The three C’s of apartment hunting are Cost, Convenience, and Comfort. In NYC, you’re lucky to get even one of the three lol...but why not shoot for all of them!!!
Cost
The most important factor for an apartment’s price is its location - covered more in detail in the “Convenience” section.
You can start looking for an apartment a month before (usually not before because listings aren’t posted yet), but by start I mean dive head-first into it. Like being ready to visit any time. The later you start, the less leeway you have with negotiating price/the more overall stressful it is.
Brokers are generally for people who don’t have the time/knowledge to look on their own. Honestly you can just grab a friend who knows NYC pretty well. Management companies employ brokers to help them sell their properties; this should already be covered for in your application fee. No reason to hire an outside broker who charges an additional fee. An outside broker can actually hurt you because building’s broker has to split commission with your broker...or they will just raise the price on you to cover both commissions. No fee broker means they’re probably only going to show you certain properties that they have ties to.
Streeteasy is good enough for all your apartment-seeking needs, you just add buildings to your watchlist and get email alerts on them. But again, it’s really important to be proactive and visit yourself. As for due diligence, I don’t think you need to do too much if the management company is trustworthy, but the basics are: ask neighbors, check phone reception, ask about heat/utilities coverage. Take pictures of everything you can.
Oh and apartment maintenance is important to know before you sign (contact info/hours/address). My senior year, I had a sketchy guy who just showed up when I called, but I did not have any other way to reach him besides a phone number. Last thing you want is for your heat to break in the middle of winter with no one to call...
In general, price is difficult to negotiate in NYC as demand is always high.
Convenience
Neighborhoods of NYC:
Manhattan
Midtown - a mix of all folks
Upper West Side - rich senior citizens
Upper East Side - rich families
Chelsea/Gramercy/West Village - rich yuppies
East Village/Greenwich Village - rich NYU students (side note: my easy-to-remember Alphabet City guide: Avenue A is for Aight, B is for Bars, C is for Catcalling, and D is for Danger)
Lower East Side/Chinatown - cheapest apartments in traditional “Manhattan”, but you get what you pay for usually…
Financial District - great bang for buck, if you’re okay with the brutalist architecture...
Brooklyn
I only know Bed-Stuy and Williamsburg as places where people live, but it’s kinda like you have to visit the area to truly get a sense of what it’s like.
Queens
Long Island City - really nice apartment especially alongside the East river, the modern “hot spot” right now
Astoria - the more traditional “hot spot”, more of a home-y/small town feel
Flushing - best food in the city, but you are at the mercy of being the last stop on the 7 train...
Staten Island
Further than Jersey, I’m pretty sure
Bronx
Not recommendable, according to my coworkers who live there. But wait...
I’m telling you now, this is the next “hot spot” of NYC: Like right now, it’s probably Long Island City, but with the building of the T train and the general infrastructure investments going on, this area is on the rise for sure. Right across the Harlem River, on Willis Ave in the Bronx...be on the lookout.
Train lines rankings (mainly based on reliability):
- Yellow (NQR) and Purple (7)
- Red (123) and Green (456)
- Blue (ACE) and Red (JZ)
- Orange (BDFM) and Gray (L)
Comfort
My dictionary of words that come up during apartment hunting:
*Any words in all caps* - ignore
Studio - smaller space than you’d think; and if you are able to sleep right next to where you cook, sure.
Alcove - small (similarly, “cute/”cozy”/charming”/etc.)
Loft - ex-industrial/office building, quite spacious
Exposed brick - hipster alert
“Small” - really small
“Steps away from” - means nothing, anywhere is steps away in NYC
Two bedroom - may actually be one bedroom right now, but if you spend the money/effort building a wall/divider, this apartment could pass as a two bedroom
Craiglist - trustworthy for furniture, less so with apartments; worth a look for outer boroughs/upper Manhattan though
Walkup - if the building is more than 6 floors, the landlord is required to have an elevator
In conclusion, don’t trust words that much, only pictures...and even then you aren’t sure until you visit whether you’re being shown the actual unit or just generic pictures of another unit in the building. And for the record, I'm not sure how this post somehow went from super serious to flat out sass at the end - maybe that's just illustrative of the emotions this subject brings up.
