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From AZ to NY, without a Broker
snorepez
Registered User regular
Registered User regular
I am moving to NY from AZ in January. I cannot afford a broker. So, what is the best way to look for an apartment in a different state? I'm not asking about where online should I look for an apartment (I have that covered: Craigslist, Village Voice, etc).
tldr; What should be my process for finding an apartment in another state, without using a broker?
tldr; What should be my process for finding an apartment in another state, without using a broker?
snorepez on
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Personally, I'd never rent a place sight-unseen.
One thing you can do is call up a Realtor like century 21 and ask them to send you a bunch of listings. The larger broker company's have listings they are trying to rent out for people and will give them to you for free.
They usually have lots of information and pictures and if you are interested the broker will usually go and take pictures for you and email them to you. Again this is free because it is a listing they are being paid to try and place someone in.
another thing and I don't know if this will work for you but you can have a friend that lives there check out a place if you are really interested. Have them take a video camera and just film the place and send it back to you.
Otherwise yeah it kind of sucks to take chances. Try and have a good idea of how much space you need. Pictures can be really deceiving. A 500 square foot place can be made to look big. And 2000 feet can look small on camera.
If you're bringing a backpack and a suitcase, you might be able to find a hostel until you find a place. Otherwise, do what Thanatos said.
Thanatos: Were you able to see all 20 apts during those two days? This seems advantageous to the renter, since they would all be, essentially, competing for your business and may offer a deal. Maybe?
Limp moose: This sounds perfect. Since Century 21 is a large place, does that mean there are 'private brokers'? If so, do only the 'private brokers' charge for listings? I was always under the impression there's only pay-for-hire brokers.
Also, side question: can any realtor, regardless of state of residence, look on a database for listings in another state? I ask, because I have a friend's Mother who is a realtor here in Arizona.
starlancerii: I'll be bringing 2 fair-sized boxes. I thought about staying at a hostel for a short period, and renting a small storage place for my boxes. But most hostels I've been in only allow for less than a week stay.
And you should never trust a realtor on this stuff. Their job is to get places rented, not to make sure you're happy with what you've got; the people with places to rent are paying them, and those are the people they're representing. Would you trust a used car salesman to pick out your car for you, and give you your price?
Most places won't even look at your application without a job and proven income right now. You may have some luck with a shorter-term sublet situation.
As for private broker vs non I don't really know.
When I moved to texas I called the century 21 office in the city I was moving to and asked them to email me listings for the area I was moving to. I got like 300+ listings which I then narrowed down by location size and price. Once I had about 20 left I asked them to send me pictures and from there I had about 4 I really liked. The day I arrived in town I toured all 4 and picked the one I wanted. This was all totally free of charge.
It was just easier than dealing with craigslist/whatever.
Kakodaimonos: I plan on moving to one of the boroughs in Brooklyn. Not entirely sure which one, yet. Do you live in the city or elsewhere? Any suggestions from you on the safest/least expensive borough would be great.
Thanatos: From what I understand of what you're saying, the realtor can easily misrepresent the apartment in pictures, so that I would accept it - thus, he/she getting the credit, while I get not exactly what I want. I'll take this into consideration.
At least where I live, the prospective tenant doesn't pay the real-estate agent, the prospective landlord does. Then again, when I lived in Boston, I had to pay one month's rent to a rental agent as a finder's fee. I'm not sure what the norm is in NYC, but you may find that a real-estate agent is the way to go.
Brooklyn is what is colloquially referred to as "the borough;" neighborhoods within Brooklyn are just neighborhoods.
With that out of the way, as has already been said, don't put money down on a place sight-unseen. I'd be wary of seeing pictures over a first-person jaunt. If it's possible, see if you can get a friend (if you have one in the area) to take a look at the place for you and get their opinion.
Your landlord is going to want to run a credit-check on you, most likely. Also, be prepared to have some evidence of your income available (usually pay stubs).
When you finally find a place in... (which neighborhood are you looking in again?), it's pretty standard to have to pay first and last month's rent, in addition to a security deposit, up front. Before you move anything in, be sure to photograph the apartment thoroughly, especially if something appears to be broken or damaged.
i moved from anaheim, ca two february's ago (year and a half or so) out to nyc...no place to live..knew nobody...only had a job
you're gonna have a very difficult time finding a place without going through a broker if this is your situation, renting an apartment in NYC is different than anywhere I've been because it's all gone very quickly and most of it requires a broker....to get one without a broker it seems like you need to be very flexible on your moving date and have a lot of time to do research because it takes a lot of time since most non brokered apartments are rented in the blink of an eye
i stayed at this low income apartment thing for a few weeks until the apartment i found opened up, i found that apartment after only being here a few days because i realized i had to jump on anything i saw that i remotely liked, if you have to think on a place it'll be gone before you get them your decision
good luck, it's a tough place if you can't afford a broker
Some thoughts (based on personal experience):
The apartments will be much smaller, and much more expensive than you're used to. There's no changing this. The average tiny 1br in Manhattan is >$2500. Outer boroughs are more reasonable, but they're also much more hit-or-miss quality wise.
You're lucky you're moving in January. No one wants to move at that time and you're not competing with new college students or new grads, so landlorts tend to be more reasonable.
Unless you're moving into the FAR FAR FAR Brooklyn, you'll need LOTS of money to get an apartment. The typical place requires that you make 40X the monthly rent, and if you don't you'll need a guarantor that makes 80X the monthly rent to co-sign the lease with you.
You'll typically need to pay loads of money up front. 1st month's rent, last month's rent, and security deposit. Most landlords/brokers will also charge you $50 for a credit check. Some nicer buildings will also require several hundred dollars as a returnable "moving deposit" just to make sure you or your movers don't mess up the halls or elevators.
While most brokers work on a fee structure (typically 15% of the annual rent), many also have listings that are no-fee (i.e. the fee is paid by the landlord). In hot times (end of summer) these are rare. In winter, you should have no problem getting a no-fee rental.
So your best bet is to just find a listing you like on Craigslist (the no-fee section), and contact the broker to set up an appointment. The broker will absolutely NOT send you addresses to prevent you bypassing him (just FYI).
The biggest issue with this strategy is you don't really know the area. Many parts of Brooklyn are beautiful and expensive. Some are hip, and less expensive. Others are just scary ghettos.
I actually worked at work on Saturday. Also I went out on a date with a real life girl.
Can you like, permanently break the forums?