Is renting in NYC/NJ impossible to do sight unseen?

What the topic says. I am moving for work and need to do it quickly. But I haven't been able to have any luck because of the fact that I can't make it to the area before I need to move. The last two times I moved I just rented a place from craigslist from pics but no one seems to want to allow me to do that in the NYC/NJ area.

Any thoughts?

11 Comments
 
reformed

Can you offer a friend or future colleague a case of beer/nice bottle of wine in exchange for scoping the place out for you?
Should take like 20 minutes of their time max.

Tried to get someone to do it for me today but they bailed on the open house (I think they got drunk and slept through it). Part of the issue is that you need deposit+brokers fee to reserve the place and there are very few (like one) person I know in the city who I would feel comfortable asking to throw down 5k for me and that I would pay them back next time I saw them.
 
globalmacrotape

...huh? you pay deposit + broker fee when you sign the lease... thus, you will need to be in the city and your friends cant do that for you. also... it takes like 10 mins to wire someone the money. but the latter part is not necessary because they wont be able to do that for you anyway.

Good point...lease signing is always done in person AFAIK. Unless maybe you're subletting or doing some shady stuff under the table.

 
Best Response
globalmacrotape

...huh? you pay deposit + broker fee when you sign the lease... thus, you will need to be in the city and your friends cant do that for you. also... it takes like 10 mins to wire someone the money. but the latter part is not necessary because they wont be able to do that for you anyway.

I literally rented sight unseen in two other big cities and it was fine. You ask for a few pics and you get the lease emailed, print, sign, scan, and email back.

It's absurd renting is so hard in this area when I can grab a nice 1bdrm in lincoln park easily off craigslist today without ever stepping foot there. So instead I'll move to the area and waste money on a hotel and storage for 3 weeks and then have to move again outside of storage. I would MUCH rather just move once from pics.

It's almost prohibitive for people trying to move quickly.

 

You can first look on airbnb for places to stay first. I am going to NY this summer and found the broker fees to be ridiculous. Use airbnb to search some places and my recent searches indicate there are still lots of places open depending on your budget.

 

You should sublet a place for 1-3 months. It's a much more informal process and people are willing to rent to people from out of town, although it is still very hit/miss on people responding. Sublets go fast and you'll want to have a friend check out the place to make sure a) the place is livable and b) the person you're dealing with isn't sketchy/a fraud. Hopefully you'll have more success with this route - it's the one I choose when I moved to the city two years ago.

 
ShawnDU2009

You should sublet a place for 1-3 months. It's a much more informal process and people are willing to rent to people from out of town, although it is still very hit/miss on people responding. Sublets go fast and you'll want to have a friend check out the place to make sure a) the place is livable and b) the person you're dealing with isn't sketchy/a fraud. Hopefully you'll have more success with this route - it's the one I choose when I moved to the city two years ago.

Ya, i'm trying this but i'm getting very few responses from a lot of inquiries. The other issue is my GF is absolutely no way going to let me have any female roommates, so that cuts the possibilities down by a good bit.
 

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