So you want to find an apartment in New York? Lucky you, it’s a fabulous city!
I’ve recently moved over from England and went on an apartment hunting mission. Below I’m going to share my experience and tips I’ve picked up along the way.
A Little Background Info:
I was apartment hunting in November/ December 2021. This was shortly after the US had started to relax their Covid-19 restrictions for international travel.
According to the realtors I spoke to, during lockdown, no one wanted to be in the city. This meant there were loads of apartments at pretty cheap prices. In the summer of 2021, New York started opening up again and apartments were renting within a couple of hours of going online.
By November, prices had bounced back up. As Christmas is a quieter time of year anyway, there weren’t many apartments on the market, but also, fewer people looking.
Top Tips to Find an Apartment in New York City
Know Your Budget
New York is an amazing place to be, it also comes at a price. The rule here is that your income needs to be 40 times the rent. (Take your salary/ combined salaries and divide by 40). So, for example, if your income is $100k you will be able to afford $2500 a month rent.
If you don’t have a high enough income most places will let you use a guarantor. This can be a friend or family member. It’s also possible to use a company, this will be an additional fee but the realtor can usually recommend one. The cost of living in New York is high so I wouldn’t recommend stretching yourself too far!
Download the StreatEasy App
Once you’ve worked out your budget, download the StreetEasy app. (It’s the US equivalent of Rightmove.) You can save searches and create alerts for apartments in your budget. It also allows you to filter specific locations, amount of bedrooms, etc.
One of my favorite features of this app is, you can put in your work address. It then automatically calculates the commute time. To walk or by public transport. This feature is especially useful if you end up searching outside Manhattan.
In my opinion, StreetEasy is the best. Other websites you can look at are Zillow and Apartments.com.
Work Out Your Priorities
It probably goes without saying that the best locations also have the highest price tag. Unless you have a huge budget, you’ll probably have to compromise somewhere. To live in a prime location, you’ll have to sacrifice some space. It the Carrie Bradshaw stile closet 100% essential?!
I viewed quite a few “walk-ups”. These are quite typical New York apartments with lots of narrow steps up. If it was just me, I would have been fine with one of those. However, I have a toddler so trying to get up with him and a pushchair was very impractical. Meaning one of my essentials was an elevator or first (ground) floor apartment.
The Photos are Usually Nicer than the Reality
I quite quickly realized that a lot of listings have edited photos. Furniture has been superimposed to give you an idea of what it “could” look like. For example, the below shows a cute little living room with a sofa, table, and unit. The reality was, you could maybe squeeze in a sofa, nothing else.
You can quite easily tell which ones have been over-edited. I wouldn’t say don’t view these, just be prepared that you may be slightly disappointed!
Watch the Video / Read the Description
Not only are the photos often very edited. They’re also not always of the exact apartment. Lots have photos “of a similar unit”. If it has a video, that’s usually of the actual apartment. Most listings also don’t have a floor plan which I can’t get my head around!
It is worth at least skim-reading the descriptions. Some are more useful than others!
Understand the Lingo
The descriptions use a lot of terms that I’ve never heard before. For example, a flex apartment means you have the option to put a partition wall in one of the rooms to make an extra bedroom. A true 2-bed apartment is a proper 2 bedroom place.
Consult Google if you’re not sure what any words mean!
Stay Organized
You’ll most likely, send messages to lots of different realtors about many different apartments. I actually found a lot didn’t respond so I messaged again / called. After a while, all the apartments start blurring together!
The StreetEasy app is quite good for reminding you which apartments you’ve favorited and who you’ve contacted but I also used a good old-fashioned notebook. I liked to note the address, location, and price for each. Then, I took it to viewings and wrote down anything else I needed to remember.
Be Ready to Apply
When you find an apartment, you have to apply for it. This usually costs around $20 per person and the realtor can tell you how to do it. You’ll need to show your ID, employment contract, payslips, and bank statements. Make sure you have these ready. You don’t want to miss out on your place because you’re waiting for HR to resend something!
Thank you for reading and I hope this guide is going to help you find an apartment in New York!
I’ve also shared a bit more of my apartment hunting experience over on my Instagram stories, it’s all saved in the highlight ‘APARTMENTS‘
