Advice sought for UES rental in $3000 range

bjgreen, there are a bunch of apartments available that are no fee--meaning you the tenant does not have to pay a broker's fee--that any broker with full access to OLR.com can tell you about. I adore Street Easy, but a lot of things are not listed here.

There are also apts. with one month's free rent plus no fee. Why not take advantage of the recession, it's taking advantage of you.

I'm not a rental specialist but there are brokers in my office (and probably every broker's office) who specialize in rentals. Why don't you call a broker, tell them no fee, tell them what you want, and get some pre-screening done for you. Why kiss more frogs than absolutely necessary.

{Manhattan real estate agent.}

BJGreen, if you're working downtown it's worth considering apartment buildings downtown as well. I would recommend Le Rivage, 90 West St., Tribeca Pointe, 22 River Terrace, or the Liberty [add adjective] buildings run by Milford Management. Downtown is very safe, and if you want outdoor space without having to pay for private access you can't beat Battery Park City. Fluter's right, there's a lot of rental stock that isn't on Streeteasy.

If you know you want the UES, Glenwood has a good reputation and a number of buildings. Here's a link to their UES locations.
http://www.glenwoodnyc.com/properties/upper_east_side/
Rose Associates also has a good reputation and several locations on the UES.
http://www.rosenyc.com/Neighborhoods/Upper-East-Side.aspx

I am not a broker; I moved in March and was able to walk into the rental office and rent directly from the management company. Had I known this when I moved to New York almost a decade ago, I probably would not have spent so long putting up with a crummy apartment. So you're already way ahead of the game.

Welcome to the city!

Just my opinion, but I thought the wellesley and the Fairfax were gross.

there's lots of stuff available in that price range as long as you aren't looking for a "special" apartment (terrace, fireplace, brownstone floorthru,etc.). My suggestion would be to come to NY for a brief trip soon and look at EVERYTHING in terms of buildings in every neighborhood all over the place. It will give you a good, quick, education. one of the mistakes i think people make is making choices based on things they see or hear on the internet and then "narrowcast" too much. I think it's better to actually see a wide variety of things IRL, even if you don't think they would be what you wanted, because I have found many people end up in places VERY different than they imagined from afar, because too much of the info they got before they arrived was based on the personal taste of the well meaning advice givers.

If you were looking for a needle in a haystack, my advice would be different, but since i think you are in a rather "fat" part of the market, you should broaden your horizons before narrowing in. Also, although I am not personally a big fan if Fidi, I have to say that I do personally find being able to WALK to and from work a huge plus, so......

Great advice as usual, 30-years.

If you don't want the dorm experience, then avoid Stuvyestant like the plague!

Some answers to everyone's comments so far:

I appreciate the suggestion of looking elsewhere,I've got some personal reasons for wanting to live on the UES and am willing to do the subway ride.

NYCROBOT, can you tell me what kinds of problems people have had at the Wellesley and Fairfax? I was shocked to see you used the word gross.

I plan to visit in a few weeks just to get a feel for as many apartment buildings as I can. I can't see every building there is, so, I am trying to narrow it down without eliminating too much.

As to a broker, I am still a little confused: if I tell them no-fee only, does that mean that they get paid by the landlord/management company? I was under the impression that if I used a broker, I'd be paying them a (big) fee for finding me something I could locate myself. If that's not true, what's the best way to find a rental broker who will try to find the best place for me, as opposed to someone who might have financial incentives to steer me to something better for them?

Thanks everyone for your comments and links

Some answers to everyone's comments so far:

I appreciate the suggestion of looking elsewhere,I've got some personal reasons for wanting to live on the UES and am willing to do the subway ride.

NYCROBOT, can you tell me what kinds of problems people have had at the Wellesley and Fairfax? I was shocked to see you used the word gross.

I plan to visit in a few weeks just to get a feel for as many apartment buildings as I can. I can't see every building there is, so, I am trying to narrow it down without eliminating too much.

As to a broker, I am still a little confused: if I tell them no-fee only, does that mean that they get paid by the landlord/management company? I was under the impression that if I used a broker, I'd be paying them a (big) fee for finding me something I could locate myself. If that's not true, what's the best way to find a rental broker who will try to find the best place for me, as opposed to someone who might have financial incentives to steer me to something better for them?

Thanks everyone for your comments and links

If you tell a broker that you only want to look at no-fee listings, that means they should only show you listings where the broker's fee is paid by a landlord. This excludes listings where you had have to pay the broker a full or partial fee (i.e., "low fee") to obtain the apartment. There are some things you should be aware of with this approach. First, some no-fee listings are exclusive to a particular agency or broker. Thus, if you rely upon only one broker you may not be able to see listings exclusive to other agencies with that particular broker, because he or she would have to charge you a fee to see it. Thus, in that situation you are better off contacting the exclusive broker to see that exclusive no-fee apartment. Just keep in mind that the exclusive broker is representing a particular landlord in that situation, as opposed to representing you. Second, some brokers (but not all) may misrepresent no-fee apartments so that they can get you in the door and, after you become horrified at the actual state of the apartment, try to sell you on apartments that require fees. This kind of stuff happens though more on the lower-end of the market, but it's something to be mindful if you walk into any no-fee to meet a new broker.

Should it interest you, based on my experiences looking at no-fee apartments with a broker (both recently and when I moved to NYC), I can recommend Cooper & Cooper for looking at no-fee rentals. If you want to look at no-fees on your own, I'd say that nybits and streeteasy (so long as the listing has a street address) are the best sources for no-fee listings. Of course, you can also take both approaches at the same time as well, which is what I did this last time.

bjgreen:

I haven't lived in the Fairfax or Wellesley, just looked at apartments there. They aren't ratholes mind you, I just thought they weren't as well-kept as other luxury buildings in the area. Fraying in carpets, chipped paint in hallways, some trash strewn around. That's why I said gross. But again, it wasn't like the projects or anything...didn't mean to give an overly bad impression. Still liveable.

The Wellesley is managed by the same management company at 245 East 63rd (www.cccnyc.com). I looked at the Wellesley and thought it was incredibly over priced for what you get in terms of size. The Regency Towers at 245 East 63rd also have a rental office in the lobby (hence NO FEE) and are definitely giving incentives. Regency has a gym that is included, but definitely no frills. Some apts are renovated, but most are not. I'd say, overall, the management company over-prices their buildings by quite a lot!!!! --- As for convenience, 63rd St is about a 5 min walk to the NRW and 456 subways, which is a great asset.

First, sorry about the double post.

Yozhik, thanks for the tips about brokers and their exclusive agreements. Another wrinkle I hadn't thought of.

NYCRobot, I appreciate the description of what you saw at the Wellesley and Fairfax. The word gross had made me think of plumbing or garbage issues.

NYCApt1234 - thanks for mentioning the Regency. I'll add it to my list.

I'll keep checking this thread in case anyone has anything more to add - thanks again for the information.

I lived in the Fairfax for 2 years a few years back. I frankly don't understand the comments re cleanliness/maintenance. The building certainly isn't five star as compared to some of the newer condos, but it's definitely at the top end of the big building rentals that I have seen. The location is pretty good overall. The biggest issue you will have is the fact that the only subway nearby is the 6 at 68th street. It's great that the subway is so close, but that line is absolutely brutal when it comes to getting on the 6 at that station going downtown during morning rush hour. Otherwise, I would highly recommend the building.

bjgreen, when you say that you are working downtown, do you mean the Wall Street area? If so, would you consider York Ave? I know it seems far, but you could take the cab share on 79th and York, the Express bus, or a van to work. If so, I'd recommend one of the Glenwood properties - we have been extremely pleased with the management company and staff and the buildings don't seem to have a dorm atmosphere (we are in our late 20s and are the youngest on our floor). With the recent incentives, you should be able to get a renovated one bedroom (marble bath, granite kitchen) for substantially less than $3000, and no fee.

bjgreen, check out Carnegie Park Apts at 3rd and 94th. I live there. 3 blocks to subway station. Rental from management, so no fee.

Thanks for the link, evnyc. And, bjgreen, if you are still looking...Please note that all apartments listed through Rose Associates are no-fee. You can view photos, floorplans and availability on our website (www.rosenyc.com) and we send our listings to streeteasy as well. Good luck with your move!

Thanks again, everyone - I hadn't even thought about the Express bus, so I'll check out its route. I'll also take a look at the other links and recommendations.