Subleasing an apartment

1) Late spring but you can begin searching now
2) I would advertise first half of December, then hiatus, then start again mid-January
3) You can try for two months' as a security deposit -- it is unlikely that you'll get it for a studio. It makes more sense to try hard to qualify your tenant through reference letters, financials, etc.
4) I'm a real estate agent, so of course my answer is going to be to hire a real estate agent. Chances are that one or two brokers tend to work your building, and the market is slow, so they'll probably pay attention.
5) nytimes.com, craigslist.com, and of course here. Your college alumni network is a powerful tool as well.
6) you are going to get a better quality of tenant if you ask for a year. Your building may allow you to run short-term rentals in chunks of a few months (renting week to week generally violates hotel laws) but you have to balance the risk of more transient tenants against the risk that you'll want to come back to the city.

ali r.
{downtown broker}

When you're checking references, also check the landlords at their previous residence. The current landlords might say anything to just get rid of these people whereas the previous landlords have nothing to lose by being honest.

I would strongly recommend NOT subletting the apartment furnished. Furnished apartments tend to be far more difficult to sublease, especially for standard year-long rentals.

Also, does your daughter own the apartment? If so, and if it is a co-op, there will be by-laws governing how long she will be allowed to sublease (generally it's two years per 5-year period or similar). There will likely also be fees to the building associated with subletting if she is an owner.

If your daughter is very busy, I would recommend using a realtor, who can vet potential tenants and credit and other background checks. She should also have an attorney look over the lease.

If she is relocating in the next few months, I'd start advertising/showing now. It may take a while to get a quality (or ANY) tenant in this economic climate. And, if it is a co-op, any sublessor will require board approval. Boards generally meet only once a month. When I sublet my co-op in early 2007 it took some time to find the right person, and one tenant walked away just before signing the lease, which put us back at least a month.

I meant the sublessee will need board approval.

Thank you front_porch,drdrd,bramstar,
We tried to get a tenant by advertising this month but there were no qualified takers. So you feel that it is productive to continue advertising this month and then to continue advertising in January after the holidays?

Well, how soon do you need to start the sublease?

bramstar, we need to sublease asap so that my daughter can leave the City with a peace of mind and begin focusing on her new job.

Is this a coop or a rental? You haven't given any info on this.

Hi, 1818 - if you need to sublet ASAP, you will have to begin showing immediately. If it IS a co-op, you'll need to factor in wait time for board approval. Keep in mind you may have to be open to offers; it might not be possible to get the price you're hoping for.

Best thing is to find a good tenant and treat him or her respectfully. Established job, good credit score, at least the past 5 years in NYC.

There is no such thing as first and last months' rent plus security deposit. Once you start asking for things that are onerous such as that, you'll turn off most parties. There are many NYC buildings these days that aren't even asking for security if the tenant is qualified.

Also, your tenant may need to qualify the board. The more hurdles you have - timing, fees, intrusiveness of a co-op, the more you should try to price even more reasonably.

Also, be very reasonable anyway for the rental - 1 month unrented is an 8.33% discount, so why not start with the 8.3% discount and get someone good. December and January and February are bad months anyway, so again, another discount you need to factor.

Good luck.