Top 5 Tips for Finding That Elusive NYC Summer Rental
You are beyond excited at the thought of spending Summer 2015 in New York City. Maybe you’ve just landed that dream summer internship on Wall Street. Or perhaps you’ve just graduated from college and aren’t ready to commit to long-term lease in a specific location just yet.
Where will you stay?
You might not realize it yet, but nearly all of the rentals in the Big Apple are for a year. One. Full. Year.
You can waste many hours of your time emailing landlords and brokers to see if they will consider a summer sublet, renting for a shorter period of time (95% of them won’t), or scouring the Internet looking for companies that specialize in short-term summer home rentals (who will typically charge 50% more than a standard month’s rent in a 12-month lease).
Or, you can follow these top five tips as you search for that perfect monthly rental:
1) Don’t waste your time asking brokers and landlords if the apartment they are advertising can be rented out for just few months. If the ad does not say that they allow short term rentals, assume that they do not.
2) If an exact street address is not provided, be careful of the bait-and-switch. Most agents are looking for the “lead” and are not interested in renting out a specific apartment as described in the ad you liked.
3) See if the website listing indicates when it was last updated. This will give you an idea of how “fresh” the listing is. It’s not uncommon for a landlord or tenant looking to sublet to list a property and then forget to update or remove it.
4) If you find a possible rental, never send money until you have seen the apartment for yourself (or you can send a trusted friend or family member in your place). The last thing you want is to show up with all of your belongings and find out that your summer home is a dump - or worse, that it doesn’t actually exist! Also, before you hand over any money, make sure that you have the landlord’s approval for your short-term rental, or you could find yourself being evicted!
5) Go to Leasebreak, the only website specializing in lease terms of less than a year, including leasebreaks, short-term rentals, and “shares”. The exact address is always listed and we do our best to weed out any scams or other problematic rentals. Every Leasebreak.com listing shows when it was most recently updated. And, best of all, it’s completely free to use.
Still looking for your summer rental? Search for free today at the short-term rental and leasebreak marketplace, Leasebreak.com.