City Savvy: Moving in New York City

Is there anything more stressful than moving? Since I graduated from college, I’ve moved six times. That’s right, SIX! At this point I consider myself a moving pro, but I was a little in over my head when it came to moving in NYC. Everything here is just so…overwhelming. Have you ever looked at apartments for rent in New York? It’s a minefield, as is figuring out how to move your things once you find a place. But, after countless weeks of stress, my roommate, Tori, and I moved into our dream apartment! Here are my tips and tricks to having a seamless move in the city:

1. Try Loftey

I discovered Loftey on a Google search one day. I signed up for free to search the apartments on their site, but once I started looking more into the company I realized how amazing it was! Loftey does all the heavy lifting for you – i.e. they contact listings to have a showing and deal directly with the landlord/broker. You can either send them places you like online or lay it all in their hands to discover the best options for you once you’ve given them a price range, number of bedrooms, preferred area, etc. Loftey is a free broker that essentially gets paid on the back end so you don’t have to spend a dime. Our agent was amazing and I am so thankful that we had him to sort through all the fake apartment listings and eventually find us our dream place!

2. Learn to Compromise

Look, I live for baths. But you know what I don’t have in my new place? A bathtub. For a tub I would have had to walk up an additional three flights of stairs. Yeah…not worth it! What I learned through this whole apartment search was that there are certain things you have to let go in order to see the true beauty in a listing. While you may have this idea of “the perfect place” in your head, sometimes things are just unrealistic. We saw one place on our search near Grand Central that was so small the kitchen didn’t even have a stovetop! But, that one was all about ~location~ so it made sense why some people would be willing to live out of a closet. As long as you hold strong on a few things you really can't live without, you're bound to find the right place to fit your needs.

3. Be Prepared for a Broker Fee

The going rate for a broker fee in NYC is 15% of a year's rent. That is HIGH! And more than likely, especially if you're looking in a very desirable neighborhood, there will be a broker's fee associated with your apartment. However, as you browse you will see places listed as "no fee." But here's the catch -- a lot of the time no fee apartments are listed at a higher rent price than what they are really worth. Why? Well, since there is no broker's fee associated with the listing the landlord needs to make up that money somehow, so usually they'll add a couple hundred dollars onto the rent even though the space itself isn't worth that much. Or, they'll charge you a month's rent upfront as a "broker fee" but really it's just extra cash in their pocket. In the long run, you're better off just paying that broker's fee up front and not getting ripped off on your rent!

4. For Movers, Look on Groupon

Once we found our dream apartment, the next step was figuring out how to move all our things. I don't drive in Denver, nonetheless in NEW YORK CITY, so for me renting a truck was not an option. I started browsing Groupon and discovered a company that would give me a truck and two guys for two hours for $200! That saved me so much money, especially since I didn't have that many things to move.

5. Google your Landlord/Management Company

This was a mistake I made at my first apartment in the city. After a not-so-pleasant interaction regarding a broken air conditioner, I decided to Google my landlord and found some awful reviews about how poorly maintained his building properties were (one woman said there was vomit in her stairwell for over a week!). Lesson learned, that's for sure! So after we initially saw our current place I made sure to run a quick search but thankfully didn't find anything negative. With how crazy the market is here, you never know who you're signing your checks to so it's always important to do a little research beforehand, especially if the management company has a bad reputation. 

I hope you can utilize these tips if you're apartment hunting in the city. Let me know any of your tips in the comments below!