Looking for the impossible; an affordable legal apartment in Nassau County (Hicksville: real estate, apartment complexes)

[Lincoln4Truth]

After paying off the last of my debts, I have some breathing room now to lease a garden variety apartment for the first, either studio or one bedroom.

I'm trying to understand why it's so difficult to get a comprehensive listing of apartment complexes in Nassau County though. Some of them are listed in Apartments.com and some in the yellow pages, though I found many of these listings to be out of date as the apartments are now co-ops, and no longer available for rent.

There appears to be quite a few that are completely under the radar too. Just today I passed by no less than three apartment buildings that all had rental signs, and yet there is absolutely no information about them online or in the phone books. Very strange.

I'm not getting a lot of cooperation by realtors either. I guess they are too busy trying to sell houses, as most of my phone calls to realty agencies never get returned.

I'm on the waiting list for apartments in Roslyn though, and I found the general area around there, including Flower Hill, Sea Cliff, Roslyn Harbor and southern Port Washington to be pleasant enough and close to work, though the only apartment buildings I know of in these areas are the 2 listed in Apartments.com

Is there any better way to search for decent garden variety apartments? Seems I actually have to physically drive around and come across them by sheer happenstance to find the unlisted ones.

If you know any personally, feel free to PM me too.

It's a shame, I'm single, have no pets, don't smoke, have outstanding credit, no debts and a steady job of 9 years, so you'd think I'd be an ideal tenant, and yet nobody wants to legally rent to me.

[Figaro2008]

What is the amount of rent per month you are willing to spend?

[Elke Mariotti]

Originally Posted by Lincoln4Truth

There appears to be quite a few that are completely under the radar too. Just today I passed by no less than three apartment buildings that all had rental signs, and yet there is absolutely no information about them online or in the phone books. Very strange.

I'm not getting a lot of cooperation by realtors either. I guess they are too busy trying to sell houses, as most of my phone calls to realty agencies never get returned.

Generally, apartment buildings/complexes are run by maintenance companies who also do the hiring, etc. and rarely use RE agents. The thing to do is find the name(s) of RE management companies and call about vacancies if that's where you want to live.

As far as RE agents and rentals go - many don't want to spend the time because the pay-off can be minimal (as with other commissions, the one-month fee usually gets split four ways, and that's before advertising expenses, time and gasoline spent... not to mention taxes)
Of course they could (have someone) call back to say there's no interest in the business.

[Lincoln4Truth]

Figaro, I'm trying to keep it under $1500 if possible. Elke, thanks for the info. I noticed that sometimes co-ops/condos still rent out apartments as well, compounding the problem of finding a good place even more. I did a cursory search on managements companies for Long Island, but there's no indication as to what properties they manage. Would I have to call each one or is there an easier way?

[Elke Mariotti]

Originally Posted by Lincoln4Truth

Figaro, I'm trying to keep it under $1500 if possible. Elke, thanks for the info. I noticed that sometimes co-ops/condos still rent out apartments as well, compounding the problem of finding a good place even more. I did a cursory search on managements companies for Long Island, but there's no indication as to what properties they manage. Would I have to call each one or is there an easier way?

As far as I know, you'll have to call each one. Anybody out there who knows differently??

Co-ops and condos are more likely to use a Realtor, but still, not all of them do.

[WJFM]

When I was looking 3 years ago, I was lucky enough to find an apartment in Mineola through apartments.com. But its hard for the same reasons you mentioned. I found that the only way to get that apartment was through a special RE agent who knew the management and gets money from the renter for that, not the landlord.

Did you try mlsli.com? It has a rental properties section that has listing for every place in Long Island. Check oiiut Mineola apartments there. And there are the usual craigslist etc.

You might want to retain an RE just for your search. Ask around for recommedations. But they will probably charge you 15% of annual rent for the services.

[Elke Mariotti]

Originally Posted by WJFM

Did you try mlsli.com? It has a rental properties section that has listing for every place in Long Island. Check oiiut Mineola apartments there.

MLSLI only shows listings for properties/rentals listed with a Real Estate Broker. Independent management companies generally don't...

[WJFM]

I thought management companies will list apartment with a brokers. It is in the interest of the management to fill apartments as quickly as possible.. and it is better for them to work with brokers to list than just have someone in their office know about it and field calls.

I looked at some apartments in Roslyn a while ago.. in the flower hills section near the pond, and an agent showed me the apartment and told me the management was paying the fee

Originally Posted by Elke Mariotti

MLSLI only shows listings for properties/rentals listed with a Real Estate Broker. Independent management companies generally don't...

[Lincoln4Truth]

Originally Posted by Elke Mariotti

Co-ops and condos are more likely to use a Realtor, but still, not all of them do.

Thankfully my old RE is used by some of these co-ops which is how I found out about them. Might be the only way I can find out about these types of apartments too unless I literally gom too.

Originally Posted by WJFM

Did you try mlsli.com? It has a rental properties section that has listing for every place in Long Island. Check oiiut Mineola apartments there. And there are the usual craigslist etc.

The apartments you found, are these the Regency apartments? Did you try using the direct number on apartments.com before using an RE agent? I suspect that's I'll have to do as well as I tried the number for Flower Gardens, and they said they would call me back as soon as a unit was available, but blew me off, meanwhile several units had been leased since then. Makes no sense to me why they would formally list their complex on apartments.com when I'd have to go through a realty anyway.

Thanks for the MLSLI link, I haven't known about that site before. Elke, if independent management companies generally don't use brokers how do they fill their units, by going out and grabbing people off the streets?

Originally Posted by WJFM

I looked at some apartments in Roslyn a while ago.. in the flower hills section near the pond, and an agent showed me the apartment and told me the management was paying the fee

I've been looking in that area too. Was the agent from Roslyn Realty? How did the apartments look?

[WJFM]

I don't remember the name of the realty company in Roslyn.. but it was actually right next the flower hill complex on main street. It was very nice, but the rent was 1950 3 years ago for 2 bed 1 bath.

Many agents did not return my call, but some did. But I saw my share of bad places. There was one apartment listed as a 2 bedroom, but it turned out that the living room was converted to a 2nd bedroom ( with no living room). The asking rent was 1500$ for that.

There are wesbites/numbers to call for places like westwood village apartments , fairhaven apartments in Hicksville, Mineola etc. Call them to see if they have vacancies.