How to find a cheap apartment in Manhattan (or any other major city)

With the price of renting an apartment in New York City reaching all time astronomical heights...
Finding an affordable apartment or even a "cheap" apartment has become an almost formidable task! At the writing of this article, the average one bedroom apartment in Manhattan rents for about $2,500. per month. This may often include a broker's fee which can be as much as 15% of a full years rent, and the landlord may require 2 month's security down. Most broker's require that the renter earn 50 times the monthly rent. This would mean that the average renter should earn about $250,000.00 per year, or if it is a double income couple the income should be about 125k per person. I do not know many people that earn this kind of money. I think you'd have to be a model, successful working actor, president of a company, or vice president, have inherited an enormous trust fund, or maybe have a wonderfully generous relative. As a writer and an artist, I am not in one of those groups, and so, my gift to all of you who don't believe you should have to sacrifice eating in order to pay rent, I offer you the following methods for landing that cheap apartment in New York City.

What most people don't realize when first thinking about the idea of moving to Manhattan (or any of the outer boroughs) is that it can be as hard to land that new fantastic postage stamp pad as buying a house or nearly as costly as giving up your first born! New York Real Estate is tough and right now it seems everybody and their brother is out to rent an apartment in New York City. Gone are those golden Robert Moses days (everyone was moving out to Long Island and the boroughs due to his new super highway system) when aparments were easily had and available. The village no longer caters to the poor artist with Loft Space Apartments having rents climbing upwards to as much as $15,000 or $25,000 dollars per month (where many of the famous actress/actor/model types live).

The need for a method of finding an apartment for the average everyman (or woman) or just those who don't believe they should spend more than half of their household income on rent has never been more apparent. But never fear, I am here to steer you in to the right direction!

Difficulty: Moderately Challenging

Instructions:

Things You'll Need:
• Lcoation near the city of choice
• Perserverance
• Charm
• A good pair of sneakers or walking shoes
• check out my site: http://www.lrichardsmiraldi.com/ :)

Step 1

Expect a tiny kitchen!

The city can be daunting!
Okay, you're ready. You want to find the perfect space in NYC. Firstly, you must give up the idea that you can find an apartment the size of the fictional character, Monica Geller's on the sitcom "Friends" or Jerry Seinfeld's apartment on "Seinfeld." The fact of the matter is that very few people who aren't either, a. over the age of 80 and in a rent controlled apartment, or b. stinking rich, have apartments of that size or caliber. I think the writers are older and are probably remembering their days in Manhattan. But as I said earlier, those days are gone.

So now that we've determined that the apartment you may find for less than 1,000. a month (which is what I'd consider cheap), will be about 550 square feet. It could be more or less, but I think that if you settle for that number, you will be just find and have a more realistic goal in mind.

Okay Richard, you say, you are now ready to begin.

Finding an apartment requires 20% determination and 80% perspiration. What this means is that in order to find a cheap apartment it will require alot of "pounding the pavement" on your part. It takes work to get anything, but who was it that once said, "anything worth having is worth working for." So get ready to put on your running shoes because the task ahead, although not impossible, will require real work on your part.

Step 2

Leave your Pride at the door. Many of the things you will have to do will require you to swallow your pride.

That having been said, let's progress, shall we?

Step 3

Word of Mouth, or WofM. I'm sure you've heard of this before, but one of the best ways of finding out where a cheap apartment may be is by talking to everybody everywhere, and I mean everywhere.

I once found an apartment in the very tony Soho area by talking to a man I was renting a post office box from (it was a service). The old man I spoke to explained to me how he owned the building and how he'd rent me the one bedroom apartment above the store for 800. a month. He told me that the apartments around the corner were renting for 2,500. but that I seemed like a nice kid. (Never over estimate the boy/girl next door image if you can pull it off).

With word of mouth you need to make a lot of contacts. You start out by determining where you want to live. Once you know where you want to live you need to saturate that neighborhood like an April Shower. Now you ask, "How can this be done?" Well
first, you need to be living near NYC so that you can visit the neighborhood. There are many cheap Hostels, and room rentals outside of Manhattan. There are also any number of YMCA's/YWCA's that rent. This would just be "temporary housing" and further motivate you on your search.

Once you have determined the neighborhood, you need to make a list of public places where you can meet the people who live in those fabulous high rises or Brownstones. For word of mouth, chances are you will be looking at older buildings, possibly pre-war. I've another method if you're looking for modern, but listen - for a cheap apartment in New York, you may have to lower your expectations a little. Finding a doorman building apartment for less than $1,000. per month will be difficult. And if you want an elevator, you are further limiting yourself. The more flexible you can be about the space you inhabit, the better off you'll be. You probably can get the right address, you just might not have a humongous apartment..but since most of your friends will probably be meeting you in the lobby of your building, they need never know that your apartment is just big enough to fit your futon in! The lobby's of these places are usually rather grandiose.

Once you've made your list, go there. Now you're probably thinking, "List? What List?" Let me elaborate for you. By list I mean, Supermarkets, Synagogues, Churches, Outreach programs, etcetera. You need to get your apartment by means of "infiltration" like a Russian Spy from a James Bond movies. Let's just call it "Apartment Espionage."

Step 4

Walk around and look up. Very often you will see in the windows of any number of assorted buildings a sign "apartment for rent." These are usually put up by landlords and folks who generally don't want to pay to place an ad in the paper.

Doormen/Supers. Yet another way to find a great apartment in NYC for very little. I once had a friend just out of college who was living on Carmine Street in the village. Once again this neighborhood is so expensive, you could live a year in Wichita on one month's rent there. I asked him how he got the apartment. He told me that his boss, an editor at a local publishing house, had sent him to see the super. When he went to the super he gave the guy 1,000.00. The super than sublet an apartment to him -a nice studio with loft space bedroom - for 500.00 a month. True, it was probably an illegal sublet...but he got the place and has been living there happily for many years. The trick here is to not be afraid to talk to the doorman. If possible invite him for a coffee. Or maybe just say a nice "hello" to him everyday on the way to your volunteer work at the shelter/make a wish foundation/cancer society...etc. You can't put a price on this kind of know how...well maybe you can and for you it translates into thousands of dollars that could be put to other causes.

Step 5

The 80/20 rule. This is a very little known fact that any new building that goes up in NYC/Manhattan has to provide 20% apartments to those of moderate or lower income. This applies to rentals only. The way to get in on this is fairly simple. When you see a new building going up, write down the name of the management company on the billboard/sign (they all have them). Write them a letter and ask them about the 80/20 program. They will send you an application. Generally it goes by income, for example, 25K - 50K for a family of one (increases with family size) and varies for apartment size. You fill out the application and then it is picked "by lottery." If you are chosen, you will be invited for an initial interview. There are restrictions...for example, if you are going alone, they will give you a 30 year lease, but only you can live in the apartment. You may have guests, but not for more than 30 days. And your income must meet with their restrictions at the time you sign the lease. After that time you can earn as much as you like. I have a friend who lives on the upper east side. Her apartment rents for 4,000.00 per month. It is a full service luxury building with a pool on the roof and maids, doormen, and a sweeping drive. She only pays 472.00 per month! I'm not kidding. The problem is the lottery. I was chosen for an apartment at the Ruppert, but I was number 1,800. There were only 36 units. Eventually my name would've come up, but I'd have had to wait for everyone else to die or move out. You also have to resubmit a letter every six months to keep your name on the list.

Step 6

Trade magazines. Very often if you look in Magazines geared for actors/artists/musicians you will find sublets, or coffee houses where these folks meet. The nice thing about having actor friends is, sometimes they have a great apartment (more times than most) and than they get a part on a series in Los Angelos, or Hollywood...and then they have to scramble quickly to find someone to take over their apartment. Well, it's going to be someone they know, or they run an ad in one of these publications and they need someone fast. So very often they will rent the place to you for less than what they are paying merely for the convenience of having to fly out the next day. Of course you run the risk of losing the place if they lose the gig (whatever it is) but while you're there, oh the shear heaven of it.

Step 7

I hope I've been helpful to those of you who are looking. These methods have helped me many times to land that ever elusive flat and with any luck at all it will help you as well! Happy Hunting!

Step 8
If all else fails, you can always read my article on how to marry a millionaire..believe me, this wouldn't be the first time someone dated and/or married someone for an address! Helloooooo Hollywood! Good luck and get going!

Tips & Warnings

• Check out my site: http://www.lrichardsmiraldi.com/
• Be prepared to walk alot!
• Don't get discouraged.

• Beware of quick apartment find advertisements, they'll lead you nowhere and take your hard earned cash.

Resources

• Apartment Lotteries

• New York City Housing Development Corp.

• New York City Affordable Housing Resources

http://blog.stealestate.com/2010/08/does-this-man-hold-the-key-to-finding-cheap-apartments/