Who doesn’t love using StreetEasy to search for homes in New York City? It’s fun and exciting to imagine yourself in a new place, but it’s also easy to get lost in a sea of listings, spending hours combing through them. And when the time comes to take tangible next steps toward purchasing, you might feel unsure about what you can afford, which neighborhood you’d like to live in, co-op vs. condo, finding an agent, and making informed decisions.
Buying in NYC doesn’t have to be overwhelming — just follow in the footsteps of successful buyers who’ve used StreetEasy to help them purchase their perfect home. Here’s a checklist of steps you can take to find a place you love and seal the deal, all while staying organized, calm, cool, and collected.
🗹 Create (or update) your StreetEasy profile
It’s extremely important and beneficial to keep your StreetEasy profile updated, as it allows us to provide you with helpful content that is tailored to your needs and preferences. Your profile is where you can tell us what you’re looking for, where you are in your home-buying journey, and more.
Just go to the sign-in page to create or log in to your StreetEasy account. In the Profile tab, under Moving details, be sure to indicate that you’re looking to buy. You can also tell us other details, like where you are in your search and your financing plans.
🗹 Search by price and neighborhood
Start by searching for homes on StreetEasy by price and neighborhood, to get a sense of what’s available within your budget and desired locations. We recommend selecting one or more neighborhoods to search, as opposed to a whole borough or all of NYC, so you don’t get overwhelmed with results.
You can personalize your search even more by filtering for other specifics that matter to you, such as home type (e.g. condo, co-op), bedrooms, pet policy, and amenities (be sure to indicate which ones are must-haves!). That way, you’ll narrow down your search and avoid wasting time sorting through homes that aren’t right for you.
Additionally, you can search buildings and apply various filters.
🗹 Save searches you want to track
Never want to miss a new listing, price change, or other crucial updates? Save your searches.
Once you’ve entered a set of search criteria that you’re happy with, click the Save Search button. In the box that appears, give your search a name and save it. View or modify your saved searches at any time by going to My Activity > Saved Searches.
You can also receive email notifications whenever new homes that meet your saved search criteria hit the market, or if there are important updates like price changes. Go to Account > Notifications and choose your desired frequency of emails for each search, or opt to receive saved search roundups.
Furthermore, download the StreetEasy app for iOS or Android to get alerts on the go. Just go to Profile > Settings > Notifications and opt into push notifications for your saved searches.
🗹 Save buildings and listings you like
See a listing you like? Save it!
Or, if it’s the building you like, you can save that too.
Furthermore, you can keep tabs on your saved buildings and listings by opting into email and/or push notifications. Go to Account > Notifications and choose your settings for receiving alerts of price changes, upcoming open houses, listing status updates, etc.
To view or edit your saved listings and buildings, go to My Activity.
🗹 Share listings with a partner
If you’re looking for a new home with a partner, family member, roommate, or whoever you’ll be living with, keep them in the loop by sharing listings you like. Just click the Share button, put in your email and the recipient’s, type a message, and send. (You can also share buildings!)
🗹 Contact and work with a StreetEasy Expert
If you’ve made it this far in the checklist, StreetEasy will have a good sense of your needs and what you’re searching for in a home. As a result, we can use this information to match you with a StreetEasy Expert — a buyer’s agent who is highly qualified to help you find what you’re looking for.
StreetEasy Experts are licensed real estate agents trusted by us, and they have verified, hyper-local experience helping buyers similar to you. We’ll match you with an Expert who has deal history and expertise in your desired price point, neighborhoods, property type, or even the exact building. (Read more about working with a buyer’s agent, and why you should buy with a StreetEasy Expert.)
You can contact an Expert from a listing or building page — or, reach out to StreetEasy’s Concierge and get personalized Expert buyer’s agent matches.
🗹 Close on your dream home
Once you’ve found a StreetEasy Expert buyer’s agent you like working with, you can close on your NYC dream home with confidence and the full support of your agent. Congratulations!
And don’t stop there — StreetEasy is here for your home-owning journey, too. Start by claiming your home, which allows you to access your Owner Dashboard and stay up-to-date on your home’s value, local market, and more.
Ready to begin? Start your search on StreetEasy and let us guide you home.
Disclaimers: StreetEasy is an assumed name of Zillow, Inc. which has a real estate brokerage license in all 50 states and D.C. See real estate licenses. StreetEasy Concierge team members are real estate licensees, however they are not your agents or providing real estate brokerage services on your behalf. StreetEasy does not intend to interfere with any agency agreement you may have with a real estate professional or solicit your business if you are already under contract to purchase or sell property.
StreetEasy earns a referral fee from successful Experts’ transactions, at no cost to the buyer or seller. Experts must meet StreetEasy’s standards of service and market expertise. Agents in our Experts Network have closed deals on homes similar to the seller’s or similar to homes the buyer is searching for. We measure their performance to make sure buyers and sellers get top-notch service.
