Top 10 mistakes made by Manhattan apartment renters!
So you've decided to rent an apartment in Manhattan. Congrats! Here are a few tips on making it a whole lot easier;
1. Preparation - Finding it and Getting it – which is harder? Yes, you will need paperwork. Yes, you will need certified funds. Yes you will need it fast! Each apartment is different and every Manhattan apartment owner has his own shtick of which hoop is important for an applicant to jump through in order to prove worthy of living in their coveted NYC apartment building. The basic requirements are similar. Proof of employment which includes length and income and if you do not qualify for the income requirements, you’ll need either extra security and a guarantor (same paperwork is required) for more on this topic visit this Manhattan apartment Rental Guide page.
2. Seeing (in person ONLY!) is believing! Truth in advertising seems harder to find than a sweet deal on an apartment in Manhattan. There are plenty of agents who compete in the Manhattan apartment rental market place while maintaining their integrity and following the law regarding truth in advertising. Is is also true that inventory changes so quickly that an active agent would have to spend half their day updating their advertisements for 100% accuracy. What else is true is that many agents don’t care enough and they will stretch the truth so aggressively that the apartment is no longer recognizable, the pictures displayed are a collage of the best photography available and the price is a distant relative of the original listing. This all leaves you with a frustrating user experience that can only be resolved by doing the leg work – your legs that is.
3. Know what moves you! Don't come up with the solutions - stick to the source, the dream, the want then let a pro find you the solution. "I need a safe building!" is very different than "Doorman, is a must!" Plenty of rental buildings are on very safe blocks and have video intercom systems etc. "I need a bright apartment" is very different that "I need open river and city views" a southern exposure 4th floor walkup can be brighter than a 24th floor, North Western view of the tip of the Chrysler Building and a piece of the River. "I need a local bar" is very different than "I want to be in Murray Hill" there are plenty of bars all over New York City– finding you an apartment near one of them should not been difficult. Once you lock yourself into Murray Hill, Gramercy, the West Village, Chelsea or the Upper West side you are now limiting your apartment search and the rental listing options that will be available to you.
4. Wants Vs. needs – know the difference! Everything affects size, availability and price. Here is an example, one of my favorites; "I need a view!". View was never an issue for you. While searching apartments you entered one that had a stunning view of the Manhattan Skyline. Now all of a sudden - you NEED a view! - Well, do you? same story, different amenity; "I want a gym with a pool in the building". You haven't been to your gym since you signed up in January and you hate what the chlorine does to your hair, but now you need a gym with a pool because the apartment you saw, and BTW, didn't like, had one...
Here's another, but this one has a few twists to it; "I NEED an extra room for…" here are 3 common options;
A. Baby. Need or want? Some parents will say NEED others will be ok till the kid is about 2yrs old.
B. Home office. Need or want? Well, do you work from home and NEED the space or do you just WANT a designated area for your laptop?
C. Guests. NEED = My annoying brother will stay with me on the weekends or Want - I like to have the option of inviting guests over (Guests that BTW will never leave and that by the time they do you’ll probably need therapy, not the extra space…)
Now, why is this an issue? Because one wrong word to a broker and that’s it, now they’ve taken what you said at face value. You said; view, pool and extra room - so now you need to spend $3,500 for a not so luxury Upper East Side apartment in a relatively basic rental building on York Avenue which happens to have a view and a pool, and you can't figure out why the broker is sooo off base and how they could be so excited about this overpriced dump...
5. Square footage – your arch nemesis! Ah, the favorite word of the “savvy” New York City apartment hunter: Square Feet or as often referred to as “SqFt” – this abbreviation is so much better than spelling the words out because it leaves you with a 4 letter word as so appropriate for this duo of words.
The truth is that most professional real estate agents could not correctly estimate the square footage of an apartment which could be the source of the often dramatic difference between the quoted SF of an apartment and the real living space available to you. But this is only one source of the discrepancy. Sheer exaggeration for the purpose of making an apartment sound bigger is not the only source either. Is most commercial leases the landlord reserves the right to re-measure the SF of the rented space and to actually change the rentable SF on the lease. WHAT?! Yes. How SF is calculated can include common areas like hallways, elevators, walls, columns, bathrooms and closets which most people do not realize or take into consideration when trying to figure out how much space they need. Stick to room dimensions using a reference point such as the first apartment you viewed rather than using an estimate or even as exact SF quote which can vary from building to building due to the variety of reasons mentioned above.
6. Split efforts = Splitting headache! Very few people decide on apartments by themselves. Roommates, partners, mothers /parents, girlfriends and just friends all take part in the decision making process. Here is the part to pay attention to. This is a process. If your decision making partner – whoever that may be, is not with you for the entire process, they will not know what you do when it’s time to make the decision. What will end up happening is that you bring them in to the process at a stage which is much more progres