My S is returning to the US after 5 years overseas to get his master’s degree at the teachers college at Columbia. He is married now and it looks like there’s no possibility of on campus housing. Somehow, they need to find a one bedroom before they return or be able to find something on short notice. He doesn’t know yet if he will start in July or Sept. Any suggestions from you NYC experts? Of course, money is a big issue. Also, he has very little credit history having gone straight to work overseas, so will he have to get us to cosign? We are Texans and need advice!
A lot of the younger couples I knew live in Brooklyn (especially Greenpoint.) My niece and her H just moved from there. They had a one bedroom in a walk up. Rent was around $2500/month. If you have ever seen Girls on HBO, I think they live in Greenpoint and the guy who plays Hannah’s boyfriend in the show, in real life rents the first 2 floors of the building they were in. Have other friends and cousins’ kids who live(d) in Astoria (Queens.)
Thanks, Emily. Do you have a sense of the commute time from there? Is that a pretty basic rent for a one bedroom in that area?
Doesn’t Columbia provide reasonably priced housing to grad students? When I did post-doc there many years ago, Columbia housing was what everyone was getting, the only affordable option.
Be careful about Greenpoint if they’re commuting to the UWS. Relying on the “G” is hazardous, at best and they’d have to change trains. Rents are still lower in parts of Brooklyn, but depending on how often your S will need to be at Columbia and at what time, he might be better off trading rent for time. One of my sons lives in Clinton Hill/Bed Stuy and takes the “C” to Chambers and the other lives in Ditmas Park and takes the “Q” to Atlantic Terminal and switches to the “2,3” to Water Street. The first commute is about 3 stops and can take 20-25 minutes and the latter, with a change of train, takes 40-45 minutes. Remember, for both of them their final destination is in lower Manhattan. My D will be living in East Williamsburg this summer (another young neighborhood) and will be taking the "L’ to the 4.5.6 at Union Square. She expects her commute to be about 40 minutes to 53rd & Madison. Greenpoint to UWS, on a good day, would take at least 50 minutes, I suspect.
On Craigslist there are 1BR apartments in the $2000-2500 range near Columbia on the UWS. May be better for them.
Igloo, they do, but supply is very limited. They are 19 on the waiting list.
My S was in a similar position a few years ago: returning from Europe to attend grad school at Columbia and in need of housing fast, with no connections and no possibility of student housing. He moved into International House, which is attractive, secure, filled with interesting people, has many amenities, and is located in a wonderful high, airy and leafy spot on Riverside Drive opposite Grant’s Tomb. It is located only a few blocks from Columbia. They have two adjoining buildings, one of which has apartments. One bedroom apartments cost a bit less than the price quoted by emilybee. Utilities are all included, and the situation is much more advantageous in terms of deposits and key money and being tied to a lease and all that. And of course the ability to walk to school saves a lot of commuting money and time. I would look into it:
Well, Columbia is on the upper west side and Brooklyn is across from lower Manhattan but they both worked in Manhattan, I’m not sure exactly where. But Greenpoint in the northern most neighborhood in Brooklyn so a quicker commute than from a lot of other Brooklyn neighborhoods. I haven’t taken the subway from downtown Brooklyn where I worked (Fulton Street) to midtown Manhattan where I lived in 30 years or so, but someone else should be able to give you more precise details. They also might want to look in Harlem, which is close to Columbia but that may be even pricier then parts of Brooklyn or Queens.
I think that is typical for a one bedroom in that part of Brooklyn. There are much more expensive neighborhoods (for ex: Brooklyn Heights, Park Slope, DUMBO. I think professionals are also now living in Bedford Stuyvesant and that might be slightly less than Greenpoint, but don’t quote me on that. There are gazillion neighborhoods in both Brooklyn and Queens so it will boil down to what they are willing to pay and the commute.
Thanks, consolation! I hope they can find something there because it sounds perfect. Affording anything in NYC is going to be a stretch, but avoiding commuting costs could help a lot. He has no way of knowing where he will end up student teaching.
Uh-on. I forgot to add that they have a small dog. No pets allowed. I know, I know…
^ Most apts in NYC allow pets. Everyone has a dog or cat. Shouldn’t be a problem.
Unfortunately, the International House doesn’t. But it’s good to hear that it won’t be too big of a problem.
Ahh, gotcha.
OP, if he doesn’t have credit then he will likely need you or your spouse to sign on as a guarantor. For NYC, the requirement for guarantors is usually that their annual income is 80X the monthly rent for the apartment.
I would actually not recommend Greenpoint for a first time NYer, for the commute reasons mentioned above. The G train is unreliable, and is the only train that runs through the neigborhood.
The Downtown Brooklyn area is another nice area to check out. Almost all the express trains run through there, and it’s easy to get from there to Columbia by taking the 2 or 3 train and transferring to the 1, about a 45 minute commute. Many young people are moving to Hamilton and Washington Heights, north of Columbia
Sometimes guarantors needs 90 x the rent in income. Usually to get apt on your own, salary needs to be 40x the rent. So that is not happening. Maybe they can look to be roommates in a 2 or 3 bedroom apt.
80X!!!??? We live in Texas. That’s not the kind of money we make, unfortunately.
Brooklyn is overpriced right now, especially the area around Greenpoint and Williamsburg. Queens has more affordable housing. You sacrifice proximity for price. My parents live in Bayside, with access to the LIRR commuter station and direct bus to the Flushing terminus of the No. 7 train. Or look to the north of Columbia. Washington Heights, or Riverdale in The Bronx?
So the best option will be to get a sublet or become roommates with someone who has already taken on the financial responsibility for the apartment.
If she is matriculating at Columbia in the Fall she should be able to take advantage of Columbia’s housing office. They should have listings of students with apartments looking for roommates, sublets in the area and other housing leads.
They can also sublet an apartment since they are not likely to have many possessions and would need to be buying a lot of stuff to set up an apartment. I would recommend trying to sublet on the Upper West Side/Morningside Heights area or further uptown in Hamilton Heights/Washington Heights/Inwood… anywhere on the #1 subway line. Once you are settled in a sublet you can take your time investigating housing options and neighborhoods before signing any leases.
A former colleague of mine got by for around 2 years exclusively by subletting apartments from NYU faculty who were on leave and out of the country. Her DH was British and attached to an archeology program in Italy and so he was sometimes on a 60 day on/60 day off schedule and so this option worked for them.