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Hey everyone. Typical noob post needing help looking for a place to rent. I did a search and didn't find anything abut agent recommendations, so here goes.
I live really far from my job and would like to move closer. Here's what I'm looking for:
A studio or one-bedroom apartment for around $900 per month, preferably with heat and hot water included (lack of these won't be a deal breaker, but it's a preference). I can go up to $1000 a month maximum, but I'd prefer to keep it around $900.
I work in Hackensack, so I'd like to be about 15 miles (20 max) from there or closer in any direction in NJ.
A suburban neighborhood. I recently looked at places in the North Bergen/Guttenberg/West New York area, and I found it too crowded. For reference, I currently live in Westchester, NY, and I'd like something similarly populated. (I imagine suburban areas not part of NY metro are also less expensive, but I'm not sure.)
I don't need to be close to public transportation or have immediate access to NYC or any of those things people in Hudson County love.
Those are the major factors.
Now there are a couple of problems. First, I'm not having trouble finding places in my price range, I'm just having trouble getting people to reply to me. Either they don't update listings and the places I ask about are taken, or they flat out don't reply at all.
The second is the bigger issue. My credit isn't great. I know that makes it a lot more difficult to find a place, but I can provide pay stubs, bank statements, etc, and I have a willing cosigner with better credit than mine.
With the two issues above, I've been thinking it might be a good idea to get an agent, explain that to them, and have them look with that in mind. The problem is, I can't find a good agent. So can someone please recommend places to look at, or agents I can get in touch with who can help me? I'd be very grateful. (The standard one month fee isn't a problem.)
Also, I have no specific deadline to move, but I'd like to be done by April 1.
Hey everyone. Typical noob post needing help looking for a place to rent. I did a search and didn't find anything abut agent recommendations, so here goes.
I live really far from my job and would like to move closer. Here's what I'm looking for:
A studio or one-bedroom apartment for around $900 per month, preferably with heat and hot water included (lack of these won't be a deal breaker, but it's a preference). I can go up to $1000 a month maximum, but I'd prefer to keep it around $900.
I work in Hackensack, so I'd like to be about 15 miles (20 max) from there or closer in any direction in NJ.
A suburban neighborhood. I recently looked at places in the North Bergen/Guttenberg/West New York area, and I found it too crowded. For reference, I currently live in Westchester, NY, and I'd like something similarly populated. (I imagine suburban areas not part of NY metro are also less expensive, but I'm not sure.)
I don't need to be close to public transportation or have immediate access to NYC or any of those things people in Hudson County love.
Those are the major factors.
Now there are a couple of problems. First, I'm not having trouble finding places in my price range, I'm just having trouble getting people to reply to me. Either they don't update listings and the places I ask about are taken, or they flat out don't reply at all.
The second is the bigger issue. My credit isn't great. I know that makes it a lot more difficult to find a place, but I can provide pay stubs, bank statements, etc, and I have a willing cosigner with better credit than mine.
With the two issues above, I've been thinking it might be a good idea to get an agent, explain that to them, and have them look with that in mind. The problem is, I can't find a good agent. So can someone please recommend places to look at, or agents I can get in touch with who can help me? I'd be very grateful. (The standard one month fee isn't a problem.)
Also, I have no specific deadline to move, but I'd like to be done by April 1.
Thanks so much!
I wonder if some of your troubles are due to where you are looking for listings? (Craig's list is notoriously full of scams, as are many of the freebie booklets/papers) Have you tried checking out the rentals section on NJ.com? I did a quick search, Apartments & Condos for Rent Listings - NJ.com and found quite a few listings fitting your criteria, I even called a couple and got good responses.
I wonder if some of your troubles are due to where you are looking for listings? (Craig's list is notoriously full of scams, as are many of the freebie booklets/papers) Have you tried checking out the rentals section on NJ.com? I did a quick search, Apartments & Condos for Rent Listings - NJ.com and found quite a few listings fitting your criteria, I even called a couple and got good responses.
HTH
KoalaNJ
KoalaNJ, much appreciated. Thank you. It probably is due to the websites I've been checking. I actually haven't looked closely at NJ.com. I had a reason for this early on in my search, but now I forget. I think I should give it another try and give up on Craigslist and the like. Forgive my ignorance of all the resources; I'm new to this whole process. This will be my first apartment. Cheers!
Something else you might want to consider it look at your radius of proximity to Hackensack, then hone in on some towns that would fit your criteria. Take a day on the weekend and drive around and scope out "For Rent" signs. Apartment complexes will also generally have them posted outside, or the number to the rental office. This way you could avoid a realtor fee.
Your budget is doable, you might not get a super nice space but something decent and livable in a good town.
Maybe tell us a bit more of what kind of property you'd be open to renting in and what you look for in a town. We can make some suggestions in that vicinity to Hackensack based on that.
Thanks, brokenaperture. I've been using free map tools to find the neighborhoods, but I think I've been using the wrong resources to find places in those neighborhoods. I might drive around this weekend. In the smaller towns it's probably doable in an afternoon.
I left out specific criteria because a lot of them are flexible, and I realize the more specific I get the more limited my options are. But here they are in order of importance:
The neighborhood has to be safe. I can take care of myself, but I don't want my car or apartment broken into. More importantly, my girlfriend lives far away and will visit me on the weekends. Since I can't be with her when she's traveling, I need to be in a town where she feels safe and I won't worry about her walking down the street alone or waiting for me to pick her up.
Suburban. Years of living in Westchester have spoiled me in terms of lack of traffic and crowding. I'd actually prefer to avoid Hudson County altogether, or at least the really heavily populated areas. Some areas are nice, but the neighborhoods I've viewed are very crowded, have no parking, and I'd be paying a premium for proximity to NYC that I don't need. I actually wouldn't mind a more rural area, but I figured that's not even an option 15-20 miles from Hackensack.
Parking. My car is easy to break into, so I'd like off street parking if possible. I'm willing to pay for a garage or parking lot space if it doesn't come with the building, but I'd rather not have to park on the street 10 blocks from my apartment and not find my car the next morning.
Access to nature. I like walking through the woods on the weekends to relax. I noticed a couple of preservation areas in my range, so I've been looking at areas close to those.
A decent size. I saw a shoebox of a studio this week and wasn't impressed. They didn't tell me the size, but it couldn't have been more than 250 sq ft. By that estimate I'd prefer 400 sq ft or larger.
Relatively quiet. I can sleep under pretty much any condition, so this criterion is flexible, but I noticed my stress levels decrease when I'm in quiet areas.
Potential places don't need to hit on all of those, but safety is the one I'm not willing to compromise on.
As far as what kind of property, initially I wanted only a flat in a typical building, but after looking around a bit I'm also open to houses (or, for my budget, part of a house) and multi-family units as long as I don't have to share the space.
Check out Hawthorne. It's more suburban and there are some apartment complexes as well as apartments in 2-family houses. Your budget is tight but you might just find something. Hawthorne is Passaic County, but it borders Bergen County towns, and Is close to areas that are similar to Westchester County.
You won't be able to be too picky in your price range and credit situation. Some landlords judge strictly on the credit score, others may be more lenient if the income and past rental history is good. If you have a sympathetic reason for the low credit score, I would even submit a letter explaining the reason for the low credit.
There are about 35-40 apartments in Bergen County currently available from $800 to $1000 listed on the New Jersey MLS. That includes studios, 1 bedrooms, and there were even a few 2 bedroom rentals.
There are 4 right in Hackensack if that town is a consideration.
Good information for me on here. However, I would like to know how is hackensack? is it safe? is there a downtown? would like something not too urban and not too rural. thanks
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