How to find an apartment in New York: a guide for beginners

Фото: Depositphotos

Newbies in New York can find on the Internet a lot of information about prices for rental housing in the city, in which areas it is more profitable to buy and in which to rent real estate.

But there are a few basic things that need to be considered when renting housing, a list of them gathered edition NY Curbed.

Price

Obviously, the cost of housing is a problem for most new residents of New York, since renting will most likely take a significant portion of your earnings. The general rule is that no more than a third of your annual income should be spent on housing costs, and in New York most landlords approve tenants whose gross annual income 40 times the amount of the monthly rent.

Understanding how much you can spend on housing can help you decide on which areas to focus on. New Yorkers newcomers may dream of Manhattan, but the average rental price in this area is now 3 500 dollars per month. Brooklyn and Queens are not much better; there the average rent is just over 2 800 dollars per month.

But there are more accessible areas.

Transport

Given the current urban metro crisis (MTA), you are likely to run into traffic problems, no matter which district you choose. But there are several options to find out the transport situation in the area you like before you settle there.

For example, the Straphangers portal publishes a State of the Subways report every year that evaluates the MTA metro lines for factors such as cleanliness, punctuality, and reliability.

It is also necessary to make a plan of your most frequent movements, assess the condition of the subway line, on which you will have to ride most often, or if you prefer to move by bicycle, then find out if there is an infrastructure in the area necessary for this.

Convenience

Most likely, you will want to rent an apartment in a place that is convenient for getting to the bank, shops, restaurants, laundry, and possibly your office. This is really the right decision: in New York, housing should be close to the workplace, and even closer to shops and restaurants.

The average time spent in transport depends on where you decide to live. WNYC has a convenient interactive map that will help you understand how much time you will need to get from point A to point B in areas of the city that you are considering renting.

Documents and information you need to search

The rental market in New York is changing very quickly. Good apartments go away in a few seconds, so as soon as you find an apartment that suits you, you should immediately apply.

But before you start submitting it, you need to prepare a package of documents:

• Photo ID: driver's license or passport;
• Letter of the availability of work on the letterhead. Make sure it shows your salary and the date you started your job. If you are going to study at a college or university, prepare a letter of acceptance to the institution;
• Copies of recent billing records and bank statements. Usually enough data of the last three months.
• A letter of recommendation from a previous homeowner. Depending on how popular your accommodation is, you may need other recommendations. So just in case, ask a couple of people from your personal or business life, if necessary, to give you a good recommendation to a potential landlord;
• Your tax returns for the past two years. If you work for yourself, you will definitely need them, perhaps along with a letter from your accountant.
• Credit rating check. She will most likely be ordered by the landlord, but it will not hurt you to do it yourself to make sure that there are no problems there.

If for some reason you do not have any of these financial documents, you better have a guarantor (perhaps a parent or guardian) who will pay the rent if you cannot.

After you have decided on the place and pass the check, the management company or the landlord will most likely be asked to fill out an application. To do this, you will need to have enough cash to cover the rent for the first and last month, as well as the security deposit (it is equal to the rent for one month). You may also have to pay a commission to the broker, although this will be pre-agreed.

The most important thing: prepare everything in advance, because just a few hours of postponement can lead to the fact that someone else who was better prepared will remove the apartment you like.

Read also on ForumDaily:

How to terminate the rental agreement without penalty

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