Nutmegger

I had a colleague with a teenage daughter who lived on Roosevelt Island. They were very happy there -- a nice apartment in a pleasant setting, with Manhattan literally on the doorstep. Of course, if you have a fear of heights, the tramway between the two islands might be a deal breaker!

Englishmum

Other places where you can find some great apartments at a lower cost than in Manhatten are in Weehawken and Hoboken, New Jersey, just across the River Hudson (and fantastic views of NYC too!). Hoboken is very lively, lots of restaurants and shops and PATH subway, ferries or bus service 126 to NYC

Here are some good tools:

Www.rome2rio.com

- it shows commuting options eg. Walking, buses, trains, subways, taxis etc. and prices of transportation. You can use this website for any location in the US and beyond.

www.padmapper.com - type in Hoboken or Weehawken and you will see where all the currently available apartments are, with maps, photos/streetview and whether or not fees are payable (if you use an agent/broker you will have to pay their fees)

Www.avaloncommunities.com (they have apartments in Manhatten and Hoboken...I think you can rent for short terms if preferred and I think most come fully furnished so it might be a good place to start off; they are probably used to tenants newly arriving in the US on visas so may be more amenable to those without a US credit rating as long as you can produce an employment contract and copies of your passports and visas. It may be worth sending them an e-mail to enquire.

Good Luck!

kateinbrooklyn

I have been through all this several times and I feel your pain. It really is not at all easy, regardless of where you live in New York City, but everybody does it and manages. I lived in Manhattan for 8 years, within walking distance of work, and I can definitely see the appeal. You will probably need to go through a broker who charges 15%. Inventory comes on the market very quickly, which works in your favor as you will most likely be able to move in within a couple of weeks if not before.

Look at Tudor City, Peter Cooper Village and Stuyvesant Town which are in the vicinity of midtown Manhattan. Kips Bay and Murray Hill are also residential areas which are walkable to Rockefeller Center.

Go for it. Living in Manhattan is a fantastic experience if you are a city person. Don't be put off by other posters! I now live in Brooklyn, 3 subway stops outside of Manhattan only because my other half couldn't bear to live in the city. I'd move back there in a heartbeat!

livinginnyc

First of all, working around that complex is awesome - I hope he gets access to the rooftop gardens!

We are in a similar situation to you right now and have been actively apartment hunting since December of last year. I suspect its been slightly easier for us, as we are at least in NY State so can view an area/appartment offline!

So far we've viewed properties in Hoboken, Weehawken, Jersey City and Long Island City.

Jersey City offers (as far as we've found so far) the most square footage for $ but whilst the city is 'up and coming', its not quite there yet. It's best suited for Lower Manhattan though rather than say midtown - but still accessible. Hoboken is way more built up and, whilst *has* stunning views of Manhattan doesn't mean *you'll* get stunning views of it. We found an awesome apartment there that had views of.... a brick wall.

We've started looking on the Upper East Side too, but I've not actually toured a property yet or spent a large chunk of time in the area to make comment.

Have you looked on sites like zillow.com?

H Bomb

We were in the same position as you 3 years ago. However, when we moved my wife's company paid for our accommodation for the first month while we found somewhere. That place was actually opposite Rockefeller (and cat friendly - we brought two with us)!

The majority of places want to credit check you and you won't have a credit history. So they will then try and get you to use Insurent - which is money down the drain.

Newer places that are trying to fill up their apartments are often more willing to accept expats and will take no notice of credit history and accept letters proving salary is 40 times rent (i.e. if you want a $3000/month apartment you need to prove annual income of $120k). They are also generally no fee which is good.

Be prepared for 1 month deposit, first month and last months rent too. So for $3000/month you will need to put down $9000 before moving in.

Like you - we wanted to live in Manhattan. However, we couldn't find anything that was suitable (especially with the limitations I mentioned above).

We ended up near Queensboro Plaza - on the border of Long Island City and Astoria. Has been a great place and you can be at Rockefeller (or anywhere in Manhattan) in no time at all.

Roosevelt Island is on the F which also goes down to Rockefeller - but I have to say it is pretty dead there. I play hockey there at the weekends and if the subway is down it is a pain to get to. There are virtually no stores on there and few places on Seamless deliver there. I have to say I would avoid - but some people love it there.

Astoria has a great vibe so check that out. I personally much prefer it over Brooklyn.

We are actually getting ready to move now - and is looking like we actually may move to Manhattan this time - going to look at a place near Herald Square this evening.


My advice would be bring as little with you as possible and stick all your possessions on a boat to turn up about 1 month after you arrive here.

Get an Air BnB for the first few weeks and look for somewhere when you get here.

Everything goes so quickly you really need to be here to look and get a feel for areas. You can view apartments in the evening. Or you can view and then shortlist ones for him to see and then view with him.

AlphaTangoMike

I'll add my 2 cents.

My wife and I lived on Roosevelt Island (in a Related building) for just over 4 years. We had amazing views of the East River, a fantastic rooftop, etc. When compared with other friends who lived in other neighborhoods, we clearly had a better deal.

If you have kids, you'll probably enjoy it more - there's a lot of family-friendly stuff going on all the time. It's green, open and peaceful and you'd be hard-pressed to find something similar in other neighborhoods that close to the action.

For the commute, it's a 20 min door to door commute to Rock Center. If the subway isn't running, you have the option of the tram (with amazing views) into 59th and 2nd avenue in a few minutes.

LindseyB

Thank you so much for the links, I'll take a look.

LindseyB

Thank you I'll take a look at all of those places. I'm grateful for your advice. I've not lived in a city, so I'm not sure if it's for me, but if I never do then I guess I'll never know!

LindseyB

Thank you so much, I appreciate your advice.

Good luck finding your next place

I think the more we look, the more we're sold on Queens. Things are still changing by the day at the moment though.

LindseyB

Thank you so much for the tips. We've been in touch with one rental place and they just want a letter confirming that we earn 40x the rent, so that's fine. We will avoid Insurent, thank you.

We're no longer sure that Roosevelt Island is for us. The more we look at Queens the more we like the look of it. We do need to visit though. Astoria looks and sounds really nice. I love the look of the park.

Good luck with your search, I hope you find something soon.

LindseyB

Thank you

We don't have kids and the more we look, the less keen we are on RI. We're liking the look of Astoria, Queens at the moment.

carcajou

To those of you mentioning New Jersey, yeah. Another friend (different than the one whose experience I posted earlier) went the other direction and moved to Connecticut, and commutes in every day. She spent a few years in a Manhattan shoebox, got tired of it, and loves the lower cost-of-living in CT even with the commute into Manhattan every day.

Cami123

My wife and I arrived in Boston last Friday - we had looked on zillow to get an idea what we could afford with our salaries but without getting too in love with places because we know that here, just like NYC the flats rent out in days if not hours.
We ended up getting 2 estate agents on one day, one in the morning and one in the afternoon showing us places and saw a lot in one very long day! 14 different buildings - some with more than one flat.
We moved from London and my commute was over an hour each way by tube and my wife's 45 minutes also by tube - our main aim was to cut down on that and I dreamed of being in a place with wooden floors. The very last place we saw on that day was just perfect for us and just about affordable - we can now walk/bus to work in 15 minutes. Here you also pay 3 months (first last and deposit) and an extra month broker's fee - that was a lot of money all at once. Plus the flat is unfurnished, so we will need to cough up a fair bit of money to furnish it even if we buy most stuff used.

We are staying in an airbnb - it was expensive but is worth it and definitely cheaper than a hotel, we can make our own meals and are saving money that way.

Overall I'd say the move was a little stressful knowing we only had a few days before starting work to find a place to live and with a lot of cost involved but really nowhere near as bad as I feared. Have fun and enjoy NYC!

Englishmum

Another place to look for apartments is the 'Craigslist' websites (eg. New York, or/and New Jersey). You can do a search for "no fee apartments". My friend rents out a small apartment in Jersey City (currently tenanted) and she always advertises on Craig's List as she doesn't want to pay the high realtor fees (just like in England the landlord and tenant both often have to pay the estate agency fees).

However, you need to be alert and wary of scams (you can google the scams to avoid them). Never pay anything by Western Union wire transfer - ever.

I know in the UK you can pay a small fee to the Land Registry to see if someone owns an apartment, rather than someone who doesn't own it and is trying to sublet it. I'm not sure if there is a way to find this out in the US? Maybe someone here knows?