Planning to move to New York or want to find a new apartment? You have so many things to take care about. Pack everything and hire the best movers to get all your stuff to your new apartment. Wait a minute, I haven’t find a place to move to, – you might say. Let’s have a look at your options of performing this challenging task.
You can hire a broker and spend up to 15% of annual rent (wow!) on broker’s fee. The amount you’re going to pay is huge. But if you’re a busy person and have no time, a broker is a good option.
In case you have time for finding a new place, below are the best rental websites to help you find a no-fee apartment in NYC. First of all, be patient and remember our steps in finding a new home. Let’s begin…
NakedApartments.com
To begin your search on this rental website, click on the “Filter” button and select “No-fee”. About a third of all the listings will fall under this category. You can also choose the “Low-fee” filter and look at apartments with broker’s fee of 9% or less.
To ensure that there are no scams on the website, Naked Apartments checks the licensing information of brokers, public records for landlords and management companies, as well as utility bills. The good news is that they don’t work with listings that did not pass the verification.
You should also know that Naked Apartments offer a wide choice for affordable apartments. In case you have just moved to New York or feel that you’re tight for money for the moment, the website will offer you plenty of options.
When you see a place you like, hit the “contact now” or “schedule a viewing” button to have a look at the place immediately, before some other apartment hunter grabs it.
CraigsList.org
Despite the fact that there are a lot of scams among the listings, this rental website is still one of the widely-used sources for finding apartments.
Craiglist has useful filters to narrow down your search (price, housing type, per friendliness, etc.). Go to the “apts/housing” section and either “all no-fee apartments” or “by-owner apartments”. After that, you can limit your options by selecting something like “roommate” or “short-term”.
In case you want to see the place you chose in map, use Padmapper. It will take the listing you want from Craiglist and display it in map form. However, Craiglist offers the option to display your search results in map form as well. But Padmapper allows you to set up alerts for listings that fit your preferences.
And again, since Craiglist is free for everyone, do your best to avoid scams. Never wire money to anyone. Use AddressReport to check the building for anything suspicious.
Great news! Most of the listings here, around 80%, are no-fee.
The website has a simple interface with all the necessary filters aimed at simplifying your apartment search. Go to the “Neighborhoods” section and have a look at the map of the neighborhood you’re willing to move to, as well as its selected rental buildings. The website provides all the necessary details about buildings and neighborhoods. There’s also an address for every listing available on the website, so you can check it for all the details.
Contact property managers even if there are no available apartments for the moment. Become the first they will contact in case anything comes up.
Listings Project
It’s the project of artist Stephanie Diamond who also helps people find no-fee apartments by sending out a weekly newsletter. It all started in 2003, when Diamond needed an apartment and decided to email her artist friends asking if they had a place. She soon found an apartment, but friends kept emailing her… There are almost 35 000 people from all over the world using the website today.
They have no listings from brokers, so it’s no-fee for sure. The newsletter contains about 250 listings with real estate units every week. Sign up for their weekly email to find your dream place.
By the way, Listings Project allows you to find not only apartments but also artist studios, houses, coworking spaces, etc. It is also a place to meet a bunch of creative and interesting people.
RentHop
The site has some peculiarities. A blue number next to the apartment price is the “HopScore”. It contains three criteria: “Freshness”, “Quality” and “Manager”. If the score is high, it means that the apartment has good value, appropriate information, and a landlord who quickly responds to enquiries.
The “Freshness” component can go down with time. If a listing has been on the site for a while, it’s likely that it may be already taken or there’s something off about it. The Hopscore is about each listing, not a manager.
You can browse apartments either from their search page or the map view page. The Search page allows you to select the neighborhoods, as well as the number of bedrooms, the price, and other details. The Map view page works in a similar way. You can either specify the location or look for a certain number of bedrooms/bathrooms, etc.
Zumper
Most of the listings are from Manhattan. So, if you’re interested in finding an apartment there, this rental website will suit you most. Just select the preferred parameters and the site will show you great pictures and all the information you need to make your choice.
Unfortunately, not all listings are no-fee here, only a third. You can either go to the “No-fee” page for NYC, or select to ““hide listings with leasing fees” when setting your search parameters. They also offer you to choose other unit and building amenities, like “In-Unit Laundry”, “Hardwood Floor”, etc.
The website also provides some information about neighborhoods. As soon as you’ve found the place you like, they offer you a very simple application form to contact the landlord or manager.
This option will be good for people having a lot of friends on Facebook. Let everyone know you’re looking for a new home and ask them to share your post. This actually works! A great number of people have found apartments this way.
Someone might have heard something about an available apartment in the neighborhood you’re aiming to move to. Some people can be looking for a roommate. There’re plenty of options to find your new home.
StreetEasy
No matter if you’re looking for rent or purchase of a place, this website is at your service. You will find no-fee listings, not the cheapest ones, though, as most of them are located in Brooklyn and Manhattan.
Like other rental websites, this one also provides the “no-fee only” filter for your search. They allow you to save your searches and get notified as soon as anything interesting appears on the market. To contact the landlord, simply hit the button and fill in your contact details. Have a look at the price history of the place you chose to see the dynamics and maybe options to lower the rent even a little bit.
Download the application of rental websites you prefer to be able to catch the best listings faster than other apartment hunters.
