Moving from Manhattan to Brooklyn. ALONE. Advice?

Asked by jabzoog (18

) April 27th, 2008

I am currently living in Manhattan with 2 roommates. I plan on moving out sometime soon before school starts at the end of August. I will be living alone. Our lease here is up August 31st, and I don’t want to break it.
I realize that rents get more expensive in the summer. I am looking for a studio or one bedroom. If I don’t use a broker, I can go up to 1800$/month. If I do, max would be about 1500$. I plan on looking at Williamsburg, Greenpoint, Park Slope, Windsor Terrace, Kensington, Boerum Hill, Cobble Hill, and Carroll Gardens. I would have to make a commute to Manhattan almost daily, but commute time is not so important as most of my classes are not early morning.
Above all, I am asking for any and all advice anyone can offer. But also: WHEN should I start looking, and when should the new lease ideally begin? I need to move in before school starts. A little overlap is OK, I think.

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2 Answers

You should start looking as soon as possible. Explore each neighborhood (both during the day, and during the night) so you can get a feel for what it’s like- don’t go by what people tell you. See for yourself.

I would say use a broker if you can afford it because they can line up several places for you to see all on one day. If you have time to go to places whenever it’s convenient for the owners instead of convenient for you, then you can probably forgo the broker.

Most of the ‘hoods you mentioned are peppered with subway stops, so I wouldn’t worry too much about the commute if I were you, just make sure there’s a subway stop within walking distance, doesn’t matter which line, almost all of them go to Manhattan (since you don’t care about adding a few minutes onto your commute, which switching trains might do)

Brooklyn is a great place to live if you do your research, so good luck!

jballou (2128

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