Moving from Park Slope to UES (Milford: apartments, rental, broker)

[manchesterUnited]

I currently live in Park Slope (lived in NYC for 1 year) and work in NoHo. Starting in the fall, my wife will be working in a hospital on the east side of Manhattan. To shorten both of our commutes, we're pretty confident UES is the place for us. It's still close to our jobs, yet quiet and a bit cheaper than most of manhattan. We'll be moving in August.

My question is what's the best way to go about getting a good deal in UES?

I've looked at places like craigslist, citi-habitats, and hotpads. Citi-habitats in particular seems to have a good selection; we're looking for a legit 1 bedroom (at least 650 sqft), that accepts a 25lb dog. We're looking to spend ~2.5k for a walkup, or ~2.8k for something in a complex with fitness and laundry (maybe a bit higher if we avoided the broker's fee).

One thing I'm concerned about is the old bait-and-switch. I've been periodically checking citi-habitats for a couple months, and I'm still seeing some of the same apartment pics as when I started checking.

Any thoughts? Thanks!

[TurtleCreek80]

Milford Managment has several nice high rise buildings on the UES on the upper end of your range. I lived in one in the early 2000's and would recommend them. I would check their website out for contact info.

I also lived in a great walk-up for a few years managed by City & Suburban. There is a rental office in the 500 block of East 78th where you just walk in and they give you keys to show yourself available apartments. Great area, but a long 10 minute walk to the 6-train so might not be of interest to you.

I found 3 apartments in NYC and never used a broker or a Citi habitats type place. I think unless you're using a high end brokerage like Corcoran or Halstead, the brokers are pretty shady and there is a lot of bait & switch.

Pounding the pavement by walking up and down streets you like and asking doormen for managmemefs contact info or if there are any available units is the best way to find a good place...but it will take a month of Saturdays to do the leg work. I also had luck with the Times ads.

[LizfromtheBronx]

I live in a Bettina Equities building on the UES, and they have a ton of buildings. Their website has floor plans, but not photos of the actual apartments. If you go directly through the management company, there's no broker fee.

The buildings are all very nice, and mostly elevator/laundry. The mgt has been really responsive to any issues I've had (nothing out of the ordinary).

I would definitely check them out...for example, 1 bed in my building (2 are available right now) range from 2250-2400.

[manchesterUnited]

Thanks for the tips guys. Do buildings put up for rent signs or anything? I haven't seen much of that when I walked around before, but I thought maybe it'd become more common in the summer.

[LizfromtheBronx]

Larger buildings/mgt companies don't really put up signs, they tend to have rental offices.