how soon should i start looking?
hi everyone, i will be in the market for a rental apartment in the summer(end of July/ mid-August)and need your advice on how soon i need to start looking. i live out-of-state and cannot visit the area too often, so i need to plan ahead. what would be the ideal timing to start looking and…
hi everyone, i will be in the market for a rental apartment in the summer(end of July/ mid-August)and need your advice on how soon i need to start looking. i live out-of-state and cannot visit the area too often, so i need to plan ahead. what would be the ideal timing to start looking and what is the latest…? one month? two weeks? i hope to do this myself without going through a broker…is a 2-4 week window enough? Many thanks for your comments.
I do not think you can find a place and tell them that you will move in in two months or more. Usually you find a place and agree to move in within a month. So you can find a place and be flexible with you move time.
Also if a place is on the markes for several months – what is the metter, why other people did not rent it out yet.
Summer is very busy time on market. I think you should be able find something within a month.
Give yourself a little over one month. You will definitely find the most listings clustered around the end and beginning of every month. So maybe start looking around the 15th or so.
Either go direct to an owner or use a long-time licensed broker with a storefront residence in the neighborhood you are looking. Beware of the many unlicensed brokers posing as owners on Craigslist. You have no protection and they can take your money and disappear, leaving you without an apartment.
Where are you looking to live and what are you looking for? I am in the middle of renovating a 2 family (two double duplexes, lower duplex with a garden on the ground floor, the upper duplex with roof access) that I was planning on living in but will now be unable to live in (because I need to move to DC). We are hoping to finish renovating in July/August and then rent it out. It’s in the north/western portion of Crown Heights on St Johns and Nostrand, near the Nostrand Ave subway. The neighborhood is getting better rapidly, and 3 blocks away from cute cafe/restaurants on Franklin Avenue. 20 minutes by walk from Prospect Park, etc.
More generally, I would advise that you start searching maybe 2 months before you plan on moving here. There will at least some openings available and it’ll give you more time given your schedule (and your infrequent visits to NYC). Also, you might find a really good deal that opens a little before you want to move, and be willing to shell out an additional half month of rent to get it. Over 2 months and you’re not going to be able to find much available. If you can stand wading through hundreds of postings on Craigslist, it’s your best option.
If you are coming from out of town I’d recommend using the broker websites to get an idea of what places look like for the money. I’m not saying use a broker to rent a place, but use their websites as a free resource to get an idea for yourself what apartments go for in certain conditions (walk up vs luxury, etc) in certain neighborhoods.
For finding a place with no broker Craigslist a month out is the way to go.
Turnaround time is pretty quick for NYC apartments. When I last moved in 2007, I started looking about 2 months before I wanted my lease to start no one even wanted to show me a place (they wanted someone to sign a lease beginning within 5 weeks at most).
Although some of the larger buildings will have vacancies sitting for a while (especially in this market), most smaller landlords will want to fill their apartments ASAP.
2-4 weeks should be enough if your price range and expectations match the market (i.e., if you want a 3 bedroom for $2000/mo in a good neighborhood, you won’t find it, but if you want a 1 bedroom for $2k you’ll find it pretty easily).
For an Aug 1/Aug 15 lease, I’d start looking the last week or so of June at the earliest and July 6th (after the holiday) at the latest. The period from July 6 to July 24 is probably when most of the activity for August 1st/15th leases will be taking place.
I’d start checking Craig’s list daily beginning in late May just to get a feel for pricing and to get familiar with the ads — after a while the bullshit broker ads are easy to spot and weed out from the stuff from legitimate owners (hint: the ads from the owners tend to be informative and straightforward and do not include bizarre capitalization). You’ll also see the same ads with the same pictures over and over again. Those are brokers as well.
Don’t know if this helps but when I have a tenant I know is moving out of an apartment I start looking for a new one about 6 weeks before the lease ends.
it really depends on whether you’ve figured out what neighborhood you wish to live in, your budget, what’s available for that budget, etc. if you need to start from scratch, you’ll need more than a month. if you already know where you want to live, know what you can get for your budget, etc, 1 month could be doable.