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new to nyc. apartment hunting
Hi,
I am new to this board. I am moving to nyc in a few days and I was hoping to get some advice from all of you. My husband is currently living in manhattan but we are looking to move to a different apartment mid-May. I have already contacted a real estate company and the real estate agent told me that closer to the move-in date we will spend one day looking at all the apartments in the area we want/ in our price range and that should be enough.
I was wondering if this was typical for renting in manhattan. Do people run around on one day and decide on a place by the end of it or do you look over a few days and perhaps go back to some of the ones you liked before you make a decision? Also, since this real estate agent was assigned by the company and was not recommended by a friend or family, do you think it will be wise for me to contact agents from a few other companies as well to make sure I am getting a good deal ?
Lastly, do you guys have any recommendations for particular realtors or real estate companies? Any tips and tricks you might have about looking for and deciding on an apartment would be greatly appreciated.
Thanks.
Re: new to nyc. apartment hunting
It happens pretty fast- but it doesn't have to be that fast! it only takes one day if you see an apartment you want that day (in which case it is best to jump on it). The best approach is to work with multiple brokers to see as many places as possible. The other thing is that the market is a bit slow now, so things stay on the market a bit longer than they used to, at least in Brooklyn.
Stay away from ArdorNY. We just used Brown Harris Stevens. They have a lot of high end stuff, but we did find a great place in our budget and because they tend to do fancier stuff the broker we used was super professional. I have hated almost every broker I have ever worked with.
I really liked our broker - we used Cooper and Cooper. I truly think she earned her fee, but we were looking for a specific type of apartment on a specific budget and never would have found it on our own. http://www.coopercooper.com/
That said, there are many apartments out there for which you don't need a broker or agent, really. Any of the big managed buildings with leasing offices on site, you can just walk in on your own and have them show you apartments.
As for the timing...a month out is about right. Unless you want to take on a lease that starts earlier than your move in to hold the apartment.
You can definitely do it in a day if you have a good idea of what's important to you in an apartment and have a pretty narrow focus on the neighborhood.
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agreed with all the PPs--it happens quickly here. (i moved to NYC from PA several years ago, and was in a tailspin over how fast i had to move on a place if i liked it.)
i'd also recommend checking out craigslist. it's no guarantee, but if you're okay with exploring and know the parameters of the neighborhoods you're looking in, you may just find something amazing. that's how we found our place 5 years ago, and we've been here ever since!
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