NYC: A Guide to Renting in Manhattan

I wanted to do a post or somewhat of a guide on renting in New York City because everything I have learnt throughout the process from finding to securing an apartment, I wish I knew before moving over. I didn't think too much about it as I thought renting is pretty straight forward no matter what City you are in. You pay a security deposit, sign a lease and pay your rent each month. Right? Not in New York.

It is a well known fact that New York is one of, if not, the most expensive cities to live in. Before moving over I did do a bit of googling to check out what the apartments are like and what the rent is like. When I tell people back in Sydney how much rent is here in New York I generally get a very shocked reaction but I knew before moving over what we were getting ourselves into. What I didn't know is how hard the process is to secure an apartment, especially as a "foreigner".

There is a few good websites to use as a starting point and search around and find apartments that are available in the five boroughs of New York City (Manhattan, Brooklyn, Queens, The Bronx and Staten Island), Street Easy and Citi Habitats. These websites were a great for us to get a feel for what kind of apartments were available within our budget. Throughout the process I read stories all the time where people had moved to Manhattan and expected to rent a spacious and luxurious apartment for $1,500 a month in Soho or Greenwich Village, when the reality is they may be able to rent a room in a tiny shoebox size share apartment for that much in one of those areas.

We got in contact with some of the agents from the above mentioned websites and had a day where we walked all over the East Village area looking at shoebox after, shoebox trying to find which one we liked the most! We had heard about apartments having a "fee" or "no fee" and didn't completely understand it but it was half way through the day, after looking at about four shoeboxes and one decent size apartment that we learnt exactly what it meant. If it is a "fee" apartment, it means as the renter you have to pay the broker fee and if it is a "no fee" apartment it means the landlord will pay the broker fee (but generally they just hide it in the rent). The broker fee is generally 15% of a years rent, so for example; if you are looking to rent an apartment that is $4,000 per month, that comes to a total of $48,000 for the year and 15% of that works out to be $7,200. It's fair to say we were a little shocked when we found this out and from that point on we asked to view only "no fee" apartments.

On this one particular very hot day of walking all over the East Village (4.5 miles in total) we were taken to the last apartment viewing which the rent was a little more than what we had budgeted for but once we saw the apartment we were willing to stretch it. The place was great, nice and spacious, with a big modern kitchen and it's own private roof top deck, it was so New York! So we filled in an application and were advised that if we wanted the apartment taken off the market we will have to pay a months rent security deposit ($5000) and that if we were to be unsuccessful it would not be refunded. Thankfully we did not pay this!

When filling out an application a fair bit of paperwork is required to go with it, which is understandable:
- Two most recent pay stubs and/or letter of offer from employer
- Two most recent bank statements
- A copy of your tax returns from the past two years
- Photo I.D. (passport or US drivers license)

A payment of around $60-$75 per person is also required to run a credit check on each individual, which was our biggest issue; as we have only been in the US for a couple of months and are yet to build up any credit history. To be approved you are also required to earn in a year 40 times the monthly rent. Should you not earn 40 times the monthly rent or like us not have credit history, you are then required to have a guarantor. A guarantor can be a family member, which in most American's cases would be their parents (the guarantor must earn 80 times the monthly rent in a year) or there is a few companies that act as guarantor for you. A common and highly recommended guarantor company to use is Insurent but of course there is a fee that goes along with it. Generally it will cost one months rent to use a guarantor company like Insurent and in some special cases they may also ask for an extra one and half months rent security deposit which you will receive back once the lease is up.

In the case of this particular apartment we had applied for, to make up for not having any credit history, they wanted 12 months rent upfront! That's $60,000! We told them their dreaming!

We were back to square one. We looked at a few more places here and there and then decided to re-visit the idea of living in Brooklyn, hence my Brooklyn in a Day blog. And after our Whistle Stop trip to the UK we like the idea of having somewhere that isn't right in the middle of the hustle and bustle that is Manhattan City.

Two weeks from today I set out viewing apartments in Brooklyn and the way it works here, once you see one you like you must move quick, so the very next day I had applied for the apartment I viewed in Williamsburg, paid the security deposit and we were finally on our way to having our very own home in New York City. But not without a few more hurdles along the way, a lot stress and a few occasions where I thought it was pretty much impossible for us to rent here in this city. But I am very pleased to now be able to say we have signed the lease and pick the keys up in a day and I cannot wait to begin decorating!

We have already made the first of many trips to IKEA in Red Hook, Brooklyn and I can only imagine we will be regulars there over the next couple of weeks.

Now to lookout for my blog on styling our new apartment!

IKEA, Brooklyn