And welcome to the long awaited New York apartment hunting video.

I have been tingling to make this video tingling.

The weird word.

It sounds like I have to pee out this video.

Um, I've been itching to make this video for a while because I just love apartment hunting.

I love looking at Spaces.

I love thinking about prices and what's a good deal.

Even in like, my free time, I will go to open houses and be like that bitch who eats the free food and pisses off real estate agents because I just love looking at real estate.

So today I'm gonna walk you guys through the entire New York apartment hunting process, I toward over 10 apartments.

So I'm gonna show you all of them, give you my thoughts.

And I'm also going to include exact rent, prices and locations because that's what makes one of these fucking videos useful to begin with.

I know it's very expensive.

I know it can feel personally offensive when people pay a lot of money and rent.

But I want to live here while I'm young.

I'm very lucky to be able to afford it.

I know it's thanks to you guys.

And yeah, I just want to be transparent about rent, cause I don't think it should be a big fucking taboo.

Don't be.

So before we jump into my actual apartment tours, I wanted to give you guys a background on the New York real estate market because I have found that it is so different from anywhere else in the United States.

First of all, rental units in New York just go really fucking fast.

One of the first apartments I toward in New York, I showed up on time to the open house and somebody else had already showed up 10 minutes early and submitted their application, and the apartment was gone by the time the open house opened in New York.

You have to be ready to decide literally where you're gonna live within, like, 20 minutes or a couple hours of looking at a place.

What is a good time to start apartment hunting in New York?

I would recommend to start looking at apartments online around six weeks to a month before you're ready to move.

Now, six weeks out, you're probably not going to actually be able to rent any of the apartments that you look at, but I always think it's a good idea to do some research online to get a feel for how much space you get for certain prices.

One different neighborhoods are looking like so when you actually go apartment hunting, you're not getting screwed over.

And you know what's a good deal and what is a rip off?

Streeteasy is the main site where people laced rental units in New York.

You can also look on Zillow, but I just found Street easy to be better organized, and it was a lot easier to contact the agents and arranged times to view apartments.

So that was the main one that I ended up using.

Then I'd recommend coming out to New York around 2 to 3 weeks before you're ready to move in.

That's what I did.

I came out here January 17th.

I apartment hunted right after I landed in New York, and I was ready to sign a lease starting on February 1st.

That being said, if you aren't familiar with New York, I would recommend either starting by coming out here and subletting an apartment for a couple months or making a visit in advance and really taking a look at a bunch of different neighborhoods at different times of day.

Visiting New York feels very different than living here and the neighborhoods that you might I love.

When you visit your like Times Square, baby, trust me, you don't want to live in Times Square.

If you're not sure, it's always better to be on the safe side and sub.

Let a place first before making a year long commitment to least fall and winter are generally considered off season in New York, where there are fewer rental units available, so it can be hard to find the exact type of unit that you're looking for.

But because fewer people move in the winter, there's also lower demand, meaning that you can get a much better price on the department.

I would say apartments were renting for like 10 to 15% cheaper in the winter than they were in the summer in the summer.

There are a lot more options available on the market, but if heard that it's also very, very competitive because everybody likes moving in the summer.

The weather is nice, people will come up to New York Post grad, which means that you have to be ready to sign at least even faster, and you end up paying a premium on rent because there's so much demand.

So how much money do you need saved up?

In order to move to New York, I would recommend saving four months of rent before you move out to New York, which I know is a lot of money.

But it will go very, very fast here.

First of all, when you go toward apartment and you are ready to put down an application, there is a $20 application fee, and they will also ask for usually a month's worth of rent up front as kind of a good faith deposit while they approved your application in order to hold the apartment.

If you don't get approved, you will get that money back.

If you do get approved, that will go towards your security deposit.

Then if you do get approved for the apartment, you'll have to pay first month's rent and a broker's fee, which is such a little bitch.

Basically, one of broker is is the person who arranges open houses, who shows the apartment and who has you signed?

The lease is so as attendant you have to pay them for their service is most broker fees are between one month of rent and 15% of annual rent, which I personally think it's such a rip off.

But that's real estate, baby, I guess.

In good news, though, they did just pass a law in New York that the landlord now has to pay the broker's fee.

I think it should go in effect the next couple months, and that would be great news for tenants because it would mean you wouldn't have to pay several $1000 Maur just to get an apartment.

But it is possible that rent will just go up because landlords will then incorporate the broker's fee into the monthly rent price.

So, yeah, turns out landlords still have control over everything.

In the end, we love to see it.

New York is also very strict about the income you need to qualify for an apartment.

Pretty much every landlord will require that your yearly salary is 40 times the monthly rent price.

Most departments will also accept guarantors within the United States, but you're guarantors yearly salary has to be a times rent, which is a lot.

My final tip is to make sure you come with your paperwork prepared.

I will list on the screen now a list of all the documents you need in order to apply for an apartment here.

It is best if you gather them up front at front because basically, once you find an apartment you like, you will put down your application fee and your good faith deposit, and that will, usually by you around two days to submit all of your application materials.

So it's just best if you have them all up front, you can submit them right away rather than potentially losing out on the apartment because you couldn't find your tax return or you couldn't get a letter from your landlord in time.

Um, yeah, it's always good to be prepared.

The Girl Scout in me talking.

All right, so now let's get into the stuff that you guys are probably waiting for this entire video, which is the actual apartment tours.

So I was looking for a studio or small one bedroom in downtown Manhattan for under $2500 since I work from home and I make videos.

I really probably wear ties, having good natural light, a quiet apartment and some nice little vintage details because I am a video.

So my first appointment was in East Village.

The East Village is historically an immigrant neighborhood like us, all of New York is technically, historically, an immigrant neighborhood because we're all immigrants.

Then in the sixties and seventies, it became a center of like, punk rock counterculture.

I personally liked it because it has a very like old school New York feel mixed with a lot of young, arty people.

Jesus, I just described gentrification, didn't I?

So the first department that I visited was a studio in East Village, but it was a pretty spacious one at that.

There was definitely enough room for a bed and a desk and a little corner to film in, which is pretty much what I needed.

An apartment.

I also really liked that it had high ceilings that made the space feel very spacious.

It also had a separate kitchen, which was kind of nice, because a lot of apartments in New York will have the kitchen, like as part of the main studio area, and it's kind of nice to have that separate space to cook, and I keep all of that kitchen clutter.

The bathroom was also the bathroom.

It did.

The job had quite a long hallway, which was a little bit awkward, but I'm not complaining.

There was enough space for, like, some extra statue storage.

The windows were pretty big, so it did get a good amount of light, but they faced north before this round of apartment hunting.

I really had never thought about the way that my windows faced.

I didn't care.

I was like, It's a window.

What's the difference?

I learned the hard way in my last department that north facing windows never get direct sunlight because of the way the sun rises.

It basically made filming videos so hard because I would have to use studio lights pretty much all the time in order to get enough light to film a video.

And especially during the winter where I was at home all the time, I just like, never felt the sun on my face.

It made me so sad, and it made me constantly want to get out of my apartment So this time around, I was kind of a stickler for giving apartment windows that faced South, which would get direct sunlight for the majority of the day, or at least Easter rest, where they would get a couple hours of direct sunlight.

Another thing that I always look for an apartment is just like the vibes.

Some apartments you walk in and you're like, Ooh, this is a weird a weird place like I couldn't imagine myself living here.

But this one felt super homey, although I might have advised, because the furniture was just really nice.

After I toward the apartment, I was also allowed to go up on the rooftop.

Now the vast majority of pre war buildings in New York will not let you go on the roof because it's like not zoned toehold human beings and the landlords don't want to get sued.

So it was really special that this one had a rooftop.

It obviously was not particularly well finished, but it was really gorgeous to see the view of New York, and it would just be really fun to, like, be able to have friends up there to get drunk and go up on the roof.

Thio even shoot videos up there, however, I did look around, and I noticed that there was an empty lot, that they were starting construction on right next to the building, which would be a concern in terms of shooting videos.

A day after I toward this apartment, I did ask the landlord for an application just cause I got, like, good vibes from the building.

But he said the apartment had already been rented just that.

It was such a good price.

But it's okay because ultimately, because of the north facing windows and potential construction nearby, it probably wouldn't have been the best fit for me as a video person.

Anyway.

The next apartment I saw was a one bedroom in East Village for $2300.

What I loved about this apartment was the vintage details around the windows and this absolutely gorgeous fireplace.

I could really envision this as like the perfect backdrop for fashion videos through this doorway.

There was another huge room, but unfortunately it didn't have any natural life.

This is like such a New York thing, But there were windows in the living room that directly faced brick.

So it was essentially just another wall for this apartment.

It wasn't as big of a deal because there were other Windows that let light in.

But it didn't mean there was a lot of square footage that I couldn't fully take advantage of because I couldn't feel there because it was so dark.

But it could have been a good place to put my bed and have more of like a cozy night time.

Five.

The kitchen was quite small but had nice modern finishes, as did the bathroom, which actually also had a full size tub, which is very, very rare for New York.

Out of all the apartments I saw, I think this was my favorite, aesthetically, how ever this apartment was fucking loud.

It faced a multi lane street, and the glass was just really thin.

It was not soundproofed properly.

It sounded like I was there on the street.

Another concern I had was I could occasionally hear the pipes like squealing and rattling in some apartments.

If they're not well maintained.

When somebody showers or turns on their heat, the pipes will like squeal and scream at you.

Cross your man Jake for me.

If I had to record a video, I just wouldn't be able to do it.

And it would be really frustrating, you know, like getting set up for work for the day and then the pipes air, just like that was my best pipe impersonation.

I wouldn't have been able to do my job if I live there.

So yeah, I kind of I applying for that one.

My next appointment was in Chelsea, which, if I had to put it in a nutshell, I would say that it is a little bit of a bustier kind, like the type of person who owns an art gallery or is featured in Architectural Digest.

Five.

There's a lot of art galleries, fancy restaurants, and it's also a large center of LGBT Q plus culture in New York.

It's also a great place if you need to commute because it's so close.

All these different subway lines.

I didn't think personally it was best fit for me in terms of neighborhood, but it is still like a really, really good vacation, and I really like this apartment, this studio with a couple floors up in a walk up and the actual studio space was quite small.

It could bring much fit a bed and then a very small desk if you got the location just right, and that's it.

So for me, that was definitely pushing it a little bit, especially because I have to work from home.

However, the thing that I wanted to check out this apartment was the beautiful outdoor space.

This terrorist face the back of the building, and it was actually up on the third floor, so I got a decent amount of light.

But it was also, like, so nicely tucked in a little cove of buildings, and I don't know.

I felt like I was like, wrapped in buildings.

It was really lovely.

The outdoor space was just so freaking beautiful that I was really considering it.

But ultimately it came down to a value calculation of Do I Want to spend six months cramped inside a tiny apartment where I can barely fit a desk in a bed and then have six months with this glorious outdoor space or what?

I rather have an apartment where I have enough space year round and maybe no outdoor space, so I ended up not applying to that apartment, but it was a really lovely space.

My next apartment was back in the East Village.

It was a one bedroom for around $2000 exact price on this one, but it was a lot of space for the price.