An apartment with a wall view: why renting a decent apartment in New York is so difficult

In my column for publication Snob an immigrant in the United States named Svetlana spoke about moving from one rented apartment to another, and also explained why finding housing in New York is a real quest, and not very pleasant.

If you are a person for whom the cost of rent is not important, and money is not a problem, then, of course, as elsewhere, it will be easier for you to find good housing. For example, you can rent a luxury apartment in the Soho area for $ 6000 a month, or you can even buy it.

But Svetlana and her husband were looking for an apartment for $ 2000, the amount for which in an average New York area you can rent a one-bedroom apartment, a studio in a good area, or a two-bedroom apartment in a worse area.

67,4% of New Yorkers are tenants. They cannot afford to buy an apartment or house because of the prohibitively high real estate prices. Even after purchasing a home, it will be expensive, because property taxes and maintenance fees are almost the same amount that you could pay for renting the same property, only with less headache.

In New York, moving from one apartment to another is costly: you need to pay when you move in the rent for the first month, a deposit equal to the monthly rent, the realtor's fee, which can be up to 15% of the annual rent. For the transportation of furniture, you will need to pay a huge amount of money to the transportation company - from $ 1000, because apartments are rented here unfurnished.

What does the war have to do with it

In New York, housing is of pre-war and post-war construction.

Pre-war housing - apartments with high ceilings, spacious rooms, wood or parquet flooring, as well as century-old batteries that whistle, hiss and knock. And in the pre-war buildings you will find a variety of surprises, because at that time they had not yet come up with a standard building, and each of these houses is unique. For example, you may have a pentagonal bedroom or a bedroom with a bay window, or a living room separated from the hallway by an elaborate arch and wrought iron railings. Most likely, the pre-war apartment will be decorated with stucco, bizarre built-in shelves and a fake fireplace.

For example, Nicole Kidman's character in the TV series "Play Back" had such an apartment. Another option is an apartment in the legendary Sherry Netherland Hotel. It's beautiful, especially if you love history, but the maintenance fee in this hotel is $ 25 per room. Accordingly, you will have to pay $ 000 per month for a 3-room apartment.

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In fact, not everything is so sad, and pre-war housing is rented to ordinary people, of average income. As a rule, expensive repairs are not profitable for the homeowner, therefore, before the arrival of the tenants, the walls are painted in the apartment and the floors are cycled. The walls are painted over the previous layers, so they don't look very "happy". Sometimes the same paint is used to paint cabinet doors in the kitchen, which, as a result, do not close from a large number of layers of paint.

The tenant cannot carry out his own repairs, this is spelled out in the contract, so you will have to take what they give.

If we talk about post-war housing, then the apartments are not that spacious. The ceilings are much lower than in pre-war buildings. These houses were built after the Second World War, in the years 1950-1970. Realtors call them "boring and lacking in charm." They are like Soviet houses with standard construction.

Personal experience

When Svetlana and her husband looked at the post-war apartments, they were ready to escape from there. One apartment overlooked a brick wall - nothing but a wall, no sky, no buildings, no parks.

The windows of another apartment looked out over a wire fence, the top of which was barbed. The third apartment overlooked a roof littered with old shoes.

Another apartment had such narrow corridors that it was necessary to pass sideways. There was an option where the stove was right outside the front door. If someone enters the apartment while food is being prepared, there is a risk of falling face down directly into the hot pot. And the other apartment consisted of sharp corners, as if it were a labyrinth, not housing.

After inspecting all such apartments, our heroes fell into despair. They decided to look at housing suitable for their budget, but belonging to the luxury category. Affordable premium housing began to be built just a few years ago. Such apartments look very attractive, especially when they are just being commissioned. Such houses usually have access to the roof with sofas, a gym, parking, but the houses are not connected to the city's steam heating system. And tenants have to pay huge bills for heating with heaters.

Mountains of documents

To get the landlord's approval not only to rent, but even just look at the apartment, you need to provide a huge number of documents confirming the solvency: receipts, certificates from the tax office on annual income, bank statements, as well as fill out a special form.

Immigrants who have recently arrived in the country are required to have a guarantor who will be ready to pay for you if you cannot, a certificate from the place of work, a marriage certificate and a great variety of documents. Because homeowners do not want to take risks and rent housing to insolvent people. Indeed, in New York, the law will always be on the side of the tenant. Even if he hasn't paid rent for years. Let's say you, as a kind person, took a friend to live with you, who promised to move out in two weeks, as soon as he finds a place to live. But a friend can stay with you forever if he proves that he has nowhere to live and has nothing to pay.

But Svetlana and her husband knew about these requirements and were preparing for the race for decent housing. For several years now, they have been paying all bills on time, they have a perfect credit history. When they went to look at an apartment in a premium house, they almost burst into tears. The apartment was spacious, the ceilings and walls were flat, and there was a sudden luxury in the form of a balcony overlooking the park and the skyscraper that glows at night.

All night Svetlana and her husband scanned bank statements, receipts and other documents, but in the morning they were disappointed.

It turned out that not only potential tenants are chasing after good housing, but also realtors, and everyone wants to move their client into the best apartment. That apartment in the balcony was rented out. Svetlana wanted to just lie there and do nothing, she was in despair.

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They had to move out of their previous apartment in two weeks, so she and her husband started looking through the ads again. Suddenly the realtor of that charming apartment called her. At first she didn’t want to answer him, but politeness and curiosity took over. When she heard “Well, will you take it?” In the receiver, she was seized with boundless joy.

It so happens that the tenant refuses or disappears even after the signing of the lease agreement. Or if the owner of the apartment found out that potential tenants have provided false documents, that they do not work anywhere, but will only wind his nerves, living in the apartment for free.

In New York, the real estate market is unpredictable, like life itself, despair can be replaced by happiness, or vice versa. At least Svetlana and her husband now drink coffee on that very balcony.