I was wondering if there were people on here that have relocated to New York City. Me and my husband are moving to the city and I can%26#39;t seem to find any message boards on things to expect... answers to questions... etc.. We are moving to the city on a whim. Sounds stupid but it has always been my dream to live in NYC. We are concerned mostly about the rents... When I find an apartment on Craigslist... or on the NewYorkTimes apartments section, are there other fees involved besides the rent itself? I know, unless it states, that we will be responsible for utilities, but some of these places have doormen... fitness facilities... and I was wondering if you have to pay some sort of condo fee on top of your rent? We are looking at only renting for the first year or two to make sure this was a good move. We want to live in Manhattan... We are looking for a small (but nice) one bedroom apartment on the UES. We are also bringing our German Shepherd, Roger. Main questions are:
Fees etc for rentals (especially when the listing says ';no fees';)
Are there people you can pay to move all the furnishings into the apartment? If so... where do I look for these people/companies?
I have been to NYC many times, and I have noticed that there are many dogs in the city. What do people do with their dogs when they go to work? Are there many doggie day-cares in the city? The UES?
If there are any sites like this designed to help people with questions but in regard to moving to the city?
Thank you for any advice for this ';off topic'; question.
Anyone that has moved to NYC?
Why the UES? More importantly, where on the UES? The farther north and farther east you go the less expensive (this is all relative) it gets, but it%26#39;s still not cheap.
As for fees, being from out of town you really should get yourself a broker. They will charge you a fee, but this really is the best way to find a place. Many no fee places, charge a fee. It%26#39;s very hard to find a place in Manhattan without paying a broker%26#39;s fee, especially being from out of town where you can%26#39;t do the leg work yourself and don%26#39;t have friends who can help you out with openings in their building, etc. I would really suggest that you come here and work with a broker to find a place.
As for what you need, first you need a job here. Most places will demand to see your pay stub and want at least 40 times (many want 50 times) the monthly rent in annual income (e.g. $2,000 rent, you need to make at least $80,000 a year). Out of state work stubs may not cut it (you will at least need a local job offer with annual amount, at least I did, I moved here in the summer of 2004). Most places on the UES go for $2,000+ a month for a one bedroom.
As for the dog, yes many places allow you to have dogs but do you want a German Shepherd locked away in a small apartment. Yes, there are doggy day cares, but they are expensive. I%26#39;m not sure how much, but more than you think possible. If you want to bring a car, think at least $450 monthly to park it on the UES, maybe more (I don%26#39;t have a car, but I think that%26#39;s the going rate, lower end). I personally would advise selling the car
As for moving, I think you would need to contacvt a national mover to get your stuff from SLC to New York. Check the yellow pages.
Good Luck
Anyone that has moved to NYC?
It%26#39;s an extremely common (and smart) practise for people to sell their car and then use that money to cover the move to New York.
Will you be visiting before making the big move? If you attend several open houses in a weekend that are for ex, listed on craigslist, you may be able to broaden your opportunities to get a better idea of rent and size of an apt that is pet friendly.
You can also walk around the UES and look at buildings. Many are managed by management companies and some are no fee. Paying for a broker can be just a huge added expense. If you have a tight timeline, it may be the best bet but often, it is not if you have some time and patience.
For jobs, check out indeed.com
You could try calling up slattery moving.com A friend used them several years ago and was happy.
good luck!
Glad to have you! Hold on a sec....(ahem) Will you New Yorkers at the end there please move over to make room for these people!?!?!
Here are some other previous thereads that might be useful
tripadvisor.com/ShowTopic-g60763-i5-k925178-鈥?/a> Moving_to_NYC-
tripadvisor.com/ShowTopic-g60763-i5-k825118-鈥?/a> Moving_to_NYC_and_need_your_help-
tripadvisor.com/ShowTopic-g60763-i5-k825083-鈥?/a> Park_slope_versus_manhattan-
tripadvisor.com/ShowTopic-g60763-i5-k633050-鈥?/a> Fascinated_with_NYC_apartments_and_costs-
tripadvisor.com/ShowTopic-g60763-i5-k884644-鈥?/a> Sunnyside_Queens_mostly_conversation-
tripadvisor.com/ShowTopic-g60763-i5-k867387-鈥?/a> Forgive_the_silly_post_just_curious_why-
I%26#39;d also strongly reco looking for housing outside Manhattan. You get way more for your money.
Also, check out this fabulous website for more answers:
http://www.askanewyorker.com/
Good luck!
It is exciting in NYC and can be a dream come true. It%26#39;s great you have each other on this adventure, too. IMO you do need to fine tune your stuff just a bit so you have fewer expenses and things to worry about.
About the car...expensive to park, not used enough, very expensive insurance. As someone said, very common to %26#39;give up the car%26#39; as they say in NY. Hard to imagine in most other parts of the country. But I%26#39;ll tell you.... last..was it Valentine%26#39;s ..the big Valentine%26#39;s Blizzard I think it was called. Something like 24 inches of snow...blowing winds. Surely schools would be closed next day, right? No way. The subway was still running, schools could be walked to on the fairly quickly pretty cleared streets so, no, schools were still a go. All this to say...public transportation is really good and runs 24/7 and holidays. [Which sounds funny to NYers that are used to this but, yes, there are some cities that have ';hours'; for when their transport is working:)]
About the dog. I%26#39;m an animal person. Big injustice to have a big dog or any kind of active dog in a small apartment, unless he%26#39;s older and you walk home for lunch, mid a.m. and mid p.m. and come right home from work for long walks. All really hard for someone in their %26#39;pay-in period%26#39;. And the price of daycare can be high...one place I know of is $40 a day for 46-98 lb dogs, or $34 for %26#39;members%26#39; of the daycare facility...but just google pet or dog day care in NYC. Personally, I%26#39;d even find it hard to leave a single small dog alone...cats, now that%26#39;s another story. If you%26#39;re not overly attached to the dog maybe you can leave him with family so he can continue to enjoy the open spaces.
Most rentals if they are LEGAL primary leases (vs. sublets which can sometimes be illegal) will have brokers fees that range from 1 month%26#39;s rent to a percentage of the annual rent. Here%26#39;s a page that explains how to find no fee apts.
www.theinsider.com/nyc/save/015NoFeeApts.htm
If you want a primary lease, (and maybe if you don%26#39;t) you will be asked for information on income. Unless you can show income of a certain percentage of the annual rent, you will not be approved.
For movers, assuming you mean from Salt Lake City, there are dozens of national cos. that do this. Doing a websearch for movers from Salt Lake City to NYC, I got this
鈥espond.com/ypservices/鈥?0City.html
Some people leave their dogs at home while they%26#39;re at work. Others hire dog walkers to come in a few times a day and take the dog to the park (or have their doorman walk them when he goes off duty.) There are doggy daycares but all this is expensive.
I really question the logic of putting a large German Shepard in a small apt. if he%26#39;s used to more space and a yard. You will also have a harder time finding an apt. to accept the dog.
Generally, when you go into the leasing office of an apartment building without a broker you do not pay a fee. These are generally the bigger buildings -- most frequently the newest ones, with lots of vacancies. If you read the Sunday real estate ads in the NY TImes you will see plenty of ads placed by the buildings, and these often state ';no fee.'; Of course, these also tend to be the more expensive apartments, not rent stabilized, etc.
When you go through a broker you generally pay a fee. However, sometimes brokers have ';no fee'; apartments and sometimes they will state this in their ads. These will generally be apartments where the owner is paying the broker fee. However, be careful of brokers who use a ';no fee'; ad to get you in the door and then show you ';fee'; apartments. The standard broker%26#39;s fee for a rental apartment is 15% of the first year%26#39;s rent. So, for an apartment that rents for $2,000 a month ($24,000 a year) the broker%26#39;s fee would be $3,600. You would also be expected to pay at least an additional $4,000 to the landlord (first month%26#39;s rent, plus a security deposit). If you weren%26#39;t considered a good credit risk, or multiple people want the apartment, the landlord may ask for more.
There are some brokers who charge less and some apartment listing services where you pay a fixed amount (maybe a couple hundred dollars) to have access to their listings. But you have to do all the legwork in terms of getting to see the apartments, and that can be really tough. If you have limited time, it may be worth your money to find a good broker.
Of course, there are also places like Craigslist, where you won%26#39;t pay a fee and will deal directly with the primary tenant, landlord or other apartment owner. Just be careful you%26#39;re not dealing with a scam artist who%26#39;s ';renting'; the apartment to as many people as possible before skipping town.
Thank you everyone! Seriously... this board has such great information. Thanks for all the links also. I will check them all out. As for all the rest of the questions, here goes...
Yes... we are coming to town before the big move... several times I am sure. We are coming a week from today infact and we are meeting with a broker to look at some pet friendly apartments. As for location... I really don%26#39;t want to move too north on the UES... maybe no more north than say, 100th... other areas are ok also... but I hear the UWS is more expensive... We are really wanting to be closer to the park because my husband and I are active and love the park.
We DEFINITELY are not bringing cars. We are selling both of our cars and for the first time in 22 years, I will be without a car to call my own :) I am actually excited about this part. My husband and I spend $1,000 a month on our cars combined and that is before we ever leave the drive way! Stupid.
How about my question, when we get to the city with our stuff, are there people/companies you can hire that will move your stuff into the apartment... and I know this is stupid (but I live in a neighborhood in Utah... and our biggest city Salt Lake, it%26#39;s tallest building is 22 floors) How do you get your stuff up to the floor you live on?? Are there service elevators designed to hold things like couches... mattressess... Obviously there are ways, but could you tell me what people do in order to get all there stuff in the apartment. My husband has a bad back, so he wants to find someone he can pay to do this for him (us).
Thank you again for all the warm welcomes! It is so nice. I can%26#39;t wait to be there next week. I am sure we will freeze our butts off, but oh well... We are going to Key West in May and my husband thinks we have the dates confused just a bit :)
Any more advice is greatly appreciated.
Oh... on the dog issue...
We are dog people and attached :) But Roger (the dog) is spoiled beyond belief and we would NEVER just leave him alone all day. He would, however, do fine in an apartment because he is a cupcake dog... he justs hangs with us. He doesn%26#39;t really care about being in a yard. But LOVE LOVE LOVE%26#39;s walks.... Can anyone tell me what it would cost for a dog walker to come once a day? Is it less if he comes twice a day... or double the cost?? My husband and I have had the hard talk of leaving him behind... (thankGOD the dog can%26#39;t hear!) but we really want to try this with him. We figure if it doesn%26#39;t work out, or if we see that he isn%26#39;t adjusting well, we will definitely do what is best for him and find him another good home.
Thanks again everyone.
';when we get to the city with our stuff, are there people/companies you can hire that will move your stuff into the apartment... ';
If you%26#39;re planning on driving the stuff yourselves in say a rental truck, it would not be typical to find someone to hire to come and help you get it in the apt. That said, in NYC, money talks. If you don%26#39;t know about craigslist.com, you should. A little of everything (including apts.) Here%26#39;s a section on movers
http://newyork.craigslist.org/lbs/
If you%26#39;re moving into what%26#39;s called a full service building (doorman, super, porters etc.) there may be porters in the building to help you. This type of building may also have strict rules on when you can and cannot move in. (some don%26#39;t want moving on the weekend) Most of the larger full service buildings do indeed have a service elevator or they have multiple passenger elevators so they can use one for moving.
If you hire a moving co. to transport your stuff across country, that co. generally will also unload and carry stuff to the elevator and then to the apt. Check this out BEFORE hiring them if this is what you want.
I don%26#39;t know of any forums specifically about moving but you%26#39;ll find some real estate info on nymetro.com/realestate (NY Magazine).
I personally wouldn%26#39;t be quick to get rid of both cars right away. I%26#39;d keep one at least for a few months. With the dog, you may want the option of getting out of the city on weekends and it can also come in handy for doing some initial shopping (ie IKEA) outside the city. Ofcourse you can always rent a car for these things....
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