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Renting in NYC
Okay ladies, I have some questions about rentals in NY.
It seems as if the rental criteria is VERY strict, yet it also seems that students have no problems getting places?
I'm confused and at a loss.
One site I'm looking at says "The basic requirement is that you annually earn 40 to 50 times the amount of the monthly rent, and that you have a good credit rating."
Okay, I get that you need good credit, but 40 to 50 times the rent seems a little high.. ? Or is my math just messing with my brain?
Then it says "Many leases require a Guarantor." .. and I've read on some sites that the Guarantor needs to make even MORE money than you do.
is it really that strict or hard to get an apartment? My husband and I both make very good money and we know what we can and can not afford, but I worry since he'll be starting a new job when we move, and I'll have to find a new job a couple of months after he moves (I'm staying back on the west coast to finish up things) we'll have a hard time getting a place. Also, our credit isn't perfect, but it's not horrible either.. Are we going to have to get a guarantor? If so, we're screwed because as awful as this sounds, we're probably the most financially stable and well off people in both of our families!
Am I reading too much into these guidelines? Or are these more for students and the roommate type situation? Are we going to be stuck living in some cheap, run down apartment or an hour outside of the city just because of these outrageous guidelines?
Help!?
Re: Renting in NYC
What website(s) are you looking at for rentals? I tend to peruse Craigslist, just to see what's out there. But i am starting to see a bit more listings asking for amazing credit and that you make a certain amount a year and/or that you have a guarantor. I'm blaming the economy and the strict laws and procedures on eviction.
Cuz i'm also looking at the pics of the apartments that require all of this stuff and they're not knocking my socks off!! If i'm going to go thru all this trouble and paper work, i'm going to buy a house!
Sorry, mini rant.
Another great website to try is http://www.rapidnyc.com/. A lot of their listings have no brokers fees, which is great. But i don't know if they require anything like above. If you can afford a broker's fee (which range from 1 month's rent to 15% of a year's rent), try more high end websites like;
http://corcoran.com/
http://www.prudentialelliman.com/default.aspx
http://www.brownharrisstevens.com/nyc.aspx
But i would look thru Craigslist first and see if you can sift out the ones that require all that BS. Do you know what neighborhoods you're looking in?
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i agree with meg...if you can afford it, get a realtor. it saves a lot of the legwork. we actually bought our home through corcoran, and they were fantastic.
i know you're looking in park slope, and i'm looking on craigslist right now, and there's really nothing that looks too good for a decent price. i'm actually pretty shocked. that said, our old landlady is still looking for somebody to rent out our old place, which i can say is a really cute 2-br on the second floor. let me know if you want that info.
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For my first apartment (right out of college), I didn't have a job yet so I needed my mom to be my guarantor. They did a credit check on her and me, and I needed copies of her pay stub to prove she made at least 40x the monthly rent.
For my second apartment, I had a job but was only making $40,000.00 so I still needed a guarantor for my $1,800 a month apartment, so my DH (he was then my fiance) was my gurantor and again, they did credit checks on both of us and we needed a letter from our employers stating how much our salary was and how long we had been employed for.
My current apartment is owned by my in laws so luckily I didn't have to deal with any of that stuff this time around
But to answer your question, in my experience they did check your credit and confirmed how much you (or your guarantor) made to make sure you could afford the apartment. If your household income is 40x the amont of your monthly rent then you shouldn't need a guarantor. Every apartment/landlord/buidling, etc is different so I really can't say for sure if every apartment you look at will have these same guidlines, but they are pretty standard as far as I have experienced.
Good luck!
Omg, it's things like this that make me feel like SI is a whole different world. I've had landlords do a credit check, ask for a couple paystubs, and a reference from a previous landlord, that's it. Never realized how much they ask for otherwise.
Sorry I can't help, but GL in your search!
Yeah, looking on Craigslist, the pictures are all tiny, blurry, cropped odd, or the apartments are a WRECK..
Where is your old place? If it's near Park Slope/Prospect Heights, then yes, I'd love the info!
Thanks for the tip on Corcoran, I've browsed their website and it looks like nice stuff
We've mostly been checking our Craigslist, and then if there is a link to a different rental site on CL, then I check it out. The one that I was referring to last night was ... hmm, now I can't find it.. dangit. But my husband has also found quite a few CL ad's where the same strict criteria was mentioned. Ridiculous!
I did check out rapidnyc last night and sent an inquiry on one unit.. Hopefully they can maybe have some stuff for us to see when we're out there house hunting!
I'm not opposed to a fee, especially if it means we're not going to get screwed over by some shady landlord
I'll check out those links you posted 
Oh, we're mostly looking in the park slope/prospect heights/carroll gardens areas.
Thanks!!
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Hah, trust me, if I could convince DH to live somewhere OTHER than Park Slope/Prospect Heights, I would..
I definitely recommend using a broker. Sometimes you can even tell them "I am looking for an apartment with NO broker fee or a small broker fee." After using a broker I will never go back to not using one. They will usually only show you the apartments that are livable. When my husband and I didn't use ones we saw some very questionable places. They can also tell you about the building owners/landlords/etc, so that you don't end up in some sort of shady deal.
Unfortunately, the 40x rent is pretty standard. The only way to get around it is if you have a guarantor who makes 80x the rent and will sign to say that they will basically cover you if you can't make the payments. It might help to get a letter from your husband's new workplace saying how much his salary is going to be. Employers write these all the time and I am guessing that his salary is going to be a lot higher in NYC, which might help you. I have never heard of a place asking for 40x the rent PLUS a guarantor. It's usually one or the other.
It makes life a lot easier if you bring a lot of paperwork with you, including your tax documents; Letters saying you are employed or a letter or intent from your new employer, your last two bank statements. And be prepared to fork over 1-2 months rent in advance by money order or cash.
And make sure you read EVERYTHING in the contract before you sign it.
It seems overwhelming, but it will definitely be worth it. Good luck!
Thanks for the help! We just got back from our house hunting trip last night and put a deposit down on a place. We met with the landlord yesterday and she's going to go over our paperwork (with a fine toothed comb I'm sure) and let us know later this week. We still need to get a letter of reference from our landlord, but that shouldn't be a problem.
Keep your fingers crossed that she approves us!