How Far in Advance Should I Start My NYC Apartment Search?
One of the most popular and important questions I get from renters is how far in advance should I start looking for my apartment for rent. Understandably people can get very stressed by the horror stories they have heard about looking for a rental in NYC. Because of this many renters want to start their search as early as possible for fear that they will miss out on a place entirely or get caught up in the frenzy.
NOTE: To search for NYC apartments, go to frele.com (free service). Or, click for more rental tips.
Truthfully, the NYC rental market IS a little nuts. This is one of the reasons I founded a new rental website (www.frele.com) to bring more transparency to the real estate marketplace. But don’t stress. If you understand the dynamics at play, you will have great success finding an apartment, although I can’t promise you won’t sweat a little bit 🙂
First Off, Don’t Look Too Far in Advance
If you look too far in advance, you won’t have much success. Most apartments do not even go on the market until 30 days before they are ready to be vacated. Don’t look too early! Some start to appear 2 months before the earliest start date. Once in a while you may see an apartment on the market more than 2 months in advance of its start date, but these are few and far between.
NOTE: One exception is summer rentals. It is okay if you look far in advance for these. These are EXTREMELY popular, and if you wait 30 days before the summer starts you will likely miss out. Renters can often lock these up as early as the winter.
Here is one of the main reasons why apartments don’t go on the market too far in advance. In fact, apartments usually don’t go on the market until 30 days before their earliest start date. The reason is because landlords often ask for at least 30 days advance notice if a tenant is going to renew or not. And of course – people being people – they wait until the last minute to let their landlords know if they are going to renew or not. Hence, there is usually a flood of inventory a month before your desired lease start date.
For example, if you are looking to move in August 1st, around July 1st you will see a flood of apartments with “August 1st” start dates.
Here is another reason why you won’t see apartments on the market too far in advance before their start date. Sometimes, even the landlord or real estate agent knows it will be available. The reason is because the landlord or real estate agent doesn’t want the listing to linger on the market longer than it has to. If the apartment is listed too early (when there won’t be that much traffic for the listing anyway) it will just add to the “time on the market” statistic which will look bad from a marketing perspective. This could hurt the eventual price the landlord could get for the unit.
Second, You Can Look Late
This one may surprise you. But it should help with the stress level if you are the kind of person inclined to look too far in advance. If you have not found an apartment 1 or 2 months before your start date, don’t stress. At any given moment in NYC there are thousands of vacant apartments where the landlord would accept renters who want to move in immediately. These apartments come about for several reasons:
- Sometimes apartments have been on the market for several weeks. The tenant moves out and the landlord wants to find a renter asap.
- Some landlords have policies where they wait until the tenant moves out completely before they even start marketing the apartment.
- Some tenants – despite even signing riders that say otherwise – do not grant access to their apartments while they are living there, or make access very difficult.
Another bonus to looking only 1-2 weeks before your move in date is that the landlord may be more open to negotiating with you, and you could wind up with a better “deal”. After all, most people DON’T wait until 1 or 2 weeks before, so for this reason, a landlord with a vacant apartment is likely to lose at least a few weeks rent if they don’t find a tenant who can move in right away. When faced with that choice, a landlord will often look favorably upon someone who can move in immediately.
NOTE: I you are looking at a coops or condos to rent, you almost certainly won’t be able to move in a week or two after you apply. These buildings generally require in depth applications – sometimes including even in person “interviews”. Therefore, if you are looking at a condo or a coop, it is okay to view these apartment far in advance of your desired start date – at least compared to a more standard rental building.
Suggestion on How Far in Advance to Look
Here is what I have always suggested to all of my rental clients, assuming you have time on your side: Start looking a little before 2 months in advance of your desired start date. Get a feel for the market. If you see something you like, grab it. If not, keep looking and know that around 1 month in advance of your desired start date, a lot of inventory will hit the market. If you still don’t find something, don’t stress. Up until about a week before your desired start date, you will still have many options. Of course, I would not suggest you let it go this far, but if you do, you will still be able to get an apartment, and maybe a good deal in the process as explained above.
For more NYC rental tips, please go to frele.com/learn.
This article was written by:
Phil Horigan, NYC Real Estate Veteran
Founder, Frēlē, the free and honest NYC rental marketplace
Producer, Phil’s NYC Rental Tips [YouTube Channel]
Blogger: flowfreely.com
Instagram: @philiphorigan
Phil has been a licensed NYC real estate agent since 2004 working for some of the top real estate brokerage firms in the industry. He founded Leasebreak.com in 2013, and Frēlē in 2017. Frēlē and Leasebreak are free and transparent rental marketplaces to search for or post apartments for rent in NYC
Go to frele.com to search for NYC apartments (free service).