APARTMENT HUNTING IN NYC | tips, locations, prices!

[Music] get ready to say goodbye to this background because i'm moving i'm obsessed with looking at near city apartments and finally it's my turn to get to move into a new one so i've lived at this current spot for two years now it's technically well i guess it's kind of my third apartment in new york i lived here for a summer i literally lived in a crawl space and a two-bedroom with six girls but that's the story for another time then i lived in a sublet in the east williamsburg that also was not good with a really weird roommate and i've been here which has been really lovely i am so excited to finally mix it up i actually have a video on my channel already that's all about apartment hunting especially in new york so if you want like the nitty gritty details check that out but i'll go over some of those basics again first off i'm excited to move well this has been a really lovely apartment and i've obviously milked the hell out of it when it comes to content it's just dark and it just feels small these days the current renter's market new york city is insane right now obviously because covet a ton of people have left the city and so prices have dropped drastically but i'm looking to stay in new york so i'm hoping to get a good deal [Music] so i'm moving with one roommate the other roommate is moving with her boyfriend so me and natalie living together and we're psyched we are looking for a two-bedroom two-ish bath ideally so i currently pay 18.50 for this space right now but because i'm spending a lot less money on like co-working space and travel and all this other stuff i used to spend more money on for work i'm gonna put a few extra hundred dollars towards my budget as a she so collectively our budget i would say is like anywhere from like 30 400 to like 4300 which i know sounds vast because we're willing to spend a little bit more if it's like an incredible spot especially if it's just for a one year lease or maybe a two year lease and then can always downsize again but with spending so much more time inside this next year this time around i'm willing to pay a little bit more as a she to get a nice spot so we're currently looking in lower manhattan so like the east village lowry side greenwich soho noho maybe even the west village so throughout this video i'm gonna go over some of the basics to think about when picking an apartment some of our non-negotiables things to look for as well show you all the apartments we looked at a little bit on my personal journey i'm obsessed with looking at new york city apartments every morning routine of mine since like august has incorporated looking at apartments on strazy which is kind of torturous my lease isn't up until mid to late february and so there's no reason of me looking except for the fact that i'm obsessed with gaining apartments as the apartment hunt actually got more to a time where i could seriously look so about four weeks out i started looking at everything on the internet on street easy specifically so one recommendation is to check daily and because i was checking daily for multiple weeks i knew every single listing in our budget in the areas i was interested in i could kind of tell if things were sitting on the market for a while if they're getting snatched up really quickly which is usually the case in new york city so just looking online a little bit advanced i think is super helpful to understand what apartments look like that are in your budget so we actually signed an apartment which i'm so excited about i'm gonna do a big reveal of like a huge empty apartment tour so let's go over a few basics to keep in mind when looking for apartments just to make your life a bit easier so first off is you kind of want to know what area you want to live in figure out your budget is figure out your non-negotiables when i moved to new york for the very first time i knew nothing about it i literally like asked a friend where i was like where should i live i had no idea what the difference was between like upper west side and like finale like they just it all meant the same to me and she was like oh probably williamsburg i think you'd like that and i found a sublet that was like basically a bushwick but in my head i was like i think that's williamsburg which it was not at all you know but i loved that sublet for several months and then when i lived there i was able to go and explore a ton of neighborhoods figure out what i actually liked where i actually wanted to like live with the signed lease which helped immensely so i do recommend that if you're super fresh to new york city kind of like had on my head things that were non-negotiable i have a north facing apartment which means i never ever get direct sunlight and my living room currently doesn't have any windows really so it's like dark and a little depressing so i wanted a south facing apartment with windows in the living room i wanted a room similar to this size if not bigger in a closet similar size ideally washer and dryer in unit the first two apartments i lived in new york i had to go to a laundromat this apartment is in the basement which is fine but it also gets expensive and it's really creepy down there just off the top i had other things that i looked out for was i didn't want to live on the first floor that's something to keep in mind and i also didn't want to live on like the sixth floor of a walk-up i wanted to make sure the windows were facing out onto the street because sometimes a room will look like it has a bunch of windows but it's just facing into an alleyway and it's super dark and doesn't get any light i also made sure to really actively look at like the closet space the square footage when that was available like all these things add up when you actually comes to living in that space so it's really important to look at all those details figure out the things you want and the things you don't want so places that i look for apartments again street easy is clutch that's where i go 99 of the time you're using street easy you can click on the exact neighborhoods you're looking at you can really filter your search as much as you want select no brokers free select washer and dryer unit obviously you said the amount of bedrooms you're looking at you know a lot of places that we were looking at i don't think i would have been able to afford pre-pandemic there's tons of deals and a lot of times what you'll see is either the rental price is lower or the apartment will list you know one month off two month off three months off so that means that it will list the net effective rate so you know it'll have like the base price of let's say like 3 800 and then all those two months off and then that will calculate out to the net effective rate obviously there are quite a few apartments that are sitting a lot longer in the market still things can go quickly if it's a good spot so it's very important to have your paperwork ready to go while you're doing your apartment hunt so if you find something you like you can send in that paperwork because it's still speedy out there so in our case the things we needed was like bank statements tax returns credit check employment letters so in my case i had my manager write me a letter in her case she had her agent write me a letter because we have non-traditional jobs eight recent pay stubs photo id so now that you know a little bit more about prepping for the hunt i'm gonna show you guys the apartments we looked at like i said i did a ton of online searching before actually going out there also just to be more coveted safe i didn't want to waste my time or you know be at risk by going to an apartment that i would have hated in person so for any apartment i was interested in i first asked and messaged like the broker and i was like hey can you send me a video tour which pretty much everyone is doing now um because of covid which i found super helpful in the past that wasn't always the case so i actually didn't end up seeing that many in person i only saw about four in person but i'm also going to include a few video tours of apartments that i've considered seeing in person just to give you guys some more apartment content so first up is an apartment that was on the edge of the east village and kind of noho area with the net effective price this one came at 3 000. so it's definitely like below our budget which is obviously great online the photos look pretty bright and airy so you know what let's check it out so the kitchen size is actually really big for the price point that it's at and they were going to install a washer and dryer which is a huge plus the bathroom obviously looks really ratchet but they're working on it at the moment once it's done it'll be a pretty standard bathroom i felt like the living room was a pretty nice size and had three windows which is definitely a plus and could fit like a nice couch and maybe a little breakfast nook but then when it came to the bedrooms i felt like the bedrooms were pretty small also i saw a night so it was really dark outside i couldn't really fit more than a queen but the closet size was big which was nice i felt like you'd get really good light in this apartment obviously again i'm sitting at night so you can't really tell here's the second bedroom also pretty small with definitely a tiny closet that you couldn't fit much in so while this was definitely a good deal for the price and again pre-panda make this would be a lot more but ultimately i felt like the rooms were just too small on this one i'm spending all my time inside usually just working at my little desk that's like two feet that way i'm gonna want a little bit more space and so it was a good first attempt but we felt like we could do better so next up is one that we actually really like the price point of this one was originally 3800 but they need one month off for 3 600. this one's in the east village and online it just looked like a great light when you walk in there's the front door and then there's like this lovely closet space is so helpful when it comes to storing luggage and whatnot and then the living room was so delightful like look at those wrap around windows are you kidding me the amount of nice lighting getting there is just so crazy it is north facing but i feel like with windows that big you'd get some really good light and obviously two has like the iconic brick the kitchen is decent sized and it actually has two bathrooms of this size when i love all that medicine cabinet storage space [Music] so this is the first bedroom here again huge windows you could definitely fit a nice queen size bed which is a plus and the closet is you know decent sized can't complain the second bedroom is a little bit bigger closet again is similarly sized and it has that extra bathroom back in here so me and my roommate were seriously considering applying to this one i would say the bedrooms are definitely smaller than what i currently have but that living room is a lot bigger with a lot more natural light and i can see myself putting a little work desk out there hello from editing me i almost forgot about this one on laurie's side but i want to show you guys this one was originally 3600 with one month off so 33.43 with the net effective first thing i noticed was how small the kitchen is which was immediate red flag there is a bathroom on the first floor as well as some extra closet space a nice bright living room area and then you have the first bedroom here which again is great light great windows as i keep saying in a really big closet which was a pleasant surprise so then you head upstairs to the top floor where there's a smallish bedroom it doesn't have a door leading up to the bedroom which i thought was kind of weird there is a bathroom up here which is definitely a plus and then the winning feature is this deck it's huge and has such a great view but despite having this great outdoor feature i feel like the size and the space the layout of the other parts of the apartment ultimately made it a no-go so i'm going to show you a few videos that were set by brokers so it's not exactly the best filming but still helpful if you like to see new york city apartments so this one was originally 3800 but had two and a half months free so i got it down to the net effective rate of 3 000. this one is also in the east village area it has a really bright living room very spacious you know space for a couch and even a little desk set up or table set up the kitchen also was quite spacious and larger than most new york city kitchens i'd argue so here's the first bath i really like the white black detailing of the tile so here you get the first bedroom nice windows as i will always comment on it has a nice additional closet in the living space which is a plus for sure and then i felt like this room was really spacious it has that huge closet in the back and it also has an additional bathroom that's similarly sized to the other one it was definitely a top contender especially for that price point and one of the things that was a downside of this is that there was no draw washer dryer in unit or in the building so we'd have to go to a laundromat it was also very far from any subway stop so when you're looking in the east village a lot of it is like kind of like a dead zone when it comes to subways if you're too far towards c or d and kind of those middle numbers of like six three seventh street a street et cetera those are kind of subway dead zones and to get to any subway stop it's like a 15 plus minute walk which again adds 15 minutes to any commute you're trying to make which does add up so that was kind of a downside so we were considering this one what next up is this beautiful one in the lower east side originally around 5000 again two months free so with two months free ends up being around like 41.60 a month so those months free really add up this one's definitely a top contender it's got that washer and dryer that beautiful natural light streaming in [Music] in a really big communal living space in this area that could fit like a really great hangout area work area eating area the whole deal i love too that it's two stories i feel so fancy having two stories in new york city and i feel like it's a great way to separate the space like if i'm working upstairs and natalie's singing downstairs [Music] so there's a bathroom downstairs a bathroom upstairs this bedroom has really good light and i love the sunlight i feel like that would add so much extra light just to brighten up the room [Music] and then the other bedroom is a pretty similar size with again really good lighting and good closet space so this one is another of like i'd say like the top three contenders the lower east side is a little bit less of that neighborhood feel as does like the east village or the west village it's definitely like a cool hit area and it was definitely one of my favorite places to like go out but i don't know if i necessarily would want to live somewhere that i'd go out in once going out as a thing if it ever is a thing again really a beautiful space for that price i thought this one was gorgeous i figured it was worth looking at least a few more just to see if i could find a slightly better location and then last but not least is the winner just before i go into it me and natalie are like so shocked that we're even allowed to live here when we did the tour and we were considering it we're like we're not far along enough in life to like be allowed to live in a space this nice so a lot of the clips i have are a little bit just kind of like chaotic and shaky and not that great i will have an empty apartment tour coming soon once i move in so it's basically two stories when you walk up so there's a extra closet for space on the first floor there's a bathroom and then the downstairs living room is just so spacious it has big bright windows there's space for a freaking dining room table which i never dreamed i would be able to live in in new york in manhattan this one is also two-story so you walk up a set of stairs and then that's where the two bedrooms and the other bathroom is the full bath so there's a half bath downstairs so one bedroom upstairs is smaller with a smaller closet but it has a really lovely little balcony where you can sit out and put a little chair and then the second bedroom is bigger closet is a little smaller but you know big enough bathroom upstairs i love it has this dark tiling it just feels very like chic luxe i guess and also has a washer and dryer in it as well there's so much space to actually like move and breathe and work and hang out similar to the other one in lower east side was lifts did at five thousand we figured we could try to negotiate so we ended up being like this place was crazy let's at least apply and see what they say but this one didn't have a broker's fee which sucked we ended up asking for two months free and so we sent that offer to the broker he's like okay yeah that sounds like a decent offer which we were like wait are you serious like he actually might accept our offer for like this apartment that's in such a great area and it's like looks like an apartment that should be like eight thousand dollars a month so we sent over all our paperwork that night we calculated it out and the inside of the burger's feet again getting two months off of the 5000 apartment calculated out net effective would be four thousand one hundred sixty six dollars a month which is obviously super expensive and a ton of money and again i know you could get so much more for that any other place in the u.s but i live in new york city and i love new york city i've definitely had a slow growth in my new york city apartments of what i can afford the next day we were approved which is crazy me and natalie were like jumping around freaking out we went into that apartment kind of being like i doubt we can never really afford this but like you know what screw it let's look it looks beautiful but then with the two months free it was totally within our budget i'm living in that apartment in like a few weeks which is crazier so i'm so psyched so that's the apartment i'm moving into the video clips are terrible so sorry i'll post a full apartment tour soon another incredible thing is that the owner is willing to leave a lot of the furniture and a lot of the furniture would be nice like weston green barrel so he might like leave the couch in the dining room table which will also save us thousands of dollars so that's been my apartment hunting as well as some tips for apartment hunting for yourself if you're trying to move new york city overjoyed and in love with the apartment i'm moving into and i cannot wait to open i'm super excited to get to live with one of my best new york friends again it's gonna be such a cute home like it's an actual home it's two stories like what in the world stay tuned for a lot more apartment content as usual thanks so much for watching until next time bye

Channel: Elena Taber

Views: 420,748

Rating: 4.9511056 out of 5

Keywords: nyc apartment hunting, finding a nyc apartment, how to find a nyc apartment, manhattan apartment, nyc apartment tour, nyc apartment prices, how to find an apartment, wear i live, manhattan apartment tour

Id: 7YRZi7gIl1I

Length: 17min 37sec (1057 seconds)

Published: Mon Feb 08 2021