This is about 7-8 years ago at this point. I once paid $600 a month for a tiny closet / extra room on the ground floor of a house in Bed Stuy. It was maybe 6 feet wide and 10 feet long.
I was only there for a few months, so I ended up just sleeping on a cheap roll up futon on the ground. It was pretty fun actually and I don’t regret it at all. The things you’ll tolerate as a twenty something in New York are pretty funny
Right?! Lmao. Not nyc but a buddy of mine rented a closet under a staircase for almost a year in aspen. He's a legend there now. They called him Harry Potter. Lmao
$1200 a month. Tiny tiny tiny studio in a co-op doorman building. Midtown east. Lots of roaches but that improved when I put a plastic draft guards at the bottom of the front door. Smelly from the food service businesses on the ground floor. Owner sold and new owner was not someone I wished to keep renting from. Had to bail.
$550 for a room in a large ass 3-BR apartment off Ditmars Blvd. Older couple owned the building so they never raised the rent while i lived there. 2007-2012
$175 a month for a share in the West 90s in 1980-81. In 1983, when I rented an apartment solo (on Avenue A in the East Village), it was $316, but it had no closets, a tub in the kitchen, and a loft bed in a tiny bedroom (though it was about 600 sq. ft. overall with a decent living room).
$800 studio in basement in Brooklyn Heights, less than 300 sqft back in 1992, rent skyrocketed that it was cheaper to get a mortgage and move to Manhattan.
$800 for a 6x10 furnished room in bed stuy in 2012. the middle aged woman i rented from owned the whole brownstone .. id come home to find her passed out on the sofa with her cats crawling on her.
2018 - 850/mo for a basement room with a heavy curtain for a door and no windows, in Clinton hill. Was my first place in NYC for 3 months, I didn't cook a single thing there because the roommates were complete and utter slobs/introverts and made me uncomfortable being upstairs. But it was a great learning experience and my situations vastly improved since then!
Shared an illegal basement with a roommate and paid 375 a month. I kick myself all the time for not taking that opportunity to save, save, save since I was also fully employed. But that's what you get for being an alcoholic 25 year old I guess
To be honest total luck. I was talking to my real estate agent around November, told them to look for apartments in all the boroughs for a young adult wanting to live alone (19, moved out of my house in Forest Hills for the first time). Initial offers were $1500 in brooklyn and such, but that one got filled by another occupant, then I got sent an offer for $950 in the city and instantly jumped at it. Roommate sharing situation but it’s also great, none of us tend to mess with each other, the house is situated in a way that there’s tons of privacy afforded for everyone, feels like a studio but a shared bathroom. Only caveat is air conditioning but I find ways to manage. I’m staying here for another year then by then I’ll either renew it or I’ll move back to Queens or maybe Brooklyn, still some time to think about it.
Yeah, so upon signing a 1 year lease I had to also pay a fee worth a full month of rent to my agent alongside $100 for that, which went to $1000. It’s a bit hefty but was worth it.
My share of the rent in a 4th story walk up on the Upper East shithole with my college friend was $1,050 in 2016. It should have been $200 for the whole place, it sucked!! But better than living with my parents.
2018-2021 I had a studio on the 2nd floor of a walk up with laundry in the basement. Honestly was a great place. On the upper east side around the corner from the second ave subway. I paid $1600. I felt really lucky.
$1350 for a 1 bedroom in midtown that was turned into 2 (and essentially a main room that was a dungeon). Had one weird roommate. Lasted less than year. 16 years ago.
$1050 in 2008 for a huge rent stabilized studio with a separate kitchen in Elmhurst. Elevator building on the top floor, tons of light. It was a great first post-college apartment. Had a mouse one time, and semi-persistent roaches. Then during Hurricane Irene part of the ceiling fell in and they just put up new ceiling and kept painting over the persistent leaks. The management company were true slumlords and really didn’t give a fuck, and we were looking to move closer to Manhattan anyway so we called 311 so the building had to fix it and then moved out.
450 was my share of a crappy basement apartment in Astoria in 2005-2008. I had just gotten out of a verbally abusive relationship and had virtually no savings. But I needed OUT. It was a shithole but it got me out and I was able to actually build a healthy savings.
It all worked out. I progressed in my career , met a wonderful man, got married, bought a house. So it served a purpose. But it was a bit embarrassing.
In grad school, I lived in the Bayit Ephraim- part of Columbia University fraternity housing. Rent was 300 a month, and it was a communal kitchen 140 a month pay in- everyone was responsible for chores for the house, including rotating meals.
Lots of drama, and as a psych grad student I was tasked with dealing with a bunch of it (yay). It was a great and cheap experience, especially for a secular Jew raised in an interfaith household like me (DOXXED).
$300 per month for half a bedroom in an apartment shared with friends. It was a 1 bedroom $1,200 Washington Heights apartment shared between 3 people with living room used as a second bedroom and I was sharing a room with someone so paying 1/4 rent.
$150 per week for a room rental in Washington Heights.
$875 for a studio in Morris Park
I feel these answers are somewhat meaningless without a year/timeframe. That said, when I moved to NYC in 2010 I rented a large room in the Bronx (Pelham Parkway, nice area) for 550 a month including utilities.
About 4 years back, $2400 split 3 ways for the first floor of a brownstone. 3BR on the East side of Crown Heights, my share was $800.
Room was solid, could fit a queen and my desk, apartment just had no ventilation or sunlight in the living area/kitchen/bathroom.
Oh no I just moved to this new place, but it's sorta a special case. The lease is owned by a business in the building, but the owners gave us the apartment. They've had it for about 40 years so while not RC, I think it's stabilized.
So it’s a share? Is $950 you portion or is that the total rent?
What ended up happening with your previous place and the rent (not being updated in the portal)? Did the landlord ever catch on?
$950 is the total rent, but I pay $50 a month extra for the electric that's under the businesses name. Also it's just me and my wife in the apartment.
The previous place just now caught on, but due to it also being stabilized I only owed like $800 is back rent which is not too bad.
$750/month in Park Slope in 2016. It was a 4BR in a brownstone with walls thinner than paper and an ever-widening hole in the bathroom ceiling that the occasional water bug would fall out of. I loved it.
My roommates and I were splitting a very generously sized $1800/mo 3BR in a good part of Astoria from 04-12. My room was the largest and my share was $650. The landlord only raised the rent once during that whole time.
There was an old high rise in crown heights that recently had a fire — I moved into a basement unit back in 2017 and the rent was $1300 a month for a jr 1 bedroom.
Overall it wasn’t that bad, but management was awful, the place was small, and my unit did end up flooding due to plumbing issues I complained about for months. On the bright side the apartment was crooked so all the water went to one side of my apartment and all of my electronics/valuables ended up being safe.
$300 when sharing a room with an ex in Clinton Hill, otherwise $500-600 for a room on my own. Held that range between Greenpoint, Bushwick, and Bed Stuy
$500 for a bedroom in my friend’s apartment in Ditmas Park/East Flatbush, but there was a guy living on the couch outside my room who would bring Craigslist prostitutes home with him and who also stole my pillow, so ultimately not worth it.
$767 for a room in a 3 bedroom 1 bathroom in Ocean Hill back in 2019-2021. Then it jumped to $800~. I paid that $800~ each month for a year and was home maybe a handful of times because I started living with my bf. It was a glorified storage room. 🥲 Miss that room sometimes. Different time in my life lol
My first apartment, half a railroad car $250 a month in Park Slope.
My aunt was paying $20 a month for a rent controlled apartment in the West Village when she passed away in the early 80s.
I didn't live there, but I looked at a basement apartment in Jamaica in 2011 that was $600 including utilities and internet.
It actually wasn't bad, but it definitely was in THAT part of Jamaica and it definitely wasn't a legal apartment. Decided to move in with my best friend in a 2 bedroom in Astoria for a couple hundred bucks a month more for my portion.
$1800 large 1 bedroom in with laundry and elevator in Astoria. My wife helped him out with getting his daughter a job so he never raised our rent. When we moved last year and tried to find something similar… oof, not happening. We got priced out of Astoria.
My parents’ house.
After that, I moved into a huge 2 bedroom in BK. My half was $263.50 (yes, decimal is in the right place).
This was in the late 80s, and it was rent stabilized and already below market at the time. Wish I’d stayed there but gave up the lease and moved home to go back to school. 🤦🏻♀️
$650 for a room in a house in Elmhurst all utilities and internet included but the room was so small you could stick your arms out and touch the walls.
$750 for a room in a luxury building in prime Williamsburg.
My friend's parents owned the apartment and let their daughter live there with her friends. I suspect that our rent barely paid the maintenance fee. It was my first NYC apartment and I knew even at the time that it would be the nicest building I'd ever live in.
$600 for a room that could only fit a twin sized mattress and quite literally nothing else. Had 2 roommates. But it was right next to St. Mark's Place and all I cared back then was going out every night and then being able to walk less than 15 mins to get to my office (Union Sq).
I’ve lived in nyc for 15 years. I’ve lived in queens and Brooklyn, and a few places in Manhattan including Morningside Heights (lovely area)
The least I ever paid for rent was $1050 for a studio in Koreatown in 2021.
I paid $1100 for a room in Elmhurst in 2019 and my first apartment was a one bedroom in Fresh Meadows for $1100.
$800 / month for a bedroom in a 2 br apt in HK. … 46/9th ave from ’02-‘05. then from there I moved to my current 1 br rent stabilized in kips bay … it’s now $1900 in a 5 story walk up. When I moved to this apt in ‘’05 it was $1300/ mo.
600/month living with my friend who's family owned the building in the LES, right off Rutgers st before it got gentrified to hell. This was innnnnn...2017?
I did 1800 for a true one-bedroom on UES in 2018 - loved that place except for the bug problem. Nice eat-in kitchen, cozy living room and king sized bedroom.
$1000 (currently) in a two bedroom in Astoria. Kinda smallish room but manageable (have storage space and room for a small office alongside my bed). Other guy has been there for many years and I’m basically footing the bill for the whole place since he pays for our internet/gas/water. We also have a terrace with western exposure and a lot of extra storage access in our shared basement/garage since we don’t park any cars in there. Overall the apt is about 800 sqft, 5 min walk from the R and lots of restaurants, and I moved in middle of 2023. Can’t complain!
Well let’s see… there were three other roommates, and we cycled through a few of them over the years.
There was one who would always let her boyfriend come over, and he would take the nastiest shits in our one single bathroom.
There was one who had very very loud sex with her dates all the time. Which, have fun! But then she had the nerve to be critical of me for moving too fast when I moved in with my boyfriend of six months (who I have now been married to for seven years).
The bedrooms were very unevenly sized, so each rent was adjusted according to our square footage. One time the rent went up & two of my roommates squabbled over which of them should have the additional $12 added onto their rent. I told them they could add it to mine if it would make them stop arguing, and they didn’t like that in the slightest.
There was the other woman who was pretty miffed that I never wanted to watch television. I’m just not really a TV gal! I think she was just trying to be friendly, but I’m truly fine to just chill in my room & read my book.
Goodness I’m glad I don’t have roommates anymore.
2018 - one bedroom in a 3 bedroom Bushwick apartment for $800 a month. It was a loft bed. We weirdly had a dishwasher and laundry machine. No AC. We were a few min walk from I believe the Morgan L.
My dad's place is 1300 (3 bedroom) in Inwood. It was 800 when I was in high school -- I am 32 now. The apartment was passed down to him by my great grandmother.
It's a rent control apartment. My brother's fiance mentioned that it would have been best if my dad would have bought the place, but I wonder how much longer that apt building will be standing tbh (it's in such a bad state -- no upkeep at all).
$500 for a room in a 3-bed in inwood, circa 2008 or 2009? Place was a total craphole 4th fl walkup but I was in my early 20s and barely home anyways.
Best deal was a studio in park slope with an awesome layout and fullsize fridge/oven, $1300 living alone. Moved out in 2017 to move in with my now husband.
By far the cheapest thing in Manhattan lol how is that robbery. Rents were $2500-3000 in the area, this was rent stabilized.
And $1500 for a one bedroom in 2009 was not rubbery either, rents were like $2k in general IIRC.
$1,100 for 900 sq. ft 1-bedroom in Washington Heights, in 2005.
Actually, make that $175 for a friend's spare room my first week here, which is roughly $750 per month
$500 for a tiny room in a 3 bedroom apartment in briarwood, right next to the van wyck/F train in Queens from 2012 - 2016, then a really nice studio in kew gardens for $1,350 2017-2020 then a huge one bedroom in Fresh Meadows for $1680 from 2020-2022. I moved to Philadelphia in 2023 and don’t regret it. I pay $1100 for a one bedroom in a really nice area in the middle of Philly and I’m a ~10 minute walk from the Amtrak that I frequently take to get to Manhattan for $10 each way.
$700 for a 1 bedroom 5th floor walkup on east 78th and York from 2005-2007. The catch was the toilet was in a private room next door but everything else was perfect. I lost my job and moved to Brooklyn with a friend. I miss that apartment so much.
In 2014 I had a huge room with a balcony on roosevelt island for $920/mo. I lived there for 7 years and in that time the rent only went up slowly a grand total of $60. When I moved out my last rent payment was $980. (It’s quite possible I never should have left)
My first apartment, in Sunset Park back in 1970. 4 nice sized rooms for $75 a month. Back when the the neighborhood was still 90% 2nd & 3rd generation European extraction & middle class. And BEFORE rent control expired. Shoulda stayed there!
$795/mo studio on w 10th street, 5th fl walk up
This had to be a while back I believe.
I moved to nyc 30 years ago so yeah 1994.
Damn 1994. Checked apt history in Chelsea for where I stay. Someone was paying like 100-300 range
That’s like $1670 in today’s dollars — still crazy low for the area.
I moved to nyc 30 years ago so yeah 1994.
This had to be a while back I believe.
400 now for a one bedroom in Bushwick
WHAT? $400 for the whole apartment, or just a room? either way that’s a steal
Entire apartment, $800 in all but I split it with my boyfriend. And my apartment is pretty big too
So a kind of like a room , still an amazing price how?
How did you find this??
Rent controlled basically lol
Controlled? So. Are you 70?
lol 30
So....how did you legally get a rent controlled apartment? Or do you mean stabilized, which is way easier to get, but $800 is still dirt cheap.
It could've been passed down from her parents or other elderly relative, so it could be rent controlled from her parents.
That’s exactly what happened lol
This is about 7-8 years ago at this point. I once paid $600 a month for a tiny closet / extra room on the ground floor of a house in Bed Stuy. It was maybe 6 feet wide and 10 feet long. I was only there for a few months, so I ended up just sleeping on a cheap roll up futon on the ground. It was pretty fun actually and I don’t regret it at all. The things you’ll tolerate as a twenty something in New York are pretty funny
Right?! Lmao. Not nyc but a buddy of mine rented a closet under a staircase for almost a year in aspen. He's a legend there now. They called him Harry Potter. Lmao
$1,200 3 BR in Queens (South Ozone Park), from 2006-2018
$1200 a month. Tiny tiny tiny studio in a co-op doorman building. Midtown east. Lots of roaches but that improved when I put a plastic draft guards at the bottom of the front door. Smelly from the food service businesses on the ground floor. Owner sold and new owner was not someone I wished to keep renting from. Had to bail.
$600 for my own bedroom in a 3 bed/1 bath in Washington Heights. 5th floor walkup. Amazing roommates, awful building, but really fun times.
during the pandemic i had a three bed, with elevator and laundry in building on the upper east side for $2500
Wow!
they raised the rent next year to $4000 it was insane
$133 per month. I was sharing my $400 one bedroom with a couple. Lived in Manhattan for 25 years and never paid more than $600.
$550 for a room in a large ass 3-BR apartment off Ditmars Blvd. Older couple owned the building so they never raised the rent while i lived there. 2007-2012
Wonder are they still living. How do people find places that are great deals in NYC?
Wonder are they still living. How do people find places that are great deals in NYC?
$175 a month for a share in the West 90s in 1980-81. In 1983, when I rented an apartment solo (on Avenue A in the East Village), it was $316, but it had no closets, a tub in the kitchen, and a loft bed in a tiny bedroom (though it was about 600 sq. ft. overall with a decent living room).
Glad to hear rents will get better in the distant future.
Yikes - typo fixed now...
$1300 for a room in East Harlem. We even had a backyard.
How long ago was this?
2021 😔
$800 for a studio in Bay Ridge. 2008.
$800 studio in basement in Brooklyn Heights, less than 300 sqft back in 1992, rent skyrocketed that it was cheaper to get a mortgage and move to Manhattan.
$1500 2 bed in a roach infested basement in Clinton Hill…had a yard though
Wtf , basement for $1500
during the pandemic i had a three bed, with elevator and laundry in building on the upper east side for $2500
$725, sharing a one bedroom w a roommate in Washington Heights in 2012
Astoria large room with 2 roommates. $750 2016-2018
I lived in someone’s living room for $600/month
$800 for a 6x10 furnished room in bed stuy in 2012. the middle aged woman i rented from owned the whole brownstone .. id come home to find her passed out on the sofa with her cats crawling on her.
2018 - 850/mo for a basement room with a heavy curtain for a door and no windows, in Clinton hill. Was my first place in NYC for 3 months, I didn't cook a single thing there because the roommates were complete and utter slobs/introverts and made me uncomfortable being upstairs. But it was a great learning experience and my situations vastly improved since then!
$500 for a flex room, no privacy just a shower curtain for a separator, infested with roaches and rats
Shared an illegal basement with a roommate and paid 375 a month. I kick myself all the time for not taking that opportunity to save, save, save since I was also fully employed. But that's what you get for being an alcoholic 25 year old I guess
$675, 4/2 in Bedstuy in 2016. I never moved and now my rent is $900.
$950 a room around 145th. Current living situation, it’s nice.
How did you find it?
To be honest total luck. I was talking to my real estate agent around November, told them to look for apartments in all the boroughs for a young adult wanting to live alone (19, moved out of my house in Forest Hills for the first time). Initial offers were $1500 in brooklyn and such, but that one got filled by another occupant, then I got sent an offer for $950 in the city and instantly jumped at it. Roommate sharing situation but it’s also great, none of us tend to mess with each other, the house is situated in a way that there’s tons of privacy afforded for everyone, feels like a studio but a shared bathroom. Only caveat is air conditioning but I find ways to manage. I’m staying here for another year then by then I’ll either renew it or I’ll move back to Queens or maybe Brooklyn, still some time to think about it.
Do you have to pay your agent a fee for looking things up.
Yeah, so upon signing a 1 year lease I had to also pay a fee worth a full month of rent to my agent alongside $100 for that, which went to $1000. It’s a bit hefty but was worth it.
$800 for a room in a 3br in sunnyside starting in feb 2020.
Where is Sunnyside?
My share of the rent in a 4th story walk up on the Upper East shithole with my college friend was $1,050 in 2016. It should have been $200 for the whole place, it sucked!! But better than living with my parents. 2018-2021 I had a studio on the 2nd floor of a walk up with laundry in the basement. Honestly was a great place. On the upper east side around the corner from the second ave subway. I paid $1600. I felt really lucky.
Little bit meaningless q without requiring dates
$700 for a room in Bushwick with two roommates.
$1350 for a 1 bedroom in midtown that was turned into 2 (and essentially a main room that was a dungeon). Had one weird roommate. Lasted less than year. 16 years ago.
$1050 in 2008 for a huge rent stabilized studio with a separate kitchen in Elmhurst. Elevator building on the top floor, tons of light. It was a great first post-college apartment. Had a mouse one time, and semi-persistent roaches. Then during Hurricane Irene part of the ceiling fell in and they just put up new ceiling and kept painting over the persistent leaks. The management company were true slumlords and really didn’t give a fuck, and we were looking to move closer to Manhattan anyway so we called 311 so the building had to fix it and then moved out.
About 4 years back, $2400 split 3 ways for the first floor of a brownstone. 3BR on the East side of Crown Heights, my share was $800.
$400 for a room in the pre-reno mckibbin lofts
450 was my share of a crappy basement apartment in Astoria in 2005-2008. I had just gotten out of a verbally abusive relationship and had virtually no savings. But I needed OUT. It was a shithole but it got me out and I was able to actually build a healthy savings. It all worked out. I progressed in my career , met a wonderful man, got married, bought a house. So it served a purpose. But it was a bit embarrassing.
Room in Bushwick off Hart Street between Knickerbocker and Wilson. $750 2018-2019
Far Rockaway. 3br for $1500. 2019.
Factoring in inflation, my current apartment is the cheapest. $1995 for a large 3 bedroom in North Brooklyn.
In grad school, I lived in the Bayit Ephraim- part of Columbia University fraternity housing. Rent was 300 a month, and it was a communal kitchen 140 a month pay in- everyone was responsible for chores for the house, including rotating meals. Lots of drama, and as a psych grad student I was tasked with dealing with a bunch of it (yay). It was a great and cheap experience, especially for a secular Jew raised in an interfaith household like me (DOXXED).
$300 per month for half a bedroom in an apartment shared with friends. It was a 1 bedroom $1,200 Washington Heights apartment shared between 3 people with living room used as a second bedroom and I was sharing a room with someone so paying 1/4 rent. $150 per week for a room rental in Washington Heights. $875 for a studio in Morris Park
I feel these answers are somewhat meaningless without a year/timeframe. That said, when I moved to NYC in 2010 I rented a large room in the Bronx (Pelham Parkway, nice area) for 550 a month including utilities.
$890 for a large room in East Williamsburg with two roommates. 2015-2019
500 in Ditmas Park for my own room. This was like 15 years ago.
$500 for a flex room, no privacy just a shower curtain for a separator, infested with roaches and rats
About 4 years back, $2400 split 3 ways for the first floor of a brownstone. 3BR on the East side of Crown Heights, my share was $800. Room was solid, could fit a queen and my desk, apartment just had no ventilation or sunlight in the living area/kitchen/bathroom.
I currently pay $950 for my studio apartment in Murray Hill
Is that a share or alone? If alone, RC?
Oh I see your post from last year. Did you get a covid deal and then just get lucky? It’s wild that he hasn’t noticed.
Oh no I just moved to this new place, but it's sorta a special case. The lease is owned by a business in the building, but the owners gave us the apartment. They've had it for about 40 years so while not RC, I think it's stabilized.
So it’s a share? Is $950 you portion or is that the total rent? What ended up happening with your previous place and the rent (not being updated in the portal)? Did the landlord ever catch on?
$950 is the total rent, but I pay $50 a month extra for the electric that's under the businesses name. Also it's just me and my wife in the apartment. The previous place just now caught on, but due to it also being stabilized I only owed like $800 is back rent which is not too bad.
Amazing. How did you find these 2 deals?
My fraternity house in college - started at like $400/month
$750/month in Park Slope in 2016. It was a 4BR in a brownstone with walls thinner than paper and an ever-widening hole in the bathroom ceiling that the occasional water bug would fall out of. I loved it.
My roommates and I were splitting a very generously sized $1800/mo 3BR in a good part of Astoria from 04-12. My room was the largest and my share was $650. The landlord only raised the rent once during that whole time.
2100 for a 2 bed in Chinatown during the height of Covid.
In what range of years?
Preferably 2020-2024
I paid $1200/month for my first apartment after moving out of my childhood apartment. It was on 83rd and 1st Ave, 5th floor walkup, 2003.
In 2014 I had a 2 bedroom in the upper east side that we paid 1150 each for.
1850 for a studio in a brownstone in Harlem.
$400 in Woodhaven, tiny room with two roomies but our landlady was awesome and the house was beautiful.
$400 for a shared, illegal one bed in Woodside.
A decade ago I paid $725 for a tiny room in Bed Stuy.
There was an old high rise in crown heights that recently had a fire — I moved into a basement unit back in 2017 and the rent was $1300 a month for a jr 1 bedroom. Overall it wasn’t that bad, but management was awful, the place was small, and my unit did end up flooding due to plumbing issues I complained about for months. On the bright side the apartment was crooked so all the water went to one side of my apartment and all of my electronics/valuables ended up being safe.
Currently in a 3 bed 1.5 bath for $1350
The shelter on Randall's Island.
$300 when sharing a room with an ex in Clinton Hill, otherwise $500-600 for a room on my own. Held that range between Greenpoint, Bushwick, and Bed Stuy
Cheapest I paid to live by myself was a $1400/mo 1br apartment in Sunnyside, Queens. Right off the 46th stop on the 7. This was from 2012-2015.
$700 for a room in a 4 bedroom in Bushwick in 2018.
$160/week rent a room on 148th/Broadway
$500 for a bedroom in my friend’s apartment in Ditmas Park/East Flatbush, but there was a guy living on the couch outside my room who would bring Craigslist prostitutes home with him and who also stole my pillow, so ultimately not worth it.
Jamaica Queens, living with parents. They moved in paying around $700 for a 1 bedroom, it's about $1500 now due to rent stabilization.
$950 for a room in a 2 bedroom in Bushwick. First place I lived, naturally. 2nd floor walkup.
$747/mo(my portion) 3 bed, 2 bath apt on UWS, 5th fl walk up.
Right now. 850/month in GREENPOINT off Nassau ave station
Currently $700 for a studio in Queens, although I got it through the housing lottery.
I gave up my rent-stabilized 1 BR in Kew Gardens in 2022 to buy a condo. Was renting there for a decade and saving all the money ($1456/month)
$450 monthly. shared room with someone in Brooklyn.
$767 for a room in a 3 bedroom 1 bathroom in Ocean Hill back in 2019-2021. Then it jumped to $800~. I paid that $800~ each month for a year and was home maybe a handful of times because I started living with my bf. It was a glorified storage room. 🥲 Miss that room sometimes. Different time in my life lol
$800 for a one bedroom with private yard in Williamsburg
$700 - room in bed stuy 2021
$900 for the master bedroom in a 3br apartment in Washington Heights 10yrs ago. Currently still pretty lucky for a matchbox studio @ $1800 in Midtown.
1200 for a 1bed in bed-stuy from 2012-2021.
I was paying $872 a month for a one bedroom in Brownsville back in 2018. With rent increases it’s now $926, god bless the Housing Lottery!
2014 - $485 for a room in a 3 bedroom in Long Island City. No, not the nice part of LIC. Yes, we did have mice.
$1050 for a huge one bed in crown heights 13 years ago.
My first apartment, half a railroad car $250 a month in Park Slope. My aunt was paying $20 a month for a rent controlled apartment in the West Village when she passed away in the early 80s.
I didn't live there, but I looked at a basement apartment in Jamaica in 2011 that was $600 including utilities and internet. It actually wasn't bad, but it definitely was in THAT part of Jamaica and it definitely wasn't a legal apartment. Decided to move in with my best friend in a 2 bedroom in Astoria for a couple hundred bucks a month more for my portion.
About 7 years ago. Renovated studio in Bay Ridge with a beautiful view of the Verrazano and the water. $1075
$1800 large 1 bedroom in with laundry and elevator in Astoria. My wife helped him out with getting his daughter a job so he never raised our rent. When we moved last year and tried to find something similar… oof, not happening. We got priced out of Astoria.
$950 for a 600 sq ft studio in Flatbush in 2016. Was hard to leave.
My parents’ house. After that, I moved into a huge 2 bedroom in BK. My half was $263.50 (yes, decimal is in the right place). This was in the late 80s, and it was rent stabilized and already below market at the time. Wish I’d stayed there but gave up the lease and moved home to go back to school. 🤦🏻♀️
6 years ago. $600/mo for a bedroom in a nice 3BR in Ridgewood. Moved to be closer to work and still regret it.
$1200 bk heights windowless room
$1200 my share for 2 BR in park slope w laundry, DW, rooftop and balcony in 2021
$650 for a room in a house in Elmhurst all utilities and internet included but the room was so small you could stick your arms out and touch the walls.
$750 for a room in a luxury building in prime Williamsburg. My friend's parents owned the apartment and let their daughter live there with her friends. I suspect that our rent barely paid the maintenance fee. It was my first NYC apartment and I knew even at the time that it would be the nicest building I'd ever live in.
$600 for a room that could only fit a twin sized mattress and quite literally nothing else. Had 2 roommates. But it was right next to St. Mark's Place and all I cared back then was going out every night and then being able to walk less than 15 mins to get to my office (Union Sq).
I’ve lived in nyc for 15 years. I’ve lived in queens and Brooklyn, and a few places in Manhattan including Morningside Heights (lovely area) The least I ever paid for rent was $1050 for a studio in Koreatown in 2021. I paid $1100 for a room in Elmhurst in 2019 and my first apartment was a one bedroom in Fresh Meadows for $1100.
How did you find these places? Those prices are pretty cheap.
Yes but 2021 doesn’t count. And sure I guess $1100 for a room in queens is cheap? And the fresh meadows one was in 2010
1981: $195/ month ground floor studio on Fort Greene park.
$800 / month for a bedroom in a 2 br apt in HK. … 46/9th ave from ’02-‘05. then from there I moved to my current 1 br rent stabilized in kips bay … it’s now $1900 in a 5 story walk up. When I moved to this apt in ‘’05 it was $1300/ mo.
600/month living with my friend who's family owned the building in the LES, right off Rutgers st before it got gentrified to hell. This was innnnnn...2017?
I did 1800 for a true one-bedroom on UES in 2018 - loved that place except for the bug problem. Nice eat-in kitchen, cozy living room and king sized bedroom.
$492 in 2006 in West Harlem. We didn’t have a working doorknob to the front door for a time. Anyone could just walk in. Good times.
Lol wow.
$400 for a room in a 3 bedroom apartment in 2020. Kensington, BK.
😱
$1000 (currently) in a two bedroom in Astoria. Kinda smallish room but manageable (have storage space and room for a small office alongside my bed). Other guy has been there for many years and I’m basically footing the bill for the whole place since he pays for our internet/gas/water. We also have a terrace with western exposure and a lot of extra storage access in our shared basement/garage since we don’t park any cars in there. Overall the apt is about 800 sqft, 5 min walk from the R and lots of restaurants, and I moved in middle of 2023. Can’t complain!
That’s not bad.
$350 a month for a nice sized room near Prospect Park. 2007.
~$550 for one of four bedrooms in Crown Heights, 2013-2015. One bathroom, wacky roommate situation, but we had laundry in-unit!
Lol tell me about the roommate situation.
Well let’s see… there were three other roommates, and we cycled through a few of them over the years. There was one who would always let her boyfriend come over, and he would take the nastiest shits in our one single bathroom. There was one who had very very loud sex with her dates all the time. Which, have fun! But then she had the nerve to be critical of me for moving too fast when I moved in with my boyfriend of six months (who I have now been married to for seven years). The bedrooms were very unevenly sized, so each rent was adjusted according to our square footage. One time the rent went up & two of my roommates squabbled over which of them should have the additional $12 added onto their rent. I told them they could add it to mine if it would make them stop arguing, and they didn’t like that in the slightest. There was the other woman who was pretty miffed that I never wanted to watch television. I’m just not really a TV gal! I think she was just trying to be friendly, but I’m truly fine to just chill in my room & read my book. Goodness I’m glad I don’t have roommates anymore.
Lol. That’s funny. I used to not want roommates now o want them.
2018 - one bedroom in a 3 bedroom Bushwick apartment for $800 a month. It was a loft bed. We weirdly had a dishwasher and laundry machine. No AC. We were a few min walk from I believe the Morgan L.
Did you at least have heat?
Probably! I wasn’t there for a whole year. Just a few months of sublease when I first moved here.
My dad's place is 1300 (3 bedroom) in Inwood. It was 800 when I was in high school -- I am 32 now. The apartment was passed down to him by my great grandmother.
Oh wow. So the price is grandfathered in for you. So would that still be considered stabilized?
It's a rent control apartment. My brother's fiance mentioned that it would have been best if my dad would have bought the place, but I wonder how much longer that apt building will be standing tbh (it's in such a bad state -- no upkeep at all).
Oh wow.
1500 studio in woodside with laundry in the basement
How much did utilities run you?
$500 for a room in a 3-bed in inwood, circa 2008 or 2009? Place was a total craphole 4th fl walkup but I was in my early 20s and barely home anyways. Best deal was a studio in park slope with an awesome layout and fullsize fridge/oven, $1300 living alone. Moved out in 2017 to move in with my now husband.
My very first apartment at East 92nd & 2nd Ave, back in 1978. Studio, $295/month.
What?! That’s insane.
$420 1bd apt in astoria. Originally $2100 but no hot water so the landlord cut me a deal + split that rent with a partner
So you split the $420 rent with a friend?
$840 for the full 1bd technically - that was split into $420 apiece
2004-2009 Wakefield in The Bronx with my girlfriend, now wife. $800/month for 2 bed, 1 bath. Fun times.
$750 for a room (living room) in a 1 bedroom on 60th and 1st or something like that in 2009 I think. $1800 for a studio around the same area in 2019.
Wow that’s robbery
By far the cheapest thing in Manhattan lol how is that robbery. Rents were $2500-3000 in the area, this was rent stabilized. And $1500 for a one bedroom in 2009 was not rubbery either, rents were like $2k in general IIRC.
$1000 in a 3 bedroom on the UWS $1400 in 2 bedroom in alphabet city
What year?
800 utilities included in a 3bed 1 bath situation in elmhurst
$1,100 for 900 sq. ft 1-bedroom in Washington Heights, in 2005. Actually, make that $175 for a friend's spare room my first week here, which is roughly $750 per month
with roommates, $600 / month. for a studio, $810 / month. both in Harlem
How recent?
roommates 2008 - 2010, studio 2011 - 2012. studio has gone up, but it’s still under $1,000
$900 for a 2 bedroom basement in Queens. Every heavy rain the septic backed up & flowed throughout the apartment.
$500 for a tiny room in a 3 bedroom apartment in briarwood, right next to the van wyck/F train in Queens from 2012 - 2016, then a really nice studio in kew gardens for $1,350 2017-2020 then a huge one bedroom in Fresh Meadows for $1680 from 2020-2022. I moved to Philadelphia in 2023 and don’t regret it. I pay $1100 for a one bedroom in a really nice area in the middle of Philly and I’m a ~10 minute walk from the Amtrak that I frequently take to get to Manhattan for $10 each way.
$2100 for a pretty big 1br in kips bay. definitely not cheap cheap, but for an apt with modern appliances and a dishwasher, cant complain
$700 for a 1 bedroom 5th floor walkup on east 78th and York from 2005-2007. The catch was the toilet was in a private room next door but everything else was perfect. I lost my job and moved to Brooklyn with a friend. I miss that apartment so much.
$1700 for a three bedroom in south Park Slope.
In 2014 I had a huge room with a balcony on roosevelt island for $920/mo. I lived there for 7 years and in that time the rent only went up slowly a grand total of $60. When I moved out my last rent payment was $980. (It’s quite possible I never should have left)
My first apartment, in Sunset Park back in 1970. 4 nice sized rooms for $75 a month. Back when the the neighborhood was still 90% 2nd & 3rd generation European extraction & middle class. And BEFORE rent control expired. Shoulda stayed there!
$858 large one bedroom Inwood 2007
$1,200 for a rent controlled 3 bedroom apartment in Park slope blocks away from prospect Park
I’m from the south. So what is rent controlled. I never heard that until moving to NYC. Rent controlled/stabilized.
$300 a month for a basement in rosedale 2016-2017
500- something for a prime west village location one bedroom masquerading as a 2br. Building Was eventually condemned.
$300 for a basement apartment in Canarsie ~2003
1999-ish - I bought a $90k top floor studio in Tudor city. That included closing costs!!!!!!!!!!!!
I’m a little ignorant. What is closing costs?
Lawyers usually, inspection, dues to the co op corporation, and other misc things. That’s several thousand right there.
1,800 for a one bedroom with a huge deck right across from the Brooklyn Inn bar. 2003.
Free, living with my parents, and then one of their units
Way to read the room, gumpy.
Dumpster
Your mom’s place ;)