hoffage123

I was just wondering how other BE members managed to rent their first apartment/house with no/limited US credit history? Did you stick to private landlords, or did lettings agents allow you to pay a few months rent in advance?

In particular, anyone with experience in renting in NY state? Anything to watch out for?

Hoffage

notonuksoil

We have rented three different houses all through private landlords in NY State since 2003. The first property when we had no credit history we had to provide copies of visa, letter from employer, proof of income and they also ran credit checks on us. OH company paid the security deposit and also acted as a guarantor.

All houses were in the same area and about 30 minutes commute to NYC. We had to use a realtor to actually view the houses. Watch out for realtors trying to charge you ridiculous finders fees (we never paid any fees) we always go directly to the listing agent having researched the houses online. Do not sign any contracts realtors give you prior to showing you a rental property, it could tie you to them and even if you find a property with a different realtor they can claim a fee.

If you are looking for a property to rent in NYC its slightly different process to the burbs, you will have to sign up with an agent unless you try and use craigslist. Try and negotiate the fees as it should be the landlord that pays them but some try and get the tenants to pay a %

Bob

Plenty of threads on advice on this.

We've always had to put first/last + 1 months deposit down. In MA we've had to pay a realtor fee the landlord used at one place. Also had to pay for a few application fee's and credit checks, but also was able to explain that there was limited history.

Lbjen

Our first apartment was in a huge corporate owned development, my husbands employer co-signed until we could give our SSNs to get it put just in our name.

jaffy23

We went through a realtor who earned their 15% fee by negotiating as NYC is notoriously difficult (less than 2% unoccupancy). I had no credit record here and ended up paying 3 months rent in advance. Worked out well in the end and we're still in the same place.

Amber90

We rented our flat with my wife through private landlords in NY. It’s not so difficult as it seems to be. In fact, it’s very possible to find a nice apartment without established credit. If your parents can’t co-sign a lease for an apartment, you may also ask a trusted friend, family member or spouse to be a co-signer for an apartment. A co-signer becomes necessary when the person applying for the loan doesn’t have sufficient credit history, reliability or income to get the loan on his own. For example, people who have a history of defaulting on loan payments likely wouldn’t be approved; neither would a recent graduate who hasn’t had time to build credit. So find a co-signer who trusts you.

jaffy23

Only issue we found with co-signers was the income multiplier. We found that a lot of the rental buildings in NYC like to see 40x rent as your annual income, this is normally extended to 85x for guarantors. This required us to find someone (or two guarantors) earning $240k for the average NYC 1 bedroom. There is definitely room for negotiation though!

civilservant

40x!!!

Chrisdc

I tried to rent in a large apartment building in manhattan while on a visa. Building management asked for 3 months rent in advance plus two month's deposit. Total to move in - $15,000!!!

I ended up in a nice doorman building, but it was a condo building and I rented from a private landlord. Best of both worlds.

sherbert

I've read the threads and wiki on credit but I'm still confused. We've been here a month. We need to move out of our temporary airbnb apartment into something more permanent.

If we rent an apartment through a private landlord (because that's the only option when you have no credit history) we'll most likely be paying our own utilities ...but do you need credit history to sign up for utilities (electricity, internet ... TV I don't need) in the first place?

Sally Redux

You can pay a deposit.

sherbert

Pay a deposit for the utilities? Or for the rental (which I expected).

Sally Redux

Utilities.

Catmo

My husband's employer provider a letter showing his income to secure our rental flat. We paid a deposit, but you would pay that in the UK for a rental property and it was less than 1 month rent, so no problems there.

For gas and electricity we paid a deposit ($60 for gas and $150 for electricity I think) and apparently we will get them back after we've made one year of payments. That is coming up this month, so I will be keeping a close eye out for them!

phil77

Hello All,

We are going back home and need to rent our house in Westport CT (great place for families with kids at all ages!).

Where would be best places to publish our house for homeowners rentals? Seems the best is to get to the MLS but this requires me to go through an agent that I like to avoid.

Thanks for helping