Imminent immigrant: advice required on subletting

blindphineas · August 2010

My girlfriend and I are moving from London to Brooklyn to start new jobs and are desperately looking for a nice apartment to sublet for a few months while we find the place we want to live.

We're both mature professionals and are picky about the kind of place we want. Consequently we're tidy and respectful and care for other people's places as we would our own.

We've scoured Craigslist but all the good places are already taken or dodgy as heck. Any advice from you locals as to where we might have better luck?

jeffrey · August 2010

First, HELLO and welcome! (obligatory smiley

)

This might be a bit hard to know from your location overseas, but do you have any sense of where you'd like to live?

And how many months are you considering? 2? 6?

And when would you be coming?

blindphineas · August 2010

Hi Jeffrey,

Thanks for the warm welcome.

We love the Park Slope, Brooklyn Heights, Carroll Gardens, Prospect Park areas (having visited earlier in the year), but don't have the luxury of being too picky so are open to other areas. I'll be working in DUMBO so something within cycling distance is ideal.

We aim to arrive beginning of October and are flexible in the length of the sublet period. At least 1-3 months in order to give us time to find a permanent place, but definitely consider longer for the right place.

Regards,

Phineas.

MOD · August 2010

That's a tough one, my only suggestion would be to perhaps find an apt that is willing to do a Month per month rental (with the added incentive that you'd put down a good deposit and give proper month's notice when you leave) instead of a sublet.

jeffrey · August 2010

More questions:

What size apartment are you considering? Studio? 1BR? 2BR?

What's your approximate budget?

Are you open to taking a room or rooms in an existing shared apartment or house (if it was clean and nice) or are you looking for your own place to sublet?

blindphineas · August 2010

Definitely our own place. Our student days are long gone so sharing is definitely out.

Studio, 1BR, 2BR are all fine.

Budget is flexible. We're both professionals, so not cheap. We'll pay for the right place but we're not chumps either...there are limits. We've been looking in the $2600-$2800 per month range thus far.

Preferably renting directly from the owner as we'd like to avoid agent fees or "spotters" commissions.

blindphineas · August 2010

Thanks, Mamacita.

A lot of the holiday rentals fit your description but it's for the New York summer which is August, and we don;t arrive until October. We're finding it difficult to get a short term lease when we can't attend an open house or meet the owner or agent in person.

Hence the sublet option. Ideally someone in a similar situation, professional moving overseas who doesn't want to get rid of their apartment permanently but doesn't know when they'll return. We're doing something similar for our flat in London, so a straight swap would be fantastic (although unlikely).

jeffrey · August 2010

blindphineas wrote: Ideally someone in a similar situation, professional moving overseas who doesn't want to get rid of their apartment permanently but doesn't know when they'll return. We're doing something similar for our flat in London, so a straight swap would be fantastic (although unlikely).

Have you checked sites like the following?

http://www.homeexchange.com
http://www.homeforexchange.com
http://usa.homelink.org

A place in London would seem to be in very high demand and you will probably get a much higher quality place as a result.

blindphineas · August 2010

Mate, that's fantastic! Thanks for the assist.

jeffrey · August 2010

Let us know how it works out, and be sure to say hello when you're in town.

Good luck...

Imminent immigrant: advice required on subletting

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