Need Help for Housing in NYC

[YYe]

Hi guys-

I was admitted to Baruch a few days ago and now I am looking for an apartment/studio/room in NY. I have read the threads created by others (Living in NY by sak, renting a flat in NY by MaciejT, etc..)

I am considering a couple of options and places to live in NYC together with some questions. I figure I will just post all of them here and ask for your opinions. Any suggestions will be greatly appreciated!

My budget is $1500 max. I am trying to gather as much information as I can at this time.

Questions:

1. From what I read on the threads I want to find a place in Elmhurst, Astoria, or Midtown. I was looking at Craiglist to get an idea of the prices. So if I was going to stay close to school (midtown), I definitely need to get a suitemate to share a 2 bedroom apartment with me. If I was going to stay in Elmhurst or Astoria, I think either way of living by myself or finding a roommate will be fine to me.

Can anyone share with me what your choice is? Do you live with your classmate? Do you think it would be helpful to live with your classmate so that you can discuss the problems and job stuff? Or do you think living alone is a better choice?

2. If I am going to live by myself, I may also simply lease a room (share bathroom and kitchen with someone I dont know). Did/Do anyone choose this option? What do you think? It is for long term (1-year) or just a couple of weeks while you are looking for a place?

3. What do you think of the safety of Elmhurst/Astoria/Midtown, especially getting back by MTA at night after class? (for ex, 11 pm) And..which parts of the areas are good places to live and which parts should be avoided?

4. I have found several good websites for rental resources. Any comments on anyone of them? Such as reliability, life span of a recent post...

www.newyork.craiglist.com (everyone knows this)
www.streeteasy.com/nyc/rental (I think this is a very good one since I can find more )
www.studenthousing.org (actually I like this one because the options on it seem to be great. Has any body tried this one and could give me some insights about it?)
www.classifieds.worldjournal.com (Chinese website.)



A bit intro of myself:

I am a Chinese/Cantonese student studying at Emory now. Easy going, respect my roommates, like to play badminton, tennis, I workout (a bit, mostly pullups now since I'm too busy), play video games sometimes if you have the gear. I'm not a clean freak but I don't like my apt to be too messy. (at least vacuum once a month..throw trash so that they don't pile up..)

Now I am living in a 4-bedroom apartment with my friends (two Americans and one Chinese kid). So don't need to worry about my life style and language problems since I have been here for 3 yrs and I think I can get well alone with YOU! I like to chill when I have nothing too important to do but I can also be extremely quiet when I am studying/busy.

Hit me a conversation if you want to share an apartment with me or something

By the way, has anyone tried the Towers at Baruch Bollege? Do you have any more advices for staying in NYC? Is it possible for me to find a lease which starts around Jun.10 at this time?

Sorry for the extremely long thread....THANKS A LOTTT!!

 

[Andy Nguyen]

To get good idea on each neighborhood, I suggest http://www.city-data.com/forum/new-york-city/

 

[Yike Lu]

You can work your way into Manhattan with that budget. With a roommate it gets better from that.

 

[YYe]

Thank you Andy Nguyen for the link!

How far into the upper Manhattan do you think is safe for a student/in general? like 96 st?

 

[YYe]

You can work your way into Manhattan with that budget. With a roommate it gets better from that.

Yike Lu Thank you too! Would you mind telling me if you are living by yourself or if you have a roommate? What about your classmates? Coz I know you are a Baruch student .

Actually when I was looking up the info from craiglist it seems that for 1500 I can only get a room, not even a small studio unless I expand my search to upper Manhattan. Is that so?

 

[bullion]

Maybe Andy Nguyen can open a sticky thread that helps people look for roommates by each school given the large volume of oversea students we have? MFE isn't the easiest thing to study for and it helps to have like-minded people together especially if you do projects / recruiting events together.

 

[bullion]

YYe I lived in that area for a while when I worked in the city. If you just want to find a room, you can do it easily under $600 a month in Flushing if you look Asian. Your land lady likely won't speak English though. If you read Chinese, you can go to the bulletin boards in supermarket and check out postings there. People rent individual rooms and you can get pretty good deals if you shop around a bit.

1) Astoria, Elmhurst, or all the way out to Flushing isn't that different. Flushing is like the new Chinatown, so it has a lot more food and stuff to do. But you need to take the train for all three, so it's just a matter of how long you stay on the train (providing you get on the train...) If you live in midtown, 1500 may not cover it (not including food). You most likely need a roommate.

2) Especially if you're from out of town, living with people around your age really helps. If you manage to find another student from another major, you can break into the social scene a lot faster. Lease is generally required for midtown and more upscale apartments, but it shouldn't be a problem since most programs have summer terms starting June. Flushing ones are mostly short-term.

3) Guys generally don't have to worry. There are plenty of lone girls on the street to rob. Every once in a while your meet a drunkard or beggar. As long as you don't be a jackass and provoke them, they aren't there to cause a scene and won't bother you.

4) My buddy runs a site call renthop (shameless plug). But the cheapest is going down to the supermarkets in Flushing and looking at their bullentin board. I think NYU students have a Asian student network of sort where they look for roommates as well. I will say move to Midtown when you're making real money after graduation. Given the current economy, you will want to save as much as you can.

Generally speaking, the quality of living in the city is obviously "better" but at a pretty steep cost. Most young people (I know) who live in the city seem to either live with parent's money or paycheck to paycheck. I personally won't feel comfortable unless I make over 150k a year (which isn't happening anytime soon.) Living in the city only helps if you like going to bars and meeting with girls (that's like the only upside I can agree with).

On the other hand, there are also certain buildings near the banks where a lot of analysts / associates live because they are the bottom of the food chain and need to be in the office all the time. Around Dec / June, you can find a whole lounge of people studying for the CFA. So if you're the social type, then find someone to live in a studio with you and just live poor for a year. You're there to get an education, and you can save money AND meet many cool people.

 

[Yike Lu]

Just to clarify, I assumed rent budget of 1500. I am done with MFE at this point and have a roommate, and probably am going to move out to my own place, so sorry on that front.

However, my current apartment is a 2BR @ $2300/month in Upper East Side (77 ish). I feel fairly comfortable here for a fair amount less than what bullion mentions, although I am not a big spender generally (monthly expenses including rent run around 2000-3000 for me).

 

[snipez]

Real men live in LES or Alphabet City C and D. Actually thanks to gentrification both places are pretty safe. Not bad if you like low rent.

 

[bullion]

Yike Lu Yeah. I say 150k because I was taught to keep my rent less than 30% of my salary. So 2300*12/(150000*0.65) is 28%. Add in your MTA pass and social costs (networking, food, etc), they do add up.

 

[Yike Lu]

Right, but the number I cite is for the combined rent of 2 people. I actually pay ~1100, so my total expenses add up to about 30%. Interesting benchmark though, never heard of that but it does seem to mesh with my experience.

 

[YYe]

Wow thank you so so so much for your thorough response bullion!

I can see you are recommending Flushing to me as a place to live & save $$. I was touring in NYC and staying in Flushing last last winter and it seemed that going from Flushing to Manhattan takes a long long time..almost from one end to the other (40+ min at least). Like what you mentioned, its just a matter of how long I stay on the train everyday. But...is it worthy to spend so much time commuting? Does that mean one has to at least do something on the train like hw, reading, studying...

Lease is generally required for midtown and more upscale apartments, but it shouldn't be a problem since most programs have summer terms starting June. Flushing ones are mostly short-term.

So is now too late or still early or the proper time to look for an apartment? Also, I know that to sign a least I need to go through credit checks, normally is it better to print out and bring the credit report myself or let the landlord to request the check? (on Craiglist people are stating that they will do a check and ask you for ~$65).

Guys generally don't have to worry. There are plenty of lone girls on the street to rob. Every once in a while your meet a drunkard or beggar. As long as you don't be a jackass and provoke them, they aren't there to cause a scene and won't bother you.

Haha guess I need to get buff to scare them off What I should do if they accidentally start approaching me? Run? By the way, do I have to prepare two wallets in case I get mugged? (I remembered someone mentioned this long ago..)

I will say move to Midtown when you're making real money after graduation. Given the current economy, you will want to save as much as you can.

like!

I'm not really a person of parties and bars and I have a girlfriend which makes meeting with other girls in bars not very possible and important to me. I am thinking about living in the city mainly because it is closer to the school and can save my commute times between places. How important do you think the distance is in consideration of deciding between midtown and, somewhere in Queens, like Elmhurst?

Thanks again!

 

[YYe]

Just to clarify, I assumed rent budget of 1500. I am done with MFE at this point and have a roommate, and probably am going to move out to my own place, so sorry on that front.

However, my current apartment is a 2BR @ $2300/month in Upper East Side (77 ish). I feel fairly comfortable here for a fair amount less than what bullion mentions, although I am not a big spender generally (monthly expenses including rent run around 2000-3000 for me).

Well thank you Yike Lu! Would you mind telling me where did you find your roommate and which website do you find your apartment(s)? Are the links I mentioned worth looking into?

 

[YYe]

Real men live in LES or Alphabet City C and D. Actually thanks to gentrification both places are pretty safe. Not bad if you like low rent.

Yes I like low rents if the place is safe and convenient and I think everybody will like it rite?

 

[Andy Nguyen]

Real men live in LES or Alphabet City C and D. Actually thanks to gentrification both places are pretty safe. Not bad if you like low rent.

Real men live in the outer boroughs like the Bronx where you can get a full one bedroom apt for 1200 and a trip to Union Square takes 45 minutes.

 

[Shantanu Kumar]

Real men

 

[snipez]

Yes I like low rents if the place is safe and convenient and I think everybody will like it rite?

Heh this was sort of tongue in cheek, but I do have a 2 BR for 1800 just north of LES. There's no living room but my flatmate and I don't particularly care. 20 min walking distance to NYU, 20 min walk to F train + ride up to midtown, 20 min walk to J train + ride down to Broad Street, 30 min to 200 W Street.

 

[mfegrad]

Heh this was sort of tongue in cheek, but I do have a 2 BR for 1800 just north of LES. There's no living room but my flatmate and I don't particularly care.

sounds like a converted 1br, not a true 2br.

 

[bullion]

...going from Flushing to Manhattan takes a long long time..almost from one end to the other (40+ min at least)...is it worthy to spend so much time commuting? Does that mean one has to at least do something on the train like hw, reading, studying...I am thinking about living in the city mainly because it is closer to the school and can save my commute times between places. How important do you think the distance is in consideration of deciding between midtown and, somewhere in Queens, like Elmhurst?

Really depends on your career projection and standard of living. I'm just not the type who's comfortable living beyond his means, and I'll probably finance most of my education through loans. If I have the money, however, I'll get a roommate and live near one of the banks.
Your status as a student is the golden period for fitting into the banks recruitment schedule since there aren't many point of entry. Senior members here might dispute this, but it pays off if you can make new friends who work on a desk and join them for an after-work beer as you listen to them whine about everything. I hate to propagate the stereotype, but people do bond better over alcohol.

I'm not really a person of parties and bars and I have a girlfriend which makes meeting with other girls in bars not very possible and important to me.

The party isn't about what you like, but whether people accept you as part of their social circles. Wall street is a very cutthroat place, and most people are very guarded and question your intentions every step along the way. People have acquaintances rather than friends. So unless you go for the extra mile and actually bond with them either with sports or drinks (or good old sincerity), no one will actually go out of their ways to bat for you comes along recruitment time.

 

[snipez]

sounds like a converted 1br, not a true 2br.

Now that you mention it my roommate's door entrance does look like a perfect place for a closet in a 1 BR :P