Guides
Guides to renting in New York — what a stay actually costs, how the options compare, and what to ask before you sign.
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.
- Nine months is not a short let, so compare it against the thing it replaces
Nine months furnished versus a twelve-month unfurnished New York lease: what each really costs, what you avoid, and when the lease is the better choice.
- FIT runs on studio hours, and the ones that matter most are the hours after the building has shut.
Private furnished studios about a mile from FIT at 227 West 27th Street. Ensuite bathroom, desk, built-in shelves, utilities in. Leases from 9 months.
- Nine months is the shape of a New School year, and you can settle it before you have a US bank account.
Housing for a New School or Parsons year — private furnished Midtown studios you can arrange before you land. Ensuite bath, utilities in, from 9 months.
- Guttman is four blocks south, Berkeley three, and the park they both front is one block from this door.
Private furnished studios about 0.2 miles from Guttman Community College and Berkeley College, both on Bryant Park. Utilities in. Leases from 9 months.
- You can be charged a broker fee by somebody who was never working for you. Here is how that happens.
What a New York broker fee actually pays for, who the broker works for, how no-fee listings really work, and when the fee is negotiable.
- At LIM your week has two addresses, and only one of them is printed on your timetable.
A private furnished studio about half a mile from LIM College at 216 East 45th Street — central to campus and to a Midtown placement. Utilities in.