viitav

Hey!

Myself (UKC) and my husband (USC) are currently in the process of getting my CR-1 visa..

Ideally looking to move by October.

Now I have a question - does anyone have any experience of looking for an apartment over there? We do not have a relative to stay with who has the room for us and our daughter so looking for something short term whilst we find the apartment we like.

Any suggestions would be appreciated!

Twinkle0927

For very short term there are hotels, extended stay hotels and AirBnB. Also Craigslist has a "sublets and temporary" section.

We were in a hotel and an AirBnB before we moved into our current place (had to leave the previous place in a hurry due to a flood and had nowhere else to go). No relatives here either so I can relate to that.

viitav

All the hotels i've seen are SO expensive when I look for a month or so.. I've seen some places on AirBnB which have been okay too. We expect the visa to be granted by mid Sept so looking to leave mid October.. When do you recommend to book? What kind of price range were you charged out of interest? Appreciate your response TY

Rete

Do you know where you are looking to live when you get here. Will you want to be residing in Manhattan or in one of the many boroughs of New York City, i.e. Queen's, Brooklyn, Bronx, Richmond, etc. or on Long Island or do you believe that you might like to live in the State of New Jersey or perhaps in Westchester County NY or even in the State of Connecticut with a commute?

Narrowing down where you will be looking to rent will help in determining where you might look for extended stay accommodations until you find a rental of your choosing.

viitav

We're looking to rent in East Harlem/Manhattan however Manhattan/Bronx/Harlem/Washington Heights works for the short term let.

My job is in Canal St and my husband works on grand concourse (159th) so we need to be able to commute to both quite easily.

Rete

There are lovely areas of the Bronx to look for rentals, i.e. Soundview and Country Club areas. But public transportation is not the best in that area as there is no ready subway and you will have to depend on bus service to get to the subway to take you down to Canal Street. I lived approximately 10 miles from the Grand Concourse and while there are the most wonderful hi-rise art deco buildings from the 20's that have been preserved and turned into cooperatives on the GC, it isn't really the safest place to live. Both Harlem and the Grand Concourse are undergoing a slow but stead rebirth and will one day be the place to live.

I don't know where to direct you to find bridge accommodations while you hunt for an apartment which would give you both easy access to your employment. Getting to Canal Street from Westchester or New Jersey or Connecticut would be a train and then a subway or bus from 42nd Street (Grand Central) or 34th Street from New Jersey Transit. Getting to Grand Concourse from Westchester would be by bus and/or subway or a combination of both.

Good luck.

viitav

Thanks Rete!

My husband is from South Bronx so is pretty clued up on what's safer. We want to be in Spanish Harlem and theres plenty of apartments on Zillow I just want to see them before I commit if that makes sense (photos can make places look huge when they aren't lol).

I guess it'll be an AirBNB job..

Twinkle0927

When we booked the AirBnB we specifically looked for one that did a long-stay discount. We found a cottage on someone's land that was separate from their home (so we weren't living in their home and we had our own space). It was tiny but we are only there a short while. We got it for around $45 a night once all the discounts had been applied. At the time, there was an offer on Groupon for AirBnB gift certificates at a reduced price so we bought those and paid for the place with the gift certificates to make a bigger saving.

For the hotel we stayed at the Marriott for $44 a night but that it is the airline employee rate.

rpjs

It seems to me you've already decided the 4/5/6 is the corridor to look along, given the locations of your workplaces. Just be aware that that line gets horrendously overcrowded at rush hour so consider that carefully. I used to take the 4/5/6 downtown from Grand Central Terminal but now I take the Shuttle to Times Square and then the N/Q (or R/W at a pinch). A bit longer but a much less stressful ride.

carcajou

Good plan. I had a friend who lived for a few years in Spanish Harlem and his apartment was the size of a shoebox. The owner put an artificial divider up in the living room so he could advertise it as a "two bedroom."

The NYC rental market is cut throat and you may have to put down an enormous deposit or year up front. If you find a place you like, jump on it right away, don't wait and assume it will be there a few days after.

NYer

Look at Riverdale which is right above the Bronx. It's lovely. Years ago I had a British friend who lived in a rental that was very nice. We used to picnic on Wave Hill.

NYer

Also, look at the online New York Times real estate section. It's excellent, will not gum up your computer the way Zillow does. You'll see dozens of rentals with 10 - 20 photos. Also consider the Upper East Side which has lower rents than a lot of Manhattan. That way a commute to Canal St. will be less onerous.

Rete

Riverdale is the Bronx ... it is a lovely place to live. A bit expensive if you want to live in the hi-rises which are mostly co-ops these days but there are quite lovely single and multiple family homes there as well. Also a very lively Irish population.

New Yorkers have a named certain areas of the Bronx different names, i.e. Parkchester, Woodlawn, Wakefield, Soundview, Riverdale, etc. You find the same in Manhattan with Washington Heights, SoHo, Little Italy, Chinatown, Yorkville, etc.

LouisB

Hey, we've just got our apartment after staying somewhere temporary. Different areas but still in NYC.

The temporary bit was airbnb

The rental was found by chance by a walk-in. No fee and not on the market yet, it came available just before our airbnb ran out. Serendipitous I guess but anyway, it worked out...

2 of us + cat. We sort of new the areas we'd be interested in, so when we found airbnb in that area seemed a great way to both check out the area + look. Worked out well. Not saying there wasn't a risk there, but sometime you have to jump in.

We still have zero furniture but hey, one step at a time...

I know little about the areas you mention, not ones we looked at ourselves but anyway wanted to say airbnb and perhaps open house / walk-ins are a nice way to find a no-fee place, perhaps ones not yet on the market 😄

NYer

Those are just called neighborhoods.