OT: Looking for apartment in NYC

Hi everyone!  My daughter has been accepted to grad school at NYU.  I am so incredibly proud of her hard work.  We are desperately seeking affordable, yet decent housing for her and one or two roommates.  There is no guarantee of grad housing, and it is ridiculously expensive! compared to living off-campus.  I went into the city yesterday and obviously went looking in the wrong areas and came home very disappointed.  Does anyone have a recommendation of areas to look at or know of anything available that is decent and affordable?  I would appreciate any leads or advice from all the people on this site that I trust so much.  Thanks for any help you can give me. Cindy  

Hi Cindy, have you looked further uptown?  Washington Heights?  Harlem?  Morning Side Heights?  The rent down in the village can be pretty steep, but in my opinion if you go further up the you can find rent at a more decent affordable price.  Of course your daughter would have to commute further out, but that shouldn't be a problem with all the trains available.  So I say stick w/ anything above the 100's.  Your daughter can even stay out of Manhattan if she wishes.  Jackson Heights in Queens is pretty nice as are other some parts of the other outer boroughs.

This is really what I am looking for...specific areas to focus our search on.  We know that Manhattan is ridiculously expensive, but we don't know the areas to look at that are safe for a young woman.  i know she'll be studying or working late into the evenings, so I want to make sure her walk for any subway/train station is relatively safe on the way home.  Thanks for any other advice you can offer. Cindy

Cindy, It so happens I have a three bedroom apartment in Manhattan in Morningside Heights that is 3 blocks from the 2 and 3 train. It's a great neighborhood I have a good friend who's a cop and it's a very safe area.One of my roommates is going to Italy to study for a year so her room will be available in August around the middle of the month. Rent is $750 per month plus cable/internet & utility those average $85 a month. If you want more info please contact me directly.

That is so wonderful, but unfortunately she already has a friend she has agreed to live with.  If that falls through, I will definitely contact you.  I sort of wish she would be the third one in an apartment to avoid all the other fees and such that go along with renting.  By starting new, we'll also have to find furniture for the whole place.  I will check out the Morningside Heights area as well....thanks for the tip. Cindy

Try looking on craigslist as well. And depending on the budget she may have to look at living in Queens or NJ. But if it falls through let me know, we are putting the room on craigslist within the next 5 weeks.

Thanks, Teresa!!!  I'll pass on your info to her and see if she is interested.  I'll keep you posted. Cindy

I agree that looking in areas of Queens, Astoria, Jackson Heights, Sunnyside, Flushing, is also good.  The rents are lower than Manhattan and it's very easy to travel into Manhattan via the subway.  Alot of the neighborhoods are very nice and diverse. Good luck with the search, Sue

Thanks, Sue!  I appreciate all of the great advice I've gotten on this site.  She would love to live in a diverse neighborhood.  She said she doesn't want to just surround herself with other students. Cindy

Have you looked in brooklyn?  It's an easy commute by subway into manhattan, esp to the village....and the rents are about 1/2-2/3s the price of the village.   You should contact a few real estate agents in the area...and see what they are showing....and I defintely agree to check out craigslist.com Scott