how-to guide to finding a NYC apartment

Finding an apartment in NYC 🗽 can be exciting but also fast-moving, stressful, and complicated—from navigating broker fees to filtering hundreds of listings on StreetEasy, Zillow, & Leasebreak that sometimes get signed within 48h of getting listed 🤯

If you're apartment-hunting in NYC... here's my how-to guide!

I'm not an ~expert~, but I just went through the process from start to finish as a newbie, and this doc has everything I learned about:

👉 questions to ask
👉 docs you'll need
👉 how to tour apartments virtually vs. IRL
👉 how renters insurance, brokers fees, and guarantors work
👉 what I wish I'd known before I started looking

If you have any questions or things to add to this guide, DM me / comment below! I'd love to co-create this resource with you 🙏

Photo by Anthony Fomin on Unsplash

👀 Getting started

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• Figure out what you want

  • First up, what’s most important to you? What are your non negotiables vs. nice to haves? What’s your min & max budget?

  • What kind of lease are you looking for? (short vs. long-term)

  • Typically it’s hard to maximize across the trifecta of (1) location (2) amenities (3) price, especially in a place like NY. Most people in NY will tell you to optimize for location, location, location - but of course this is a really personal / financial decision that only you can make!

  • Figure out your top priorities (and in what order) so that you don’t waste anyone’s time (including your own) and so you can move swiftly with confidence when you find the right spot

  • Explore many different options online / IRL before you choose a spot, so you can really narrow down what you’re looking for, get a sense for how the market is valuing apartments / how fast things are moving, what’s actually most important to you (vs. what you think on paper sounds best), etc.

• Where to look

  • StreetEasy

  • Zillow

  • LeaseBreak

  • Roomi

  • Apartments.com

  • The websites of specific apartment buildings or management companies, e.g. Equity Apartments

  • FB marketplace

  • Text your friends

• Timing

  • Start looking ~1 month before you want to move

  • Keep in mind that the month / season when you’re apartment-hunting could impact avg rent price, demand, availability, and how fast apts are going on / off market, e.g.

    • There might be a big rush / spike in demand around Spring / start of the summer (May) where many interns, students, or visitors are looking for short-term summer sublets, which could increase prices

    • Prices are likely lower in the winter when everyone in NY is freezing / nobody wants to move in in the cold

• Have your documents ready so you can apply right away if you love a spot

  • Put them all in a google drive folder so it’s easy to link & send

  • What you’ll probably need:

    • Proof of employment and salary / income (consider sending something separate on your net worth)

    • 2 recent bank statements (typically apt owners want to see that you’re making 20-40x the monthly rent)

    • Credit score

    • Drivers’ license or passport

    • A few non-family reference letters (chatGPT can help you write these as well)

    • Renters insurance

      • Potentially mandatory, but no need to do anything now. Wait to see if you need this, and if you do, confirm the activation date so you’re not paying for coverage until your lease starts.

      • NerdWallet highly recommends StateFarm which is ~$10 per month

      • If it’s mandatory, make sure the insurance details align with any requirements that your property manager has set (e.g. at least $500K in X type of insurance or liability coverage)

  • Consider if you’ll need a guarantor to get approved (details below)

🙏 General learnings

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• Track your progress & process

  • Use a spreadsheet, gdoc, or Notion page to keep track of links, who you contacted and when, what the latest update is, rent price, etc.

• Things move fast, so…

  • Check StreetEasy every day, and try to catch good apartments that are listed THAT DAY, and reach out immediately. You want to be the first to demonstrate interest!

  • Set alerts for targeted searches (within your budget, in your top neighborhoods) on sites like StreetEasy, Zillow, LeaseBreak, and Apartments.com

  • Don’t assume an apartment is still available just because it’s still listed on a website - call / text and confirm

  • But… don’t rush into a lease or settle. If you keep going back and forth on a spot or are feeling pressure to say yes but still unsure, it’s probably a no. Wait until you feel so excited and confident that you can’t wait to move in, and it feels great to your core.

• Establish a personal relationship with the manager or owner to stand out in the process and get to know them as people

  • Call / text if you see their phone number listed online (always better than email)

  • Make your message personal & human. Introduce yourself! (Don’t just text, “hey is this available?”)

  • This is a two-way relationship - if you’re renting from a building or apartment owner, assess how they communicate and approach the relationship, and if they’ll be a good landlord

  • If you are truly ready to sign a lease, tell the owner explicitly that you’ve looked at a lot of apartments, and that this is your #1 choice. This says a lot more than just saying, “I’m interested.” You want them to know how interested.

• Random tips

  • Try to avoid bottom-floor apartments (rats, safety, privacy, noise) and living on a big major street

  • Some neighborhoods look & feel totally different, block by block. e.g. Don’t assume 13th street is like 14th street! Really zoom into exactly where you’ll be living.

  • If the listing doesn’t say there’s an elevator, ask how many floors you’d be walking up (and ask yourself how many floors you’re willing to walk up lol)

  • Gut-check your thoughts on various apartment listings with friends who live in NY. They might notice or know things that you don’t think of!