Rental Stories Blog - Renting in Manhattan

Encouraging news. Ok, so my daughter has lived in the apartment for about three months now. She got to know the maintenance people and met the landlords. She decided to try to secure the lease in her own name and without a cosigner. She paid $45 for a credit check (she has a credit score over 700) and she had to get a letter from her employer (she stared in May) stating what the estimate was for her full-time employment. She told the landlord that one of the roommates was staying and one was leaving. They allowed her to sign a year's lease, in her sole name for a year. Then she put an ad on Craig's List and within 15 minutes got 30 responses. Within the next three days, she called four people and met with three and found the perfect roommate who gave her a deposit and first months rent within a day. Rentals in NYC go FAST!

Ok, its time to look for a new rental. So the search is on. It is the last week of July and the lease ends September 1st. We decided that she wanted to look for a newer apartment because things were a little bit too old in the brownstone. My daughter has been in the city for the summer and has worked at her job and lived the NYC life for a few months. So now, she knows the commute better and has a feel for where she might want to live in relation to the new people she's met and the location of her job. One of her new roommates agrees that they have a nice time living together and is planning to move with her into a new place. So, that will allow them to get a nicer place by combining their funds.


BELOW IS OUR FIRST NEW YORK CITY RENTAL EXPERIENCE: 1. We made out a form response letter and made sure that we did not have any clearly identifying information in it. Friendly enough for initial contact, generalities, but no specifics such as place of employment, etc. We did not include a phone number with the response, but asked for a contact number. That way our phone number would not be out there in the universe. Also included was that we were looking for females (its amazing how many people don't put gender in their craigslist ad), no drugs, no smoking, clean people, etc. 2. In responses, people seemed to be very cautious as well. They did not offer many specifics and never gave the exact address of the rental until we were on our way to see it. We always asked for a cross street and some landmarks and then GoogleEarthed the blocks around the area. After Google Earthing many locations with the 3D vortex feature that allows you to see 3D, at street level in any direction, it was like I had already been there when I actually visited in NYC. So, if you don't have Google Earth, download it now, its free (you have to look around for the free version).
3. We quickly decided that the number one rule was to make phone contact as soon as possible. That way you can get a sense of whether you can possibly live with the people and maybe collect a little more information. We are really feeling our way around things at this point. 4. We did go to one location in Astoria, Queens already. The girls were really nice and there was a great little fresh fruit market. However, there was an element and numerous catcalls, rampant graffiti (although you can find graffiti all over New York and much of it is beautiful, I am leary of places where it is heavily displayed.) A friend told us that perhaps we should give Astoria another chance and try it on the Long Island City side. However, we have not had the opportunity to investigate that further. VERY IMPORTANT - RIDE THE SUBWAY TO AND FROM YOUR DAILY DESTINATION BEFORE RENTING. 5. Apartments are listed in force. There is never a shortage to choose from. However, the good ones go in the blink of an eye, so you have to be quick. We found two other locations. One in Chelsea and on in Gramercy near First Street. My daughter was working one day and I decided to go into the city and walk around while she was at work. I went to Chelsea and really liked the area. Then I went over to Gramercy (the apartment photo's for this location were stellar!). While there were some areas of Gramercy that were, indeed, stunning, I quickly realized that the "stunning" part was not anything we would be able to afford in this lifetime. I continued walking down to First Avenue. It was eclectic and diverse. Very flavorful variety of all types of people from many different races and many different types of groups. I saw young hip, punk, old, young, different classes of people. It was a bustling place if you like that type of environment. It was too busy of an environment for us. Too much foot and vehicle traffic and so we cancelled the appointment to see the apartment. Luckily, the Chelsea apartment worked out great. I am now a great fan of the Chelsea area (which does have a different mix of classes, races and groups, but in an entirely different way.) You do have to find the area which fits your personality. There are locations for all types. 6. I am psycho when it comes to personal protection and I don't "trust" easily. So, I spent a good amount of time in the neighborhood. I walked up to a police car in the neighborhood and asked if it was a safe neighborhood. They said it was good. I then stopped a woman walking her dog and she gave rave reviews over our potential location. Then I walked the blocks on foot and took note of the types of people who were on the streets. Many were single women who looked as if they felt very comfortable and unthreatened; others were workers, nannies, moms and college students. Note that for a little room in a tight apartment, we ended up paying over $1,300 plus utilities for rent a month and that was a steal! 7. Then when my daughter and I met up again, we went back to that neighborhood and sat in the park, walked the blocks again, ate in the restaurants until it was time to meet the potential roommate. 8. I brought a camera and took pictures of the area, the types of vehicles parked in the streets and the potential trouble areas such as bars, parks and deserted places. When we finally went to visit the roommate, I made sure to take a few pictures of the inspection certificates on the wall of the hallway. Those always give the name of the owner and / or representative and who manages the property. That way, we could be armed with more information if we needed it. (BTW take pictures with the flash on AND off. Sometimes the camera flash spots out the important written information).


9. Since we had not met the roommate before I felt funny about asking to take pictures inside of the apartment, so I didn't. She had provided a few in her e-mail.

10. The meeting went well and we made sure to ask about the landlord and if he knew she was seeking to sublet her apartment. She wrote down the name of the other roommate and wrote down the name and address of the present landlord. We discussed how payment for the apartment would be made and then she said she would let us know because she had met with some other possible tenants too.

11. She called us within an hour when were on our way home and let us know that she chose my daughter to move in. Of course, I was suspicious that she called in such a short time, but my daughter told me I was overreacting and so I was quiet for the time.

12. When it came down to actually sending out the check, I was beside myself..... I did not want to send out any money at any time until the keys were in hand. However, the situation was difficult and I was not going to get my way and I could not figure out what other options we had, if we wanted that apartment. Of course, no one was forcing us to take THAT apartment and we could have refused to send the money and then just walk away. But, then we'd have to go through the same nonsense with someone new down the road and I simply had to decide what was important.

13. Tough as it was, I didn't want my daughter to be tied into a long lease and this was intended to be a short-term lease so she could at least get into the city and start her job and then look for a longer term apartment after a while. I decided, in the end, that the most important thing was that my daughter be safe. Even if this new potential roommate was a scam artist, she was clearly not a violent person and my daughter would not be in any physical danger that I could anticipate. That was the priority. After all, its only money. Although we don't have a lot of it, and we want to protect our money, if we wanted things our way, we would have to decide to either back out or take the risk. I agonized over this decision for weeks.

14. In preparing the check, I told my daughter to write the entire rental address on the check in the notation area and to write For Rental of such and such a property from such and such a date to such and such a date, installment 1 or some type of notation like that.

15. Then I told her to write FOR DEPOSIT ONLY on the back of the check. That way, whoever cashed the check would have to deposit it in an already established bank account and the entire amount of the check would be recorded. In other words, they could not get "cash back" by simply signing the check and bringing it to a bank.

16. Well my daughter sent out the first check and we took every precaution. We made sure that she sent it RETURN RECEIPT REQUESTED through the United States Postal Service. That way, someone would have to sign for it. The first receipt came back fine.

17. Still, we are just feeling our way in this situation ... not really knowing if we're doing things right.... praying to the rental gods that we are making the right moves.

18. The girl she sent the check to did not cash the check. I was suspicious until I did more research on apartment scams and found out that landlords were being scammed by people too. So, this girl was suspicious of us too and I suspect was waiting to cash the check to see if we were going to pull anything funny.

19. My daughter wrote up a basic rental agreement and suggested that they both sign it and have it notarized. What that will do, who knows, but it is just one more step in our precautionary adventure.

20. Anyway, things so far have gone well. The girl continued to communicate with my daughter over e-mail and we haven't been ripped off yet..... but, me being paranoid .... well, I'm just waiting for the other shoe to drop (just be glad you don't live with me! ;))

21. My daughter is meeting the girl near where the girl works to pick the keys up today, so I'll just cross my fingers and hope it all goes well. I feel totally helpless that I'm saying "I'll cross my fingers." It's not like me at all, but good rentals have been so hard to sort out that I don't feel as if I have any other choice. We could, of course, go with a broker..... but I do not want to shell out few thousand dollars for someone to make a few phone calls.... that, to me, is just as bad as being scammed out of a few thousand dollars .... worse actually. At least with my plan, there is the possibility that it could all work out .... with a broker, the money is definitely down the tubes.

22. The keys have been passed on and she is on her way to the apartment right now. Success #1. In the apartment. Success #2.

23. OK so my daughter's eye roll wins. She is moved in to her apartment with some awesome young ladies. So, the big question remains..... Will I be this psycho with her next apartment...... YOU BET I WILL... and "I'm ok with that!"