@MommaJ I would second checking out listingsproject.com
Ive seen some very reasonable listings there.
My daughter has found most of her NYC apartments thru Gypsy Housing with very good luck. Her current lease is in the Fort Greene section of Brooklyn. It is a 3 bedroom, 3rd story walk-up and she pays around $1150 with all utilities, for her own room. Her room is the smallest of the 3 but not bad at all. She is sub-letting it now as she has moved out of NY, but it was a great location with good roommates. I would definitely have her try Gypsy Housing.
Do rental apartments often lease for 6 months instead if a year, anyone know?
I’ve never heard of such a thing, busdriver11.
Oh no, that’s a bummer, thanks, Donna
@MommaJ How about International House?
@busdriver11, D has seen several Craigslist postings for month-to-month rentals, which may work for you.
@alwaysamom, As I mentioned above, we are familiar with I-House (D actually lived there for a while), and it’s not the environment my D is looking for at this point in her life (too dorm-like). And I’m 99% sure they are filled for this fall with a hefty waiting list, as that’s the way things always are there. But it’s a great option for many, so long as you get your application in by late winter/early spring and aren’t put off by having to write one more essay (spots for domestic students are quite limited, so they don’t make the process easy). I can offer more info on I-House by PM if anyone’s interested.
I have mentioned Gypsy Housing and Listings Project to my D. She’s working full time and taking two online classes (fell into bed at 9:00 tonite), and is shlepping into Brooklyn to see a place early tomorrow morning, so I can only push a little…I think this weighs more heavily on me than it does on her, but I’ve never dealt well with uncertainty.
MommaJ, I’m kind of scared of Craigslist now, from all the scams I’ve read about! Have you seen many that you think are honest?
My S’s gf is in the process of moving to NYC so I am passing along info here for her, Thanks!
My D2 and her fiancee are moving from Bushwick to Ditmas park next week. They found a roomy 1 BR for $1650 that includes heat and hot water. She said they found it on “one of those apartment listing sites” and while they had to pay an agent, he knocked his fee down to 10% if they would make a quick decision. He got a pet rider added to the lease too. She said her commute will be further but with express trains that will make it actually faster. There are decent deals out there.
I will reiterate about my D’s Brooklyn apartment as I am in it right now visiting! It is on a residential street in Lefferts Gardens, quite close to Prospect Park. The Q train is very convenient. D and her now fiancé moved in 2 years ago. It is a two bedroom apartment. She uses one of the bedrooms as a music studio. They also have a living room/dining room, nice size kitchen and bathroom. I would not like the 4th floor walk up aspect, but it is common for people their age, it seems. My other D who lives in a different city has a 3rd floor walk up. As I posted earlier, when they moved in two years ago, the rent was $1700 without utilities. I asked her how much it is now and I think it is $1780. So, such apartments exist. My daughter has held events in this apartment with as many as 25 people.
Jeez, I got all excited, I found what looked to be a great website, roomster, and found several that seemed perfect. Less than 2K/month, East Village or Lower East side, can rent for 3 months, decent places, normal seeming professional roommates. However, when I sent them to my son, he said that to get a message to people, you had to go through a pay wall, and that when he read reviews about it, sounded like a scam website. The deals didn’t seem too good to be true, they seemed in line. I guess they just collect money from you, charge your credit card, and then you never end up with a place.
The Listing Project looks great, however most of the rentals seem to be in Brooklyn.
Whenever I hear about 4th and 5th floor walkups, I remember the movie Barefoot in the Park and the poor delivery guy who has to bring the newlyweds their wedding gifts. Enjoy!
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=oqyRFXXwB48
@busdriver11, my D has actually visited a number of apartments advertised on Craigslist that were completely legit, but didn’t fill the bill for various reasons (room too tiny, neighborhood kind of sketchy, that sort of thing). In fact she saw one today that was a real possibility. And when we needed to rent out the apartment over our business, we used Craigslist to find great tenants. We do some hiring (non-skilled employees, basically) from Craigslist, too. It’s a major pain (and sometimes darn amusing) to sift through the flood of responses, but it’s a way to cast a wide net, and those looking to rent out space know that.
If you spend time on Craigslist (lots of time, unfortunately) in the Rooms/Shared section and search neighborhood by neighborhood, you will eventually get a feel for what’s real and what’s not–well at least for what’s clearly not. If it’s a big, modern, immaculate space with brand new appliances and fancy furniture, it’s nonsense. If the photos show an unmade bed and a jam-packed closet, it’s unlikely a broker’s work. But be prepared to not get too excited about any particular listing. I would guess that less than half the ones my D has contacted ever get back to her at all–whether that’s because they’ve already filled the space, are disorganized, or whatever, who knows? When we last put a help wanted ad on Craigslist, we had at least four people make appointments to come in for interviews, then not show up, not call, never be heard from again. There are a lot of incredibly rude, unreliable folks in the world, and Craigslist is where they seem to hang out!
@soozievt, I have no doubt your kids have good places to live, but they aren’t easy to find, and a lot of luck and good timing is involved. And if, like my D, a medical condition precludes anything higher than a third floor walk-up, the reasonably priced possibilities shrink (if the term “reasonably priced” has any relevance at all to NYC housing).
D1 was in a real bind several summers ago in NYC. Managed to find a sublet for a few months. That would give your D time to find another place OP. She found it on Craigslist I believe.
She also went to Geneva Switzerland for a semester abroad, the fall after. Her school did not provide housing for her semester abroad. She was too busy with her internship, now her job, and looking for a place in NYC to look for housing in Geneva. So I spent most of the summer, I have summers off, looking for a place. I was emailing with so many people and places, it took a tremendous amount of my time. There were no places to rent. I came up zero except for a place she could start in Oct. But where would she live in Sept. and the last week of Aug?
H and I suggested maybe she should not go. But she was bound and determined. About a week or so before leaving, after her internship, she literally was arriving with no place to go. Hence a marathon, at our insistence, to look for a hotel to stay for awhile commenced. We found one that she could stay for 10 days but then they were booked, so she could not extend. I felt some relief that she at least had a place to go from the airport.
On the 9th day stay at her hotel she found an apartment. It was posted on a bulletin board where she was attending her classes/internship. It was more rent than she wanted to pay and she had to take a third roommate. So living was cramped.
The point is, if your D can find temporary accomodations and keep looking and maybe adjust or tweak her requirements, she will find something. I didn’t believe it, but it came true. ( And, BTW, I only gave about half the story above what made it so much more difficult. But that discussion is past, old, threads!)
Another good website for apartment listings is Streeteasy.com
We use Craigslist to find tenants for our rental units in Seattle. It’s great. However, I don’t think there are that many scams out here, and I’ve never had a single person be suspicious that they were being scammed. I keep reading bad things about Craigslist scams in NYC, but I guess we’ll just ignore the beautiful, clean, well priced apartments…because they probably don’t exist!
@morrismm, if all else fails, D’s plan B is to commute from home until she finds something. It’s doable (tons of people do it every day), but would require about 3 hours on trains/subways daily, and it’s not the lifestyle someone her age desires. But it’s comforting to have that fallback if nothing pans out, or if something falls through at the last minute, or if a roommate situation gets hairy.
I loved living in Manhattan during and after grad school. But oh my goodness, it was so much easier then, to say nothing of cheaper. I don’t recall anyone I knew having to jump through hoops to find housing, and most singles lived in studios or one bedrooms, not shares. Of course the crime rate was through the roof and the garbage was piled on the sidewalks, but at least trying to find an affordable home wasn’t a relentless marathon.
DonnaL, I love Streeteasy. This is how my D1 and I communicated while she was shopping for a place to buy. She would tell me the location and I could look at it on line. It was as close as I good get to going with her, given where we both live. It is a great website for Manhatten sales and rentals.
International House is often full by this time of year, but a nice place to stay.
Temporary housing beyond Air BNB–
YMCA
http://www.ymcanyc.org/association/guest-rooms/northbrooklynrooms
I think the YMCA in Brooklyn 12 towns areas is the cheapest.
Judson Post Hall is just for women.
The Union Theological Seminary https://utsnyc.edu/about/guest-rooms-at-union/
The Teachers College Columbia Guest House http://www.tc.columbia.edu/housing/guest-and-conference-housing/guest-housing/
CUNY Queens student housing offers housing to outsiders (I’m pretty sure) at least during the summer. Plus it’s near Flushing and all of that great food! http://queenscollegehousing.com/
I’ve never used this site, but it’s another possible resource – http://ww5.metrointl.org/?gkwrf=http%3A%2F%2Fwww.brooklyn.cuny.edu%2Fweb%2Fabout%2Foffices%2Fstudentaffairs%2Foffices%2Fhousing.php
Educational Housing Services–housing for students only
https://www.studenthousing.org/
This thread is making me chuckle…not because of the OP situation.
We have a relative who is beginning grad school this fall in NYC. He has NO place to live…oh…and no real budget either as he will be a grad student…taking out loans.
We kindly suggested he start looking for housing. He says he is just going to go to NYC and he will find a place. Whatever!