An apartment is not considered “luxury” until it goes north of $3 million. Wow!</p>
<p>I think the big surprise for me when my Son got his first apartment through a broker was the big up-front amount of cash to lay out, first and last month’s rent, security deposit, broker fee. Fortunately he had been working a year, so was able to deal with most of it, we helped with the fee. The other surprise was how quickly they had to move on places. This was in Chelsea, in the $3000/mo, 2 BR range.</p>
<p>I’m curious what is considered a large income when young people apply for apartments on their own. I wasn’t really surprised that DD and roommate needed us to cosign because neither girl works in an industry that typically offers signing bonuses or very large starting pay packages. But together their income is not shabby either. What did surprise me though was the level of scrutiny on my husband as a co-signer. We were first told that he must have a credit score greater than 700 and proof of employment with a minimum salary of X. His credit is perfect and his salary is significantly more than what was requested. He had the HR department send his employment verification complete with salary, job title and history of >30 years employment at the same company. That was not enough to satisfy the landlord. We were then told we had to submit our tax return in order to get a lease. I have co-signed on my kid’s college apartment leases many other times and I don’t even have a job. Strong credit and family income were enough in every other case. Renting this apartment was a totally different ballgame.</p>
<p>Was our experience more difficult because the apartment is in a co-op vs. a standard apartment building?</p>
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<p>This varies by apartment building/landlord, but is more likely in co-op/condo buildings as they often IME do check credit, income, and landlord checks/“fit” of potential renters and buyers. </p>
<p>A large part of this is to minimize the possibility of renting/selling to people who may struggle to keep up mortgage payments/maintenance fees/rent or who had histories of being bad tenants/criminal issues. </p>
<p>One client recently refused to rent his condo to a young professional because her credit check turned up high educational debt in relation to her income, low credit scores, and her refusal to get her parents to co-sign the lease. </p>
<p>They may also have other rules such as noise/party restrictions earlier/more stringent than NYC regulations to minimize possibility of condo/co-op owners/renters pulling stunts like holding loud raucous 3 am parties which were such that cops had to be called in to disperse the party and unblock a tiny street as happened to a neighboring building of my parents several years back.</p>
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Absolutely. Renting in a coop building is like buying. You need to submit a whole list of information and then also get interviewed. It is much easier when you rent from a rental building. You would get a reply within few hours whether you are approved, and they wouldn’t need parents’ co-sign if the income is sufficient to cover rent. I think it is 40% of gross income can be spent on rent.</p>
<p>I agree your D should look in Manhattan. Her hours will be long and you don’t want a longer commute time. She should look into no-fee apts in Murray Hill and Kips Bay, close to the 6th train.If she makes at least 40X per year her monthly rent, she shouldn’t need a co-signer.
[Manhattan</a> – NY Bits](<a href=“http://www.nybits.com/manhattan/]Manhattan”>http://www.nybits.com/manhattan/)</p>
<p>Disagree about the shortest commute to Manhattan necessarily being from within Manhattan.</p>
<p>S lives in Hoboken and commutes to lower Manhattan. With 1/2 mile walk to Path station on both ends of the commute, his total commute is still about 30 minutes (about 12 minutes on the train). When he lived in Jersey City across the street from the Path, he got to Wall St via Path & walking in 20 minutes (8 minutes on the train). Co-workers who live on the Upper East side are spending at least 45 minutes on a crowded subway. </p>
<p>If the Path isn’t running or has a problem or he just gets sick of riding trains underground, he takes the ferry. More expensive but a nice change of pace. His apartments have been probably twice as large as the ones he looked at in Manhattan in a similar price range.</p>
<p>I do agree with the advice to avoid co-ops.</p>
<p>S’s first apartment was a co-op. They insisted he meet face to face with a Board member, who had very limited time available to meet. The building controlled the amount of the rent and the terms. When S needed to extend his lease for 3 months he was told no, only one year leases were possible. Individual landlord wasn’t able to be flexible.</p>
<p>I am the co-signer for the lease for both of my d’s apartments and I am fairly certain that in addition to a recent pay stub, I had to submit copies of tax return for DH and I, not uncommon.
I would recommend staying on the East Side… either Murray Hill, Union Square area followed by Upper East Side and the East Village. Your money will go farther on the Upper East Side as the area has become not as hip to live in and you have to deal with issues surrounding the construction of the Second Avenue subway.</p>