I need help finding a place to live in NYC?

Question

I am a college student and school starts Aug 25th i currently live 90 min away from school. I have been looking for a place for a month now with no success mostly on craigslist and nytimes classifieds i have been emails at least one listing if not more once a day with few responses. Ideally i want to live 30min or less from Penn station my max rent would be 650 utilities incl. Does anyone have any tips that could help me out or share some your experience if you've been there before? and please don't tell me that i cant find anything for my price i've heard all that before i just need HELPFUL suggestions

Answer 1

sorry to burst ur bubble...but i'm gonna hit u a dose of reality...$650/month including utilities for what?  an apt....and 30 min. from midtown...definately not.  but a room...maybe in the ghetto (i.e bed-stuy, crown height, south bronx).  u r not getting any response cuz no landlord wants to rent to u first cuz of ur low offer and 2nd cuz u r a student and have no job.  nyc is an expensive city.

Answer 2

30 mins from Penn Station gives lots of options. If you want to stay in the city, have you thought of Queens, Brooklyn, or the Bronx? There should be plenty of options, unfortunately, most is by word of mouth or networking.

Additonally, you could cross the river and try NJ and upstate NY. Look for online maps of the PATH train to get an idea of the neighborhoods. Each neighborhood should have a pennysaver and/or local newspaper with plenty of rooms for rent.

Many landlords are not internet savvy and rely on local papers. This is how I've found my apartments.