How Did You Find Your Apartment?

Streeteasy. Put in buildings I was interested in and kept checking. This was for a rental. I didn't find what I was looking for price wise when I was looking to buy.

And, decreased broker's fee by half since I came without a broker

Of the tenants who find me (Manhattan LL who rents direct), about 60% of them find me on this website, 20% of Craigslist, and 10-20% by referrals/word of mouth/friends of current or past tenants....

I would start here if I was looking, but since this site is geared much more to sales, you have to know where to look ( http://streeteasy.com/nyc/process/rentals/edit_search ). I cant tell you have many people I talk to who thing SE is "only for sales"

i'm a broker and rented this apartment to tenants. When they decided not to renew, I took it and moved in with my girlfriend. Really happy except they have to fix the leak in our dining room :)

the last apartment I saw a for rent sign in the window and called the broker, applied, paid a fee and signed leases.

I have never rented an apartment through craigslist although I rent a ton to others for my job ;)

the best apartments are referrals.

NY Times, tiny little ad, it was for a Brodsky Apartment. (Brodsky owns like 20+ bldgs in Manhattan) and bonus, you can rent directly from Brodsky Management and bypass broker, rent stabilized, been there 7 1/2 years, couldn't be happier, and I'm not a shill for Brodsky. http://www.brodskyorg.com/

Another way to find a rental is by going directly to the website of a good management company such as Related. You can also find listings by price and neighborhood by searching nybits.com and urbansherpa.com. The best way IMO to find a reputable rental or rental management company is by word of mouth or reading online discussions about particular rental buildings.

It is a job by itself trying to find an apartment yourself and it is possible. If you are patient and dedicated go for it. However if you can't do it, reach out to a broker. I do that every day helping people finding an apartment and making a living with it. It is a hard job! but it brings me great satisfaction when i start a good relation with someone and get him the apartment my client was looking for. On top of that if you stay in that place for few years, one month commission is not that bad for reaching out, and you have a new friend. Let me know if i can be of help at christophe@kurlandrealty.com. Good luck.

If you mean the apt I bought, I found it on Streeteasy.
If you mean the one I rented while looking to buy and renovate, I asked the doorman of the building about availability and got a no fee rental in deluxe pre-war on lower Fifth Ave.