<p>My son is heading for New York the New School. He desperately needs to find housing in lower manhattan or Brooklyn that he/we can afford. He has the academic scholarship and will be working but no housing help. He is looking to share obviously with some other students or anyone who has a possible room. He’s a great guy and his former housing fell through. Just hoping he can find something so he can go forward with his schooling. Any advise, suggestions or leads would be greatly appreciated. Thanks, Linda</p>
<p>There is a facebook group called Gypsy Housing where lots of actors advertise their places for sublet. I would also suggest Craigslist. Has he checked with the school?</p>
<p>Is he starting in the spring semester? Undergrad or grad? </p>
<p>It is a group for performing artists. A lot of them are shorter term sublets (although not all) … but he could check out Gypsy Housing on Facebook.</p>
<p>I’d suggest that he read this:</p>
<p><a href=“Off-Campus Living”>Off-Campus Living;
<p>It has a good list of resources for finding off campus housing. </p>
<p>I’d also suggest reading this: [NYU</a> Off Campus Housing vs Renting an Apartment](<a href=“http://www.nakedapartments.com/blog/nyu-off-campus-housing/]NYU”>http://www.nakedapartments.com/blog/nyu-off-campus-housing/) Particularly good is this advice to check out things like subway/bus access, accessibility to grocery stores. </p>
<p>He should also see if he can get access to the listserv at the New School and, if possible, other schools in the neighborhood, e.g., NYU and Pratt Manhattan.</p>
<p>One tip: have him gather all the paperwork he will need to rent an apartment in advance. That way, he can act quickly if he finds something.</p>
<p>Hunt’s advice is spot on. You will likely need to be his guarantor, which often requires numerous documents. Google search for likely requirements so you are prepared also. There are furnished short term housing places for rent that some students utilize successfully.</p>
<p>Jersey City also has some affordable housing and is a short and easy commute to lower Manhattan.</p>
<p>Be careful in Jersey City. Not all neighborhoods are good. I know someone who lives in the ‘heights’ section and loves it. She & her husband both work in NYC and they don’t move their car during the week.</p>
<p>Yes, but not all neighborhoods in _____ [Brooklyn] [Queens] [etc] are good, either.</p>
<p>My D (also a New School & Parson’s student) ended up in Brooklyn at a building called Office Ops (they have a website .org), a tiny studio shared with another student cost her about $900 a month, but it was decent and from there they moved into a larger space with 2 more students. After almost 4 years there she’s moved on. But I would check there. Look under the link “available studios” - Oh, they didn’t require guarantors either.</p>
<p>One more suggestion for short term…I can’t find their website, but we knew several students that stayed in the Loftstel - they paid for a space for a month, up front, but if they left sooner (found a permanent place) they remainder was credited back to their credit card the day they moved out. I see the one in DC is still running, but NY I am having a hard time finding. Maybe you (your son) can find it.</p>
<p>There was a thread a while back about a kid staying in the 92nd street Y for a summer internship. It might be worth looking into for short-term if he’s arriving for spring semester and can’t find anything before he arrives.</p>
<p>My D went to NYU and in her senior yr, she and her roommate started out subletting a room in an Apt in Brooklyn,(much cheaper than dorm) they found on Craig’s list. They moved on to a larger apt with other NYU students and since graduation they are in an even larger apt with a bunch of NYU grads and current students. They seem to have one or two that come and go, but they keep it to just their school students abs alums.
Sometimes there may be a FB page dedicated to the students of a school looking for roommate situations. I know NYU had such a page.</p>
<p>Is he looking from out of town? He can improve his odds of landing a place with others if he can make a scouting trip in to the city. Then show up at open houses that students already housed advertise when one of them wants to sublet. Or make appointments but go in person.</p>
<p>Show up with documents and checkbook in hand to make a deposit to hold the place .Then they’ll check him out by phoning his references with the basic concern of can he make rent each month. If they meet and like each other, and he understands the neighborhood and its subway lines before he shows up, then there’s no advantage in waiting to commit, since for sublets they often take the first one who looks decent and organized with documents. I’m not suggesting he take anything he feels uncomfortable about, but rather that if there seems to be mutual good feeling, put down a small deposit to get the place off the market.</p>
<p>It’s hard for parents’ nerves because the students seem to make their arrangements with very little advance time. It’s often within the month, not two months ahead.</p>
<p>I echo the need for documents in hand. These should include a couple of years of tax returns, a couple of months of bank statements from you and your kiddo, a letter of employment for you as the guarantor, including your current salary, and a couple of past but most recent pay stubs. Also references couldn’t hurt. When I was my daughter’s guarantor, I blacked out my social security number, and my bank account numbers. But the documents were clearly authentic so they didn’t need the numbers. It felt quite a bit intrusive, to say the least, but I think it’s pretty much the way it needs to be.</p>
<p>It’s not the neighborhood you want, but S had to find a place to live for 10 months or so while at Columbia, and he was out of the country until a few weeks beforehand. He is living in International House, which is at Riverside Drive and 122nd, right opposite Grant’s Tomb. It requires an application, but is very straightforward, with no leases or big deposits or roommates to worry about at either end of the stay. ETA: we did have to show funds to guarantee his rent, just in case. The building and location are gorgeous, there are amenities such as a doorperson, kitchen, very reasonably-priced cafeteria with pretty good food, gym, practice rooms, an adjacent park, etc. His monthly cost is around $900. He could undoubtedly have found a room in a shared apartment somewhere in Queens or Brooklyn for less, but since he needed it for a limited time and really couldn’t be in NYC to hunt around, this was ideal. (For him, it is a few blocks walk to the J school, which also saves him money, but it is also convenient to the subway.)</p>
<p>[International</a> House - New York - more than graduate student housing](<a href=“http://www.ihouse-nyc.org/s/707/start.aspx]International”>http://www.ihouse-nyc.org/s/707/start.aspx)</p>
<p>I’m just adding general advice here, to help you figure out whether any suggested address might be helpful to his New School destination. </p>
<p>Whenever you or he hears of an address, just go to Hopstop.com to analyze the subway relationships and timing to commute to New School. That’s more accurate than listening to people say “oh, it’s only X minutes to that destination.” Hopstop even includes his walking time to and from the subway stations. </p>
<p>When you use that site, put in a travel time such as Monday 8:30 a.m. so you get an actual commuter time for him. Otherwise, if you check the site in the evening, it’ll use the current clock time which might not be as frequent. Also, use the button for “Subway or Bus” to see all the alternatives, including bus. Usually within Manhattan he’d want subways not busses (slow in traffic). But every now and then, the bus info helps round out his understanding of a commute from X address to New School.</p>
<p>My student is looking at New School as well and I’m curious about dorms. Is there not enough space in them? Are they super expensive relative to off-campus housing?</p>
<p>Wow, my son was lucky, I guess. He’s sharing a three-bedroom apartment on West 59th Street for $3000–total for all three. The secret to getting it was, I think, being ready to move on it immediately. They got it on the first day it was listed, and were almost beat out by another group–who lost it because they weren’t ready to put the money down.</p>
<p>The “dorms” for The New School are plentiful, but very expensive. A shared studio or shared one bedroom can be 1/3 the price, and no moving out at the end of the school year (a plus if student intends to stay in the city to work, etc.).</p>
<p>Parent of New School kid.
Dorms are fine but expensive. </p>
<p>I’ve live just outside of NYC but just want to share 2 items if your looking at renting in Manhattan:</p>
<ol>
<li><p>Brokers fees, normally are 1 month rent but in Manhattan 15% of first years rent is the going rate.</p></li>
<li><p>Depends on the landlord but while looking most want to see income of 40x monthly rent.
If its a parent guarantor many look for 60-80x.</p></li>
</ol>
<p>I was SHOCKED to say the least but with two other roommates, the three parents made it happen.</p>
<p>Just sharing what I found to be the current situation. </p>
<p>Any questions, PM me.</p>
<p>Best of luck,</p>