Help me find an apartment in NYC!

no.

xp i obviously don't know about hot places

progress: i saw four apartments today.

1. took the 4 to Franklin Ave and then walked to the botanic gardens stop. my roomie (reserved connecticut/german suburbanite) and i were walking down the street and spotted some classic Do-the-Right-Thing-ness with a bunch of little black kids playing in a fire hydrant. they were throwing water all over the place and i said something like, "hehe, whoa, might get a little splashed." two seconds later a kid comes up behind my friend with a laundry detergent bucket full of water and douses him over the head. it knocks his glasses off and they get him with another bucketful. meanwhile, three kids grab my backpack and a kid comes at me with a bucket. i swatted them away, somehow cut the shit out of my arm, and then dipped across the street. they all cracked the fuck up, then helped my friend find his classes. i laughed at him for about five minutes, and this group of older kids on the steps told my friend not to feel bad because, "they wettin' everybody!." then the kids got these other people coming to see the apartment, who became convinced it was a sign the neighborhood was crime-ridden and asked the landlord if the kids were always out there... the space was cheap ($1900 for a three bedroom with a dining room and study) but only one of the rooms was well-lit and the other was rail-roaded and my friend admitted that he couldn't "face the gauntlet every day." so we took an application and got a ride with the hasidic landlord to

2) williamsburg to another place on north 4th & Kent. it's an old factory or something, so the space was pretty big. BUT all three rooms were lofted, and you couldn't stand up straight in them because of the ceiling and pipes and the rooms were separated by particle board and it was $2500 so

3) fuck that. across the hall was another place the tenants had left the day before. no one had cleaned anything, so the remains of some crazy party (cans, bottles, dishes, food, cigarattes, arular) were scattered everywhere and i was weird and it was $2900 too so

4) we got another ride from this hasidic guy to south 4th to meet yet another hasidic guy who showed us the apartment OVER THE PHONE. "knock on the door..... okay?... you in? try all the buzzers.... okay?... okay, it's 1C... knock see if they're there..." they were and it turned out to be a HUGE studio space (with a really hot girl watching TV projected on the wall). the four bedrooms? "yea yea.. you build those." i guess if i was hard i would have done it, but three people would have ended up without windows and it was $3200.. the night seemed over but

5) previous hasidic dude calls us and tells us there's another apartment in the factory building. he comes and picks us up and takes us there. YES. it's the same deal as the other place but all the rooms have already been built and they're well done and there's a nice kitchen and they're planning on leaving some of the furniture and the rooms are a little open and lacking in privacy but that's a small price to pay for the roof-top view of all manhattan and the 5-minute walk to the L-train and the private entrance and all the other goodness. $800 a piece for nifty little waterfront williamsburg apartment. i feel a little lame because my other friends are like 'you can live in bedstuy for FOUR HUNDRED and split the room to pay less, pussy' but

fuck that I think i'm going to sign the lease tomorrow.

Aug 5 through Sept 1 = COUCH EXTRAVAGONZO

oh, brooklynpaws.

this is the key here, i think

if you plan on being there more than a year, a broker can be enormously worth it - they have a whole truckload of places to look at

you can also try the email list thing, where you pay $100 to get updated on new places from a "broker" type person; i got a place through one of these and it was great. there's one near union square but i can't remember what it's called

i also remember that the newsstand in front of waverly cinema has a list behind their counter that you can pay $20 for; it gets updated every week; they may have stopped doing this ca. 1934, however

no.

if i'm looking at apartment in "East Williamsburg" whose address is on Bushwick Ave, then I'm gettin' the ole run-around, no?

and "gantlet"

and that apartment - don't worry about the month-to-month thing

if there's a power outtage b/c too many people are running electrical shit, then ConEd may go down = the city gets shut down (like in 2003)!

-- Eisbär (llamasfu...), July 18th, 2006. (llamasfur)

if the power goes out i may kill myself

-- mookieproof (mookieproo...), July 18th, 2006. (mookieproof)

If you kill yourself can I have your apartment?

-- snumbers (ben.carve...), July 18th, 2006. (snumbers)

i think you want "wary"

and "gantlet"

gah! yes and yes. (would you believe i'm an editor?)

From what I hear, fairly common. Also, may leases are not leases but "lease agreements," the legal significance of which eludes me.

I don't know why begging for roommates on ILX feels a little less awkward than doing it on Craigslist, but it definitely does.

i just signed the lease on a three-story, four bedroom HOUSE off the Grand stop in Billyburg. it's slightly ghetto, but the rent is only $800/month (a piece) and we have a backyard, exposed brick, two full baths, washer/dryer and a muhfckn GATE around the house [cue supreme clientele ODB skit 'Suzaay! Throw it out da window!!]..

I actually put out a roommate request on craigslist/village voice and got @ 50 responses in the first day. damn.

snumbers, you actually sent me an e-mail about the place yesterday haha (i thought i recognized your address).. we already filled the place, but i'll hit you up if things fall through... i didn't end up going through a broker, either-- and if you're not totally rushed i wouldn't, either. i just got lucky on craigslist (after many many nights of e-mails) but if you still want some numbers of brokers i know i can pass those along.

has anyone ever lived in a studio apartment? will not having clearly defined rooms make me insane?

I did for 11 years, so judge for yourself!

(I only need 1 big room)

I survived for two years in a big one. I mostly noticed the studio-ness when cooking something smelly or having people over. It might help to have solid (low?) dividing elements to create different mental spaces without actually creating rooms.

When I went 1-bed, it actually seemed weird at first.

i think it will drive me less crazy than having roomates at least.

also, is it worth it in the long run to go through a broker? i've never done this, but this probably means a crappier selection of places. if i could actually find a place i wanted to stay in for more than a year it might even out in the long run?

looking at craigslist broker vs. non-broker listings the brokered ones seem more expensive though, which sucks.

I'm pretty happy with the place I found in Astoria through a broker (I'm probably moving next month, though. :/) and I don't think I would've been able to find anything remotely as good without one in the time frame I had. I'm going to try and avoid a broker this time (although craigslist has been looking particularly barren), but if you can find a good broker who doesn't charge more than 12% of a year's rent and need a place ASAP, it's probably worth it.

^^^ (if you happen to be looking in Queens, the broker mentioned above was MQ Realty)

in my experience, a broker can be worth it if you stay in the apt for a while. they have a bad rep, but some can be very helpful. what i would stay away from are buildings run by management companies.

i have a little bit of time (looking for september 1) so i'm going to try to go non-broker unless i reallly have to. craigslist is pretty dry and i'm sure it's going to be even worse next month (plus competition from students with parental guarantors aiiiiiiiii)

i had a studio for a year, and the following year a v. small 1br/studio hybrid thing (read: attic converted into apt.) and i LOVED both of them. yeah, cooking smelly things sometimes a little weird, but you can find some good studios with separate kitchen rooms, etc.

what neighborhoods are you looking at?

prospect heights, williamsburg, crown heights, lefferts, fort greene, red hook, etc.

aw man, my lease is up in a week and my landlord is kicking us out :(

oh no!

He's giving you some extra time surely? I mean, it can't be legal for him to give you a week to get the fuck out.

that's lousy poortheatre!

has anyone ever used one of those pay-to-view no fee listings services? they seem like a scam, but craigslist has been very frustrating :/

poortheatre he can't get you out in a week. stay however long it takes. he will be mad and threaten you etc. but unless you really need his reference for your next place, ignore it.

oh, no, we've known for a few months now.. we're just lazy and still don't have a house. i'm actually leaving new york in mid-august for semi-good, so i'm just going to stay with my roommates parents in CT for a few weeks.

(poortheatre, how did you hear Mariel H at the end of Manhattan: "everyone gets corrupted" or "NOT everyone..."?)

my apartment search is turning into t/s: paying $200 more than you can reasonably afford vs. living in the rape zone (sketchy warehouse non-hipster version)

morbs, definitely "NOT everyone gets corrupted." isn't the next line "you have to have a little faith in people?"

crap. maybe not. now i'm hearing it like, "he'd kill US if he had the chance."

(see the Woody thread for debate)

pay-to-view just sounds like a costly shot in the dark, L.

"pay to view"??? HAHAHAHAHA

i have used the "pay a $100 and we'll give you an updated excel spreadsheet of no-fee apartments for as long as it takes for you to find one" before, and it worked out really well, actually

can't remember the name of the place i used, though, sorry - i do remember it their offices were off union square, if that helps

my favorite craigslist neighborhood is bushwich

mmmm

http://newyork.craigslist.org/search/aap/brk?query=bushwich&minAsk=min&maxAsk=&bedrooms=

lol

http://images.craigslist.org/01011201040501030420070716f22c2b60214096e54e0006d3.jpg

1bed, bay windows, toilet on wall - so much character!

"Bushwich still has a fair bit of cred. and Cunton Hill East is a really up and coming scene, true?"

bensonwurst

$1275 / 2br - california bunglow style two bedroom / two bathroom

Apartment offering, woodfloors, stove, fridge, dishwasher, carport parking, common laundry, ac. The unit is located in Bunglow Heaven in a quiet area of North Pasadena. call ruby 626-356-9696 visit www.gardnergardner.com

Bunglow Heaven

amazing.

oh i really hope i get the apartment i saw last night. i just called the broker for about the fourth time today and she still hasn't heard from the owner. i think she likes me though. i have good credit. please please please give me aprrrrtment

i just want this to be over so i can stop being a neurotic mess

Where is it, vaguely?

crown heights, but close to prospect heights. on franklin near the 3-4 train.

it is very large and has lots of windows and if i don't get it i will be ;_;

if you don't get this apartment you'll be very large?

i'll be sad face emoticon

ohhh no.

bad

I got a new apartment recently. I think you will too.

the broker called me last night at 10 to tell me the owner had approved me, as long as i would pay a pet deposit. she is supposed to call me today to set up an appointment to sign the lease, etc. it could still fall through i guess, but still SO EXCITED!

YAY!

good luck! welcome to the (adjacent) neighborhood

AWES!!

congrats!

fyi, there might be 2br in the bldg next to mine going for cheap.

where do you live now lauren? i might be looking soon. ;_;

ooh, if this falls through somehow i will be emailing you lauren!

oh kickass! awesome linds!!!

Yeah, say so if things fall through, I might know about some stuff.

h, just email me. this is SOON soon, though.

u still at that gmail address?

yah.

i cannot imagine being a 21-year-old moving to new york in 2007.

subletting is the way to go!

why? the east village, north & central brooklyn all seem more and more like one big college campus to me.

That's pretty apt considering the rate college tuition has been rising in the last decade or so

Anyway, two years ago I might have recommended Jersey City, but my days of that are over. The rents have skyrocketed and the town has not improved to a commensurate degree. Still looking to leave as soon as things come together re job and/or school situation.

TWO MONTHS SECURITY?!!!??? PLUS BROKER FEE? PLUS 1ST MONTH?!

this is the most money i've ever had to spend at one time. by a factor of many. oof.

2 months security, thats fucked up

close readers of this thread will note that one of those months is in fact a pet deposit

and in fact neither of those months can be considered spent, rather in escrow.

Fair enough, I mean what if Labs moves out but her pet decides to stay another month w/out paying rent?

oh yeah forgot abt the pet thing

but still, depending on the landlord your deposit can be hard to get back

petscrow

Is he doing it "legal" style and giving you records of the escrow account?

pets be squatting

the best way to ensure the return of your deposit is to just not to pay your last couple months before moving out.

that's true, the extra month deposit is all my cat's fault. she's lucky she's cute!

wtf can a cat do to an apt?

assuming theres no carpet

but it's def yours now?

i'm signing the lease on monday for realsies. but the broker confirmed that the owner wants me to move in. i've never gone through a broker before so until i actually sign the lease i will be a little nervous!

there's no carpet, thank god. my cat isn't going to do anything to the apartment, the landlord just seems a little militant.

maybe i'll get a more extravagant pet like a walrus or something, to make things a little more interesting

yay congrats!!!

So this is the place in Crown Heights? Congrats.

Report back about the neighborhood, I am curious (black).

you are curious black?

some ilxors (laurel) have lived in crown heights and have good things to say. it's a good location for me commuting-wise (right by the 4-5) and a couple blocks from prospect park. i was told "go back to kansas!" while waiting to see the apartment but that was actually an awesome zing, not gonna lie.

wait is this the st. j0hn's & fr@nkl1n place? cause i looked at a place down there last summer and a dude on the street told me, 'it's ok if you guys move here, you just have to remember that we live here, too.' i felt white and guilty.

yeah - that's where it is
here is my new kitchen!
http://www.ajmproduction.net/images/317_JULY_9TH_WINGATE_2007_024.JPG

the kitchen in my 3 bedroom now is less than half that size. i almost never cook because it's so small and shared with two people, one of whom never does his dishes.

When my friend moved to Harlem, he had these ratty tennis shoes that he had duct taped to hold them together. He heard one guy say to another, "See, that's why white people have money, because they wear shoes like that!"

http://www.ajmproduction.net/images/317_JULY_9TH_WINGATE_2007_023.JPG
and i can have a table!

that looks like a nice place

i'm so excited
don't ruin this for my with white guilt guise

Congratulations. You're right near "The Jerk Center"! (and 3D's Restaurant, which has better jerk chicken but a less funny name)

"go back to kansas!"

awesome

i wish it was called the jerk store.

awesome belllabs!!

hi guys i already posted about this on facebook but i am looking for an apartment, again, hopefully in the prospect/crown heights area or environs, posting about it on ilx has never helped before but if u help me find a place i will make u the guest of honor at my housewarming partay

Can I be your roommate?

me too. looking at greenpoint or park slope

if u do the dishes you can stay laurel

Fuck me, I hate dishes.

saw a rad place today, put in an application, CROSS YOUR FINGERS EVERYONE

posting in case...for some reason...someone knows someone with a cheap 1br in sunnyside, woodside or jackson heights. afaik dan selzer's the only other person round here so I'm not holding my breath, but hey.

we ended up getting a 1150 1br in sunnyside (41st st 1 block south of queens boulevard) w/ a free first month of rent. pretty happy!

so thats really like a 1050 1br

jeal, were over paying for our 1bdr, its really big, but its over a bar

it was cl listed by the same people a week earlier at 1395, guess they didn't get bites at that price. it's not *entirely* a 1br I guess cause the kitchen and the living room are attached? but it's two separate sizeable rooms + bathroom. the ad didn't do a good job highlighting this, we sorta thought we were gonna be seeing a large studio. and then the free month's rent was just something we walked into, apparently it was a company special this week.

yeah we were in a similar situation in bk for 1100 last year. "jr 1 bdrm" or whatever. i liked it! but ari wanted to move so

where did u move to max

1100 seems like a pretty good price for that in bk...I mean it's good price for that in queens!

excited to be a block from this place, never been but gf says it's great:

http://www.yelp.com/biz/lowery-liquors-and-wine-company-sunnyside

im on wash ave now joe. btw st marks and prospect. love everything about this apt, except the goddam bar

how long is your contract for? are you just gonna wait it out?

i lived on washington once, sweet ave

1 yr lease--till nov. its much better than it was when we moved in so were gonna hang for the rest of the year. kinda think the bar might go out of business before then aksh, it sucks and no one ever goes there.

muertos turkey mole burrito is p nice

anyone have any reliable and cheap moving company recs? we don't have a lot of shit but I need a truck and one dude to help me move like 3 huge things (couch, king size bed, big dresser). should take like...an hour. might just go w/ some cl rando.

ha , i've been to lowery's.....prices for booze didn't seem that great but i'm spoiled by trader joes ridiculously reasonable prices in la. did have pretty decent selection for a local place.

yeah tjs prices in nyc are okay but def not as omg as california. also the union square tjs still has the only wine store, despite there being a half dozen tjs...not really worth the trip cause we usually end up at a different one.

I've several times used a Russian company, don't know that they have a company name, per se. They're all over Craigslist. They do a good job, every time they've been hard-working and efficient, but somehow it always costs more than I planned. The starting rates are good, though, so I just consider it money well spent.

I mean they always have a reason to make it cost more, like showing up w 3 people instead of the 2 that I reserved. But then it goes a little faster, too.

yeah that's sorta what I'm afraid of. we really don't have that much shit and definitely don't need 3 movers...outside of our large furniture I could take the rest of our stuff back and forth over the subway. really just need one truck-like-mechanism and one dude-like-mechanism to transport a bed 20 blocks...but don't wanna pay $250 for that. renting a van seems like it's always a huge pain in the ass tho. dan gave me a rec for a good woodside rental place but their prices aren't online. idk maybe I'll just put up an cl ad myself saying exactly what I need and want to pay.

muertos turkey mole burrito is p nice

― ice cr?m, Friday, January 21, 2011 11:27 PM (Yesterday) Bookmark Suggest Ban Permalink

theres a new taqueria oaxaca on prospect now

- got keys!!!
- god moving in this weather is gonna be such a bitch. was really hoping to get lucky w/ the weather and it didn't happen. there is an enormous wall of snow between our sidewalk and the road. I got 4 days off in a row tho, gonna use em best I can...
- pretty psyched tbh, this place has a crazy amount of room, wanted to live in sunnyside, great price.

I'm sure Bloomberg personally plowed your route.

actually the way they plow the streets is what leads to there being a 4 foot wall of snow on my sidewalk

damn Sanitation

moving was actually great, just got random dude w/ van but he was very efficient, we got a very large van packed, moved, unpacked in ~95 minutes and for less than $100 (incl. tip)

dude's name bruno and his number is 347 858 1181, fyis

Okay, kids. I need a share spot for March 1, pref the wilds of Brooklyn, pref around $600/mo. Require large-ish bedroom, 12 x 12' or bigger, because I have got stuff and don't want to pay a mint to store the bulk of it. Anyone have anything to recommend?

:o

!! ill keep an ear out

Sunset Park, Bay Ridge, South Slope, Kensington, Ditmars, as long as it's a bikeable dist to Pros Park environs and not half a mile from the door to the subway.

Mangal Kebab!

So is that a suggestion, or...? ;)

Best lamb and chicken gyro, great humous and lentil soup, and turkish bread they sell for like nothing.

That sounds delicious, but can I live there?

See above.

you would be most welcome in my household, which is both large and available

but it is also a bit more expensive and non-smoking, so . . .

Thank you, and appreciated, but no. Need to stay in this price range because I have teh bills to pay and savings to accumulate in hopes of looking rather more like a responsible adult by winter-time.

need to get cheaper for July 1

studio or bargain 1br

prefer Brooklyn (w/in a mile of Prospect Park?) near a train that's not the F

also need to live in a nabe where i'm not surrounded by intolerant racist religionists, this ain't Alabama (that's for Mordy).

While we're at it, I also know an expecting couple of semi-limited means (by NYC standards - clerical office dude and substitute teacher) who need a large 1BR or 2BR somewhere in Brooklyn. I work with the guy and can vouch that he is a great guy and responsible, but he has been living with family so he may not have rental history.

so it looks like i am staying put, which i hate, bcuz lack of energy/motivation + heap of despair. unless someone puts a gift in my lap.

sniffing one tonight in an even more boring nabe... $300+/mo savings tho.

All the spam rental ads on C'list now say "Tours are starting!" Anything less than a duplex is not a fucking tour.

Wondering if anyone has looked at nice areas of Jersey City vs. the desirable BK neighborhoods? JC is really getting nice.

and unaffordable!

Right! I haven't looked into how they compare though.

Friends of mine bought a place in JC last year, "just in time" they thought, and they had been looking in Brooklyn.

so yeah, i don't know if i can handle being separated from my usual bars by Borough Park.

looks like i'm staying

goddammit.