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NYC 2013 housing (CMU/NYU/Columbia/Baruch/etc...)

wow

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1/23/11
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What are you guys doing for housing this fall/late summer? Anyone have any tips on decent apartments/rooms? Anyone want to group together and rent an apartment?
 
Some tips (I live in NYC). Message me if you need info.

I only know Manhattan so I will mainly give advice for Manhattan. From what I know, some parts of Queens and Brooklyn are now as expensive, or more expensive, than parts of Manhattan.

-Price of apartments correlate to neighborhood safety to some degree

-Generally there are several types of buildings in Manhattan.
1) Walkup: Usually low-rise (up to 6 stories), no elevator and no doorman. Usually no fancy amenities, cheapest type of apartment

2) Elevator Building: A building with an elevator. Usually has more features than a walkup. May or may not have a doorman.

3) White Glove/Luxury Building: Full service building with multiple elevators, usually mid to high-rise, has full-time doorman as well as other services (gym, valet, concierge, etc).

"Pre-war" apartments are buildings completed before WW2. They seem to be very popular due to their decor but I don't really like them. I prefer clean&modern.

-The good areas in Manhattan are expensive as hell. If you want to save money don't look for apartments in Chelsea, TriBeCa, Upper West Side/Upper East Side ("proper", some parts can be cheaper), or SoHo.

-For Columbia live in Morningside Heights or in the general Columbia area. Apartments are cheaper here than in most parts of the city. Maybe Columbia has some apartments set aside for students?

-For Baruch, I suggest Yorkville or Murray Hill. The 4/5/6 trains will take you to Baruch's doorstep and these areas have more affordable rentals than other parts of Manhattan

-For CMU there are a lot of options since the campus is at 55 Broad Street near multiple subway lines. The 1, 2, 3, N, R, J, 4, 5, trains are all close by, so most parts of Brooklyn are easily doable. Murray Hill to CMU is perhaps 20 minutes. Yorkville to CMU would probably be a 40 minute commute (of which about 10-15 minutes walking)

-NYC landlords have many requirements before they will lease. Most tenants are asked for financial documents and proof of income, government ID, tax documents, etc. If you're new to the country and don't have any credit history, or if you are a student, they may ask for many months of rent up front before they will lease you an apartment. I have heard of cases where people had to pay up to a full year in rent in advance. Sometimes you can get a guarantor (who needs to make 80X monthly rent in income) to be eligible for more apartments. There is also a service called Insurent which, for a fee, will act as guarantor for select buildings.

-If you use a broker, you need to pay the broker a commission, usually 15% of annual rent.
-Using a broker has advantages and disadvantages. Main advantage is that you get to see readily available apts, some of which may not be available through the landlord directly. Disadvantages - hefty commission.

-Best places to find apartments are Craigslist, ny bits, streeteasy.com
-Be careful on these websites; never pay money or agree to anything before you see the apartment for yourself and decide you want it. Verify the people you deal with (brokers, landlords) are legitimate. Also watch out for brokers listing in the "no fee" sections (usually BS)
 
Thanks wow to create this Thread. Grouping together to find an apartment is a good idea. I will enroll in NYU MathFin this Fall.
Shall we create a google spreadsheet so that everyone who want to group together can fill in their name,contact, budget and otehr info?
Btw, probably I will arrive NY in mid Agust. It's a bit trick to find a room while I'm still in Singapore.
 
Thanks wow to create this Thread. Grouping together to find an apartment is a good idea. I will enroll in NYU MathFin this Fall.
Shall we create a google spreadsheet so that everyone who want to group together can fill in their name,contact, budget and otehr info?
Btw, probably I will arrive NY in mid Agust. It's a bit trick to find a room while I'm still in Singapore.


That's a good idea, here's a link to an old google doc that was posted in the thread that AshokKumarMuthusamy posted. I've added a 2013 sheet that we can start filling out.

I think it would be great to live with a group of fellow quant students, hopefully this thing gains some traction!

https://docs.google.com/spreadsheet/ccc?key=0AjuLW8A1CGXjdE9oczdDclp2TjY4bTF3VzhJckxzVHc#gid=1
 
Is this thing still going on?


I think so? It seems as though it may not be that useful for me since I'm looking to spend a bit more, but there are a bunch in the sub 1000 range.
 
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