After I read that article, I poked around Craigslist for apartments in Manhattan. Damn. Lots of them that are very close to what I’m paying now, with no fee, and some close enough to walk to work. One of the things that I *don’t* like about where I live now is that, while I’m geographically closer to work than I was over in Kensington, the commute time is about the same because I have such a long walk/bus ride to the subway. So I spend an hour and a half to two hours daily commuting.
If I could get a place in Manhattan, I could cut that down to half an hour or less. I’d love to have an extra hour in my day to walk the dog, go to the gym, hang out with friends, do something crafty, or just relax. Or sleep later. And if I lived much closer to work, I might even be able to use a dogwalker only on the days when I have class, thereby saving some cash.
Not only are rents coming down, but a lot of landlords are paying the exorbitant broker fees (I saw lots of listings from brokers stating that there was no fee — which can run $12,000 or more — or that the fee was covered by the landlord) and they’re being a little more forgiving about credit. Which is less of an issue for me than it was last summer, since I’ve paid off most of my debts, certainly all the ones which I was behind on. But I’d been certain that I’d have to wait at least a year before making any kind of move in order to build up a good reputation again. Not anymore!
Other than the expense and hassle of moving, I don’t really see a downside to doing this. I don’t have a lease to break here; even if I sign a lease somewhere else and rents continue to fall, I can renegotiate or leave at the end of it; if I get a rent-stabilized place, that affords me some protection from increases; I’d get closer to work, which means I recapture time in my day; there are even 1 BRs in my price range, so I could put a door between me and the cats; I could afford Manhattan.
That article made me squee with joy. My lease is up at the end of March, and I wasn’t going to be able to afford to re-sign, wonderful as my apartment is. I’ve got a studio in Chelsea, right by 8th Ave, with a full kitchen, bath, utilities included, 25×25 garden with a storage shed and a lot of planted bulbs for the spring… and while I’ve got some savings, I’m looking for a job, and I just couldn’t guarantee I’d be able to scrounge up the 1800/mo in this job market, even with my parents being more able to help than many.
But I’ve paid every month on time, never had any bad experiences with the realtors (nor, more critically, they with me), so I’m hoping to go in with a “Gawrsh, I *want* to stay, but I really can’t afforrrrd it” bargaining strategy with my rent check this week, and see what happens. >:-}
zuzu–another great property website is:
http://hotpads.com/
…you enter the postal code, your parameters for how many rooms, how much rent (or buy vs. rent if that’s your thing) and you get a map with apartments in that postal code, which have pop-up windows with photos & comparisons to neighborhood prices (i.e., more or less than the neighborood average). It also links to the property website for more details /agent e-mail addys if you’re interested, etc. (I spend way too much lazy time on it checking out insanely high priced properties–a computer version of peeking in people’s windows to see what they’ve done with their living rooms–but I just did a quick search for NYC and there are plenty of deals as well).