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Apartments in New York

xy14

xy14

macrumors 6502
Original poster
Mar 9, 2004
294
0
Minneapolis
I'm looking for an apartment in New York but I, being 18, don't have much money. I will be with a roommate in a 2 bdrm apartment, and my question is:

Are there any non-'slum' neighborhoods in N Manhattan or NW Bronx that cost less than $1500 a month on avg for what I want?

Any help will be greatly appreciated.
 
xy14 said:
I'm looking for an apartment in New York but I, being 18, don't have much money. I will be with a roommate in a 2 bdrm apartment, and my question is:

Are there any non-'slum' neighborhoods in N Manhattan or NW Bronx that cost less than $1500 a month on avg for what I want?

Any help will be greatly appreciated.
Click to expand...


You may want to give here a try, one of my friends found a place through here. http://newyork.craigslist.org/about/apts.html

Good Luck
Ed
 
xy14 said:
Are there any non-'slum' neighborhoods in N Manhattan or NW Bronx that cost less than $1500 a month on avg for what I want?
Click to expand...

I do not have any specific info for the locations you cited, but apartments in NYC are very expensive for what you get in return. However, if you perservere, something may turn up in that range fitting your budget. I truly wish you well.
 
You'd probably find greater success in Queens or Brooklyn. Both a short subway ride into the city.
 
manhattan is pricey, even up north, harlem is becoming pretty gentrified and therefore expensive, but it is a great place. my advice, get a place in brooklyn, park slope is fantastic and easily accessible to manhattan, it used to take me 30 minutes to get to the flatiron district, door to door. it took me that long to get to the west village when i lived in battery park.


as someone already mentioned, craigslist is the way to go.

good luck
 
rdowns said:
You'd probably find greater success in Queens or Brooklyn. Both a short subway ride into the city.
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Right ... young people desire to be part of Manhattan even if it drains every dollar they can get their hands on. Unless one is in a reasonably good financial position, better potential offers will await in the other boroughs.
 
One nice location in Queens is Forest Hills and Kew Gardens, very clean and quiet. A great Austin Street shopping strip near by. It is a bit more expensive than the rest of the borough but still within your budget. :D

Oh, I hope you don't mind Jews, they rule in this area, no offense to anyone. ;)

Edit The post below explains the comment. :D
 
Mac_Freak said:
Oh, I hope you don't mind Jews, they rule in this area, no offense to anyone. ;)
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To people who live in NYC we know what you mean, but to an outsider this could be taken as a slur. People take great pride in their herritage in the city and to be referred to as a "jew" mostly will not be taken offensively depending on who they are or who says it to them. Jewish people in NYC are not your regular run of the mill jew that you may find in lets say Minnesota. They are (not all of course) hardcore jewish and quite religious. Some neighborhoods, Like the one mentioned, are entire communities where, if you were not jewish would be considered a minority and may feel out of place. And that I believe is what Mac freak was trying to say:rolleyes:

Oh, and your best bet on finding an affordable pad in Manhattan is to get yourself a girlfriend/boyfriend who already lives there;)
 
I live in Greenpoint Brooklyn right now about 5 minutes from williamsburg and about 15 mins from manhatten. It is mainly off the boat Polish around here and i am the minority. I live with 3 other guys in a 2 floor 4 bedroom, 2 bath, with backyard. Payin 800 a month plus another 70-90 in utilities.
 
freeny said:
Oh, and your best bet on finding an affordable pad in Manhattan is to get yourself a girlfriend/boyfriend who already lives there.
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Sometimes referred to as getting the most bang for your buck. :)
 
Mac_Freak said:
One nice location in Queens is Forest Hills and Kew Gardens, very clean and quiet. A great Austin Street shopping strip near by. It is a bit more expensive than the rest of the borough but still within your budget. :D

Oh, I hope you don't mind Jews, they rule in this area, no offense to anyone. ;)
Click to expand...

Hey, I'm a jew and was born and raised in Forest Hills. In Bayside now but FH is not as nice as it once was. Ah, Austin Street, spent the better part of my youth drinking there. Heading there tomorrow to get a haircut.
 
rdowns said:
In Bayside now but FH is not as nice as it once was.
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Forest Hills has changed like many areas have over the years, but you are very fortunate to be in Bayside. Many people consider that to be the best section in Queens ... Douglaston and Little Neck also rate highly, but Bayside has a trendy, upscale ambience to it that makes it really stand out.
 
So far this is the best I can find in Park Slope,
http://newyork.craigslist.org/brk/fee/120158491.html


I would still definitely prefer to live in Manhattan. Is there anywhere in that borough that you could get for under $2k? My reasoning is because I'd rather walk to work than be dependent on the subway every day, but if I had to take the subway anyways, I wouldn't mind a long trip. If there isn't though, is there anywhere on Long Island that would be a real bargain compared to the boroughs?

If I took the LIRR, would I get free transfers on the subway too?
 
freeny said:
To people who live in NYC we know what you mean, but to an outsider this could be taken as a slur. People take great pride in their herritage in the city and to be referred to as a "jew" mostly will not be taken offensively depending on who they are or who says it to them. Jewish people in NYC are not your regular run of the mill jew that you may find in lets say Minnesota. They are (not all of course) hardcore jewish and quite religious. Some neighborhoods, Like the one mentioned, are entire communities where, if you were not jewish would be considered a minority and may feel out of place. And that I believe is what Mac freak was trying to say:rolleyes:

Oh, and your best bet on finding an affordable pad in Manhattan is to get yourself a girlfriend/boyfriend who already lives there;)
Click to expand...

Thanks, that is exactly what I meant. :D
Next time I will try to be more clear on stuff like, especially considering that this site has users from around the world and are not aware of the local things.
 
My wife and I just spent some time in NYC trying to decide if we wanted to live there. We were wanting to live in Grammercy but most places wanted people to earn somewhere b/t 40-80 times what the rent would cost in a year...and rent prices there were around $2000-$2500 a month. Plus a lot of them wanted First & Last Months Rent plus a Deposit of one month of rent just for you to move in. Your best bet would be to look for someone subletting their place so you can take over their lease or someone looking for a roommate. A friend of mine just moved to Manhattan to an area known as Alphabet City. I hear the rent is a bit cheaper there and that the area is being developed to be a bit "nicer". Look in Craigslist under:
New York City:
Housing:
Rooms/Shared or Sublets/Temporary

Those would be your best bets. My wife and I were really wanting to move there but just didn't want to blow our entire savings on just getting in and going. She was offered a job at Columbia University, but that wasn't an area we were interested in living and she also interviewed at Google, and had she gotten the job we would have definitely done it (their office is amazing).....we're currently in Albuquerque subletting through February to see if this area will be a good place to live.

Good luck to you. Definitely make sure you like the area and that it provides you with what you need in the near vicinity (market, drug store, bar, restaurant, etc.)....because you really pay for location and not for the size of a place.
 
xy14 said:
So far this is the best I can find in Park Slope,
http://newyork.craigslist.org/brk/fee/120158491.html


I would still definitely prefer to live in Manhattan. Is there anywhere in that borough that you could get for under $2k? My reasoning is because I'd rather walk to work than be dependent on the subway every day, but if I had to take the subway anyways, I wouldn't mind a long trip. If there isn't though, is there anywhere on Long Island that would be a real bargain compared to the boroughs?

If I took the LIRR, would I get free transfers on the subway too?
Click to expand...





as Jovian mentions above ^ Alphabet City is a good place to look. it's either walk or cab from there though. it's a decent area now, and you should be able to just get in there for cheap. a friend of mine bought an old converted mosque a couple decades ago for almost nothing (and i mean about $17,000 or so iirc) and he'd occasionally have bodies on the stoop, it was that bad. now however, it must be worth a couple million, and it's safe enough, some cool bars/restaurants in the neighourhood too.


and that ad you linked to, that is NOT park slope. anything above 15th St (or so) i wouldn't consider PS, and below 4th ave, try and stay looking between Flatbush Ave and 15th St, and btwn 4th Ave and the park (9th Ave/Prospect Park West).


common practice for NYC is 1st month, last month, and one months rent, so look at having about 5 grand just to move in somewhere.

the only transfers you get on public transport are from subway to bus, and vice versa.

try and find a place without going through a broker, they'll charge you about 15% of a years rent, so again, that's even more money to fork out before even moving in.


have i killed the dream for you yet? ;)



where are you going to be working anyway? do you know the exact location??

if you have any other nyc questions, feel free to pm me
 
hold up...1500 in north Manhattan?....not a slum area? HA...most of northern Manhattan is a slum but u may find something well worth it on the higher western side of the island....Queens might be a better pick though.

P.S. Manhattan is overly $$$$$

Bless
 
Jovian9 said:
My wife and I just spent some time in NYC trying to decide if we wanted to live there. We were wanting to live in Grammercy but most places wanted people to earn somewhere b/t 40-80 times what the rent would cost in a year...and rent prices there were around $2000-$2500 a month. Plus a lot of them wanted First & Last Months Rent plus a Deposit of one month of rent just for you to move in.
Click to expand...

My wife and I live in Gramercy. Beautifull area. You are better off buying then renting. Thats what we did. find an old place that needs fixing up and get it cheap (old people die every day :rolleyes: ). Also you make more $$ on average in NYC which helps.

The first and last month plus deposit is standard here.
 
Why not get a penthouse suite in the trump tower...

Only 56 million dollars.
 
Why do you want to live in Manhattan? As far as I am concerned, I won't live there even if someone pays me to live there. NYC in general is very crowded and I had a few years stints both in Queens and Nassau County (next to Queens) and I could not stand living there. I also turned down a job opportunity in Midtown Manhattan because I could not stand the subway/bus commute (I prefer commuting in a car).

Now I am now tucked away across the Hudson from New York City. I have two cars (one for my personal and the other for work) and it is practically impossible to find the nice parking spots any where in NYC metro regions. Even if you find the spot, there is always some jerks who will scratch your car or bump into your bumpers. Almost all the cars you see in NYC metro are scratched up or dented pretty badly.

When I fist came to New York City areas, I admit I was intrigued by the City; but after a month or so, I got tired of it. Even though my place is a stone's throw away from the City, I only go there a few times a year (for occasional business purposes during the day time).

If you are new to the City, it may be a good idea to try out the City a few weeks (by staying at friends' place if any) before you commit to a one-year lease for an apartment.
 
evoluzione said:
try and find a place without going through a broker, they'll charge you about 15% of a years rent, so again, that's even more money to fork out before even moving in.
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That is just plain nuts, if you did that around here i think you would get a lot of people that just looked at you like you were high on the good stuff. Before i owned i rented in some really nice areas and never once paid the listing agent, but i guess if the market drives it.

Ed
 
Ed H said:
That is just plain nuts, if you did that around here i think you would get a lot of people that just looked at you like you were high on the good stuff. Before i owned i rented in some really nice areas and never once paid the listing agent, but i guess if the market drives it.

Ed
Click to expand...



tell me about it, but then, if you want that apartment, you'll pay for it, it's the new york way.
 
2nyRiggz said:
hold up...1500 in north Manhattan?....not a slum area? HA...most of northern Manhattan is a slum but u may find something well worth it on the higher western side of the island....Queens might be a better pick though.

P.S. Manhattan is overly $$$$$

Bless
Click to expand...

he's 18 and just starting out...can't expect him to move to park avenue right off the bat? ;)
 
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