Housing info for international students

[Andy Nguyen]

For anyone interested.
My friends have very good luck finding housing on http://groups.yahoo.com/group/ftsany_list/ This is Taiwanese Student Association for tri-state area. You need to sign up to read and post housing listings. Most of the listings owners are Taiwanese students at NYU, Columbia and local colleges so you can get a bit of assurance. Still, you need to do your homework when finding housing.

Disclaimer: I have no info, guarantee, relation regarding these listings. These are random listings I found on the site that I think can be of some guidance.

From: "yinghsuan" <yinghsuan>
Date: Wed May 3, 2006 11:09 am
Subject: Room Available at Manhattan Mid-town West area

Room for rent
Available --Aug. 1, 2006
Rent--$1050/month
Nice location, near everything, (ACE, 123, NRQWFV trains within just
blocks) 24 hour doorman building, laundry at the same floor.

Please email back or Call Teresa @ 9173752061. thanks

Subject: [ One Big room in Elmhurst, Queens for rent ]
Location: 77th St. Elmhurst, Queens (On the intersection of 77th
Street and Broadway.)

Available Now
Rent: 580/month which already includes water, gas and electricity
expense

Transportation:
-Subway: 5 minute to subway station (EFGRV trains: Roosevelt Ave
Station..; 7 train: Broadway Station )
-Car: easy parking on the street.
-30 minutes to NYU or Baruch College. 40 minutes to Pace or Columbia
University.

Detailed Information about the house:
- A master bedroom that includes a private bathroom in a 3 bedroom
house, shared kitchen.
- Size of the room is 9' x 15' (9 feet times 15 feet) .
- Quiet, neat and safe area.
- Laundromat is just in the corner of street.
- 5 minute to Elmhurst two big supermarkets, HK supermarket, China
Town supermarket.
- Plenty of grocery stores, restaurants, pharmacy, hospital, coffee
shops and fresh fruit shops around.
- High Speed Internet Access (RoadRunner by TimeWarner)
- Share with three male roommates.
- Monthly fee: 580/month including water, gas and electricity.
- Other fee: Digital TV + Cable . Air Conditioner.
- One month deposit is required.

Photos and Map:
http://www.cs.nyu.edu/~cwh227/housing/housing.html

If you are interested, please contact:
Chine-wen Hsu
Email : smallsun at hotmail.com
Tel : 9178332890

Subject: looking for a long-term female roomate-grand ave
Long-term female roomates wanted

Location: Grand Ave, Queens (90-49, 53rd Ave)
Subway: 8 minutes to subway station(grand Ave)
Rental: $540 per month (water and heater included)
Utility: share electricity, gas, cable with another two roomates
($40)
Period: available from 5/22 (1 year preferred)
one month deposit required
Others: 6-8 minutes to Chinese supermarket, Queen's Mall(Macy's & JC
penny), Taget, Best buy
13 minutes to post office, Western supermarket

Please contact with
1. Nancy Kuo (landlord)
Cel: 1-917-838-5216 home:1-718-393-0266
nancykuo48@...
2. Ting
Cel: 646-508-8818
tingtingsho@...

One Room Available in a 2-Bedroom Apt for Rent $487
$ 487 monthly (gas, and internet included, but NOT INCLUDING ELECIRICITY)
-Available starting June 1st, 2006
-Location: Elmhurst, Queens.
7 min. walk to Grand Ave. subway stop(G, R, V )and 10 min. walk to
Elmhurst stop.
-CVS, supermarkets, laundry, restaurants, bakery, tea house, etc., all
close by
-You will be renting a private great size room with big windows facing
the back yard on the 1st floor of a house with.
You will share the kitchen and the bathroom with a Taiwanese
female profession.
-Looking for a quite, clean professional office worker (speak
Taiwanese is a plus) who has a 9-to-5 schedule
please e-mail your name and phone number to
nycswap@...

 

[jimmycc]

Just to give an idea about living expenses in NYC -


DSL - $20 per month
Cable TV - don't have it, so don't know
Electric - $30 per month
Cell phone - $30 - $40 per month depending on plan
Gas (most places include gas and heating in the rent) - $30 per month
Gasoline - $3 per gallon

 

[jimmycc]

Banking in NYC
---------------------

Banking here can be an experience. There are many, many hidden fees which banks will slap on you. For example, if your balance goes below a certain amt, a $10 fee is charged; another example is if you want a money order, it is a very hefty fee, etc. We also pay for checks (don't buy checks from the bank, buy them online from http://www.checksunlimited.com/)

In NYC, we have many options. We have Chase, Citibank, HSBC, Bank of America, etc.

We also have Bank of China and China Trust Bank.


------------------------------------------------------------

One important tip is so have an account balance that is greater than what is required to avoid fees. For North Fork Bank (which I use), that amt if $5,000. If the combined account balance in checking and savings is above $5,000, then I do not get penalized; otherwise, I get continuously charged.



Jimmy

 

[Peik Looi]

It is certainly good knowledge that we can buy checks online. Over here, we are a lot more conservative especially with the local banks. Also the utilities estimate would be useful when I negotiate the rents with the owners.

Thanks for the information.

 

[Andy Nguyen]

2 bedroom apartment available in the Bronx, August 1

FYI
=================
Large two-bedroom apartment in the Norwood section of the Bronx available.

The apartment is in a clean and well-maintained building of approximately 40 units. It is a two minute walk from the D train's last stop at 205th Street. The door-to-door commute from the apartment to the Grad Center (34th Street) is 45 minutes. It is a pleasant twenty minute walk to Lehman College, a little longer to the Bronx Botanical Garden. The neighborhood park with eight tennis courts, Sunday soccer games, and playgrounds galore for kids is five minutes away.

If you like to cook, you can take advantage of stores well-stocked with Mexican, South Asian, Caribbean, and Albanian foodstuffs, as well as traditional grocery stores and green grocers.

The apartment has two sunny and large bedrooms, four closets, a good size living/dining room and an eat-in kitchen. The building is quiet, as is the neighborhood. There is a laundry in the building, and the super is friendly and responsive.
We are currently paying $1,050 rent.

If you are interested or have any questions, you can contact me at the numbers below.

Thanks,
Rob Sauté
718 994-0520 hm
212 817-8789 wk
rsaute@gc.cuny.edu

 

[Eddie]

Hey Andy, it's really helpful that you list some 'filtered' listings here, I feel more comfortable choose one out of these as it's selected by a local with insightful knowledge, so could I trouble you to keep posting the ones you think are okay, sorry to add extra burden to you. :P
Cheers

 

[Andy Nguyen]

These are listings circulated among various PhD depts at my school. It's by graduate students and for graduate students so it's filtered somewhat. I'll forward whatever listing comes my way. Be sure to act fast. It's summer time and foreign graduate students are coming to the city to prepare for the Fall so the need for housing is very high.

 

[Andy Nguyen]

Here is the students' forum at my school. There are dozen of housing listings there. Be sure to check it out or post. Most of the locations are in Manhattan so the price is above average.

http://www.cunydsc.org/bulletinboard/viewforum.php?f=4

 

[Eddie]

Hey Andy, I'm going to make an application to 'International House' for the rooms there, do you have any advice for me on their services? :D
Cheers

 

[Andy Nguyen]

Hey Yang,
Did you take a look at this Baruch's info site http://zicklin.baruch.cuny.edu/admi...aneous-information/is-there-housing-on-campus

It seems International House is in Riverdale which you need to take a subway to get down to Baruch.

There is a housing in front of Baruch Campus (literally across the street) called Student housing. I don't know if they have a website..you can call and inquire. It's very convinient to live there...

There are several others...I look at their rates and it seems very student-friendly (in NYC anayway). If you don't do much cooking then it's a nice place to live.

 

[Uncle Max]

I've made some research recently. A room in Manhattan (not fancy one) will cost you about $550 - $700. You also can get a nice room in Brooklyn or Queens for about $400-$500, but it will take you about an hour to get to Baruch. Nevertheless, I found that studying in the train is not the worst thing in the World. Just make sure that you rent a room within walking distance to the train. Avoid buses! They are so slow, I had some experience with it before.

 

[alain]

Regarding studying on the train, I did a lot of studying on the train on my previous master and plan to do the same now. It's just a matter of getting used to it.

 

[Andy Nguyen]

just to be clear, when you guys talk about "train", it means New Jersey transit train or Path train right? :D
If you guys mean "subway", then I don't think it's a good place to study with lot of people moving and out of the subway cars, noise etc...
My subway line is the D line and I found it very good to take a nap. It's express and underground

 

[Uncle Max]

I'm talking about a subway. I get used to study there and found it more productive than studying at home

 

[alain]

I'm talking about any train. I used to take the A line to Far Rockaway long time ago and I did a lot of study there. The same with the LIRR and NJ Transit.

 

[Eddie]

Max wrote:

A room in Manhattan (not fancy one) will cost you about $550 - $700.

Hi Max: so where exactly have you looked? I've been looking at the Craigslist and I've never seen anything i that price range in Manhattan. Please inlighten... ...:smt115

 

[Uncle Max]

Craigslist usually has rooms in this price range. Not apartments, though. Put price limits in your search: for example $300-$550 and than click Manhattan. You will see some rooms. Anyway, it takes some time before you can find a good deal. And, of course, it's better to go and see a room in person before you rent it.

 

[Yusheng]

If you are Chinese, I think living in Flushing or Elmhurst(both of them belong to Queens) is a better choice. It's very convenient. Chinese supermarkets, Chinese restaurants, Chinese barber's store and so on. As far as I am concerned, I feel very comfortable to live such place. And the time spent in transit is not that long. It takes about 40-50 minutes(at most, 1 hour) from Elmhurst to Baruch College(door to door). If interested, Here is a useful link

Max wrote:

A room in Manhattan (not fancy one) will cost you about $550 - $700.

Hi Max: so where exactly have you looked? I've been looking at the Craigslist and I've never seen anything in that price range in Manhattan. Please inlighten... ... :idea:

 

[Peik Looi]

Hello,

Does anybody knows how to get to Baruch from 52-15 92nd Street, Elmhurst? I need help on how to get to the college. Any useful links to this area's amenities e.g banks (very important), supermarkets, etc. would be helpful too.

Also, any idea how much it would cost to take a cab from JFk to Elmhurst?

I heard over BBC that Queens is about to be designated a crisis area for power shortage? Gosh, now I understand why the renters/landlords emphasized on the windows. Then again, I could be mistaken.

My landlord just raised the rent by 50, and I have not even moved in ! Is inflation bad in NY or are they citing it as an excuse to raise prices?

 

[Uncle Max]

Also, any idea how much it would cost to take a cab from JFk to Elmhurst?

They have a flat rate $45 if I'm correct. This is for yellow cab. There are a lot of other people proposing to give you a ride at JFK, but you'd better stay with yellow cabs. It's safer and cheaper.

I heard over BBC that Queens is about to be designated a crisis area for power shortage?

It's not all Queens, it's just a small area over there, so most likely you are not going to be affected. And it does not happen often.

My landlord just raised the rent by 50, and I have not even moved in ! Is inflation bad in NY or are they citing it as an excuse to raise prices?

It's a very strange landlord. Something is not right there. I never heard of raising rent by 50%. Every year I fight with my landlord to not rise my rent and we are talking about 3%-7% raise. 50% is rip off.

Unfortunately I don't know Queens, so I cannot answer on your first question. I think Andy should know better that area.

When are you coming, by the way?