Friday, November 11, 2011

So, what's it like to rent an apartment around here these days?


Yesterday, a reader told us about moving out of the newly purchased 86 E. Fourth St. The resident also noted the challenges of apartment hunting these days...

"Unfortunately, there is NOTHING out there right now. Most 2 bedrooms we saw are well over $3000/month ... A couple of the people that showed us places were commenting on how scarce apartments are, and how its the worst they've seen it in sometime. $3500 for a tiny place, with bedrooms that could barely fit a single bed? No thanks, you can take your 'high-end finishes' and shove them up your... well, you know.

I'll be looking for a new apartment soon enough one of these days... It has been more than 10 years since I've had to look...

The least-expensive apartment listed at Streeteasy now is $1,495 for a studio on East Ninth Street between First Avenue and Second Avenue ... In total, Streeteasy has 238 active listings — the median price is $2,900.

Here's a breakdown...


So, like the headline says... what's it like to rent an apartment around here these days? Anyone care to share his or her recent experiences of finding an apartment?

UPDATED: Curbed test drives six apartment rental websites here.

28 comments:

Anonymous said...

I've been wanting to move out of my 5th floor walkup forever now. its back to absurd market prices PLUS rates now. forget it.

Anonymous said...

the rent is too damn high!

Anonymous said...

After 26 years in NYC and 8 years in my last place in the LES, I thought I'd never fall victim to all the rumored landlord harassment/rent war shenanigans. But I found myself forced out of my little flat this year and had to go a-hunting. It's just impossible. $2500 for a 300 sq ft space in the E. Village or LES now, plus inevitable $150 application fees for each apartment you apply for (and the swarm of applicants fighting for even the vilest of places assures you'll be applying for many), plus the inevitable broker's fees now (of up to 2 or even 3 months rent), plus the first month's, last month's and security deposit you need just to file the paperwork...you need a loan just to slum it in the neighborhood these days. And you better be able to prove you make 40x the rent (which includes accountant-notarized tax records dating back 2-3 years, letters of employment stating salary history from your boss, and letters of personal recommendation from friends). 3 months of going through that very prolonged hell, and I just left to LA, where I have a 800 sq ft condo for $1500 flat (no fees, hardly a deposit, etc.) a month with a pool, a sauna, a gym that's within walking distance to so much to rival the E. Village of olde--cafes like Alt, performance spaces like Tonic, etc. And LA Weekly has such a healthy girth of listings of things to do that I suddenly remembered what the Village Voice USED to feel like every Tuesday. It's just not worth it anymore in NYC. Go west, young men (and women).

Anonymous said...

My bf just got a studio on St. Mark's & A for $1,900 through a broker. 3rd floor walk-up. And that seems like a steal! He WAS paying $2,500 for a one bedroom in the West Village. Now that's kooky. When he was hunting on his own, the places were very nice (one bedrooms) but at about $2,700. He had to pass on those big time.

Adam said...

When was the last time these people looked for an apartment? Anyone surprised that a two bedroom goes for well over $3000 has been living in a dreamworld for the last few years. In 2004, I moved into a two bedroom for 2,600... and that was a dream price in pre-Tischman Stuyvesant Town. Prices for a 2 bed in the village have been at 3,000 or more for at least 5 years.

If you honestly expect cheaper, you're going to have to hit a major walkup in a less desirable area of the east village or move to brooklyn.

Anonymous said...

So $2200 for my 2 bedroom off 3rd avenue is good?

esquared™ said...

"...a month with a pool, a sauna, a gym that's within walking distance to so much to rival the E. Village of olde--cafes like Alt, performance spaces like Tonic, etc. ... I suddenly remembered what the Village Voice USED to feel like every Tuesday..."

+1

westward ho!

Anonymous said...

I hear Jakobson is pretty cheap...

Anonymous said...

Good luck! I looked for about 6 mos. to find something decent in the EV. I moved to the UES and LOVE IT! HUGE pre-war apt with living, dining, and kitchen all separate and enormous! The EV was a great starter neighborhood for my move to NYC but I love my new apt. in the UES!

Anonymous said...

I read stories like this and think of how lucky I am to pay $1,700 for my one bedroom in the East Village. I snagged it in the late '90s, not that long ago. It's crazy how much rents have gone up since then. But I do wonder if even this "deal" is worth it when I read posts like the one above by the guy who is only paying $1,500 for what sounds like a beautiful apartment and neighborhood in sunny L.A.

Anonymous said...
This comment has been removed by a blog administrator.
Anonymous said...

Yes, I'm not sure how anyone finds this shocking.
But as soon as you leave the EV and start searching in grown up neighborhoods like Murray Hill and the UES, all kinds of stuff is available for much, MUCH less.
So many people who live in the EV seem to think there is nothing else to the city, it's either the EV or Brooklyn.
Well, the UES is a great neighborhood full of real grown ups and quiet streets and alot of old folks who remember the good old days.
Folks, the EV is long gone. Grow up and take a 10 minute train/bus ride to the best kept secret in Manhattan.
It's funny, some folks seem to think if they can't afford the EV, they have to move to Cali ???
You can easily find a $1500 apt. uptown.
For God's sake people, expand your horizons.

Anonymous said...

@ anon 3:21

Why are you reading an East Village-based blog then in you live in the UES?

EV Grieve said...

@anon 3:21

The last time I took a 10-minute M15 ride uptown, I got to 23rd Street.

abrod said...

Anon 3:21, "Expand your horizons" sounds kinda funny when you're exhorting people to look at the UES (about 5 miles from the East Village) rather than LA (about 2800 miles away). Sounds like their horizons are already way beyond yours! Just sayin'-

Anon 3:21 said...

Right... So I suggest people search for affordable apartments outside the EV after people complain that it's too expensive, and I get hit with 3 nasty responses, including one from EVgrieve.
EV- sorry I miscalculated travel time. Stay on the bus an extra 5 minutes and you're in Murray Hill. And 5 to 7 more minutes and you're in the UES.
And since I guess only those who reside in the EV are allowed to read this blog ? Grow up.
Everyone here wants to complain about the insane rents and the obvious disappearance of any real community in the EV, and then dump on the first person who nicely suggests you can find reasonable rents on the UES.
Ridiculous.

EV Grieve said...

@ anon 5:49

My comment was about the MTA, not you!

Anonymous said...

@ Anon 3:21: People are leaving the E. Village precisely BECAUSE it's becoming like the UES (bland, generic, full of sh*tty sports bars and buttoned-down bores). Why in the world would they run away from a newly born hell to a well broken-in one?

and @Adam: And the people aghast at the rent prices/conditions now are probably the ones that have been here longer than say, 2004. Believe it not you used to actually be able to see a FOR RENT sign in the E. Village, ask the super to see it and have keys in hand for little more than a security deposit (no brokers, no bullsh*t). If you were here long enough you'd see rents have more than doubled in most places in the past decade alone.

Bottom line: the high rents (when they weren't even as high as now) were justified when there was something to do when you walked out the door. Now everything with charm is closing, bricks are falling...and, yes, if you knew it as home and not merely as a moneyed long-term tourist...that is a sad thing.

Anonymous said...

I live down here so I don't have to live near the people who live on the Upper East Side, but they are down here more and more. I couldn't sleep last night because a girl who lives on East 88th Street was yakking her head off in front of the bar across the street from my building. Yes, she was speaking so loud I heard her say her address! There was a time when people like her wouldn't venture to the East Village. Now, they can't get enough of it. Sadly.

Jeremy said...

Murray Hill is considered a town for "grown ups"? I guess you do learn something new every day.

Anonymous said...

So the point is that the EV is unaffordable, and filled with douchebags and fratboys.
The UES is quite affordable, and not filled with douchebags and fratboys, contrary to what everyone here thinks. If anyone here thinks the UES is filled with fratboys and douchebags, you haven't spent much time there.
Far,far more loudmouthed, noisemaking corporate types live in the EV than the UES.
The UES is filled, for the most part, with old Jewish people, families, and rounded off by college students.
And the weekends are so quiet and uncrowded it shocks most longtime EV residents.
Folks complain about the noise and rent, and ignore quiet, inexpensive neighborhoods a couple of miles away.
Go figure.

Anonymous said...

the east village is full of people on weekends who live on the upper east side because there isn't anything to do there.

Anonymous said...

i paid $60 per month to live on 2nd ave & 5th st, 1968-70. had to walk up 5 flights. it was like 3 small rooms but not that small, & one closet size room which was actually for a closet- as it had a large wardrobe inside. it was rent controlled, market rate was about $90. (semi renovated, bad floors! tiny bath room). i was in school & didnt care. i could afford better but wanted the xtra cash. then i rented a tiny studio on e.61st off 2nd/3rd. think it was $120. per month, new construction. then a loft for like $300. in a funky building in chelsea. no thanks i got out fast!! then i had a gorgeous huge pre war, doorman, immaculate upper west side 1 bedroom for $320. (1971-73). the moral of the story is the more arty farty what ever, the more expensive it is. murrey hill is a great area. the UES on 2nd or 1st high 80s/90s is a mess. id go to spanish harlem before id go to the college bars on upper 1st. take my rents multiply by 10xs-15xs & there you have it: 2011! i never ever to fill an application, just once i gave an employment reference & they asked how much i earned. my father lied. no one was desperate those days. after the grand 1 bed on UW, i rented a much smaller 1 bed near by. $230. renovated townhouse (limestone) w/the highest ceilings ive seen! i saw like 4 places & this was the nicest for the same going rate. the agent took me in her car, & w.in one hour i had the lease. done. i feel sorry for people in new york today. dont put up w/it. when i was 20 i needed the EV. when i turned 22, i wanted something better (i was still in school). later i wanted more space & comfort. looks like there are options in new york.

bayou said...

@evgrieve re anon 5:49 -

if you have to explain it, it is not funny...

i thought it was funny. i live in the east village. correlation?

Anonymous said...

anon 4:38 pm. LOVE your story. where are you now? AND ... how much do you pay?

the ev has turned into a frat-haven. my next door neighbor at this moment is screaming, stomping, clapping at something sports on tv with his friends. last night same hollering and screaming on the streets. ah. gotta love it. ugh.

Anonymous said...

We just went through the rental process. After looking at what feels like hundreds of apartments, submitting tens of applications, and essentially making apartment-hunting a full-time job, we finally snagged a 2-BR for just under $2,500. We had been just about ready to give up and move to Queens when this place came through.

snuggle bunny said...

Waaaaaaahhhhhh, I might have to live someplace besides the EV bc NOTHING else can ever be cooool enough for meeeeeee! Get over it and just look someplace where you can live within your means. Moving to Bklyn or Queens--or god forbid the UES-- is not the worst thing that can ever happen to you. I think the worst thing is to consent to getting ass raped by greedy landlords and developers who are stripping down the integrity of what community still (barely) exists by even considering paying what they ask. And the brokers--2-3 months' commission? They should be shot, why is there no cap on their rate?

glamma said...

look for long term sublets and deal with other human beings instead of landlords and you will fare far better. power to the people! i hope this trend indicates a take-back of the real estate market, into the hands of residents and OUT of the hands of greedy landlords/deelopers/city agencies who seek nothing more than to plunder us all.