Guides and writing
Guides and shorter pieces on renting in New York — what a stay really costs, how the options compare, and what to ask before you sign.
The guides
The long ones, a subject each.
Intern housing in NYC
What a summer in New York actually costs, how the options really compare, and where a private studio fits.
Somewhere to live when the university cannot house you.
Four campuses within about half a mile, a private studio with its own bathroom, and no broker fee — for the graduate student, transfer or mid-year arrival the housing office could not place.
“Furnished” can mean a bed frame, or it can mean you arrive with a suitcase
The word is doing an enormous amount of work in New York listings, and it is not a standard. Here is what to check, in what order, before you agree to anything.
You searched for a room in New York. Here is what one really costs.
What a room actually costs once the broker fee, the guarantor and the furniture are counted — and where a private studio lands against one.
Co-living solves a real problem in New York. It may not be the one you have.
What purpose-built co-living gets right, what it asks you to share, and how to tell which of the two you actually want.
A roommate is the cheapest way to live in New York — until you count what it costs.
The arithmetic behind a shared room, both ways it can go, and the things that go wrong that have nothing to do with money.
Shorter pieces
The Graduate Center is a doctoral campus, and doctoral students have a different housing problem.
Housing near the CUNY Graduate Center at 365 Fifth Avenue — private furnished studios about half a mile north. Ensuite bath, utilities in, from 9 months.
The guarantor question is not about whether you can pay. It is about who pays if you stop.
How the NYC guarantor system works, who can act as one, what a guarantor service does, and what a renter with no US credit history can offer instead.
Your offer lands in February and the room you want for June is not listed yet.
When to look for summer intern housing in New York — why the recruiting and housing calendars are out of step, and a month-by-month plan from January.
You cannot see the room, so make someone else walk it for you
How to judge a furnished NYC room you cannot visit: steering a video tour, what photos hide, what to get in writing, and how to avoid a rental scam.
The building will show you its best hour. What you need is the other twenty-three.
What to ask on a co-living tour and what to look at while you are there — the shared kitchen at 8pm, the bathroom ratio, the fees, and who answers at 2am.
A roommate agreement will not make you a tenant. It will settle most of the arguments that end shares.
What a New York roommate agreement should say, clause by clause — lease, rent, deposit, bills, notice and damage — and what it cannot do for you.